HEBREWS 6: 1-2
Therefore leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of
the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the
dead, and of eternal judgment.
The author of Hebrews has listed the foundational “milk” of
our Christian lives as being contained in the foundation of repentance from
dead works, faith toward God, and the teachings of baptisms, laying on of hands,
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. He goes on to conclude that
for as long as we are not in a full knowledge of these things we will not walk
in the meat of righteousness.
This righteousness
spoken of is not merely a correct action but a change of the life in us to the
place that all that we are is from and toward God that we may share the
testimony of Jesus that if you have seen me You have seen the Father; not that
I say any born of man have attained to such but we are to press forward toward
that mark of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us look at the teachings of the scripture as to the
nature and purpose of baptisms. In the modern church we have divisions over
water baptism both in its effect in the life of the believer and in the proper
way the baptism should be conducted and the formulas by which it should be officiated.
These divisions come in most part from trying to draw an
understanding from a surface look at the subject. This is very much like trying to judge the
worth of a house by its brick and paint and windows. We know that the framework
of a house has a greater value than that which is seen by the eye, and that the
framework can only be as correct as the foundation is solid and squared.
When we begin to see this subject in its fullness we see
that it permeates both the old and new testaments. This post will hopefully
start us on a path to discovering all God has taught us by baptisms as it cannot
deal with the massive volume of this teaching throughout the scriptures.
Before I move forward I would like to point out the author
says baptisms, plural, and that to group our baptism into His death, into
repentance, into His body, into the Holy Spirit and fire, the washing of His
word, and feet washing all into our water baptism is to short the vast truths
that the Spirit will lead us into if we follow His lead. If you think you know
you cannot be taught in the same way that our Lord said it is the sick that
need a physician so only those who realize their need for truth are lead to it.
1 PETER 3: 20-21
…when once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls were saved by water, The like figure whereunto baptism does
also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer
of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1 CORINTHIANS 10: 1-4
Moreover, brethren, I
would not that ye should be ignorant, how that our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they
drank of that spiritual rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
It is by these two witnesses that we find the foundational
basis of the framework of the washings and purifications found in the Law
leading to fulfillment in Christ by whom the ordinance of baptism has been
given to us. What basic understanding can we learn by these two events: in both
there is a necessity of destruction of the will and the work of man? We can
draw that the very nature of man is to do evil and to bring about the
destruction of both himself and those around Him, that He considers himself to
be the power by which he draws his life.
The Noah flood and the red sea experience where not about
the reformation or rehabilitation of the carnal man that is received from the inheritance
of Adams flesh, but about its destruction. The only thing that remains in
either instance is what God has set aside by His word.
His word is life. Noah and his family were not saved by
their work on the arc; instead their work on the arc was the direct result of
faith that what God had spoken was true and sure to come. The children of
Israel in a similar way have the name given by God for His set aside promise
and as such the promises of an inheritance from Him as opposed to the inheritance
from Adam of slavery to sin and death.
So we can see that the purification of baptism is a judgment
by which man (symbolized by the dust of the earth) is taken away from the
promise of life in God’s word. For both Noah and Israel though they lived among
the children of men and though the children of men had rule of them the grace
of the word of God had set them apart.
Also of note is that not only did baptism destroy the old
way of life, and save out the individuals who had trusted in God’s word, but it
also was the coming into a new place of life and relationship, and revelation
of God.
We must remember these things are given to us not so that we
know history or the story of the fathers of our faith, but that we might learn
what it is to live the life given to us by God. If our meanings to these things
remain in the life outside of us then we cannot live out the things that they
instruct us in. In other words these lessons are about what happens within us
not around us. Pharaoh is our self-life who declares “who is this God that I
must listen to him.” The might of Egypt coming against the promise and
declaration of God is that battle that Paul mentions as the flesh warring
against the Spirit and that battle is within us.
These washings do not end at the shore of our red sea, but
are found in the ordinances of the law in several respects: to cleanse one for
priestly services, if one becomes unclean due to contact with menstruation blood,
ingesting unclean meat, part of preparation of burnt offerings, the High Priest
and the one that lead away the scape goat on the day of atonement, cleansing of
leapers, and several more.
The Jews in addition also washed or baptized any pot or pan
or cup that a gentile had touched in case they had transferred uncleanness to
it. Also a baptism for those who wished to convert to Judaism; this could well
be the genesis of Johns baptism of repentance and later the baptism into the
way of Christ.
The language of baptism is not solely used in teaching about
conversion to the faith in the new testament but we find it used regularly.
