Category: Ordinances

Detailing Our Practice of the Lord’s Supper

Posted on by Brian Mahon

Well, we’ve arrived! In this last post of our series, I want to simply detail how we will practice the Lord’s Supper in the context of our corporate worship.

  1. We will practice the Supper just after the sermon. The preacher will close the sermon in prayer, then lead into our family ‘meal.’
  2. He (or perhaps another one of our pastors) will give a biblical description of the Lord’s Supper according to much of what we have tried to detail about it in these posts. Together, we want to feel the gravity and gladness of this ordinance.
  3. He will then ‘fence’ the table. Again, here’s how I will do this: ‘This meal is for (1) believers who have been (2) baptized (upon their profession of faith in Christ) and are (3) members (4) in good-standing with this local church or another Gospel-believing local church.’ I will then add a word to the unbeliever or any believer not fitting that description. To the unbeliever, that word is simply to come to Christ. This meal may pass you by, but don’t let Christ pass you by, etc. To the believer, it’s trickier but, essentially, that word is to bring your profession of faith into full obedience to the Word of Christ concerning (1) baptism, (2) membership, and/or (3) manner of life.
  4. At this point, in order to capture the celebratory nature of this ordinance, I will invite the musicians to come up. They will receive their portion of the bread and cup from those administering the Supper. They will then go to their instruments, and they will lead us in a song suitable to the Supper.
  5. When they begin to lead us in song, you may come as you are ready to receive your portion of the bread and cup. Most songs last at least 4 and half minutes, so if you’d like to sit a minute to reflect upon all the things detailed about Christ and His grace towards you, about your present life and relations in the church, etc., that would be the time to do it. Note, we will also remind you ‘week-of’ that we will be practicing the Lord’s Supper and to get your heart in order, so to speak.
  6. When you are ready, you may come forward, singing with joy in the Lord as you come!, take the elements, and return to your seat. Do not consume the elements yet! We will do that together as a show of our unity in Christ. In fact, once the song is over, the Supper-leader will read from one of the Last Supper accounts.
  7. When he does this, we will, in turn, take the bread and, then, the cup together.
  8. The Supper-leader will pray.
  9. We will close in final song. On ‘Lord’s Supper Sundays,’ the order of service will shift a bit. Really, the only difference is that we will sing 3 songs before the sermon instead of 4. The fourth song will be the song we sing during the Lord’s Supper. Our closing song will be our typically fifth and final song.

THE END

Looking forward to taking the Lord’s Supper with you all. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully-rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

Relating Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (2)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In the last post, we began to look at how baptism and the Lord’s Supper are related. In today’s post, we will complete that thought. So picking up where we left off:

…As baptism is the front door into the family of God, the Lord’s Supper is the family meal. It marks off the church from the world.

Relating Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Who Can Participate in the Lord’s Supper?

This is why, understanding what baptism is and what the Lord’s Supper is and what they do, I believe only baptized believers should participate in the Lord’s Supper. All I’m really saying there is that the Lord’s Supper, making the church visible, should be let out only to those who have publicly identified with the Lord and His church (affirmed by said church) in baptism, which makes the Christian visible. Put another way, baptism says, ‘here’s a Christian,’ such that without baptism, we and they have no rite to the Supper that says, ‘here’s a Christian church.’ Baptism says you belong to Jesus and His people. The Lord’s Supper reaffirms that. And by the way, historically, every sect of Christendom has made this connection, just some more biblically than others.

It’s for this reason that I think it’s most prudent and honoring to Christ that at least four things be required for participation in the Lord’s Supper. One, a credible profession of faith in Christ. It’s for believers, not unbelievers. Two and three, baptism and what follows, church membership. These are what make one’s profession of faith ‘credible,’ visible. Four, good-standing as a member of a Gospel-believing local church. Baptism and membership in a heretical ‘church’ invalidates one’s profession of faith. This should be obvious. If a non-Gospel believing church has affirmed your ‘faith,’ it’s not likely a true faith. Charity and prudence here. More, if you are a member of a Gospel-believing church, but not in good-standing, that is, under discipline for any reason, or even if, as we saw in 1 Corinthians 11:29-34, your relations in the church are strained and embittered without repentance, I would ask you to kindly abstain from taking the Lord’s Supper.

