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Dear Friends of Covenant Fellowship, I wanted to take opportunity in this letter to comment on one important and little appreciated aspect of the meaning of Christian baptism, particularly as we anticipate the baptism this Sunday of little Andrew Schinke. We need to remember that as a sign, baptism points to two separate realities, both to an inner invisible reality and to an outer visible reality. The inner reality to which the water of baptism points is that of cleansing, forgiveness, regeneration, new birth, and Holy Spirit baptism. The outer reality to which the water of baptism points is that of membership in the visible church, the flesh and blood people of God, with whom God is in covenant. The significance of membership in the external or visible church has been denigrated intentionally or unintentionally by well meaning evangelicals for generations. This is to be expected in a general and Christian culture that is so highly individualistic and has so little sense of the corporate nature of the people of God, where people change churches like suits if their needs aren’t met, and in a culture where churches are stumbling over one another in their race to see who can best meet the needs of their target clientele. In such a culture the biblical idea of a covenant relationship between God and a visible and corporate group of human beings, who are known collectively to Him in Christ and who collectively have responsibility to Him, well such a conception finds a hard time getting traction. In a spiritual culture where one’s private personal spiritual quest is everything, the idea of the visible people of God corporately in covenant with him is an odd and counter cultural idea indeed. And it is only within such a covenantal framework that infant baptism can make any sense at all. It is indeed a great privilege (and lays upon a person great responsibilities) to be joined to and identified with the “flesh and blood” visible community of followers of Christ. Infant baptism is in one of it’s important senses a sign of the infant’s membership in the visible church, the covenant people of God on earth. It is a recognition of what is already true, that the infant child, by virtue of his or her parent’s faith in Christ and identity with Christ, is also a part of we call “God’s people.” By being joined to the visible church in covenant with God the child has an added accountability as he or she grows up. This is a serious matter. The visible church consists of those people who profess to be loyal to and in submission to the reign of Christ. The visible church, in its prayers, worship, teaching, giving, mutual love, sacraments and testimonies, freely and often professes that it belongs to God. Baptism in this sense is a sign or a mark of being God’s possession, of being part of the greater body which bows before Jesus as Lord in submission and trust. In terms of the corporate flesh and blood community of people who bear the name of Jesus, baptism is the mark or sign of having that name, of being owned by King Jesus. Baptism says visibly and publicly who’s included and who isn’t included in the covenant people of God. But how is it that we can think of little babies as being part of that people who are in covenant with King Jesus? Hmmm. Think of it this way. Imagine a covenant or suzerain type treaty relationship between an ancient Near Eastern King and a subject people. The King promises protection to the subjects, and they in term pledge loyalty and service back to the King. Each year the subject people gather in a great festival to pledge or renew their loyalty to the great King, and He affirms back to them his promises of care and protection and reviews the benefits of being a loyal subject in his realm. For the sake of the illustration we will assume this to be a wise and powerful and good king who fulfills his promises and pledges in every way. Now suppose that one of the loyal subjects has a child. What is the standing of the child in relation to the King? Is the child a subject of the king? Does the king have legitimate responsibility to the child? Does the King expect that the child’s parents, themselves loyal subjects, will raise the child to be a loyal subject? One day no doubt the child will grow up and decide either to remain a true and loyal subject, or flee the realm or rebel or just bristle inwardly against the King. But until them, what is the child’s standing? When the parents present themselves each year before the king and renew their vow as loyal subjects of the king, is it not assumed that they are presenting their bodies and their homes and their possessions and their animals and their dependents as being at the disposal of the great King? Do they not present themselves and all that is under their control or charge to the King? Well, to complicate the illustration, and to make it bear upon the difficulty of understanding baptism, let us assume that the king places a sign or mark of his ownership upon the forehead of all the subjects in his realm, adults and children. And to make it more interesting, let us assume that the mark which he places upon the forehead of every subject in his realm has a symbolic meaning, and that this symbolic meaning includes real or true heartfelt submission to the King, which is not normally possible for the child receiving the mark? Well, I could go on . What I have tried to do is illustrate the meaning of the sign of baptism as signifying that one is part of and included in the external community of God’s people, those living people in covenant with Him as Lord and God. But as you know, and as I hinted in the illustration above, the symbolism goes farther and the picture gets more complicated. Invisible realities are also signified by the mark of baptism. In our