Galatians 3:10-14

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for The righteous shall live by faith.  But the law is not of faith, rather The one who does them shall live by them.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

I recently read a comment on a blog (that blog escapes me at the moment, but I have a summary written down–not good academic form–I know) that people of certain religions need to get over elements of their history.  It was something along the lines of “Muslims need to get over the crusades, Jews need to get over the holocaust and Christians need to get over the crucifixion”.  I was aghast at the misunderstanding of the crucifixion of Christ.  You see, we do not look at it as a someone who became a martyr, but as one who voluntarily offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and proved victorious by His resurrection.  You see, at the very heart and soul of the Christians faith is Christ crucified and Christ risen and Christ returning.  This, what theologians call the “Christ event” is what we, or at least what we are supposed to, celebrate, contemplate and be instructed about when we gather for Christian worship.  It is this that is to be the center of the Christian faith.  Why?  Because there is no other way that one is accepted by God but by Christ.  We who have been found by Christ, are celebrating all that we have been given.  We are strengthened in it that we might declare it to others so that they too, might be found by Christ and enter into right relations with God.

Christ did what no other could do: he satisfied God’s wrath against our sin in His death and by His resurrection, He was openly declared to be son of God.  In His return, He shall come to bring the blessed hope of the resurrection to His people. No pastor, priest, rituals or anything you’ve done can absolve you of your sin.  It is only by looking to Christ through the eyes of faith that we enter into right standing with God.  We’ve seen that good works can’t do it and that we can’t muster it, only God can provide it and this is why: the Christ event.  We are helplessly lost in sin without Christ.

At the center of our Christian lives and at the center of life in our churches, ought to be Christ.  We cannot place a dynamic speaker, good musicians, our felt needs, programs or even our families in this place.  We gather around Christ and none other because He is our saviour who has rescued us.  In quests for effectiveness, we often diminish the centrality of Christ in the name of programs, methodology and even the wordsmithing of a preacher.  What I mean by the last is this, as an example, Good Shepherd Community Church is not “Mark’s church” or “Jeff’s church”–she is Christ’s church.  As pastors, it is not our job to sell anyone anything, to put on a show or have the weight of the entire church rest upon us, rather it is our job to, in essence, get people to look at Him.  If they remember me, I have failed, but if they remember Christ whether they remember me or not, I have succeeded.  At the center of the Christian faith is Christ–and none other.  I leave you with the words from a song by Charlie Bancroft written about 140 years ago that is still sung to this day.  It is a great summary of Solus Christus as well as Protestant theology.  I’ll then close with the thoughts from the Cambridge Declaration.

Before the Throne of God Above (Charlie Bancroft, 1863)

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea.  A great high Priest whose Name is Love who ever lives and pleads for me.  My name is graven on His hand, my name is written on His heart.  I know that while in Heaven He stands no tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of my guilt within, upward I look and see Him there who made and end of all my sin.  Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.  For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.

Behold him there the risen Lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable I AM, the King of glory and of grace, one in Himself I cannot die.  My soul is purchased by His blood, my life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my Savior and my God.

From the Cambridge Declaration:

As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision.

We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.

We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.

May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering,

Pastor Mark

And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.  Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved… (Acts 16:29-31)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:1-8)

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed.  So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for The righteous shall live by faith.  But the law is not of faith, rather The one who does them shall live by them.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1-14)

Of all the issues raised by Luther, and the other reformers, it is the truth of justification (for simplicity’s sake, being acceptable to God) by faith without the aid or contribution of good works that aroused the anger of the powers that were.  It is precisely the recovery of this Biblical truth that injected a newfound vitality, zeal and fervency into the churches that were influenced by the reformers and their prodigies.

Exactly what is Sola Fide, or faith alone.  It is simply this, as seen in the scriptures above: one gains entrance into eternal bliss in God’s presence by being justified (a declaration of righteousness) on the basis of faith without merit.  This justification is not earned, it is a gift of God’s grace, and one is connected to that grace solely by faith.  It is Christ’ righteousness that justifies us and faith connects us with that Christ.

