Baptism and Covenant Theology - Part the Third

Which I didn't to have! But there we are, always good to keep playing and thinking about stuff and so we continue with Paul's word's to the Colossians as found in chapter two:

'In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.'

Brian Chapell1 leads me into a place whereby Paul's words are thought of as acting as a reminder that salvation comes through faith, and that the rite of circumcision that once signified the benefits of Abraham’s covenant has been replaced by baptism. A thought that finds some support in Calvin's Institutes as it lead me to a place where the fulfilment and truth of baptism are likewise the truth and fulfilment of circumcision too  - signifying one and the same thing (this is what notes from various lectures tell me).

One of the biggest concerns I have when trying to see the baby for the bathwater is that Paul's teaching is more often than not a remedy against error and heresy rather than him trying to establish a theology of whatever is before us - in this case baptism. Different tacks are taken when correction rather that establishment are the key and these, whilst 'fit for role' are often confusing for parctice :-)

In the Romans two (28-29) passage I understand the 'circumcision of the heart' to be a mark of the believer, whether circumcised in the flesh or otherwise, and more accurately of one who is not merely a follower of 'The Way' but is also a disciple. This would fit in with other passages (old and new) that talk of the uncircumcision and the way that uncircumcised who keep the laws have the 'circumcision of the heart' and put those who are circumcised in the flesh, who do not, to shame.

It does therefore talk of Jew and Gentile who have this inner circumcision - where the place of baptism is makes for interesting conjecture.

The Romans six 'baptism into Christ Jesus' and the reality that baptism finds its fulfilment in the cross makes the 'buried with him' all the more real as we pass below the surface of the water (a reason I prefer immersion to sprinkling) and are buried beneath the waves. That said, NT practice was to do that with the sprogs rather than flick water at them. We are baptised into the merits and benefits of Christ (and His salvific and atoning act) in exactly the same way that the covenant of circumcision brings the Jews into the benefits of Abraham.

I can understand your desire for separation and wonder if this owes as much to your baptist stance as the seeking interchangeability does for those who are of the paedobaptism persuasion?

Here's a bit more grist to the mill either way (I'll do arguments against and sacramental stuff shortly)

Hope this helps

V


1 A Pastoral Overview of Infant Baptism, Gregg Strawbridge; 2003, Presbyterian and Reformed
 ISBN 10: 0875525547

Daily Office - June 29

Peter and Paul, Apostles
Ember Day

Psalm 71
In you, O Lord, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;

incline your ear to me and save me.
Be for me a stronghold to which I may ever resort;
send out to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the evildoer and the oppressor.
For you are my hope, O Lord God, my confidence, even from my youth.
Upon you have I leaned from my birth, when you drew me from my mother’s womb;
my praise shall be always of you.

I have become a portent to many, but you are my refuge and my strength.
Let my mouth be full of your praise and your glory all the day long.
Do not cast me away in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.
For my enemies are talking against me, and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.

They say, ‘God has forsaken him; pursue him and take him, because there is none to deliver him.’

O God, be not far from me; come quickly to help me, O my God.
Let those who are against me be put to shame and disgrace;
let those who seek to do me evil be covered with scorn and reproach.

But as for me I will hope continually and will praise you more and more.
My mouth shall tell of your righteousness and salvation all the day long, for I know no end of the telling.
I will begin with the mighty works of the Lord God;
I will recall your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, you have taught me since I was young, and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.
Forsake me not, O God, when I am old and grey-headed,
till I make known your deeds to the next generation and your power to all that are to come.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens;
in the great things you have done, who is like you, O God?
What troubles and adversities you have shown me,
and yet you will turn and refresh me and bring me from the deep of the earth again.
Increase my honour; turn again and comfort me.
Therefore will I praise you upon the harp for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will sing out as I play to you, and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
My tongue also will tell of your righteousness all the day long,
for they shall be shamed and disgraced who sought to do me evil.

Psalm 113
Alleluia.
Give praise, you servants of the Lord, O praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the Lord be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, that has his throne so high,
yet humbles himself to behold the things of heaven and earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ashes,
To set them with princes, with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a place in the house
and makes her a joyful mother of children.

Isaiah 49.1-6
Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,  in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,  Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with The Lord,  and my reward with my God.’