So who would we invite to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper? After addressing the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, I would ideally say something like this, “This meal is for (1) believers who have been (2) baptized upon their profession of faith in Christ and are (3) members (4) in good-standing with this local church or another Gospel-believing local church (as I believe it likely that ‘visiting communion’ is taking place in Acts 20:7).”

Next time, we’ll finish our study with a few details about practice in our gathering for corporate worship. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully-rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

The New Testament Teaching on the Lord’s Supper (2)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In our last post, we surveyed the Last Supper as preparatory for the Lord’s Supper. This post will focus on Paul’s instructions about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and 11:17-34. But before we do that, let’s recall what we learned from the Gospels’ account of the Last Supper. Reason being, whatever we discovered there is meant to rollover into Paul’s instruction about the practice of the Lord’s Supper in our church-age. Concerning the Last Supper (for the Lord’s Supper), we learned:

  1. The Lord’s Supper is a look-back upon the redeeming work of Christ.
  2. The Lord’s Supper is a look-ahead to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
  3. The Lord’s Supper is a remembering of the ratification of the New Covenant.
  4. The Lord’s Supper is drawing a line around Christ’s disciples, the church.
  5. The Lord’s Supper is reaffirming our faith-commitment as Christ’s disciples.
  6. The Lord’s Supper is reaffirming our service-commitment to Christ’s disciples.
  7. The Lord’s Supper is equipping us for spiritual battle.

Paul’s Instructions

Now let’s take a look at Paul’s instructions. And we’ll just make a few notes in the order of the verses laid out above:

The Lord’s Supper is a participation in the benefits of Christ’s redeeming work (1 Corinthians 10:16). To be sure, ‘blood’ and ‘body’ here do not denote the literal blood and body of Christ. The ‘blood’ is still the fruit of the grape. The ‘body’ is still ‘bread.’ Paul’s point is to say, however, that something spiritually wonderful is really happening when we take the Lord’s Supper. The elements aren’t merely symbolic. It’s a presentation to sight and tongue of the Gospel and, as we see it and taste it, we are participating in the grace this meal represents to us. We’re receiving Christ anew in the sense, as above, of reaffirming our faith in Him, while being nourished by it’s Gospel truths, even as we might in a sermon.

The Lord’s Supper (as with baptism) makes the church visible (1 Corinthians 10:17). This is very important. What’s the difference between random Christians accumulating to shop at Ingles and a local church? Well, a local church is more than any random gathering of Christians. It’s a group of Christians that have committed themselves to one another for the glory of Christ. And this is where the ordinances come into play. It’s how a group of Christians enact and display that commitment, yes, to Christ, but also to one another. As for the Lord’s Supper, we see in the verse mentioned that the ‘many’ are made ‘one body’ because ‘we all partake of the one bread.’ Paul’s saying that (with baptism) it’s participation in the Lord’s Supper that actually constitutes a local church, takes the many and makes them one! It’s what differentiates a Christian conference from a local church. It’s what marks us off as a body. In it, as above, we reaffirm our service-commitment to one another as heirs of grace and glory.

The Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance (1 Corinthians 11:17, 18). Note the repeated words ‘when you come together.’ Paul’s saying at least two things: one, the Lord’s Supper is a Christian ordinance. It’s not for all. It’s for Christ’s people. Two, it’s a church ordinance. It’s normative practice is restricted to the gathering of the local church. Again, what’s the Lord’s Supper doing? It’s making the local church visible. It’s not just revealing, ‘here’s a Christian,’ but ‘here’s an assembly of Christians covenanted together as a Gospel people.’ ‘Here’s a local church.’ Additionally then, the Lord’s Supper isn’t for all Christians indiscriminately. In 1 Corinthians 11:29, Paul makes this clear by a point we’ll tackle in the next post. The point here, remembering again what the Supper does, is to say that only Christians who are members of a Gospel-believing local church should participate in the Lord’s Supper. Membership matters! Having a church affirm your profession, and you commit to them, becoming one with the many, that matters! Indeed, it’s how you’re faith is objectified. Become a visible member of the family, then you can participate in the family meal.

Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

Relating Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In our last couple posts, we surveyed Paul’s instruction concerning the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and 11:17-34. In this post, we want to come now to relate what’s been taught about the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

How They Differ

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper differ in two main ways:

  1. Baptism is a one-time only event. The Lord’s Supper is a repetitive reaffirmation of the faith that went public at baptism.
  2. Baptism is something the whole church does to an individual. The Lord’s Supper is something the whole church does as one. Baptism expresses an individual’s personal faith in Christ and commitment to His people gone public. The Lord’s Supper expresses a local church’s corporate reaffirmation of faith in Christ and commitment to His people. As one put it, ‘baptism binds one to many, (whereas) the Lord’s Supper binds many into one.’

How They’re Linked

They make the church visible. As we’ve learned, baptism is a church’s act of publicly affirming an individual’s faith in Christ by immersing them in water. It’s also that individual’s act (they are not passive in this event as some claim for infant baptism) of making their faith in Christ and commitment to His people public by the same means. That’s why baptism is, in essence, the entry point of church membership. It’s the front door into the house or family of God. It’s the Christian becoming a visible member of a covenanted group of Christians. Baptism marks off the believer from the world. It takes the one and binds them to the many.

The Lord’s Supper, however, takes the many and makes them one. It’s the whole church publicly reaffirming their faith in Christ. As baptism is the ‘initiating oath sign of the New Covenant,’ the Supper is the ‘renewing oath sign of the New Covenant.’ In baptism, a believer is united to a church. In the Lord’s Supper, believers, plural, are united as a church, one body. As baptism is the front door into the family of God, the Lord’s Supper is the family meal. It marks off the church from the world.

Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

The New Testament Teaching on the Lord’s Supper (3)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In the last post, we moved from Last Supper to Lord’s Supper. We looked at three ideas:

  1. The Lord’s Supper is a participation in the benefits of Christ’s redeeming work.
  2. The Lord’s Supper makes the church visible.
  3. The Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance.

Today we continue digging deeper into what it will mean for us to come together as a body to the table.

The Lord’s Supper unites the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:18-34). Sadly, Paul’s writing to this local church about the proper practice of the Lord’s Supper because they were abusing it by abusing one another. They were practicing in self-preference, immodesty, and abiding disunity. In my opinion, that’s what informs the enigmatic phrase ‘discerning the body’ in 11:29. They were taking the Lord’s Supper without ensuring that all was well with the body of Christ.

Before partaking, they needed to put off their self-centered ways. They needed to mend any broken relationships. They needed to see to the unity of the body. As they didn’t, Paul says God disciplined them! Some grew sick. Some died! The Lord is watching to bless or judge. One cup. One bread. One body. See a pattern? Jesus ordained the Lord’s Supper to remind of, display, and effect our unity in Him.

The Lord’s Supper is a time for personal examination (1 Corinthians 11:28). There is an unworthy way to take the Supper (1 Corinthians 11:27). There is also, then, a worthy way. Prior to practicing the Lord’s Supper, we should examine our hearts, our lives, our relationships in the church. As best as we can, we need to aim at being a holy people, those watchful to obey the Lord and live in increasing love for Him and His people. This meal offers a reminder of the need for sanctification, of continuing to walk closely with Jesus. It’s a time for personal examination.

The Lord’s Supper is another powerful way we preach the whole Gospel (1 Corinthians 11:26). I want to end here because, well, it’s the goal of all we do as a local church. As often as we take the Lord’s Supper, we climb a pulpit! We declare to the ear, the eye, the taste buds, to all gathered, to principalities and powers, to our triune God and Savior, ‘Jesus has won! He’s redeemed! He died for us, but He rose for us, as will be evident to all when He returns!’ The Supper is the church’s sermon about her Savior and His salvation, from first to last, from the cross to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Well, I hope this survey of the Lord’s Supper has only further whet your appetite! Next time, we’ll go into the relationship between baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully-rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

The New Testament Teaching on the Lord’s Supper (1)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In our last couple of posts, we made a brief survey of five Old Testament types or prefiguring foretastes of the Lord’s Supper. In the next two posts, we want to briefly survey the New Testament substance in the Lord’s Supper itself. This mainly draws our attention to the Last Supper, found in Mt 26:17-35, Mk 14:12-31, Lk 22:7-23, and Jn 13:1-30, and Paul’s instructions about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Cor 10:14-22 and 11:17-34. This post will focus on the Last Supper in the Gospels.