I have cited three texts from the New Testament that testify to this.  In the first one, from Acts 16, Paul and Silas has been imprisoned for their preaching of the gospel.  An earthquake had come and destroyed the prison, yet the duo did not attempt to escape.  The jailer had heard them singing and praising God while they were imprisoned.  After discovering that they had not escaped, the jailer asked the two, “What shall I do to be saved?”  Paul did not respond with “confess to a Priest”, “do this and do that”, “walk forward when the pastor makes the altar call”, or “pray this little prayer”.  He responded with “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and all your household.”  It was simply on the basis of faith that this man would be saved.

In the second scripture, the apostle (under divine inspiration) shows us that this doctrine is not anything new to the New Testament era.  Abraham “believed God and it was credited to Him into righteousness”.  This event that Paul is referring to is found in Genesis 15.  God gave Abraham a promise, he believed that promise, and God called him righteous because of that.  This was before he was circumcised or did any good work.  It was not a wage, but a gift.   It is the same with us.  God will regard us as righteous, because of His son, solely on the grounds of faith

In the third instance, from Galatians, Paul makes it clear why it can only be by faith, particularly in vv. 10-14.  You see, if you rely on the law (your own efforts to merit God’s favor and to be accepted by Him) you are under a curse, because for you to do this, you must never, never, never fail at even the smallest point.  No amount of penance, good works or sacrifice can undo failure in one point.  God is infinitely holy so even a “finite” offense is infinite in light of that.  As we saw yesterday, this is not something we can do–we are sinners who sin and need someone outside of ourselves to bring us life and rescue us.  That curse, the curse of being under God’s wrath, was absorbed by Christ Jesus such that all who look to Him by faith shall enjoy this freedom.  He became a substitute for all who would look unto Him.  To declare that I can add to what Christ did by my own efforts or merits not only downplays the glory of His voluntary sacrifice, but is downright blasphemous as it says, in essence, that we can do better than God.

What is this faith?  Well, God gave Abraham a promise, and because he believed it, be placed his confidence not in himself, but in God who saves.  That is faith, it is placing our confidence and hope in Him and not ourselves, and even that faith is a gift that comes from God.  William Carey summed it up on his gravestone, “A wretched, poor and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall”.

As evangelicals, we are guilty, in some ways, of denying this great truth.  Often, one is not regarded as “saved” until they have performed some sort of act, such as a “sinner’s prayer”, going forward after the sermon and such.  In fact, in some places–especially here in the Bible belt–these acts are almost rites of coming of age and not a looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.  Requiring such things of people to be saved is a salvation by works.  While one might express their faith in such a way, such things must never, never, never be preached as required for one to be saved.  All one must do is place confidence in Him, and cease striving, and then he (or she of course) shall be given eternal life, righteousness, sanctification, glorification and be called an heir of God in Christ–a son of God.  It’s true, it offends the pride of mankind as we “want to make our own way”, but that is one reason it sounds as foolishness.  We must not be ashamed of that foolishness, but embrace it, for the foolishness of God is far greater than the wisdom of the wisest man.    Justification by faith apart from works is not something that is optional, for without it, we shall fall as our confidence will be in ourselves.

I leave you with the thoughts from the Cambridge Declaration:

We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice.

We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

^“1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

In the above passage, from Ephesians 2:1-10, a word and the idea behind that word are repeated a number of times.  That word is grace.  One of the issues raised during the Reformation was how one comes about to be acceptable to God.  The reigning understanding of the day involved something called the “via moderna” (the modern way).  What this was that God had grace to give to people, however, they had to merit that grace.  Sure, there was initial grace that gave the ability in one to cooperate with God so as to merit the further graces necessary to become acceptable to God.  It ultimately meant that one had to merit God’s favor to be assured of eternal bliss.  In this understanding, grace makes possible our salvation.  In order for one to receive grace, he or she had to take the first step on their own, regardless of how big or small.  Once that step is taken, God will grant grace.

However, the scripture above paints a different picture.  It paints the human condition as one that is dead and under God’s wrath.  It paints a picture of humankind as those who being dead, need someone outside of themselves to bring them life, to bring us out of a state of being “dead in sin” and “being under God’s wrath”.  The first few verses paint a rather bleak picture.  However, in verse 5, we see the answer, “But God”.  Because of His great mercy, he made us alive together in Christ Jesus.  It also says that “by grace you have been saved”.  Notice the language of the the text.  It says that by grace, the Ephesians had entered into a state of possessing salvation from God.  It was not merely made possible, but granted freely because of his mercy.  Take note of the one doing the working in the passage: it is God in his mercy found in Christ Jesus.  Our working is not found until verse 10, and then as a response to the salvation we possess.