And now the Lord says,  who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength - he says,
‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant  to raise up the tribes of Jacob  and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’

Acts 11.1-18
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’

The Collect
Almighty God,
whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul
glorified you in their death as in their life:
grant that your Church,
inspired by their teaching and example,
and made one by your Spirit,
may ever stand firm upon the one foundation,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Schori, Glory, Hallelujah?

I had to check the calendar to make sure that I wasn't being conned and even when I was certain it was May (not April the first) I had to check many sources* to see if I was being had, but (sadly) apparently not!

It appears that the doyen of all that is liberal, revisionist (and Episcopalian - which appears to mean one and the same for many these days), Katharine Jefferts Schori, had launched a bit of a diatribe against the Apostle Paul (who many seem to think might just have penned most of the New Testament).

The focus of her attack is Paul's dealings with a demonically influenced slave girl (Acts 16. 16-34) who follows Paul and the others around, for days, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’

Now eventually Paul gets a bit cheesed of and so he casts out the demons. Of course the people who manage her, for she is a slave who is hired out to predict stuff, get a bit naffed off and drag Paul and Silas before the authorities for a bit of revenge. Nothing like losing a good income stream to tick people off now, is there?

I have to admit that I would have thought that a bit of free publicity was always helpful, but obviously there are limits and so Paul draws the line - even though of course a house divided and all that - and sends the dark bits packing - after all, they're not on the same side as us (or are they? Some might take from her words the idea that Schori thinks they might be and that would explain so very much more than just the sermon now, wouldn't it?).

Still, that's my 'off the wall' take on it I guess.

But what of the Schori-teller herself, what does she make of this episode? Well, apparently it demonstrates that Paul is, 'mean-spirited and bigoted.'

Not only that but (apparently) she condemns those who disagree with her and labels them as 'enemies of the Holy Spirit'.

Schori explains that Paul didn't set the girl free, he merely 'deprived her of her gift of spiritual awareness'. His frustration at her proclamations led him to rid her of something he considers as wrong and because he sees it as such he denies that it can be beautiful or holy. I guess Schori would, using the same logic, believe the fact that people who deny homosexuality are acting in the same manner and assign the same dynamics to their actions also.

She speaks of progress and how 'different is not the same as wrong' and how it can be difficult to see God at work in the world, especially if God is doing something unexpected - and homosexuality and the demoniac slave girl appear to be one and same in that respect.

Of course, to make it work there has to be the good old ad hominem - Paul the mysoginist is now Paul the arrogant, the oppresser, the slighted who lashes out and takes away something beautiful - the gift of demon oppression - And this is what others do now with homosexuality when they oppose it too I guess. Bigots and homophobes each and every one!

There's so much 'other information' that Schori draws on - the earthquake and the fact that Paul 'repents of casting out the spirit of divination' and acts with compassion towards the frightened, and about to take his own life, jailer.  Schori continues, 'It makes me wonder what would have happened to that slave girl if Paul had seen the spirit of God in her.'

Well I have to think he'd have praised God for His gift in her had it been God's gift, but it wasn't God's gift - it was the work of the enemy - and so what could he do but oppose it?

If we bless what the devil does; if we bless those acts which deny that which Scripture, tradition and reason has known, taught and lived in for so many years; if we support, and especially encourage, divination then surely we fall foul of the Biblical commandments and deny God. But, according to Schori (if the reports are true) we are not justified by our faith but by our respect for diversity. Odd that, I thought justification came by God's grace - something she most definitely doesn't have a scooby about it seems.

Move over Paul, it's time for a rewrite and some rehabilitation!

Mind you - I do have to agree with Schori when she says:

'Jesus says he’s looking for everybody, anyone who’s looking for good news, anybody who is thirsty. There are no obstacles or barriers – just come.  God is at work everywhere, even if we can’t or won’t see it immediately.'

Hallelujah lady - you've got one right at last. Of course, once we've come to Jesus the adventure continues by Him (Jesus) calling us to be obedient and live according to God's commandments and lifestyle guides, so you've fallen just short of the mark (but that won't be a new experience now, will it?)!

Now that bit won't be as popular with her or her followers methinks ;-)

*To read the transcript of the sermon click here