The Last Supper

In our Old Testament survey, you may have wondered, ‘what about the Passover?’ We were just waiting for the Last Supper. It’s a Passover meal celebrating God’s redemptive work towards Israel in Exodus 12:33-50. But this specific reenactment is different than any other before it. In fact, Jesus forever alters it for His people.

He’s the climactic fulfillment of God’s redemptive work! He’s the Passover Lamb (Jn 1:29; 1 Cor 5:7)! He’s the Lamb Who before His shearers will be silent and slaughtered under the wrath of God as a penal substitutionary atonement for us.

Put another way, He brings about a New Exodus through His death and resurrection, one that leads His people out of their bondage to sin, death, Satan, and hell, and into the glorious freedom of the children of God!

And in the Last Supper, He means for His disciples to see this, in all of it’s wonderful effects, and to remember it moving forward, to feed on the grace of Christ’s Person and Work in what’s now called the Lord’s Supper. So let me highlight, all too briefly, some of the graces we’re to spiritually feast on in the Lord’s Supper, as taught most explicitly during the Last Supper:

  1. It’s a look-back upon the redeeming work of Christ. In this hour, Christ’s work was still future. But He instituted this as a meal of remembrance for them (Lk 22:19). Remember what? His death and resurrection (implied in His words about partaking of it again with them in the kingdom of Heaven). In the Supper, we’re to remember what Jesus has done to save us from our sins.
  2. It’s a look-ahead to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Lk 22:16). So we have OT types of the Lord’s Supper, and the Last Supper as transitional to the Lord’s Supper. And then, when we come to the Lord’s Supper itself, we find that it also is but a foretaste of a meal still greater! It’s a meal that, even as it points us back to the cross, roots us in the fact of the resurrection, pointing us ahead to the fellowship of Glory (Rev 19:6-9). It not only reminds us what we’ve been saved from, but what we’ve been saved for, and that forever!
  3. It’s remembering the ratification of the New Covenant (Mt 26:28). All the promises of God are ‘Yes’ in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). By His blood, more precious than silver or gold that perishes (1 Pet 1:18-19), the Son of God purchased every saving grace for His people, to be applied most graciously by the Spirit at conversion. This includes chiefly the full forgiveness of all our sins (Mt 26:28), but also, it would then seem from contextual clues, our adoption (‘Father’s kingdom,’ Mt 26:29), preservation (Mt 26:30-32), and qualification for Glory (Lk 22:16).
  4. It’s drawing a line around Christ’s disciples. As implied under the foregoing point, the Lord’s Supper is the meal of Christ’s New Covenant people. To be as clear as one can be, it’s only for (I think the Bible teaches, baptized) believers in Christ. It’s a meal that separates the visible church from the onlooking world as God’s heirs of grace and glory. In turn, the Supper is evangelistic, not in that it invites unbelievers to participate, but in that it alerts them to the fact that they aren’t Christ’s, nor His grace theirs; but they and it can be! Next point then,
  5. It’s reaffirming our faith-commitment as Christ’s disciples. This is probably my favorite part of practicing the Lord’s Supper. As we come forward to take and eat and drink the elements together, we are, as it were, coming to Christ all over again! It’s not that we are being re-converted, but that we are reconfirming that we still believe Him. That we’re continuing to publicly love Him and identify with Him and hope in Him and say, to world and principalities and powers, ‘the Gospel is true! Grace is real! Jesus is Lord! And God is worthy of being all in all to us!’
  6. It’s reaffirming our service-covenant to Christ’s disciples. In Christ, God is creating a new covenant, new creation community by the Spirit—one that will be marked by self-sacrificial love and humility towards one another. The Supper is a family meal taken together in order also to reaffirm our love and devotion to one another. We see this mostly in John’s account (Jn 13:14), though there are hints of it in Lk 22:26-27.
  7. It’s equipping for spiritual battle. Swirling around the Last Supper is a spiritual world we may be inclined to ignore. Satan’s there. Satan plants his man there. That man, proving to be what he always was, betrays Jesus. Apostates are exposed, even as authentic believers are revealed. Even after the Supper, Satan shows up to sift one of the authentic ones—to no final avail on account of Jesus’ preserving mercies (signified in the New Covenant realities of the Supper). So before it, during it, after it, Satan’s working overtime to do harm to Christ and to His people. Thus, it seems to me that the Supper is a spiritual battlefield. It’s the King’s table prepared for His citizens in the midst of our now scrambling enemies. With it’s focus on God’s redeeming grace, it really, spiritually strengthens us to live for Christ, assured of victory.

