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The Good News of Easter Baptism

Ben Zornes on April 18, 2017

Two Questions
This morning, we will address the two questions given in our two passages–– “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) and “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3).The response to the first is “Jesus is risen!” The answer to the second is “Jesus is risen, and we’re with him!” Easter is the foundation for every baptism, and each baptism is a celebration of Easter.

Garden of Graves (Luke 24:1-7)
Luke 24 begins in a garden as several women attempt to anoint the dead body of Jesus (vs. 1). This garden is not full of life but has become a place of death, a garden of graves (Jn. 19:41) When the women arrive at the grave they find the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty (vs. 2-3). As they are processing, two angels appear and deliver a zinger, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (vs. 5) On first pass, the women seem pretty justified in their search. They know Jesus is died because they saw him die. So he’s going to be among the dead. This is how it’s been since the events of another garden––the Garden of Eden.

The Gospel According to Two Trees
In the beginning, God created Adam, the seed of humanity’s family tree. The tree of mankind is contained and represented in this tiny seed named Adam. As the seed goes, so goes the tree. If the seed is healthy, the tree is healthy. If the seed is sick, the tree is sick. On the day Adam disobeyed, sin entered the seed and this disease infected the human tree. The root, trunk, branches, fruit all share the same disease, and, like the seed, “shall all surely die.”
Here begins the good news of another tree from a new Seed. The Master Gardener loves the diseased, the rotting, the dying people in Adam’s Tree. So the Lord causes a new Seed to grow on the old tree and from this new Seed he would plant a new tree. The Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive so that “the child to be born will be called holy––Son of God” (Lk. 1:35). This seed has to be the Son of God and not the son (or great, great, great, great, great…grandson) of Adam, so he can born without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Because Jesus is man, He is united to the tree. Because Jesus is God, He is free from the sin of the tree.

Baptized into Adam’s Tree
The first thing Jesus does in his public ministry is to identify with Adam’s Tree by being baptized by John. John’s baptism was of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4). But Jesus is the one person who does not need to be baptized. As Paul says, “He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus becomes the sin of those he will save. On the wooden cross, the Seed of the woman receives the punishment for the sins of Adam’s Tree. The Seed is then hacked off from the tree and the buried in the ground (Is. 53:8). But even when Jesus is buried as a dead seed, there comes new life. The angels announce to the women the miracle. The seed of the woman, Jesus, is no longer among the dead. He’s not here, but he has risen! And so the angels ask, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

Baptized into Jesus’ Tree (Romans 6:3-4)
This is all very good news for Jesus. But why is this good news for me and all those in Adam’s tree? At Easter, the seed of the new tree is planted. Pauls says that your baptism unites you with the Seed so that what happens to the seed, happens to you. In baptism, you die with the Seed. In baptism, you are buried with the Seed. And in baptism you are raised with the Seed in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4). To become a Christian is to be cut off from the dying Adam Tree and to be grafted into the living Jesus Tree. And if this seems impossible for an individual twig to accomplish, that twig is correct. The work must be done by another, and it’s a gift to you (Eph. 2:8-9).

Baptized Death, Easter Life
The same question the angels asked about the Seed can now be asked about those from the Seed, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” If there’s new life from the dead for Jesus, then there’s new life for all those unified to Jesus. Once you are connected to the living Jesus Tree, then live like it! Produce the kind of fruit in your life that shows the kind of tree you’re connected to. Easter is the declaration that “Jesus is risen.” And each baptism is the declaration on another Easter, “Jesus is risen, and I’m with him.” This is the good news of Easter baptism.

Romans 27: Christians On Paper (8:5-14)

Christ Church on July 19, 2009

Introduction

So what is the difference between those who are simply called by God’s name, and those who really belong to Him? This is a question that arises in both covenants, and it is answered (in principle) the same way for both. The Jews had drifted into the error of externalism, and Paul is here cautioning the new Israel against committing the same error. The difference between formalism and the reality is the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Text

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit . . .” (Rom. 8:5-14)

Summary of the Text

The Spirit had been at work in the times of the older covenant, but He had not been poured out so extensively. At the same time, the nature of the border between the Spirit’s active work within the covenant and His absence within the covenant remains the same. There were true Jews, and Jews who just had the outside of the thing (Rom. 2:28). There are Christians like that also.