Again, in v. 8-9 we have an oft quoted passage of scripture.  ”By grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God, and not by works so that no one can boast”.  This passage leaves no room for a person to boast in his cooperation with God, in their merit or in anything they have done.  The only boast is in the grace of God.  All of salvation, the grace behind it and the faith by which we believe, is all a gift of God.  And a gift, to be a gift, must be unmerited.  If it is merited, it is no longer a gift but a reward.  By grace, one is granted new life, receives justification (right standing with God), the gift of the Holy Spirit, and assurance of eternal life.  This gift is dispensed by God Himself through the person of the Holy Spirit and is in connection with the the Gospel being spoken to the one being saved.

What about merit, what about good works, you may ask?  Isaiah says that our deeds are as filthy rags.  Why would this be? It is because they are tainted with sin.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 51 that “in sin I was conceived” and can be applied universally, and therefore we are filthy and unfit regardless of how many good works we might do or how good we might try to live to stand in God’s presence in heaven.  Someone else needs to merit it for us.  That person was Christ Jesus: son of God and God the Son.  He lived the perfect life demanded by the Law, and died a death reserved for criminals and rose from the dead.  He absorbed God’s wrath against the sin of His people thereby, by His life and death, merited salvation for all who would look to Him.  I won’t go any further into this so as not to steal my own thunder for when I get to Solus Christus.  As for good works, God has given good works for His people to do, but not to merit his salvation, but to bring Him honor and to express our thankfulness for His great gift.  Because of our sinfulness, someone else has to save us.

As for the current milieu of things, there are many lessons to be learned from this historical outlook.  First, it is a reminder that it is only by the grace of God that anyone can be accepted by God.  You have no boast, and if you think you do, I urge you to turn to God.

Many american Protestant Evangelicals, with regards to this, have lost our way.  We give lip service to grace alone, but will not often be consistent with it.  We will often hear of people exalting how creative someone is in winning people to Christ.  We will often start trusting our creativity more than we do the mighty grace of God.  Our methods often become the perceived means by which someone comes to Christ and often all sorts of things are done that contradict the scriptures.  I will leave with the following thoughts from the Cambridge Declaration:

Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches.

God’s grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.

We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.

Sola Gratia,

Mark Bahr

492 years ago, on October 31, a young German monk posted a document on the door of the church building in a small town known as Wittenberg. The sound of the nails being pounded to that door were heard around the world and are still heard to this day. That monk was none less than Martin Luther and that document was the 95 Theses.

The publication of that document by the Guttenberg press created a firestorm of controversy and launched a new movement. That movement became known as the Protestant Reformation.

While others before Luther had laid the foundation, it was not until this time that he and other contemporaries, such as Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, served as catalysts to launch this great Reformation.

In remembrance of that day and these men, I will be posting, starting tomorrow, a daily post on one of each of the Solas of the Reformtion. They are:

Sola Gratia: Grace alone
Sola Fide: Faith alone
Solus Christus: In Christ alone
Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone
Soli Deo Gloria: to God alone the glory

I will go in that order. Check back daily.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Mark

Pastor Mark

One of my favorite Christian documents to read (outside the Bible of course), is the Heidelberg Catechism.  It was published in 1563 and is contemporary with another great Protestant catechism (it was Luther, by the way, who put out the first catechism–a Protestant), the Westminster.  I enjoy reading both (along with Luther’s), but the Heidelberg is by far my favorite (Founders Ministries has a “baptized” version now–even better!)  While it has much of the same content as the Westminster, it has a different concern.  The Heidelberg, while doctrinally rigorous and thoroughly orthodox, is designed with a great devotional quality.

For example, the first question is “What is your only comfort in life and in death?”  With the answer being:

“That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.”

