Washed and clothed in Christ: The beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

[ViaCrucis]

Am I opening a can of worms? Absolutely. But St. Jude says we need to earnestly contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints. And we live in age where many have thrown away God's word and promises and substituted it with false doctrine that tickles the ears and have been swayed away from simple trust in Jesus toward the "appearance of religion but denying the power thereof"

Let's first be clear what Baptism is not.

Baptism is not you and me doing something as an act of obedience to earn brownie points from God. Baptism is not you and me doing something for God. Baptism is not an obstacle that God puts in the way that if we don't overcome it then God is going to deny us His grace and love and salvation in Christ. Baptism is not a public confession of faith, a mere religious ceremony and ritual without power or grace. Baptism is not merely getting wet. You aren't the one who is at work when you were baptized. The pastor or priest who baptized us isn't the one who is at work in our baptism either.

The Baptizer is God.

The plain word of God teaches us what baptism is. When speaking to Nicodemus, our Lord Jesus Christ taught that to enter into and see God's reign, we must be born anew, a birth that is of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5). After our Lord rose from the dead He came to His apostles and gave His Great Commission to the Church: "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all which I have instructed." (Matthew 28:19).

When the Holy Spirit came, sent by the Father in fulfillment of Christ's promise that the Holy Spirit would come, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16-20, John 16:13-15) as foretold by St. John the Baptist "I baptize you with water, but He who comes after Me, whose sandals I am unfit to fasten, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Luke 3:16) and reiterated by our Lord just before His Ascension (Acts of the Apostles 1:4-8), this same Holy Spirit filled St. Peter and through him declared "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, this promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself" (Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39). The pilgrims in Jerusalem that day, who bore witness to the outpouring of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit through Peter's preaching, were converted and three thousand that day were baptized and received into the Church (Acts of the Apostles 2:41). And the whole Church were together in communion, abiding in the Apostles' teaching, the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and devoted to prayer (Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47).

In his magnum opus, the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul in his great declaration of God's grace and saving power through the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17) reminds us that when we were baptized we were baptized into Christ's death, buried with Him, and raised up together with the Lord; and in light of these things are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The work God having accomplished for us in our baptism continued to be called to abiding in the truth and promise of our baptism (Romans 6:1-14). The Apostle, again, in his great letter to the Galatians reminding them that it is not their works, not by following the Law, but God's grace alone which is theirs in Christ, that they indeed put on Christ, were clothed with Him and His righteousness, in baptism, "For all of you who were baptize into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27). See how the believer in Christ has not merely gotten wet, but has been given Jesus Christ as a garment, truly as the Prophet Isaiah had said, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." (Isaiah 61:10) And Zechariah having written, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." (Zechariah 3:4). See indeed how God in His so great and wonderful great has said to us "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Isaiah 1:18), and the Psalmist telling us, "so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." (Psalms 103:11-12).

See again what Paul writes in Ephesians, that Christ who loves His Church as a bride, having made her holy, cleansing her, washing her by water with the word (Ephesians 5:26). Or how in Colossians he writes we have received a spiritual circumcision, one made without hands, a circumcision of the heart when we were baptized,

"And you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Colossians 2:10-15)

Time and again we see so great this grace and power and work of God is. In our baptism God has declared us forgiven, Christ having died for us, having nailed our sins to the cross, and born our shame, and becoming a curse for our sake. Why, oh why do we deny the grace of God by denying the Sacrament?

Why do we try and deny God's power and work and replace them with our own works? Why do we make up our own means and methods? Why do we keep trying to take credit for what God has done? Why do we ignore the cross and insist on our glory?

Who are we? But dust and dead bones filled with every sin and wickedness. But see what God has done, sending His only-begotten and very beloved Son, born of a woman and born under the Law to bear suffering, and cross, and death, and grave for us. And here He is, not on the mountain top, not in secret places, not in esoteric mantras, or in all the wretched works of sinners: But here, plain and publically, water and the word.

Oh how He loves us. That even this most meager thing, water, should become sign and seal of the Lamb of God who gave His life for us. The word of God here shouting loud in our face: our sins are forgiven, thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Baptizatus sum.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

How often is one baptized? If it is but once it is unto repentance. That repentance forsaken to return to the former condition, as did the former Judaists return to their former religion after having tasted His goodness, is non-repeatable. As is being born again. Repentance of the old sin nature in seeing the need of the Savior to redeem the new nature from our sins is what John the Baptist taught with water baptism. What is the question then? I would think it is how does one get baptized with fire? With power from on high to be of service to our Lord and Savior and King.

 

[BobRyan]

Let's first be clear what Baptism is not.

Baptism is not you and me doing something as an act of obedience to earn brownie points from God. Baptism is not you and me doing something for God. Baptism is not an obstacle that God puts in the way that if we don't overcome it then God is going to deny us His grace and love and salvation in Christ. Baptism is not a public confession of faith, a mere religious ceremony and ritual without power or grace. Baptism is not merely getting wet. You aren't the one who is at work when you were baptized. The pastor or priest who baptized us isn't the one who is at work in our baptism either.

according to Peter in 1 Peter 3 - the life changing .. saving action in Baptism has nothing to do with water but rather "an appeal to God for a clean conscience" -- by the one being baptized.