Well, I hope this survey of the Last Supper has only further whet your appetite! Next time, we’ll go into Paul’s instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper as practiced in our church-age. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully-rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

Old Testament Shadows of the Lord’s Supper (2)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

Let’s continue looking at the Old Testament foreshadowing we began yesterday. Today, we turn to the Psalms and the Prophets.

Psalm 23

In verse 5 of this well-known Psalm, we read, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” These are the words of David and likely the foundation for his table-fellowship with, say, Mephibosheth. David had experienced the shepherding love of the Lord. It met his every need. It afforded him peace. It restored his soul. It led him into obedience. It created courage in the valleys. It led and disciplined him for his truest comfort. It filled his cup. It assured of divine goodness and mercy as his constant travel companions. It assured of eternal life.

And in verse 5, it promised victory over enemies. When a king triumphed in battle, it was customary then to set up a feast in the midst of his defeated foes. David says the Lord does this for him. The fulfillment of this comes to us in King Jesus, the Lord. He has fought and ultimately won all our battles. His enemies and our enemies are defeated foes. Sin, death, Satan, Hell, etc., all are subject to us in our Lord Jesus. How shall we celebrate this? By setting up His ordained table in the presence of our enemies. The Lord’s Supper has a little bit of smack talk in it! Like baptism, it preaches to our foes, ‘you’re defeated. For Christ has conquered! And by His grace, we, who were on the losing side, are now on the winning side. We’ve been redeemed. God is for us. He’s our Shepherd! And all His benefits are ours!’

Isaiah 25

We read this for our call to worship on Easter Sunday. I hope you noticed verse 6. Isaiah prophecies about the Day when the Lord will swallow up Death. It’s the Day of the Resurrection, when our risen Jesus will raise all and His own to that state of full glorification. What will take place on that Day, when we are forever brought back into face to face fellowship with God in Christ? “The Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” God’s going to put on a party! Let’s call it the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19)! It’s a table-fellowship that will fulfill it’s foretaste… which we practice in the Lord’s Supper. This ‘meal,’ remember, not only points us back to what Christ has done but forward to what Christ will do. While we live in the balance, it nourishes our hearts on the food of future grace bought by His blood.

I hope this survey of the Old Testament’s shadows whet your appetite! Next time, we’ll go further into the New Testament’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

Old Testament Shadows of the Lord’s Supper (1)

Posted on by Brian Mahon

We’ve taken a fairly in-depth look at the Bible’s teaching on baptism. Now, we want to begin to dive into the second ordinance left for us by our Lord, His Supper. We’ll look first at some Old Testament shadows of the Lord’s Supper. Then, we’ll try to tackle the teaching of the New Testament. Third, we’ll tie the two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, together. And finally, we’ll speak to our practice of the Lord’s Supper as a church. So off we go.

Genesis 3:8

Prior to the Fall, it would seem that God commonly ‘walked’ about the garden sanctuary, so that Adam and Eve abided in the presence of God. It follows, then, that they ate in community with Him. At His hospitality, they sat at His table in the joy of unbroken fellowship.

Exodus 24:9-11

After the Fall, this table-fellowship, an expression of their more summary fellowship with God, was broken. But not beyond the hope of restoration in a promised Christ (Genesis 3:15). At this point in redemptive history, God’s plan of redemption circles around Moses and the Mosaic covenant. And as that covenant points us ahead to the New Covenant in Christ, it also prefigures the meal that’s emblematic of it.

In the text listed above, that covenant of works, again, pointing to the grace climaxed in the New Covenant, is set in place and put into play for the people through the sprinkling of blood (Exodus 24:8). In it’s own way, it at least outwardly reconstituted an uneasy relationship with God. The immediate expression of this relationship is an invitation extended by God to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders (note, not every member of the community) to see the God of Israel and to worshipfully eat and drink in His heavenly presence. It’s a foretaste of the Supper that signifies a far greater reconciliation to God through the grace of Christ.