While it addresses the same concerns as the Westminster, it approaches the same ideas from a different angle.  One might say that it is filled not only with orthodoxy (straight glory–aka right teaching), but also Doxology (a word of glory-”worship”) in which the student is focused not only on the doctrine but is brought into a sense of awe and thankfulness to God.

It is this kind of response that the Heidelberg drew out of me last Thursday night at my home Bible study.  We’re at the end of the third and final section of the catechism (the life of gratitude) dealing with prayer.  I was barely able to maintain my composure as I taught this lesson as I was so awestruck with the goodness of God.  It is these thoughts I wish to convey in this post.

Question 116 asks us: “Why do Christians need to pray?”  The first part of the answer is “Because prayer is the most important part of th thankfulness God requires of us”.  Up until this point, we had been going through why the Christian needs to be obedient and what that looks like (vis a vis the 10 Commandments) to show our gratitude for the great gift that we have been given.  I initially did not agree with the statement in my preparation, until I thought through Romans 1 where an indictment is laid on the human race because we refused to acknowledge or give thanks to our creator but gave it to that which was created instead.  It struck me, that in prayer, we not only show our thanksgiving–we say our thanksgiving.   How many of you feel a gift is unappreciated if they use it and do nice things for, but never say “thank you”.  Exactly!  It is in this, that our ultimate demonstration of thankfulness to God for His goodness is shown–we express our thanks with words.

Now, that is just the beginning.  Let’s take a look at a couple of scriptures that the Heidelberg references.  We have Psalm 50:14-15 and Psalm 116:12-19.  The latter we say about every other communion service at our church, and I hadn’t noticed the implication (all references taken from the ESV–verse numberings removed for readability).

Psalm 50:14-15

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

Psalm 116:12-19

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?  I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.  Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.  O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.  I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.  Praise the LORD!

Take notice what has been emphasized.  Psalm 50 is a command to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and to perform your vows, and Psalm 116 is has to do with what shall we (I) render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward us (me).

It hit me like a lead brick that a major aspect of our expressing gratitude has not only to do with saying thank you, but asking the Lord to show you more benefits.  The Psalmist says, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord (OT Speak for saying to God–HELP!) and again says (from God’s point of view), and call upon me in the day of trouble. If we are grateful to God for His goodness, of course we mush say and show our thankfulness, but equally so, we express it by asking Him to continue to take care of us!  To ask him for His care is no burden to God, but a delight for Him!  Peter exhorts his readers to “cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.”  God cares for His children and it is of great glory to Him when we show that our confidence is in Him and not in ourselves.  I remember many years ago I ran into some trouble and tried to get myself out of it (college student credit cards).  When my mother found out, she was not mad at me for getting into trouble, she was hurt that I didn’t ask her for help.  As Jim Eliff says, “God delights to vindicate the confidences of His children”.

There is no shame in having to ask God for help.  In fact, to not ask for help is to deny God the thanks that is due to Him.  It’s not a trouble to Him nor does it weary Him.  In fact, we do a great honor to Him when we set out to show that we depend upon Him and Him alone.  It’s not that this was new to me, it’s that I believe I had forgotten that truth and put it on the back-burner in favor of other things.  I was delighted to be reminded of this and pray that I (and our church), will keep this ever before us.

I close the story of George Meuller.  Mr. Meuller was famous for the orphanages he had set up.  Children were taken care of and the gospel was preached to them.  He was equally famous for his way of financially supporting the ministry–the only person he ever once asked for help from was God.  It was through prayer that He set out to see that this orphanage would succeed.  D.L. Moody once inquired of Mueller how he raised all the money and talked about his own endeavors and ingenious ways of raising the funds for supporting his minsitry.  Mueller responded by simply saying, I pray.

However, as Jim Eliff points out, he did not start an orphanage simply for the purpose of starting an orphanage.  He wanted to start it in order to demonstrate the sufficiency of God and that our confidence need only be in Him.  You see, he wanted to show the world that Yahweh indeed God.  And looking back, we see that God did demonstrate himself.

I leave with this challenge, when things come our way, whether they be calamities, challenges or new opportunities, let us be sure that we thank God for his goodness to us, by saying it, living well, and also by making prayer our first resort, not the “if all else fails” fallback we often treat it as.  Remember, “cast your cares upon Him, for he cares for you.”