That fact alone - clears up a lot of confusion. This is not "baptismal regeneration" rather it is the outward act that testifies to a prior action by the sinner that is "the appeal to God for a clean conscience". It is one of the first actions of the born-again saved believer in following the Word of God... experiencing both a personal testimony given and the walk of obedience instead of continued rebellion.

1 Peter 3:21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

It is a fitting symbol of , death ,burial and resurrection with Christ.
Rom 6: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for the one who has died is freed from sin.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

according to Peter in 1 Peter 3 - the life changing .. saving action in Baptism has nothing to do with water but rather "an appeal to God for a clean conscience" -- by the one being baptized.

First Peter chapter three never says that baptism has nothing to do with water; so, why do you say it?

1 Peter 3:8-22

8 And finally, may you all be of one mind: compassionate, loving brotherhood, merciful, meek, humble, 9 not repaying evil with evil, nor slander with slander, but, to the contrary, repaying with blessings. For to this you have been called, so that you may possess the inheritance of a blessing. 10 For whoever wants to love life and to see good days should restrain his tongue from evil, and his lips, so that they utter no deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears are with their prayers, but the countenance of the Lord is upon those who do evil. 13 And who is it who can harm you, if you are zealous in what is good? 14 And yet, even when you suffer something for the sake of justice, you are blessed. So then, do not be afraid with their fear, and do not be disturbed. 15 But sanctify Christ the Lord in your hearts, being always ready to give an explanation to all who ask you the reason for that hope which is in you. 16 But do so with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, so that, in whatever matter they may slander you, they shall be confounded, since they falsely accuse your good behaviour in Christ. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if it is the will of God, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also died once for our sins, the Just One on behalf of the unjust, so that he might offer us to God, having died, certainly, in the flesh, but having been enlivened by the Spirit. 19 And in the Spirit, he preached to those who were in prison, going to those souls 20 who had been unbelieving in past times, while they waited for the patience of God, as in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built. In that ark, a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21 And now you also are saved, in a similar manner, by baptism, not by the testimony of sordid flesh, but by the examination of a good conscience in God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22 He is at the right hand of God, devouring death, so that we may be made heirs to eternal life. And since he has journeyed to heaven, the Angels and powers and virtues are subject to him.​

Saint Peter points to the analogy between baptism and the waters of the flood when he talks of the salvation from death for those who were preserved in the ark that God commanded Noah to build. Water is therefore in saint Peter's thinking when he mentions baptism. Saint Peter does not exclude water from baptism in what he has to say.

 

[fhansen]

Am I opening a can of worms? Absolutely. But St. Jude says we need to earnestly contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints. And we live in age where many have thrown away God's word and promises and substituted it with false doctrine that tickles the ears and have been swayed away from simple trust in Jesus toward the "appearance of religion but denying the power thereof"

Let's first be clear what Baptism is not.

Baptism is not you and me doing something as an act of obedience to earn brownie points from God. Baptism is not you and me doing something for God. Baptism is not an obstacle that God puts in the way that if we don't overcome it then God is going to deny us His grace and love and salvation in Christ. Baptism is not a public confession of faith, a mere religious ceremony and ritual without power or grace. Baptism is not merely getting wet. You aren't the one who is at work when you were baptized. The pastor or priest who baptized us isn't the one who is at work in our baptism either.

The Baptizer is God.

The plain word of God teaches us what baptism is. When speaking to Nicodemus, our Lord Jesus Christ taught that to enter into and see God's reign, we must be born anew, a birth that is of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5). After our Lord rose from the dead He came to His apostles and gave His Great Commission to the Church: "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all which I have instructed." (Matthew 28:19).

When the Holy Spirit came, sent by the Father in fulfillment of Christ's promise that the Holy Spirit would come, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16-20, John 16:13-15) as foretold by St. John the Baptist "I baptize you with water, but He who comes after Me, whose sandals I am unfit to fasten, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Luke 3:16) and reiterated by our Lord just before His Ascension (Acts of the Apostles 1:4-8), this same Holy Spirit filled St. Peter and through him declared "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, this promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself" (Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39). The pilgrims in Jerusalem that day, who bore witness to the outpouring of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit through Peter's preaching, were converted and three thousand that day were baptized and received into the Church (Acts of the Apostles 2:41). And the whole Church were together in communion, abiding in the Apostles' teaching, the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and devoted to prayer (Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47).

In his magnum opus, the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul in his great declaration of God's grace and saving power through the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17) reminds us that when we were baptized we were baptized into Christ's death, buried with Him, and raised up together with the Lord; and in light of these things are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The work God having accomplished for us in our baptism continued to be called to abiding in the truth and promise of our baptism (Romans 6:1-14). The Apostle, again, in his great letter to the Galatians reminding them that it is not their works, not by following the Law, but God's grace alone which is theirs in Christ, that they indeed put on Christ, were clothed with Him and His righteousness, in baptism, "For all of you who were baptize into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27). See how the believer in Christ has not merely gotten wet, but has been given Jesus Christ as a garment, truly as the Prophet Isaiah had said, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." (Isaiah 61:10) And Zechariah having written, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." (Zechariah 3:4). See indeed how God in His so great and wonderful great has said to us "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Isaiah 1:18), and the Psalmist telling us, "so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." (Psalms 103:11-12).