real world of God and men the person must be changed inwardly in order ultimately to be a truly loyal subject, and must have his inward guilt for lack of loyalty dealt with as well. Which gets us back to baptism as a sign or mark. Thinking again of the baptism of infants, baptism is also a sign of where the child needs to look in order to know the cleansing, forgiveness, and new life so necessary for ultimate restoration to God through Christ the King. In the case of a child, one may assume that the child has yet to experience these realities. But the water of baptism points the child, and the child’s parents, in the right direction. The water of baptism, by virtue of what it symbolizes, points the child and the parents to Christ and to his work, to the cleansing power of his atoning sacrifice, and to the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. One day, when the child comes to loyal and repentant faith in King Jesus in his or her own right, when she is spiritually grafted into Christ by virtue of her own faith, her baptism will have been completed, as it were. She will then “possess” the inner and spiritual reality to which the water of her baptism has pointed. The parents of the child being baptized have a weighty responsibility. They profess, on the child’s behalf, God’s ownership of the child. This is the proper submissive and dedicatory aspect of infant baptism. In baptism the parents declare the child to be the property of and a subject of the King, and then give the child over to the King. In baptism, the King, as it were, gives the child back to the parent in trust to care for and nurture and love. Thus the parents take upon themselves before God and in the sight of the covenant community responsibility for the proper physical/emotional/moral/spiritual nurturing of the child. It is the parents -- not the State, not the school, not the peer group, and not even the Church (or the church peer group) -- who have primary responsibility for training and directing the child into the right path, into a life of loyal service to King Jesus. They do this primarily by example, and secondarily by direct instruction. Both are essential. What about the rest of the covenant community? What is their responsibility to the family and to the child? It is, quite frankly, profound. The visible church, the community of those who profess loyalty to King Jesus and who profess to follow in His ways, is set apart by Jesus to be an example of humanity renewed in Christ. We see this in the visible church’s call to be holy as God is holy, to love one another as God in Christ has loved them, and to be agents of King Jesus in the restoration of His world to Himself. These are the elements which make up what the second half of that grand recurring summation of the covenant relationship between God and His people, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The child being baptized grows up in such a renewed community of God’s people in covenant with Him. The child’s parents are engaged in such community. In sharing life in the community, the child learns what it means to be the people of God. We do not and will not baptize children of people who are not committed to the local church. Such is a contradiction and reflects either superstitious or false views of baptism. Baptism is profoundly not a private family matter. Baptism is a sign of attachment to and growing participation with the external people of God. Parents who have children baptized and fail to participate actively in the life of the localized church in covenant with God, a community with a high calling to love, grow in holiness, and minister Christ to the world, well, these parents are living out a contradiction. And they are leading their children astray. The visible church community which surrounds the child and the child’s parents has an enormous obligation to the parents and to the child. To the parents this obligation is basically the obligation each member of the body of Christ has to the other. This includes self sacrificial love, the sharing of spiritual gifts, mutual encouragement, mutual teaching, united worship, etc. The best thing you as an adult can do for a another person’s child is to have a proper biblical commitment to that adult as a fellow professing believer and fellow participant in the community of God’s people. Your overall loving, teaching, and encouraging of that person will naturally include your loving, teaching, and encouraging of them in their role as parents. Their parenting is one of their biggest life commitments and responsibilities. They cannot be faithful and loyal subjects of King Jesus apart from their faithfulness to Jesus in the way they raise their child, who is, by the way, claimed and owned by King Jesus, as signified by their baptism. But we as adults also have a responsibility directly to the children. We have a duty and obligation to other people’s children to model Christian relationships, to model fidelity to Christ, to model service to Christ in the world. The children are watching. They can’t just be told what being a faithful subject to King Jesus, i.e., being a Christian, is. They have to see it. They have to learn it by watching and copying, just as they learn language or anything else. They have to develop the “grammar” of the Christian life. They learn this primarily not separated out into peer groups, but by participating with their parents in the overall life of the visible church community! This is what you pledge to do and to be when you agree and pledge your self to help nurture the children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. It is a real and weighty responsibility that commits you to very practical and visible acts of service and love within the body. Sincerely, Joel |
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