Pastor Mark Bahr

Good Shepherd Community Church

July 27, 2009

Is infant baptism, so popular in many Christian denominations, a scriptural and wise practice? What does the Bible say about baptism? Who are the proper subjects of baptism, and how should baptism be administered?

First of all, let’s consider the “pros” of infant baptism; i.e., what is good or what might be the advantages of infant baptism. I believe one of the most positive aspects of this religious ceremony is not in the value or scripturalness of the ceremony itself, but the fact that it affords the opportunity for the parents to express their desire to bring their children into a relationship with God and his church. This is a highly commendable motivation on the part of the parents and of the church. What better desire could parents have for their children, than that they should be connected to God, have faith in God, and serve God! All Christian parents desire this for their children.

A second “pro” of the ceremony of infant baptism is that every time it is performed, it reminds (or it should remind) the people of that local congregation of their responsibility as the body of Christ to educate and raise the children within that congregation in the knowledge and service of the Lord.

So having looked at a couple of what can be positive aspects of infant baptism, let’s step back and consider infant baptism within the whole context of the Bible’s teaching on baptism. Here we will find there are some sharp incongruities between what the Bible teaches about baptism and the practice of infant baptism.

First of all, the thing that we first notice is that the scriptures teach us that baptism should be for believers only, not for infants. And baptism should be administered by total immersion in water, not simply sprinkling water on the head. We believe this because this was the way John the Baptist baptized people. John’s baptism took place at the Jordan River because he needed enough water in which to immerse people upon confession of their sins. Infants could not confess their sins, they didn’t understand the whole concept of sin, and they were not even old enough to talk! It was true then and it is true today.

The Lord Jesus was also baptized by John the Baptist, not because he had sins, but to identify with his people. Our Savior “went up from the water” (Matt. 3:16). This means he must have gone down into the water.

Other evidence from the New Testament confirms our belief in “believer’s baptism by immersion.” For example, when Philip explained to the Ethiopian eunuch the fact that Isaiah 53 was pointing to Christ and his sacrificial death for our sins, the evangelist must have also explained to him the importance and necessity of baptism by immersion, for when they passed a pool of water he asked Philip, “What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts. 8:37) The eunuch believed, and was ready for baptism. Had he only needed to be sprinkled, he would not have seen the importance of a pool of water.

The word “baptize” literally means “to immerse” or “to dip.” The Greek Orthodox church baptizes its people by immersion because they know that is what the word means. Unfortunately, they also baptize young children, which is unscriptural, but at least they are performing the practice in the right manner (that is, they do not just sprinkle water on the head of the one being baptized).

Infant baptism, although popular in several denominations, is a religious ceremony not found in the Bible. The clear and overwhelming evidence from the New Testament is that only believers were baptized, and they were baptized by immersion (Acts 2:38; 9:18; 19:5; Col. 2:12, etc.) Even when whole households are baptized (as that of Cornelius [Acts 10:44-48], Lydia [Acts 16:15] and the Philippian jailer [Acts 16:33]) it is always done in the context of preaching and believing the message by all those who were baptized. Some claim that among those baptized in these households there were infants, but infants are not capable of understanding and responding to the preached Word and therefore could not have qualified to be baptized.

The Word of God with its teaching and examples is our final authority in all matters of church belief and practice. Whenever the traditions of men come in conflict with the Word of God, the traditions of men must yield to the Word of God. Infant baptism is an ancient tradition in the church that may have been introduced in the third century. It was an integral part of Roman Catholicism at the time of the Reformation in the 1500’s. Unfortunately, some of the key Reformers, though they did much good in reviving the teaching of the true Word of God, were still blind to the fallacy of infant baptism. They did not discard this teaching of Roman Catholicism as they did with so many of the other unscriptural teachings of the Roman Church. Martin Luther and John Calvin are among those who tenaciously held on to this unfortunate practice. Historically we are indebted to the Anabaptists (the “re-baptizers”) during the Reformation period who saw the error of infant baptism and reinstituted the practice of believer’s baptism.