2 Samuel 9

In this chapter, King David, a type of Christ, shows kindness to the grandson of an enemy, Saul, the son of a beloved friend, Jonathan. So explicit in the text is a kind of steadfast love and mercy on Mephibosheth. The expression of this kindness, this steadfast love and mercy? An indefinite invitation to eat at the King’s table! More compelling here, Mephibosheth is crippled, something that likely made him something of an outcast and, in response to David’s invitation, counts himself no victim of circumstance, but as a ‘dead dog’ who is undeserving of such mercy. So David ups the mercy! Point being, we have a figure of Christ extending indefinite table-fellowship to a ‘dead dog’ on the basis of covenant love and steadfast mercy. Mephibosheth’s eating and drinking the rest of his life will be a reminder of the lavish and ‘redemptive’ grace of Israel’s King. Mercy will nourish as much as food.

Tomorrow, we will continue with two more ‘shadows’ leading us towards a proper understanding of the Supper. Until then, continuing to aim for fully-informed minds begetting fully rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again.

What Baptism Does and Doesn’t Do

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In our last post, we finished addressing what baptism is and isn’t. In this post, we want to be much more brief in addressing what baptism does and doesn’t do.

What Baptism Doesn’t Do

Let’s begin with the negative, what baptism doesn’t do. Baptism as we see the Bible defining it does not save you. This is very important to note. Particularly in our geographical culture where cultural Christianity is alive and mostly well, many functionally believe that their baptism has saved them. If you ask them to share why they think they are Christians, or why they think God in Heaven is theirs to behold forever, they will say something like, ‘Well, I was baptized when…’

Even if they don’t believe their baptism saved them, their lack of clarity upon the gift of faith in the Person and work of Jesus through which God saved them has them testifying as if their baptism saved them. It’s the stone of remembrance. But it’s that concerning what God did in saving us, not that it itself saved us.

Additionally, there are heretical branches of so-called Christianity that do believe in what’s called baptismal regeneration, that is, that the waters of baptism do actually wash the sinner clean from their sin and save them. Without this, none are saved. They draw on the misinterpretation of texts like John 3:5 (where by ‘water’ Jesus is making reference to the New Covenant language of Ezekiel 36:25), and 1 Peter 3:21 (where baptism is so closely related to the saving ‘ark’ of Christ, it’s practice is virtually inseparable from the effect of repentance and faith in Him. A Christian was a baptized person and a baptized person was evidently a Christian).

Besides this, the saints in the Old Testament were obviously never baptized but, at Christ’s transfiguration, we see Moses and Elijah appearing from heaven. Of course, the thief on the cross was never baptized, and yet Jesus told him that, on account of his faith in Him, he would be with Him in Paradise.

More, Simon the magician was baptized, but it’s highly questionable whether he was actually saved. We might add that many who die in infancy or believe later in life when, due to disability, baptism is practically impossible, are yet saved by their faith in the Gospel of God’s grace. So Christians are to be baptized, but baptism doesn’t make one a Christian. What does it do?

What Baptism Does Do

We might ask, if it doesn’t save us, why is it so important? Well, it’s so important simply because it’s in the Bible. Jesus commands it. God thinks it important. But we might add, then, what we’ve covered thus far; believer’s baptism marks off the believing individual from the world as united to Jesus and part of His new creation people. It’s meant to show the world who belongs to Jesus.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s virtually the same language we use about formal, meaningful membership in the local church. That’s on purpose. Baptism depicts what membership declares. They go together. Baptism is the initiatory sign for belonging to the family of God. It’s the front door to God’s ‘house.’ It’s the person declaring for Jesus, and Jesus’ people positively affirming that declaration. Believer’s baptism is, we say, prerequisite for membership in the local church.

So what does baptism do? It doesn’t save us. But it does say that we’ve been saved, that Jesus’ people believe us to be saved, and that we are assuredly one with Christ and His new creation people, those determined in the Spirit to walk together in newness of life. It identifiably binds us to the church expressed in local churches.

