The Lord Jesus Christ gave baptism and communion as the outward and visible signs of the new covenant; and he gave the Holy Spirit as the inward and invisible seal of the new covenant.
JAVA RANCH
THURSDAYS @ 7PM
Come join us at Java Ranch as we explore the meaning of the signs and seal of new covenant grace.
We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and ingrafted into his family: his church.
Now those who are born again have two lives in them. The one is physical and temporal– they have it from the moment of their first birth, and it is common to all. The other is spiritual and heavenly, and is given them in their second birth; it comes through the Word of the gospel in the communion of the body of Christ; and this life is common to God’s elect only. Thus, to support the physical and earthly life God has prescribed for us an appropriate earthly and material bread, which is as common to all as life itself also is. But to maintain the spiritual and heavenly life that belongs to believers he has sent a living bread that came down from heaven: namely Jesus Christ, who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten– that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith. To represent to us this spiritual and heavenly bread Christ has instituted an earthly and visible bread as the sacrament of his body and wine as the sacrament of his blood. He did this to testify to us that just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink it in our mouths, by which our life is then sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Savior. We receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls.
Now it is certain that Jesus Christ did not prescribe his sacraments for us in vain, since he works in us all he represents by these holy signs, although the manner in which he does it goes beyond our understanding and is uncomprehensible to us, just as the operation of God’s Spirit is hidden and incomprehensible. Yet we do not go wrong when we say that what is eaten is Christ’s own natural body and what is drunk is his own blood– but the manner in which we eat it is not by the mouth but by the Spirit, through faith. In that way Jesus Christ remains always seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven– but he never refrains on that account to communicate himself to us through faith.
This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself to us with all his benefits. At that table he makes us enjoy himself as much as the merits of his suffering and death, as he nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of his flesh, and relieves and renews them by the drinking of his blood. Moreover, though the sacraments and thing signified are joined together, not all receive both of them. The wicked person certainly takes the sacrament, to his condemnation, but does not receive the truth of the sacrament, just as Judas and Simon the Sorcerer both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who was signified by it. He is communicated only to believers.
Finally, with humility and reverence we receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God’s people, as we engage together, with thanksgiving, in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, and as we thus confess our faith and Christian religion. Therefore no one should come to this table without examining himself carefully, lest “by eating this bread and drinking this cup he eat and drink to his own judgment.”[78] In short, by the use of this holy sacrament we are moved to a fervent love of God and our neighbors. Therefore we reject as desecrations of the sacraments all the muddled ideas and damnable inventions that men have added and mixed in with them. And we say that we should be content with the procedure that Christ and the apostles have taught us and speak of these things as they have spoken of them.
— Article 34, Belgic Confession (1561)
We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, he established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God’s church and set apart from all other people and alien religions, that we may be dedicated entirely to him, bearing his mark and sign.
It also witnesses to us that he will be our God forever, since he is our gracious Father. Therefore he has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this way he signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and also is seen on the body of the baptized when it is sprinkled on him, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally, in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God. This does not happen by the physical water but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharoah, who is the devil, and to enter the spiritual land of Canaan.
So ministers, as far as their work is concerned, give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives what the sacrament signifies– namely the invisible gifts and graces; washing, purifying, and cleansing our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving us true assurance of his fatherly goodness; clothing us with the “new man” and stripping off the “old,” with all its works.
For this reason we believe that anyone who aspires to reach eternal life ought to be baptized only once without ever repeating it– for we cannot be born twice. Yet this baptism is profitable not only when the water is on us and when we receive it but throughout our entire lives. For that reason we detest the error of the Anabaptists [rebaptizers – JMT] who are not content with a single baptism once received and who also condemn the baptism of the children of believers.
We believe our children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children. And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults. Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, just as the Lord commanded in the law that by offering a lamb for them the sacrament of the suffering and death of Christ would be granted them shortly after their birth. This was the sacrament of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, baptism does for our children what circumcision did for the Jewish people. That is why Paul calls baptism the “circumcision of Christ.”
— Article 34, Belgic Confession (1561)
We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.
– Article 33, Belgic Confession (1561)
I believe we must strive for consistency and continuity in life and doctrine. Yet so many of us are inconsistent. In some churches baptized children are not permitted to eat and drink communion until they can give a credible profession of faith. In other churches children are not permitted to receive baptism — much less take communion — until they can give a credible profession of faith.
