Today's article is about baptism and what we believe about baptism. And when it comes down to it, it is quite simple. It is God's Word in the water. It is a washing in the word. This baptism joins us to the death and resurrection of Jesus. This baptism saves us. It cleans us and makes us God's own dearly loved sons and daughters.
This article then goes on to reject some other ideas about baptism that make it less than it actually is. The point is that baptism is a good and gracious gift given to us by our God. It is not dependent on us. It is not dependent on the person who administers the baptism. God is the main actor in baptism. He is the one giving out his gift. He is the one working through the water and the word and it is a mystery to us.
Now, that is pretty simple. And simple is not bad. We need to be careful that we do not end up at one of two extremes. One the one hand we can make baptism only about us. It is something that requires that we have a certain level of understanding. It is something that requires that we be at a certain point in our lives and have the ability to do certain things. But that kind of view makes baptism about us. It makes baptism dependent on us, and that is simply false. The other place we do not want to go with baptism is to say, that since God gives us forgiveness in baptism, then we can live however we want without any kind of accountability.
That is not the kind of life that our God calls us to live. That is not why he forgives us; so that we can go and do whatever we want. He forgives us so that we do not have to live in slavery to our sins. He forgives us so that our sins will not keep us separated from him. That is why.
So, when we are talking about baptism, we want to keep it simple. It is God's good gift, given to us so that we can live our life with him and serve him with everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.
This is a good and gracious gift. It is one that is a source of comfort and strength. I pray that it be that for you too.
Sincerely,
Pastor CJ
1 comments:
Boy, I was hoping there would at least be a glimmer of possibility in your baptism blog that the doctrine of cheap grace would be acceptable. What a buzz kill!
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