The Ohio Independent Baptist, August 1960

CRIPT B ,~1 ll1\ 1 l1l tl,i" irl"tall11lctlt (',{ ot11· 1 <.'\ tt'\\' of l)r Ut tr,,s Sanr111va- ar~~·~ l10 l . ,, l c~111 t)11l~ dt <,l ,, 1tl1 111 ::, ctic111 0 11 Tl1 Sig- • 11ifil"(ltll'l' 1{ l <ll t1~111 r\ c 01 d111g to tl1 r1plt11 ~. i11c w ll'ltl\l 111 1>t1tti11g tl1"- \\ 01cl of od a\10,, all er ds, 111- lt1l1111~ <.)\tr l''' 11. ,, t' tcel tl1i ... 1s tl1c rriost i1111>orta11t })arl of tl1(~ b<.) l, If Dr S<1<1r111,'"1ar,1 1~ rigl1t. ,111 of tls ot1gl1t to b - <.'0111t Lt1tl1"-'ra11$ , l1t1t 1{ \\ art rigl1t . tl1 )' ougl1t to b co111 B,,~)ti~ts l t1tl1e1,111s tt:'1cl1 tl1at bclptis111 ·111d tl1 supp r ar sacra- 111e11ts tl1at "011,· ~ grr\c t<> tl1 oul, and so along with Ef 1~cop, lia11~ a11d c1tl1olic are sacra111e11taria11s, albeit with tl1c 011c ofte11111g 1 111 11t tl1at t.11 y i11sis t it is the accompany- 111g \\l'ord tl1i1t g1, 1 c tl1e111 f{icacy. On pag 38 th author ~ta t tl11 ~ ,·1 \\' so plainl) 1 tl1at all ca11 understand: "Tl1rougl1 tl1c Gosp 1 and baptism the saving par– do11111g, and reg 11erating grace is offered and given u s, a11d "'' r ceiv a1 d appropriate it by faith. Baptism signi– fi a11d offers the grace of burial and resurrection with Cl1ri t. and faith accept and u ses it . .. just as food is put into our mouth with a spoon, and we appropriate and use it by s,vallowing, digesting and assimilating it.' Ho\v ca11 it be put more s trongly than that, that baptism is a poon that conveys Christ to the soul, and faith appropriates him'? Baptists, on the other hand call baptism and the sup– per ordi11ances to be obeyed that symbolize the way of sal– , ·ation by faith iJ1 a crucified and risen Saviour and our communion ,vith him. They do not convey gr ace to u s, but ho,v forth the gr ace that has already been received by faith. Dr. Saarnivaara is right when he says, "That 1natter is not decided if we merely declare that our doctrine is Scriptural. We must also show where the Bible teaches such a doctrine' ' p. 27 . We gladly accept his challenge. His first proof text is Matt. 28 :19: · 'Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ... teaching them to observe all things that I h ave commanded you.' Don t these words show that baptism and teaching are means that are used in making disciples? . . . Baptism must necessarily accompany the proclamation of the Gospel in making disciples. P eople cannot become disciples in the full sense without baptism" pp. 28, 29. His only interest in the verse is t o prove that teaching and baptism go together in salvation. He fails to point out that the teaching that makes disciples is different from the instructional teaching that follows baptism. The words are different in the Greek. P edo-baptists first baptize and then teach, and often forget to disciple altogether. The confirm– ation of faith required before f irst communion can scarcely be called evangelism, though we trust that the catechetical course often does lead to salvation. Baptists insist on keeping the Scriptural order to disciple, baptize and teach. W11y turn that order around? ACTING OR ACTED UPON? The very heart of the sacramental theory is seen on pp. 29, 30: ' Baptism is not your work, in which you act. You are acted upon in it. You ar e dedicated to Christ through bap– tism, and you dedicate yourself to Him through faith ... Baptism is an act of God. ' He uses I Cor. 10:2 to prove it. The Israelites did not con- fess Moses when they were baptized in th e cloud and sea, ac– cording to him, but were rather put under his leadership by an act of God. He says that our talk about confessing Christ and dedicating ourselves in baptism is a perversion of Christianty. We counter that there is a natural, r ath er than a sacra- mental reason , for the Scriptural l angu age . The command to baptize is given to the apostles and the church, and the bap– tizer naturallly does the work. Nevertheless, baptism is never called an act of God, but is called a work of righteousn ess. When J ohn h esitated to immerse J esus, our Lord answer ed, 'Thus it becometh u s to fulfi ll all r ighteou sness" Matt. 3:15. Baptism 1s a cooperative work between the baptizer a11d the baptized in which both fulfill righteousn ess. If Dr. Saarniva– ara had not seen so many h elpless babes sprinkled, he would not have thought that the candidat e is wholly passive. As for I Cor. 10:2, it was not written to instruct us in Christian baptism, for that of the Israelites