The Symbolic World of Baptism
Baptism is a welcome party for martyrs. In baptism, the noble army of God is equipped to serve and battle. They do not begin a new battle but continue the ancient fight begun in the Garden.
Many people struggle with the concept and hermeneutic of biblical continuity. They impose unnecessary breaks in the Bible. They put commas when God has put a period. This takes place in matters of ethical concerns but is especially prevalent in matters of sacramental importance.
The Scriptures are a place full of rituals and rites. These rituals and rites have intentionality in Israel’s liturgy. They shape the humanity of the Israel of God. Israel becomes a people because they participate in these essential initiatory experiences. And since the language of Scriptures is developed continues in the New Covenant, we too are shaped by initiatory experiences. These experiences in the context of the Church make us who we are. They identify us with a specific community and a particular God, which is precisely how they were applied in the old administration before the Messiah’s arrival.
Bloody and Cleansing Signs
In ancient Israel, the Hebrews were identified by their bloody signs. These signs connected us with the bloody religion of our forefathers. These signs were to be identity markers woven into the very fabric of their humanity as image-bearers. We were made a people through them ordinarily.
As God’s people transitioned through periods of obedience/disobedience and wilderness wonderings, these rituals remained as promises because God works most ordinarily through means and tangible signs of his faithfulness.
When the new creation emerged in the resurrection of Messiah Jesus, the Church was organically joined with the Gentiles, and Israel’s rituals changed and took on new meaning; they were glorified. The once bloody identity markers were replaced with cleansing markers. The New Creation now becomes marked by waters surrounding the narratives of the Gospel, the geography of Paul’s epistles around seaports, and the seas no longer cause harm but bring forth tranquility in the new world (Jn. 21). The New Covenant is filled with cleansing rituals.
This natural shift in creation happens because Jesus’ humanity changes and cleanses the world. His blood sacrifice is a cleansing for the nations (Is. 52:15). Jesus’ humanity humanifies the world. The presence of Messiah in word and deed pushes back the dirt and corruption and darkness and incompleteness of the Old Covenant rituals. There is a temporary nature to the form of particular rituals, but the rituals/markers themselves endure for a thousand generations. God does not change. His strategies change, but his goal of making new humans through rituals does not.
To Continue or Not? That is the Question.
The issue of continuity is a fundamental aspect of this ritual-laden world. The rituals continue, changed by times and places, but the objects/recipients of these rituals do not decrease in numbers; they only increase qualitatively and quantitatively. In the New Creation, entire households are brought forth for this cleansing ritual called baptism. Every Gentile and Jew, male and female, are invited to partake of this new sign. The New Creation is inclusive, bringing the nations to Zion city of our God (Is. 2; Matt. 28:18-20).
The New Covenant is a covenant of abundant life, and abundant life means blessings to the nations. Baptism saves to the uttermost (I Pet. 3:21) because Christ saves to the uttermost. You cannot separate the abundant life Christ gives from the abundant life of the means Christ provides for His own.
Individualization of Baptism
The individualized language of modern sacramental and evangelical theology is a departure from the type of language the Bible has trained us to use when referring to rituals. Rituals have always been communal activities. The glory of the many in the Old Creation is not substituted by the radical commitment of the one in the New Covenant. Jesus is always and perpetually connected to a body in His ascension work. Thus, to divorce Christ from the body is an act of covenantal treason (WCF XXVIII). Continuity is key to understanding this process. The sacrament of baptism is so inextricably tied to the bloody rites of the Old Creation that it cannot be divorced from it in any way, shape, or form. Blood makes room for water. Bloody-martyr-servants make room for cleansed-martyred servants. We still proclaim one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Baptism is a welcome party for martyrs. In baptism, the noble army of God is equipped to serve and battle. They do not begin a new battle but continue the ancient fight begun when the serpent seduced the first Adam. The first Adam forgot to do war. But in the new Adam, we are the sons and daughters of God going forth to war.
Those initiated into glory add their powerful voices and armor to the battle. They are consecrated in water, their swords are sharpened, and their helmets are strengthened. In the heat of the battle, while the enemies find no place to call home, Yahweh prepares a table in the presence of His enemies.
Baptism is preparation for a life-long war. Christ leads the baptized saints. He washed them with great care and equipped them to do the work. This community of faith directs their love to the One who adopted them in love. Baptism is loyalty to Messiah. Baptism cleanses, restores, and adorns those who undergo the great cleansing. To deny a continuity of rituals is to deny the war on the serpent. All God’s children need to be ritualized so that they can war for their true King. Baptism initiates that calling formally, and we are initiated into a life of ritual warfare.
Where You Can Find Me
Lots of my ecclesial meanderings are found at uribrito.com
The Kuyperian Commentary, which I founded over 18 years ago, continues to produce a whole lot of stuff.
I had to start a FB fan page since my personal page reached the 5,000 mark a few years ago. I hope you will check it out.
In Christ alone,
Uriesou Brito