And then there’s New Hope. In our church all the children — baptized and unbaptized — of believing parents are encouraged to eat and drink the covenant meal (almost) as soon as they are able to eat solid food and able to express simple, child-like faith in Jesus.*
Looking at these matters in the light of covenant grace has given me a sacramentality — water, bread, and wine seem (always) to be on my mind. Here are a few questions that are brewing in my heart and mind.
If we believe it is right and good to bring our children to the table to receive grace, why don’t we bring them to the font to receive grace at baptism?
If we believe the simple and basic faith of our children is sufficient for them to commune with the body and blood of Christ, why don’t we believe it is sufficient for them to be washed with water through the word of Christ?
If we believe that baptism and the Lord’s supper were instituted by Christ as means of grace for his people, why do we encourage our children to receive one and discourage them from receiving the other?
Between baptism and the Lord’s supper, which one is greater — and which one carries the weightier consequences?
My main concerns and interests here are about the life, doctrine, and worship of one particular congregation — New Hope — not every other congregation out there. While we continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is working in us to will and act according to his good pleasure, we need more wisdom and understanding from the Spirit and the word of God.
* Parental discretion is advised.
The Passover Meal foreshadowed the Lord’s Supper. Under the old covenant(s) all the members of covenant households were commanded to eat the passover meal together. Likewise, it seems fitting that all members of new covenant households should eat the Lord’s supper together–provided the family members are baptized, able to eat solid food, and capable of understanding the basic meaning of the covenant meal. As scripture says, “We must keep the festival for Christ our paschal lamb has been slain.”
Under the old covenant foreigners, aliens, and uncircumcised males were prohibited from eating Passover. The same rule applies in the Lord’s supper. No covenant outsiders (whether unbelievers or unbaptized persons) should be permitted to eat the bread or drink the wine. The table of Christ is for the members of his covenant community.
Covenant members are marked with the covenant sign. The covenant sign under the Law was circumcision. Now, under the Gospel, it is baptism.
Circumcision foreshadowed Baptism. Jewish households were marked by circumcision. That meant they were covenant households. All the males adults and children, from the least to the greatest, bore the sign of the covenant in their bodies. Likewise, Christian households should be marked by baptism. All the family members, male and female, from the least to the greatest, should be marked with the sign of the new covenant. (Otherwise they are not covenant households.)
Under the old covenant(s) no uncircumcised male was counted as a covenant member. Likewise, under the new covenant no unbaptized person is considered a member of the covenant community.
Covenant Baptism. All Israel were baptized into Moses and the Law of Works. All were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all (men, women, and children) were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. We were baptized into Christ and the Gospel of Grace. For by one Spirit we were baptized into one body and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Here are a few sketches from a recent tabletalk at Java Ranch. We were discussing the Mosaic Covenant from Exodus 12-14.
1. Passover – God established the Jewish calendar on the Passover Event. It marked a new beginning.
2. Households – The paschal lamb was sacrificed for the whole family. All covenant members from oldest to youngest who were able to eat solid food ate the passover meal. The covenant meal was/is also a community meal, not to be taken in isolation. Individualistic worship was prohibited.
3. Paschal lamb – A male without defect or blemish. The lamb represented the Lord Jesus Christ (the true paschal lamb that was sacrificed for the sins of God’s people, 1 Cor. 5:9). It was slaughtered and the blood was painted on doorframes of house with hyssop. The flesh was roasted over fire. This conjures up images of the Lamb of God enduring the fury of wrath and “descending into hell” (Apostles’ Creed) for our sins.
4. Signs and Symbols – Blood (12:13); circumcision (12:48); unleavened bread (13:9); redeem firstborn son (13:16). All these signs and symbols point to Christ Jesus.
5. Catechesis – Fathers are commanded to catechize (instruct) their children, to teach them the word of God and explain what it means. Explain the meaning of the festivals such as Passover (12:26-27), Unleavened Bread (13:8), Consecration (13:14-15). A good Question and Answer catechism encourages a living conversation between fathers and children.
6. Crossing the Red Sea – The Israelites were baptized in water (cloud and Red Sea) into Moses unto salvation. The Egyptians were baptized in the same water unto destruction. What was the difference? One was water-baptized along with the Holy Spirit (as symbolized by the strong wind) and the other was not (1 Cor. 10:1-3; 12:13).
Note: Water-baptism is a human responsibility; Spirit-baptism is divine sovereignty and responsibility. We cannot cause ourselves or anyone else to be Spirit-baptized. That work is performed by God alone; it is God’s prerogative to give the gift or not.
