Theology That Bites Back
Both sacraments that God gave us were given to point us to Christ. They are not intended to make a statement about the condition of the person receiving the sacrament. Rather, they create a covenantal obligation for the recipient of the sacrament to live a life that points—by faith—to the same thing that the sacrament …
Dear Darrel, Thanks for your letter, and for the pointed questions about child communion. Please thank your session for me as well. It is rare to find the combination of attributes that I see in your ...
As we come to baptize this child, we are called to remember that baptism is primarily God’s testimony, not our own testimony. In the waters of baptism, God is declaring that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the way of true salvation, and that those who bear the mark of His testimony are obligated …
We are accustomed to think of baptism as a marker of our testimony. By it we declare our allegiance to Christ, and our intention to live before Him as sincere Christians. This is quite true, and it is particularly in evidence when we baptize someone on the basis of his profession of faith. He was …
Some have argued that baptism should be withheld from infants and children because they think it a sign, not of inclusion in Christ, but rather as a sign of ordination—as a sign of taking on the mantle of service for Christ. This would be a strong argument against infant baptism if true, but the Scriptures …
We live in an individualistic age, and because of this we have come to believe that it is not possible to have any of our loyalties assigned to us. We believe (somehow) that in order to obligated to anything, we need to have chosen it ourselves. This is true on some occasions, as when a …
A common mistake with regard to the Lord’s Table is that of thinking that something is happening here that never happens anywhere else in the world. But it would be more accurate to say that the thing that distinguishes this Table is with whom it happens . . . not what happens. This is what …
One of the things we must always remember to do is to distinguish what baptism means objectively—apart from any sincerity or insincerity on the part of those administering, receiving, or observing it. And what baptism means is union with Christ. Those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death (Rom. 6:3). If you …
We are accustomed to think that baptism is a statement that we make. And while there is a sense in which this is true, the foundational reality is that it is a statement that God makes. It is a statement of ownership, of possession. It should be obvious that in the case of infants, we …
Regardless of when the sacrament of baptism is performed, the only effective catalyst that can make it efficacious for blessing is faith—living, breathing, active, evangelical faith. Otherwise we are just applying a dead sign to dead sinners. Otherwise we are just sprinkling water on the headstones in a cemetery. Otherwise we are just engaging in …