You have the mind of the kind of person you are. The fleshly mind belongs to the flesh; the spiritual mind belongs to the Spirit (v. 5). To veer off to the left like that is death, while to be spiritually minded is life and peace (v. 6). The carnal mind is hostile to God, and cannot help being hostile to God (v. 7). Notice that this hostility is evidenced through its refusal to be subject to the law of God (v. 7)—indeed, note its inability to be subject to it. This is why those who are in the flesh cannot please God (v. 8); they can’t want to please God. But this is not the condition of the Roman Christians (v. 9), unless . . . Paul says that they are in the Spirit if the Spirit is in them. If the Spirit is missing from a man, that man does not (ultimately) belong to Christ. It does not matter how many times he has been baptized. Baptize him until he bubbles, but his carnal mind is still there seething (v. 9). But if Christ is in a man, then the Spirit within him is life because of resurrection-righteousness, justification- righteousness (v. 10). This is true even though a true Christian’s body will still die because of sin. But not to worry, even though we will die, we will be raised—if the Spirit that raised Jesus is in us (v. 11). Our obligations, therefore, are not to the flesh (v. 12). We owe the flesh nothing. If you live as though you owed the flesh something, you will die (v. 13). The contrast to this is to mortify the deeds of the body through the power of the (indwelling) Spirit. If you do that, you will live (v. 13). Who are the true sons of God? They are the ones in whom the Spirit is at work, leading them in mortifying the deeds of the body (v. 14).

Objective Realities

Certain things are true independent of us. We are male or female, regardless of what we think. Our parents are our parents, whether or not we like it. We are baptized or we are not, and our baptism always means the same thing (union with Christ in His death) whether or not we approve of that meaning. These are objective realities. A Jew was a Jew, whether or not he was a true Jew inwardly (Rom. 2:28). A Christian is a Christian, and he was baptized on a certain date with other people watching. The covenant, and all its attendant obligations, is an objective thing. Someone might say that if we have to be born again in the heart, then what value is there in being this kind of a Christian? The Pauline answer is “much in every way.” This is not the answer given by those who like to float

around in the invisible church, like dust motes in a sunbeam. While rejecting their approach, we must also say that, when it comes to the final question, all these privileges (which are genuine and real), together with five bucks, will get you a frappuccino.

Those Who Walk

Why is this? A man consists of more than his obligations, and his covenantal identity. At the center, we are defined by our loves and our hates, and this is what Paul is addressing here. The flesh does what? It minds the flesh (v. 5), it seeks death through a carnal mind (v. 6), it hates God (v. 7), it chafes under the law of God (v. 7), it is uninterested in pleasing God (v. 8), and it rejects the ownership of Christ (v. 9). Those who are characterized by this fleshly mind, circumcised or not, baptized or not, church fixture or not, are those who die. Are they a kind of Christian? Sure . . . the kind that goes to Hell.

The Spirit’s Leading

But at the same time, we must not make the mistake of thinking that if we have any struggle with the flesh, we must be unconverted. Thinking you are completely above the fray actually means that you are deep in sin. Remember our earlier illustration—weed patch, true garden with three foot weeds, and true garden with weeds the size of your thumbnail. This last category is described here (v. 13). Mortify the deeds of the body—the sense is continuous, ongoing. This is something we are all called to daily, and the Spirit is the one accompanying us, leading us to those weeds, pointing them out. “There, that one.” The true sons of God are those who are doing this (v. 14). The Spirit’s leading here is not directional (right or left), but rather moral (right or wrong). True sons have weeds to pull, and true sons pull them.

The True Evangelical

If churchmen are not evangelicals, they will destroy the church. Ironically, if evangelicals are not churchmen, they will destroy the church also. We insist upon being both. You must be baptized and you must be born again. If you have true, evangelical faith, you don’t set these things at odds with each other. You don’t love the woman while refusing to put a ring on her finger. You don’t put a ring on her finger while refusing to love her. Here’s a radical idea, kind of crazy when you think about it—why not both? Why not have a beautiful ceremony and treat her right? You are more than a Christian on paper if the Spirit is in you.

Romans 20: How to Understand the Gospel (6:1-5)

Christ Church on May 17, 2009

Introduction
Thus far in Romans we have learned of our universal plight in Adam, whether or not we are Jews or Gentiles (1-3). We have also learned of the universal salvation for the human race that has been accomplished in the second Adam (4-5), the salvation that was promised for the world through father Abraham. But we now have to bring this glory down to the individual level, and this can be tricky. For example, if “all” are condemned in Adam, and “all” are justified in Christ, then no more worries, right? Just do what you feel. Wrong.

The Text
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6:1-5).

Summary of the Text
So Paul begins here by setting up a false conclusion to what he has presented so far. What shall our response to this glorious gospel be? Shall we continue our sinning so that God might continue His gracious forgiveness (v. 1)? And of course the answer is no. God forbid. How can people who are dead to sin still live in it (v.2)? But someone might come back at Paul—what do you mean, dead to sin? And Paul replies, “Don’t you know what baptism means?” If you were baptized into Jesus, you were baptized into His death (v. 3). Not only were you killed in baptism, you were also buried (v. 4). But the whole point of this was so that you might participate in His resurrection as well (v. 4). Note that Christ was not only raised, He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. In the same way (by the glory of the Father), we should walk in newness of life (v. 4). This is because if you have been planted in the likeness of His death (which is what baptism is, the likeness of His death), we also participate in the likeness of resurrection (v. 5).