7. Wasteland – God was not pleased with the majority of the Israelites who escaped Egypt and were baptized into Moses. Many Israelites were unbelievers before baptism (Exo. 14:10-12) and continued to be unbelievers after baptism (Exo. 15:24; 16:2-3; 17:2-3). Many Israelites were just baptized unbelievers, aka “Egyptians-at-heart,” and they perished in the wasteland without faith. God was not pleased with them because they did not believe him. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
8. Apostasy and Warnings – All Israel experienced the power of God, tasted the spiritual food and drink, and shared life together in covenant community, yet many fell away and persished in unbelief. They walked by sight not by faith. Those who perished were Hebrews-on-the-surface, but Egyptians-at-heart. They were Jews outwardly but not inwardly.
A biblical principle states: not all national Israel are true spiritual Israel. Likewise, not all the water-baptized are Spirit-baptized; not all “christians” are true christians. Do not presume on God’s grace. If you think you are standing firm, take heed lest you fall (1 Cor.10:11-13).
9. Sacraments – The covenant sign and covenant meal create family solidarity.
Circumcision foreshadowed Baptism. Jewish covenant households were marked by circumcision. All the males from the least to the greatest bore the sign of the covenant in their bodies. Christian covenant households should be marked by baptism. All the family members, male and female, from the least to the greatest, should be marked with the sign of the new covenant. No uncircumcised male was a covenant member under the old covenant, and no unbaptized person is a covenant member under the new covenant.
Note: Abraham and all the males in his household from the least to the greatest were circumcised. Those who were not were counted as covenant-breakers. According to Paul, all Israel from the least to the greatest were baptized into Moses (1 Cor. 10:1-3). And Paul himself baptized whole households wherever he established churches (1 Cor. 1:14-16; 16:15).
The Passover Meal foreshadowed the Lord’s Supper. Since old covenant households were commanded to eat the passover meal together, it seems fitting that all members new covenant households should eat the Lord’s supper together provided they are (1) able to eat solid food (2) able to believe the gospel (3) able to examine themselves (4) able to perceive Christ in the supper (5) baptized. As scripture says, “We must keep the festival for Christ our paschal lamb has been slain.”
Foreigners, aliens, and uncircumcised males were prohibited from eating Passover. The same rule applies to the Lord’s supper. No covenant outsiders (unbelievers and unbaptized persons) should be permitted to eat the bread or drink the wine because they are not in fellowship with Christ the Lord.
While doing a comparative study of Ephesians 2:1-9 and Colossians 2:11-14 (the texts are very similar in style and structure) I got side-tracked thinking about a phrase that appears in Colossians 2.
The text reads:
“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The phrase that grabbed my attention is the circumcision of Christ. I happened to be reading the text in a new-to-me translation and that phrase leaped off the page.
The ESV simply translates the Greek phrase τῇ περιτομῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ into English as “the circumcision of Christ.” The NIV interprets the phrase as the “circumcision done by Christ.”
After comparing several translations my curiosity was aroused. I wondered what Paul actually meant by the enigmatic phrase, so I started thinking, conversing, and reading about it—comparing one thing with another. What follows are some of my notes and thoughts on the circumcision of Christ.
Here is a brief run down of what I consider to be possible explanations or theories. Each theory has its strong points and weak points, but none does violence to the gospel.
The first is what I call the spiritual circumcision theory. It states that the circumcision of Christ refers to circumcision of the heart, the spiritual circumcision performed by the Spirit of Christ in the heart of believers.
The second is the Christian baptism theory. It states that the circumcision of Christ refers to Christian water-baptism.
The third is the crucifixion theory. It states that the circumcision of Christ refers to the actual crucifixion experienced by Jesus Christ.
Writing about the cultural influence of Renaissance individualism, Allen Guelzo observed:
I suspect our difficulty in answering the question [of who should be baptized] stems less from a lack of biblical evidence and more from an inability to recognize that evidence when we see it, chiefly because our ways of thinking have changed so drastically from the ways of thinking natural to the authors of the New Testament, something which applies especially to the way we think about the family. Our difficulty in understanding the New Testament’s answer to this question is not one of theology, but history, and only if we can get this mental blockage out of our way, then the answer to the question,”who are the proper subjects of baptism?” will, in large measure, take care of itself.
Consequently, if God continues to deal with us as families in his covenant, then we need to give some very serious consideration to what we are doing if we leave our children unbaptized. We are not leaving them free to exercise their own free choice in a democratic universe. Instead, we are forcing them to break God’s covenant; we are depriving them of what they have a legitimate right to; and we are making them to be covenant-breakers in the eyes of God.
(Quoted by Robert R. Booth, Children of the Promise, pp. 149-150)
JMT 