Howdy!
The next two weeks will be focused on the two sacraments of the Church provided for us by the Lord Jesus Christ: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. That word Church will perform a special part in helping us appreciate what God is doing through these two unique visible signs of His grace and glory. Something that is at best misunderstood, at worst openly ignored by many in the kingdom today is why these two events matter and how they continue to play an important role in our daily lives. In the Westminster Larger Catechism (which we will quote in full in a bit) and in the Westminster Confession of Faith (ditto) these holy ordinances are explained more fully. It will be worthwhile for us to explore what they have to say along with our Shorter Catechism questions for the week. On that note let’s go ahead and look at the Q/A’s:
Q. 94. What is Baptism?
A. Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, does signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
Q. 95. To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized.
To start off here we have the Biblical definition of what Baptism is laid out for us. It involves the Triune God and a human being, along with water. Now, how does that water get on the individual? Remember what I said above about the Church. All sacraments happen in the context of the gathered body of believers. Not only that but they involve the public spectacle of the presence of men and women who themselves have gone through this process. There is no such thing as privately baptizing yourself or anyone else. There is another particular person needing to be present who is set apart by the Church to pour the water on the baptizee.
In the WCF Chapter 28 it says, “…which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world.”. What does that mean? Let’s go to the Scriptures for a second. Who was given authority to baptize? Matthew 28:18-20 tells us it is the apostles. We have a problem here. There are no apostles (despite what some billboards you may see say) anymore. So who can do it today? Back to the word we go. In Acts 8:38 and Acts 9:18 there is Phillip and Ananias baptizing the Eunuch and Paul respectively, yet neither of them are apostles. So how did they get to the point where they could do that? Let’s jump forward to 1 Timothy 4:14. Paul commends his young protégé to remember his own authority. He is not to let anyone big-time him or tear him down for Timothy had the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. Take a wild guess what that means. While we don’t believe in the doctrine of Apostolic Succession (that there is an unbroken line of “holy orders” from Peter down to me), we do believe that the call to baptize is only given to those set aside by the Church to perform that act. Presbyterians understand that only the Presbytery can authorize a man (and by that we mean only biologically qualified and called men can be ministers) to perform the sacraments of the Church, what Paul describes as being a “steward of the mysteries of God”. (1 Cor. 4:1).
The reason why we spent so much time on that is we live in a day and age which despises roles and callings. It is also dislikes separation and setting certain people apart for special purposes. When it comes to Baptism we don’t just mean the minister of the Gospel who is applying the water onto the head of the individual. Those who have come to faith in Christ and not previously joined the Church, and the infants of one or more believing spouses who are being presented for the sign and seal of the covenant of grace must rightly understand what is taking place and what they are agreeing to as well as what they are joining.
Not just anyone gets to be baptized merely because they want to, or feel like they need to, or someone thinks they have a right to it based on fleshly relations or historical connections. I personally have turned down a few invitations to baptize children who had no formal relationship to our congregation. The reason for that is not because I am mean and don’t like fun and think our little club here should be only for the cool people. It is because myself, our Elders, and our body of believers take seriously the responsibility which comes with giving the sacraments to people. There is a reason why the Session must approve every baptism (and every celebration of the Lord’s Supper). God’s sacraments are not to played with, baptism included as much as the Table. To covenant with the LORD is to make a permanent bond with the Holy One of Israel, and to bring someone ignorantly and without the proper support of the Church of Jesus Christ into that promise is to consign them to spiritual terrors of which Paul speaks plainly of in Hebrews 10.
In closing, if the sacrament of Baptism is only to be administered once (unlike the regularity of the Lord’s Supper) how does it continue to “work” for us and in us? Remember way back at the beginning I mentioned the Larger Catechism?
Here it comes to give the answer:
Q. 167. How is our baptism to be improved by us?
A. The needful but much neglected duty of improving our baptism, is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others; by serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vow made therein; by being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to, the grace of baptism, and our engagements; by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin, and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament; by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace; and by endeavouring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness as those that have therein given up their names to Christ; and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body.
There you go. 😊
It's worth taking the time to walk slowly through that Q/A in order to meditate on the breadth and depth of Baptism. For in doing that you’ll see more clearly what God is doing today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life through this initiatory right into His covenant kingdom.
One more thing to take from it:
https://heidelblog.net/2014/07/whats-the-use-of-infant-baptism/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church