What are the “cons” of infant baptism? When we think about the Bible’s teaching on baptism and consider the practice of infant baptism, our evaluation leads us to draw some strong conclusions. We have to say that infant baptism is an erroneous and dangerous practice that should be rejected by all Bible believing churches and Christians. It should be forbidden in all Christian churches for the following reasons:

1)    It is not found in the Bible. There is not one clear text in the NT that demonstrates infant baptism. It is true that infant males were circumcised by the Jews in conformity to the Abrahamic covenant and in obedience to the law of Moses in the OT, but this was a sign of belonging to national Israel. The New Covenant sign of belonging to Christ through faith is baptism. It can only be received by those who have become members of the New Covenant through conscious repentance and faith in God through Jesus Christ. An infant cannot repent and believe, so it is impossible for an infant to become a member of the New Covenant.

2)    Infant baptism generates a false sense of security in the minds of those who practice it. Though some churches do contend that infant baptism is not salvific (saving), it still produces this false assurance that children are saved in the minds of many church members. Children can grow up thinking they are Christians when they may never have been regenerated. And parents may relax their exhortations to their children to repent of their sin and believe the gospel.

3)    Infant baptism fosters an unregenerate church membership. This is especially true in those denominations and churches that clearly declare baptized infants and children to be members of the body of Christ, the church. On the other hand, churches which practice believer’s baptism are less likely to receive unregenerate church members because those who are baptized have made a solemn profession of faith in Christ and are expected to grow as Christian disciples.

4)    Infant baptism often leads to the practice of allowing unregenerate children to receive Holy Communion. It is the responsibility of the church and its leaders to insure, as far as possible, that only believers partake of the Lord’s Supper. Unfortunately, allowing unregenerate children to receive Communion puts them in the dangerous position of receiving the bread and cup in an “unworthy manner” and become “guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” Why would we want to put children in this position?

Besides the fact that infant baptism cannot be found in the Bible, but also because it produces a false assurance of salvation, results in unregenerate church members, and often allows unregenerate children to receive Holy Communion, infant baptism should be rejected as contrary to the Word of God and dangerous to the spiritual well being of people and the integrity of the local church. This is not to say that all who practice infant baptism (sometimes we refer to them as paedo-baptists – “baby baptizers”) are themselves unregenerate or ineffective Christians. But they are in error on this point and are helping preserve an unscriptural and dangerous teaching which has caused untold damage to the church of God over the centuries.

Many churches who reject infant baptism (those who only baptize professing believers are sometimes referred to as “credo-baptists,” the word “credo” meaning “I believe”) also practice “infant dedication.” In this ceremony the baby is brought forward in the church service to be dedicated to the Lord. The minister and congregation then pray for the infant that he/she would grow to know and serve the Lord in the fellowship of the church. The parents are prayed for also, that they might have the wisdom to raise the child in the nurture of the Lord. So through this means some of the same positive effects that I mentioned above which can accompany infant baptism are instead generated through infant dedication, without the unbiblical practice of infant baptism.

Our responsibility as Christians, as people dedicated to the
authority of God’s Word, is to lay aside any religious teaching or tradition that is contrary to the Bible, and instead believe, practice, and teach what the Bible teaches, including the truth of believer’s baptism. We should pray and hope that those who have not yet understood the Biblical teaching of believer’s baptism by immersion will reexamine the Bible, think about these things, and embrace the scriptural teaching.

by Pastor Jeff Gregory
Good Shepherd Community Church Dallas, Texas
USA
www.gsccdallas.org
©2009

The evening message by Conrad Mbewe of Zambia was an exaltation of the righteousness of God.  It is because of the righteousness of God that He had to send Jesus Christ.  The righteousness of God ought to instill encouragement to faith and hope (he preached on Psalm 11) as it is that attribute that shows us that in the midst of a world full of injustice and unrighteousness, there is one who will vindicate that which is just and righteous!

Beyond the message, the fellowship here is great.  I’ve connected with a few brothers I’ve met at regional conferences as well as met some new ones.  I even got to meet one of the missionaries that our church supports who runs a seminary in India.  There are a number of pastors from churches that are considering joining FIRE as well as others who just wish to know what we are all about.  I’ll keep you updated as the conference progresses.

