Wednesday, October 23, three month old Prince George was baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The baptism occurred at the Chapel Royal at St. James Palace in London.
I, of course, would disagree with baptizing infants and with the mode of baptism, but I was thrilled to hear what the archbishop said about baptism. First, he said that baptism is not just for “royal babies”. Then, he went on to say “God’s love is offered without qualification, without price, without cost, to all people in all circumstances, always.” Good words about God and His love.
What should we say about baptism? After all, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are practiced by almost all Christian groups around the world. “Virtually all Christians agree that baptism is the symbolic door into the community of the church” (Christianity Today).
First, baptism is a picture of the work of Christ that shows what God did for us by sending His Son. I often tell people who are being baptized by being immersed in the water: “You are preaching today about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The people watching will hear and be reminded that as you are buried in water, Christ was buried and raised from the dead.”
That picture, of course, finds its’ meaning in being immersed in the water.
Second, baptism pictures our own union with Christ, as we identify in His death and resurrection. When we come to faith in Christ, we are crucified with Him and particpate in His resurrection. Our baptism pictures our own death and our newness in Christ (Romans 6:1-4).
Third, while baptism doesn’t effect our salvation, it is for all who trust in Christ and shows we trust in Him. For this reason, we are to go into all the world baptizing and teaching those who follow Christ (Matthew 28:19-20).
By the way, baptism is for “royals.” In Christ, we all find the meaning of our lives. He makes us Royal. We are children of the king, born anew and raised to the newness of life. In Christ, the old has passed away and the new has come. We are children of the King, destined to live with Him forever. We are “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Have you given your self to Christ and followed Him in baptism?
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3 Responses
Indeed, “this” mode of Baptism is not the intentional following of the individual being baptized. However, it is an intentional following of parents or guardians who agree with the principles enunciated. This “dedication” of the parents/community of “Faith” is then followed up at the age of 12 with a confirmation and first communion. Can you think of another tradition that considers 12 the age of attaining the ability to be responsible?
The struggles I have endured with the development and preservation of the Jefferson Parish Museum have continually reminded me that God’s own struggle not against flesh and blood, but agains principalities. The Plan of God is for His to be faithful in the small; and shed His Light in our own proximity if we are ever going to be able to be successful in a desire to fill His Mission. Consider Mark 9:14-29; Matthew17:14-21 & Luke 9 37-42.
History is unfolding in our time as never before, revealing Truths blinded by darkness. Still, an individual left to fight alone (or few in number) to bring His Light, there is a reckoning inescapable, the compensation is eternal. Shall we increase burdens on future generations without tending to the provision of the present? Love indeed is Action with a Thankful Heart.
Blessings
Seems clear that the word of God requires that baptism be the intentional following of the individual being baptized, and the offer that is made in the message is the offer of a paradox. Like our Lord said to His disciples in the hearing of the woman of Canaan, Mt.15:21-28 that He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and she was not a Jew. Then He said to His neighbors in Nazareth that Elijah was not sent to relieve any widow in Israel but he was to a widow of Sarepta, a city of Sidon and Elisha in his time was the agent who instructed Naaman the Syrian on what to do to be cleansed.(Lk.4:16-32). Jonah’s message was an opposite or a paradoxical message, Jonah 3, in which the prophet simply declared that Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days. The message was unconditional, and the prophet was supposed to be stoned who made such a prophecy and it was not fulfilled. Anyway, the prophet expected what happened, namely, that without an invitation or an offer of clemency, based on repentance, the people were moved to repentance and the people were pardoned. The problem with some is that they failed to recognize the need for therapeutic paradoxes, but it should be noted that the folks who were blessed with the First and Second Great Awakenings and the launching of the Great Century of Missions or the modern missionary movement were strong believers in the Sovereign Grace of God. Evidently, man the rebel, the sinner, the transgressor, needs to hear that he is condemned and God owes him nothing but judgment, and his realizing of that fact with the consequent humbling brings salvation as it did to Saul of Tarsus. Like one lady said, “O, it was so wonderful that I could not resist it.”
🙂