Baptism In Water, Baptism in Christ
The first thing we need to work through here is whether or not Paul is referring to baptism in water. And our first instinct is to say that he could not be referring to water because, as we evangelicals all know, water baptism doesn’t do those things that are described here. Therefore we must hunt for a baptism that does do them, which would be baptism in the Spirit. This solves the problem, but perhaps it solves it a bit too easily. There is no contextual or grammatical reason to think that anything other than water baptism is meant. At the same time, there is a way of taking this as water baptism that is nothing but religious superstition. How are we to deal with this?

Faith As Catalyst
The seed of the gospel is broadcast. It falls on good soil and hard, it falls on the asphalt parking lot and on the well-tilled ground. The thing that makes it germinate is faith. When the declaration is made, we find out who it was meant for by seeing who believes it. We don’t test the declaration, sending it off to an objective lab somewhere, in order to find out whether or not it is worthy of our belief, so that we may then believe it. The gospel always brings its own credentials to those who are elect, to those who have genuine faith. So there is therefore always a perfect correspondence between those people for whom the statement is true and those who believe it to be true.

The doctrine of definite atonement is certainly true. Jesus died in order to secure the salvation of His elect, and only His elect. But Jesus also died so that we might offer salvation to every creature (Mark 16:15). These two things harmonize wonderfully, so don’t worry about it. We are preaching the gospel to a raggety-taggety world, not doing clean little syllogisms about P and Q. So don’t worry about it when your Arminian friends persist on telling people that “Jesus died for you.” If it is true, that person will believe it. If it isn’t, he won’t. (Incidentally, many Calvinistic paedobaptists make the same kind of statement at the baptismal font. We say in essence, “Jesus died for you,” without having been given a clear copy of the electing decree with little Herbert’s name on it. We walk by faith, not by sight.) But we want to be doctrinal fussers, saying that if it isn’t true and independently verified, then we shouldn’t even think about saying it. We should be reminded of Chesterton’s comment about the poet who tries to get his head into the heavens, as opposed to the rationalist, who tries to get the heavens into his head—and it is his head that splits.

Sacramental Union
The Westminster Confession rightly says that there is a sacrament union between sign and thing signified, such that it is appropriate to speak of one in terms of the other. So Saul of Tarsus was told to rise up in order to receive water baptism, washing away his sins (Acts 22:16), even though water doesn’t really do that. And Peter preached the same way, preaching a baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:28). Someone with genuine faith sees Christ in his baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper, in just the same way that he sees Christ on a tract made of paper and ink, or he hears Christ in a sermon preached by a poorly educated street preacher who breathes through his nose. God uses despised and weak things in order to humiliate the worldly wise. So does the grace go in when the water goes on? No, of course not, no more than a tract left in a laundromat can zap you as you walk by. This is something we understand easily in other settings. When performing a wedding, I have never said, “Please repeat . . . with this ring I thee wed,” only to have the bride stop me and say, “I didn’t know that gold rings could do that!”

Grab Them By Their Baptism
So follow the direction of Paul’s argument. The direction of this argument, rightly understood, is always into newness of life. If you have a life of sin on the one hand, and a baptism into Christ’s death on the other, which one should we follow? Which one is in charge? Paul says, “What are you doing that for? You’re baptized.” The logic is the same as a man rebuking a friend—”You can’t go honky-tonking . . . you’re married now.” And when someone sees, really sees, that this is what their baptism means, then that is what their baptism is.

The Call to Faith
We have been planted together with, united with, Jesus Christ in baptism, this likeness of His death. We therefore have a covenanted obligation to be united with Him, just as united with Him, in His life. Let God be true and every man a liar. If there is an inconsistency between baptism and the sin, then it is the sin that must die—never the baptism.

Romans 15: Father of Us All (4:9-16)

Christ Church on March 29, 2009

Introduction

We rightly refer to father Abraham. He is the central model for us from the pages of the Old Testament, living out the implications of radical faith, faith at the root. As we walk in imitation of him, we are his children indeed. As we walk in imitation of him, we have the family resemblance that Jesus looked for in the Pharisees and did not find (John 8:39).

