Baptism: Entrance into the Society of Christ

Come Ye Sinners

Come ye sinners poor and needy

Weak and wounded sick and sore

And Jesus ready stands to save you

Full of pity love and power

 Come Ye Sinners

Come ye thirsty come and welcome

God’s free bounty glorify

True belief and true repentance

Every grace that brings you nigh

 Come Ye Sinners

I will arise and go to Jesus

He will embrace me in His arms

In the arms of my dear Savior

oh, there are ten thousand charms

 Come Ye Sinners

Come ye weary, heavy-laden

Lost and ruined by the fall

If you tarry until you’re better

You will never come at all

 Come Ye Sinners

I will arise and go to Jesus

He will embrace me in His arms

In the arms of my dear Savior

oh, there are ten thousand

Baptism: Entrance into the Society of Christ
 Cohort/Reading
Discussion

• Discuss this week’s reading (Baptism, by Gregg

Allison). What did you learn? What questions do
you have?
Introducing the Sacraments
and Ordinances
• The ordinances are the means by which the church rehearses and practices
the salvific events of the Kingdom of God
• Catholicism and Sacramental Theology
• Defining Sacrament:
• Ex opera operato = from the work worked
• The 7 Sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance,
marriage, holy orders, & last rights
• How does one receive grace in sacramental theology?
• The Protestant Corrective
• The 2 Ordinances of the Church
• Baptism = Invitation
• Lord’s Supper = Perseverance
 Baptism
• Defining Baptism:
• βαπτίζω (baptizo): wash ceremonially for
purpose of purification, wash, purify; to use
water in a rite for purpose of establishing a
relationship with God, plunge, dip, wash,
baptize.
• Covenant Initiation
 Baptism in the New
Testament
• Judaism and Proselyte
Baptism
• John the Baptist
• Old Testament Typology
& Baptism in the New
Testament
• The Exodus
• Circumcision
• The flood
 Baptism in the Early
Church

• Baptism was the most

meaningful event in the life of
a Christian
• Baptismal Catechesis
 “Concerning baptism, baptize as follows: after you have reviewed all
these things [with those who are about to be baptized], baptize “in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” in running
water. But if you have no running water, then baptize into some other
water; and if you are not able to baptize in cold water, then do so in
warm. But if you have neither, then pour water upon the head three times
“in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.” And before the
baptism, let the one baptizing and the one who is to be baptized fast, as
well as any others who are able. Also, you must instruct the one who is to
be baptized to fast one or two days beforehand.”

–The Didache
 The Turn to Paedo
Baptism
• Baptism expands and replaces circumcision
(Abrahamic covenant)
• Infants share in the covenant promises of God
• In Catholicism & Eastern Orthodoxy it removes
the stain of original sin
• Mixed community
 The Key Beliefs of Credo
Baptism

• The imperative to baptize

• Repentance and faith
precedes baptism
• Supported by the history of
the early church
Questions
 Cohort Discussion

• Do you think you could present a case for infant

baptism in a way that infant baptizers would
recognize?
• How would you teach a paedo-baptist the credo-
baptist position? What Scripture would you use?
What theological assertions would you make?
 Baptismal Confession
Leader: Do you renounce the Devil and all the spiritual
forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

All: I renounce them.

Leader: Do you renounce the empty promises and deadly

deceits of this world which corrupt and destroy the
creatures of God?

All: I renounce them.

Leader: Do you renounce the sinful desires of the flesh that

draw you from the love of God?

All: I renounce them.

 Baptismal Confession
Leader: Let us profess the rule of our
faith
We believe in God, the Father Almighty
Creator of heaven and earth
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only son,
our Lord,
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day, he rose again,
and ascended to the right hand of the
Father,
from where he will come again
to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
 The Mode and Meaning(s)
of Baptism
• Mode
• Immersion
• Pouring
• Sprinkling
• Meaning
• Identified with God
• Identified in a community
• Identified with Christ
• Identified as cleansed
• Identified as escaping
judgment
 Baptism and the Drama of
Redemption

• Who is acting in baptism?

• The convert
• The community
• The Triune God
The Symbolic Significance
of Baptism

• An enactment of the gospel

• Union with Christ
• Transfer of loyalties
• Reception of the Holy Spirit
 Baptism, Rehearsal, and
Eschatological Orientation
• Baptism orients us to the fall and reminds us of who we are in
Adam
• Baptism orients us to the work of Christ and assures us of his
work on our behalf
• Baptism orients us to the gift of the Spirit and God’s dwelling
among us
• Baptism allows us to practice the truths of the gospel with our new
family, the church
• Baptism allows us to rehearse the true story of the word and helps
us to reject the false stories of the world
• Baptism orients us eschatalogically to the coming Kingdom of
God. We remember forward.
The Powerful Testimony of
Baptism

• The story of Victorinus and Augustine

• Cultivating a spiritual life around baptism
• Consider how you identification in the
humiliation of Christ may be used powerfully in
someone else’s life?
Quesions/Discussion
 Cohort Discussion

• What truth signified in baptism (e.g. forgiveness

of sin, reception of the Spirit, resurrection, union
with Christ, new ethical life, etc.) is especially
significant to you?
• Which truth signified do you often de-emphasize
that you need to remember? How does it remind
you of God’s goodness to you in the gospel?