Baptism is our entrance into the visible church. Christ commanded it in Matthew 28, saying to his disciples that they were to spread the gospel to the nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Yet what is baptism really? What does it do for us? There are two errors we can fall into, and we must be careful we do not fall into either pitfall. On the one hand, we may be tempted to fall into treating it like the sinners’ prayer is today, in that we look at it as our get-out-of-jail-free card. I’ve been baptized, many are tempted to think, and therefore I’m home free! I’m one of God’s children! Yet then they turn around and live in outright rebellion to God, ignoring his commands and hardly showing up to church. They trust that the day they got baptized was enough. Yet what did Christ say in John 14? “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.” While baptism is a visual mark of one’s being a Christian, by itself it can mean very little. Just as there are many with Christian bumper stickers, church membership, bible names, etc., many show to us quite clearly in the ways that they live that they are not Christians. The fruit is not there.
On the other hand, many are tempted to jump into the opposite pit. Growing up in central Texas, I have gone to many a Christian summer camp. There, I would witness many kids getting baptized for the first time. Yet, when I asked them after the baptism to tell me how they became a Christian, many would explain to me that they had been Christians for years before this. Many I knew that went to camp refused to get baptized, saying “it wasn’t necessary for salvation,” or that they were “waiting for the right moment.” This struck me as odd, though as a child I couldn’t articulate why. Yet I can see now that such ideas are a reaction against the first error. If people have assumed they are Christians because of their baptism, we should make sure we tell people that “baptism doesn’t save you!” If they hear this message loud enough, many have thought, we won’t have all these “Christians” running around committing grievous sins and still assuming they are saved. Yet many then treat the sacrament lightly, acting as if it has little (or no) place in the Christian life. If we’re saved by grace alone, they think, what need have I for baptism?
We must take the balanced approach. It is not always true the middle way between two views is the Christian one, but so often this world is filled with bad theology, and extreme reactions to that bad theology which is, in turn, bad theology. The Scriptures tell us that baptism was what is to happen upon someone’s entrance into the church, and as a sacrament it represented the ingrafting of one into the body of Christ. “Ingrafting” calls to mind the fact that we were once wild olive branches, as Paul says, and yet we are grafted into the church that was once located in Israel but is now pushing back the forces of darkness in all nations. It also signifies the removal of sin for us. While Peter does say that “baptism saves,” we must be careful to take his meaning correctly lest we fall into the Romanist view. Baptism is a sign and seal of justification, just as circumcision was for the Old Testament church. Yet, it does not actually justify. One cannot go to a priest and have holy water sprinkled on him to get rid of sins without actually putting his full faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In fact, if the waters never get to him, the sins are washed away, nonetheless. We are baptized out of obedience to God just as we take the Supper out of obedience. These signs and seals give us better understanding into the mystery of our salvation and allow us to grasp these realities more easily. Let us, therefore, rejoice when we see another sinner brought out of the world and into the church, and endeavor that the gospel may continue to go forth as more families are brought into God’s covenant community.
Older
Top