Next time, we’ll begin to dig into the Lord’s Supper. Until then, continuing to aim only for fully-informed minds begetting fully-rejoicing hearts as we, in spiritual unity and with holy accountability, come to remember the Lord’s death until He comes again. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders

What Baptism Isn’t

Posted on by Brian Mahon

In our last few posts, we’ve briefly described what baptism is.

Legitimacy

One thing I’d add to that is that baptism is what true, Gospel-believing churches do. If Christian baptism is what we’ve described it to be, it follows that it’s legitimacy is closely connected to the practice and affirmation of a truly Christian church.

In other words, if a church is an apostate assembly – no longer a church in any meaningful, biblical sense of that word – it is an act of prudence on behalf of a true, evangelical church to judge the baptisms by such a church as inauthentic, something other than biblical baptism. Again, baptism isn’t just the act of an individual going public for Jesus, but also the act of a whole church affirming that said individual is “going public” with good, biblical reason. It takes a truly Christian church to perform truly Christian baptism.

Enough of that, on to what baptism isn’t.

Testing For Imposters

Having laid the foundation for what baptism is, we can more easily handle what it isn’t. Why? Because what baptism isn’t necessarily follows from what baptism is. Yet another instance where diligent study of the ‘real’ thing prepares one to more accurately spot the ‘fake’, the near facsimile, the counterfeit. So, prepared, let’s tackle a few misunderstandings by looking carefully to the Bible, and specifically to the New Testament (as that is where baptism appears):

Baptism isn’t merely an individual’s act. In Acts 2:41, 47, it’s clear that those who believed the Gospel message were, then, baptized and added to ‘their’ number. ‘Their’, to be clear, is referring to the church in Jerusalem.

Baptism isn’t merely a church’s act. In the same verses mentioned above, the church isn’t just grabbing people off the street and baptizing them. Individuals are coming to faith in Christ and, having done so, are being baptized of their own will, we might now say, into the membership of the church.

Baptism isn’t performed in the hope that the one being baptized will eventually come to faith in Christ. The Israelites were commanded in the law of Moses to circumcise their male children as an act of covenantal obedience, but Jesus does not leave his disciples a similar imperative. Nevertheless, this is the practical understanding of “paedobaptists”, parents and churches who ‘baptize’ their infants. Baptism, rather, is the sign of the New Covenant in Christ (Acts 2:38; Rom 6:3-11; Col 2:11-12), and as such has a new scope.

One of the hallmarks of faithful biblical interpretation is that clearer passages ought to govern dimmer ones; more, that we want to take our doctrine from revelation instead of silence. The fact is, there’s no clear passage in the New Testament prescribing infant baptism for the church. Some may be read to imply it, but none state it explicitly. And further, those passages (Acts 2:39, 16:33; 1 Cor 7:15) are few and, in my opinion, more properly understood to the advantage of believer’s baptism by the broader details surrounding them. They give no warrant, certainly no prescription, for the church to ‘baptize’ infants.

Baptism isn’t whatever is performed upon an unbeliever, however old. Some, of course, are dunked in water, only later to understand that they weren’t believers at that time. In all love, that wasn’t the baptism. It was a quick bath (compare with 1 Pet 3:21. We’ll talk about what Peter means by ‘Baptism . . . now saves you’ next time!).

Following from this, baptism isn’t something accomplished more than once in a person’s life. In other words, there’s no such thing as re-baptism. There’s only biblical baptism. If you’ve been baptized as a believer by a Gospel-believing church, you’ve been baptized. You need not be baptized again as, say, penance for a season of sin. You just need to repent, and move forward walking humbly with your God. In fact, instead of seeking an additional baptism, just remember the original (Rom 6:3-11)!

Finally, baptism isn’t normatively done any other way than by immersion in water. Again, the Greek word means ‘to dunk,’ ‘to immerse,’ it’s depiction portrays the same, and every clear mention of it’s practice in the New Testament relays the necessity of ‘lots of water,’ and the submersion of the one being baptized. Rare exceptions may necessarily occur on account of things like physical disabilities.

I think that about covers it. Next time, we’ll take a look at what baptism does and doesn’t do. This brings us ever closer to the discussion of the Lord’s Supper and the relationship between entering Biblical community and sustaining Biblical community. Devoted to the most Scriptural display of Christ’s glory in and through you,

TMC elders