But each is a match made in heaven. When the covenant-making act of baptism is combined with faith, then God himself is uniting us with Christ and his people. Baptism and Communion are symbolic acts that change reality because they are covenantal. A covenant is a bit like a contract. Promises are made and commitments are given.
It is a formal act. But a covenant is more than a contract or a particular type of contract. Covenants create or change the relationship of those involved. Marriage is a contract that creates a new type of relationship between a man and a woman. Covenants, we could say, are relational contracts.
Baptism declares and affirms the covenant or contract that God makes with Christians. Baptism is the act by which the covenant is affirmed, and Communion is the act by which the covenant is re affirmed. So baptism and Communion do not create a relationship with God, but they do change its nature.
They make it a covenantal relationship. Asking why we should get baptized is like asking a couple why they want a wedding. We have a new identity. Baptism is a naming ceremony, and as a result we are now the children of God. Or if baptism is like a wedding, then we are now the bride of Christ. We have done nothing to achieve this. The same is true of moments of temptation. We are now to live this new reality. We live as those who have died to sin and risen with Christ to a new life. We need to think of ourselves as baptized people.
This is the message of Romans What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul is writing to the church in Rome, and he says these words. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life Romans , ESV.
Paul is discussing the topic of ongoing sin in the life of a follower of Jesus. He asks the rhetorical question, should we keep sinning so that by grace God will continue to forgive us? Absolutely not. We have died to sin. When you go under the water in your baptism, it signifies that your sins have been washed away.
I once baptized a friend of mine, and she asked me to hold her under the water an especially long time. The person is in the state of grace. Apostolic zeal. Baptism clothes a person with immortality, gives a person a share in the redemption that Christ won on the Cross, and makes salvation, eternal life and everlasting glory with God in heaven possible. It unites a person to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This is the fourth column in a series on baptism.
Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish. Tags: Baptism. Category : Faith Fundamentals. Gratitude — in the growing, giving and goodbye. What is baptism, and what does it mean to me?
What is baptism? Where did it come from? Why do we do it?
0コメント