See again what Paul writes in Ephesians, that Christ who loves His Church as a bride, having made her holy, cleansing her, washing her by water with the word (Ephesians 5:26). Or how in Colossians he writes we have received a spiritual circumcision, one made without hands, a circumcision of the heart when we were baptized,

"And you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him." (Colossians 2:10-15)

Time and again we see so great this grace and power and work of God is. In our baptism God has declared us forgiven, Christ having died for us, having nailed our sins to the cross, and born our shame, and becoming a curse for our sake. Why, oh why do we deny the grace of God by denying the Sacrament?

Why do we try and deny God's power and work and replace them with our own works? Why do we make up our own means and methods? Why do we keep trying to take credit for what God has done? Why do we ignore the cross and insist on our glory?

Who are we? But dust and dead bones filled with every sin and wickedness. But see what God has done, sending His only-begotten and very beloved Son, born of a woman and born under the Law to bear suffering, and cross, and death, and grave for us. And here He is, not on the mountain top, not in secret places, not in esoteric mantras, or in all the wretched works of sinners: But here, plain and publically, water and the word.

Oh how He loves us. That even this most meager thing, water, should become sign and seal of the Lamb of God who gave His life for us. The word of God here shouting loud in our face: our sins are forgiven, thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Baptizatus sum.

-CryptoLutheran

Thank you, very well said. Someone needs to contend for the truth. It’s amazing how many have managed to dismiss such basics of the faith as worthless, as if everything the church has understood and done since the beginning was meaningless and misguided. One question, though. Baptism has been called the “sacrament of faith”. Is it not, among other things, a “public profession of faith”?

 

[ViaCrucis]

Thank you, very well said. Someone needs to contend for the truth. It’s amazing how many have managed to dismiss such basics of the faith as worthless, as if everything the church has understood and done since the beginning was meaningless and misguided. One question, though. Baptism has been called the “sacrament of faith”. Is it not, among other things, a “public profession of faith”?

Sure, but in a very different sense than what I was referring to earlier. Baptism isn't just a public profession of faith, but there is in our baptism the public profession of faith of the whole Church--the Church coming together in her "we believe". Every time we recite and confess the Creed we are affirming our baptism; what God has done in our baptism, our receiving faith, now confessed and professed in our "I believe". I believe, we believe, in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only-begotten Son, our Lord, etc. That faith is being declared in our baptism. But it's less about *my* public profession of faith, and it's about *our* public profession of faith as the baptized are brought into the Body of Christ by faith, and now in Christ and united to Christ, confesses and professes the faith we have received. This being the work and power of the Holy Spirit here.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[RileyG]

Beautiful post, thank you for posting. God bless

 

[bbbbbbb]

I suggest that this thread be moved to the Sacramental Theology forum as being more appropriate.

 

[HARK!]

MOD HAT ON

MOD HAT OFF​

 

[bbbbbbb]

MOD HAT ON

MOD HAT OFF​

Thank you.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Many days have passed since the last post was written but there is one thing to say that is relevant to the matter. It is what saint Paul has to say about how many baptisms exist for Christians - surely there are many baptisms in history and some among the Jews of the Lord's time on earth -

And so, as a prisoner in the Lord, I beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation to which you have been called: with all humility and meekness, with patience, supporting one another in charity.​

Be anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit within the bonds of peace.​

One body and one Spirit:​

to this you have been called​

by the one hope of your calling:​

one Lord, one faith, one baptism,​

one God and Father of all,​

who is over all, and through all,​

and in us all.​

Ephesians 4:1-6

For Christians there is one baptism. Though some yearn for two.

 

[Dan Perez]

Many days have passed since the last post was written but there is one thing to say that is relevant to the matter. It is what saint Paul has to say about how many baptisms exist for Christians - surely there are many baptisms in history and some among the Jews of the Lord's time on earth -

And so, as a prisoner in the Lord, I beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation to which you have been called: with all humility and meekness, with patience, supporting one another in charity.​

Be anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit within the bonds of peace.​

One body and one Spirit:​

to this you have been called​

by the one hope of your calling:​

one Lord, one faith, one baptism,​

one God and Father of all,​

who is over all, and through all,​

and in us all.​

Ephesians 4:1-6

For Christians there is one baptism. Though some yearn for two.

And the EPH 4:5 does NOT speak about water baptism ..

Eph 4:5 speaks about ONE BAPTISMA and Not of water baptism , and anyone that checks the Greek text will that Greek word is not BAPTIZO but the Greek word BAPTISMA .

We se the change also in Acts 1:5 where Luke by the Holy Spirit says , For John indeed BAPTIZED with WATER , BUT you will be BAPTIZED with HOLY SPIRIT NOT many days after , , means PENTECOST .

dan p