The Text

“Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness . . .” (Rom. 4:9-16)

Summary of the Text

Remember where we are. The universal enemy of our souls is sin, and it afflicts Gentiles and Jews alike. The entire human race is shut up under sin, but God is not intervening at the last moment in a panic, trying to troubleshoot a problem that is beyond Him. He has been declaring His universal plan of salvation for the entire world through Abraham, and He has been doing so from the very first book of the Bible. God’s plan through Abraham is for everyone, and always has been. So is this Abrahamic blessing for Jews only (v. 9)? We can answer the question by remembering that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness, and when did this happen (v. 10). Abraham was right with God through faith before he was circumcised (v. 10). He received circumcision after he received righteousness in order that uncircumcised Gentiles might consider him their father as well (v. 11). His circumcision was a seal after the fact. At the same time, he did get circumcised, so that he might be the father of a certain group of Jews—those who walk in the kind of faith that Abraham had while still uncircumcised (v. 12). For the promise that Abraham would inherit the world was a promise to be received through the righteousness of faith (v. 13), and was not to be received through the Torah. For if the Torah could do it for us, then both faith and promise are made void (v. 14). So the Torah can’t do it—but it can bring wrath. For if there is no law, there is no transgression of the law (v. 15). And so this is why the salvation of the world is by faith, so that it might be gracious (v. 16). This ensures that the promise extends to all Abraham’s seed—both those circumcised in infancy and those who share his faith only. This is what makes him the father of us all (v. 16).

An Abrahamic Timeline

The apostle Paul bases his argument here on the chronology of events, and so we need to be careful as we reconstruct that chronology ourselves. We have already noted that Abraham came out of the idolatrous city of Ur (Josh. 24:2), and that he had trusted in the one who justifies the ungodly, Abraham himself included (Rom. 4:5). This means that Abraham began as an idolatrous sinner. The first biblical mention of Abraham’s personal faith is when he left Ur of the Chaldees (Heb. 11:8). When he left his country, the Bible says that he obeyed God, and God told him to go in conjunction with the promise (Gen. 12:1-3). Abraham went, believing in that promise (Heb. 8-10). He was 75 when this happened. Then when God promised Abraham descendants like the stars, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:5-6) . He was around 86 at this time. Twenty-four years after his departure from Ur, God established the covenant of circumcision with Abraham(Gen. 17:1-14). This means that Isaac was begotten when Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael was not. Abraham spent 75 years as a sinner, 24 years as an uncircumcised believer in God, and 76 years as a circumcised believer (Gen. 25:7). This helps to put Paul’s timeline argument into perspective.

Abraham, The Believing Gentile

Paul is arguing that Abraham was a believer in the true God, and he was a true believer in the true God, for twenty four years. He was righteous, and he was not a Jew. He was righteous, and not a Jew for a long time. Gentiles (who had been promised to Abraham starting in Gen. 12) are therefore invited to look to him as their father in the faith. He had faith, and that’s all, and they had faith, and that’s all.

Is Circumcision Nothing Then?

As Paul might say, “May it never be!” Circumcision has value in many ways. But the central value is only for those who share the faith of Abraham. Note carefully how Paul limits this. The uncircumcised Abraham is father of the Gentiles, but only those Gentiles who believe. In the same way, he is the father of the Jews, but only those Jews who believe. He is very clear on this. He is the “father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised” (v. 12, emphasis mine). In other words, a circumcised Jew who has faith may rise to the level of that famous Gentile Abraham. But if not, he does not.

Presbyterians and Baptists

Circumcision and baptism are not precise counterparts, but they are close (Col. 2:11). This being the case, let us reason by analogy. The thing that matters is true faith, faith that lives, walks, breathes, and loves. Did you take the sign of baptism after you believed? Then you are a credo-baptist the same way that Abraham was a credo-circumcisionist. Were you baptized in infancy? Then you are a paedobaptist the way that Isaac was a paedo-circumcisionist—provided you believe. If that is there, be fully convinced in your own mind, and don’t sweat it.

Heir of the World

All of the promises given to Abraham were pointing toward the same thing—a saved world. Scripture expresses this in many different ways, but all these expressions are directed at God’s love for all the nations of men. Abraham was looking for a city with foundations built by God (Heb. 11:10). Abraham looked forward to Christ’s day, he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). All the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:3). His descendants in the faith would be like the stars for number (Gen. 15:5). God would multiply Abraham exceedingly (Gen. 17: 2), and many nations would come from him (Gen. 17: 6). Paul interprets all this definitively when he says that the promise (expressed in these places) that he would inherit the world was set before him (and before us) as something to be obtained through the righteousness of faith. It was not for him, or for us, to be obtained through Torah. What is it that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4)? Is it not our faith?

Let us close with an observation on one other curiosity. In all the debates and wrangles over justification by faith, it is curious that many in our day are obsessed with believing in the way that Abraham believed, but they want to dispense (almost entirely) with what he believed. But we are told what to believe—that Jesus rose from the dead (Rom. 4:24)—but the entire context of this shows that in His resurrection we are to see the resurrection and salvation of the entire world.