was waterless. I t is said that they went over dry shod. It was only a bap– tism in the sense that they went down under the cloud. • • • A REVIEW :RI t>T(JRE ? • 1'1 t' p\1sl1i11g of th waters of ll1c sec\ as1cl was ind c>c cl ac l c>f Goel , bt1l their following of Moses und r the clo~:1 n1 d 11: lo th s.a b d was their own. Did not their act of follow111g co11s t1tulc a sy1nbol1cal co11fession tl1at they a cC'pt. d th 1. a?ership .or. Mos s? l s what we say in l~; bapl1stry, or 1s 1t our w1ll1ngn ss to go down under the water tl1at co11fcsscs our faith in Chirst's dea lh and r esurrection? One does not h ~ve. to _t alk in ?rder to confess Christ, though a v rbal co11fession is first r equired, Acts 8:37. BAPTISMAL REMISSION? The ,next passage brought up is Acts 2:38. ' Let '~ see what .P~ter actually said. 'Be baptized unto or into_, the remission of your sins.' 'Into' is the lit– eral translation of the Greek preposition eis that is used h ere. If you say that you dip your hand into water do you mean that it is a symbolical act whereby you cor{fess that yo~ have previously immersed your hand? . . . The Gospel ~s a1;1 exte111al thing. You hear it with your ears or see 1t ~1tl': your eyes. In baptism, the water, or the e~ternal rite, is connected with the word . . .. When the B1b~e says that a p~rson is baptized into the forgiveness of sins, we accept this word" pp. 31, 32. He means that we should not object to baptism as a means. of gr~ce, when the Bible is"also external, but surely there 1s a difference_. .Jesus said, The words that I speak unto ~ou, they are spirit and they are life" John 6:63. It is not the Bible we see, but the Word of God spiritu ally appre– h ended that saves. If the sight of a baptism awakes a man to his need of Christ, he may be saved by that also but it will be. its spiritual message and not by the contact of his bo?-y with water. As for unconscious babes, they apprehend n either the Book or the baptism, so the combination of the two cannot save them. It is true that the literal meaning of "eis" is into but there is no analogy between dipping one's hand into ~ater and being dipped into the forgiveness of sins. The one is lit– eral and the other symbolical. The Greek uses eis because forgiveness was conceived of as a position to get into, and we u se for or unto, because we conceive of it as a blessing to be secured . Dr . A . T. Robertson says in his monumental Gram– mar of the Greek N. T. in the Light of Historical Research, p. 592, that the phrase can be translated, "baptized on or upon the forgiveness of sins," Which would mean on the strength of a forgiveness already received. He says the interpreter must decide that and not the grammarian, for eis in compo– sition can mean into, for, unto, in, on and upon. Yet Bap– tist interpreter s are willing to take the usual meaning in Acts 2:38. The American Commentary says on the passage: "In order to the forgiveness of sins we connect nat– u rally with both the preceding verbs (repent and be baptized) . .. It enforces the entire exhortation , not one part of it. ... Repentance and the prescribed expression of it by baptism are closely related. P eter did not feel it necessary to provide for exceptional cases. . . He saw that the inward change and the ritual confession of it-– were so knit together by nature that it was enough for him to state them in their proper order and sequence." Baptists have historically believed that baptism should follow r epentance and faith as soon as possible, for a new h eart should evidence itself in obedience to its Lord. Spir– itually we enter into the position of forgiveness by a peni– tent faith in Jesus Christ. Symbolically we enter that po– sition by baptism. The very nature of repentance tells us it is the r eal condition, and the symbolical nature of baptism should tell us that it does not secure but confesses our forgiveness. HOW ARE SINS WASHED AWAY? Acts 22: 16 is offered as another proof of sacramentarian– ism. To the objection that "wash away thy sins" is a meta- phor, the author says: "Of course, they are metaphorical. Metaphor is a fig– ure of speech in which one object is likened to another . . . The thing to which the word 'wash' refers is removal of sin . .. In Acts 22 :16 the outward washing is a meta– phor of the inward cleansing for sin, which takes place by the blood of Christ in and through the outward wash- ing by faith in the Gospel" pp. 32, 33. (Continued on page 16)