Pastor Mark

Anyway, the speakers had many challenging messages and they all seem to fit together.  John had two messages that really stuck out to me.  He preached from 1 Timothy 5-6 on our attitude towards money.  His main point was to be content with food, sustenance and shelter and consider the rest for advancement of the Kingdom of God.  He treated retirement (at least the way we typically understand it) as unbiblical.  He called upon churches and family to take care of their elderly.  He also urged us in another message to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit when we go out to serve him.  This is an experience that ought to be sought.  This is an idea that is not commonly heard in Reformed circles.

Luis Sena shook us up by challenging us on worldview issues.  He spoke on holistic missions and ministry.  He pointed us to the excluded middle and to make sure that we are exporting a Biblical gospel and not an American Gospel.

Paul Washer did a wonderful job pointing us to God.  We can serve God without seeking Him.  We can proclaim Him without knowing Him.  Christianity is about Him and knowing Him.  We ought not to ever lose our fascination with who and what God is.  Knowing Him is of upmost importance.  Let our proclamation and ministry be out of our overflow of our knowledge of Him.

Conrad Mbewe exalted the gospel of Christ and the Christ of the Gospel in a four part exposition of Romans 1:1-16.  Imperialism has a history of robbing people and nations of their dignity, resources and freedom.  Christian imperialism is the spread of the reign of God through proclaiming this glorious gospel.  Out of it peoples and nations will find freedom and their true dignity.  May we Christians not be afraid of such an idea and be bold in our proclamation.

I had great contacts and had several lunches with different people.  I had the opportunity to sit down and chat will all of the speakers.  I also met some people who have ministered with and are in cahoots with a man in Northeast India that Jeff has known for many years.  We have taught at that same institute.  It was a blessing meeting these new brethren and sitting under great teaching as well.  I look forward to the next one and hope to keep in contact with all of these brethren.

For the Lamb,

Pastor Mark

Adoniram Judson was the first missionary to leave the shores of America to carry the gospel to a pagan people. His goal in life was to translate the Bible into a tongue for a people who did not have the scriptures in their own language. His complementary goal was to see a church of 100 people raised up among this same people group. God in his grace enabled Judson to accomplish his personal goals and even more among the people of Burma. Since his departure from America soil in 1812, many thousands of missionaries have followed him in the ensuing years in the noble and God-honoring task of carrying Christ’s gospel to the four corners of the earth.

Judson was a very hardworking and single minded missionary, and God gave him an extraordinarily fruitful ministry. Yet the secret of his success did not rest ultimately in his linguistic skills nor in his focused dedication to the work. The success of Judson’s ministry and every other missionary’s ministry rests in the secret councils of God himself from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5). The simple biblical fact is that God saves sinners throughout the world because he has determined before the universe was created that he would save a people for his own name’s sake from among all the peoples of the earth.

Both Judson and Carey were Baptist Calvinists who believed in the electing grace of God. The doctrine of sovereign election teaches that God in love chose from before the foundation of the earth, out of the lost race of humanity, a special group of people upon whom he will have mercy by sending his Son to die for their sins on Calvary’s cross.1 The Bible teaches that the whole human race is guilty and deserves eternal punishment because every person without exception has pursued their own private agenda in life to the neglect and even rebellion against God and his holy will. Such self-centered, God-ignoring creatures deserve nothing but anger and wrath from the almighty God whom they have conveniently pushed aside in their headstrong pursuit for self-comfort and self-glory.

Every human being who was ever born has his feet and arms hopelessly entangled in the totally captivating net of his own sin. The all-consuming power of sin is actually a force within man that he is born with – he got it honestly – it was passed down from Adam. This first man created by God was the human race’s head and representative, whose rebellion and disobedience to God brought disaster down not only upon his own head, but upon the heads of all other humans descended from him (Romans 5: 12-21).

Such are the people we find in the world. They speak different languages, live on different continents, eat different food, and have different colors of skin, but their essential internal nature is absolutely the same wherever man is found. That internal nature, according to the Word of God, is pervasively (Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:21) and hopelessly (Eph. 2:17) corrupt, with absolutely no power or will to deliver itself from the chains of spiritual, moral, and intellectual defilement.

Yet Christ commanded us, the church, to take the gospel to the peoples of the earth, baptize those who believe, and disciple believers in all the will of Christ. What our Lord has called us to do is an impossible task. How can we, mere mortals, set men and women free from the chains of self-love and God-neglect and God-rebellion – especially when they are quite content to remain in that state and are not even aware that they are in any danger?

Is there anything we can do to help the situation? We can, thankfully, do something; we can go to them with the gospel. In fact, if we do not go to them with the gospel (or send our brethren with the gospel) there is no chance of them hearing of Christ who is their only hope. “How are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10:14). The scriptures teach that God ordains not only who will be saved but the means by which they will be saved, which is the preaching of the gospel.

It is the hearing of the gospel message that resonates in the minds and hearts of unbelievers and stimulates them, by the action of the Holy Spirit, to repent of their sins and believe in Christ. The amazing thing and the great encouragement to the missionary preacher is that the elect will respond to the gospel message! In fact, they will unfailingly respond at the appointed hour because God will so work within them that they will respond most willingly and gladly. This is the great promise of the Lord Jesus: “All that the Father gives me will come to me…” (John 6:37).

When the Paul and his companions entered Antioch of Syria on his first missionary journey they preached the good news of Christ and met with a mixed reaction by the population. Some believed and some rejected the message. What was it that made the difference? Luke, the author of Acts, tells us: “…as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” It was God’s ordination of his elect people that caused them to believe as the Holy Spirit worked within them (Titus 3:4-7). Later Paul and his brethren went to the Macedonian city of Philippi and preached the gospel to a group of women who met for prayer outside the city on a river bank. One of those who heard the message was Lydia, a seller of purple goods. “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14-15) and she was baptized. What was it that brought Lydia to faith in Christ? It was the Lord himself, who opened her heart. Could Paul have opened her heart? Not even with all his intellectual skill, biblical knowledge and persuasive power could even the great apostle have done spiritual surgery on this woman. All Paul could do was to preach the gospel and pray and wait to see whose hearts were opened.

Every missionary today, every Christian who shares the gospel with his neighbor or family member or co-worker, is in the same situation as Paul was that day on the river bank outside of Philippi. There is only so much we can do, but what we do is essential. We declare the gospel with all the accuracy and sensitivity and persuasion we can use. But then ultimately it is all up to the electing grace of God. If God has set his love upon that person, he or she will come mostly gladly in the day of salvation. That person will not fail to come; because God has ordained his or her salvation in his eternal councils. This is the great hope and confidence of the missionary.

It is because the spiritual deadness of man is so real, and his ability to believe and repent so impossible because of his captivity to sin, that the only thing that can bring life where there is spiritual death is the intervening, initiating grace of God to sinners who merit absolutely nothing from God. If there is one thing that can be said about a lost sinner in any culture it is this: without the sovereign mercy of God, that person has no hope. He cannot free himself from his spiritually dead condition; he does not even want to free himself. The Holy Spirit must show him his sin and the beauty of the Savior and break his stubborn will and give him the desire to flee most needfully to Christ.

When Paul began his gospel preaching ministry in the pagan Greek city of Corinth he met with a time of discouragement and fear. But the Lord came to him in a vision one night and said, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking…for I have many in this city who are my people.” Here again, God had a plan to save these people and he was using Paul to carry to fruition his plan. The electing grace of God had come to particular people in the city of Corinth whom God had set his love upon (Rom. 8:29-30) from long ago.

When the Lord enables us to understand his scriptures regarding the doctrine of election, it is a great encouragement to the missionary. It gives him confidence that God will call out his people. God’s purposes will go forth. He has ordained the salvation of a great multitude from “every tribe and language and people and nation” who are ransomed (purchased) by the blood of his Son (Rev. 5:9). As we are sensitive to the Spirit and the leading of God, we can go and be used of God to call his people out of darkness into the light of his Son. Without the electing grace of God, the missionary enterprise would never see one true convert. But because he has elected a people for his name’s sake, we can go forth in hopeful and trusting anticipation that God will use us to bring his own people to himself through faith in his Son. Is the truth of election important? It is what gives the missionary hope and confidence that his preaching is not in vain and that in due time God will use the message delivered to create saving faith in the hearers whom God has loved from before the creation of the world.

-by Jeff Gregory

1 Wayne Grudem’s definition of election: “Election is an act of God before in creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.” p. 670, Systematic Theology.