"Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances"

My article on the ordinances, “Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances”, which I have previously mentioned, is now available online here. I discuss briefly some reasons I think these Christ-ordained institutions have fallen on hard times in Baptist churches and then argue for some specific ways to move forward. Among other things I argue for ‘immediate’ baptism and weekly communion. I would be interested in any thoughts on the article.

Article on the Ordinances

I am putting the finishing touches on an article on Baptism and Communion for the inaugural issue of Theology for Ministry a new journal published by Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. I am encouraged by the goal of the editors which is provide a venue for discussion of shaping our ministries theologically rather than keeping theology neatly closed off from our practical work.

My assignment for this article was to address ways to improve our practice of the ordinances. While I cannot post the article, I thought I would mention the main points I am arguing. This may advertise for the journal and will also (hopefully) generate some conversation here on these important topics. I first gave some of the reasons that I think have led to the downgrade in our practice of the ordinances, arguing along the same lines of what I posted on the topic previously. Then I argue for one point in regard to each ordinance. On baptism I argue that baptism is the profession of faith, and as such it should be administered as closely as possible to conversion (similar to the argument in the post linked above). How else can it be the public profession? Dr. Bob Stein has argued for something similar here. I commend Stein’s article though I think in the end he may argue for too much.

Then, on baptism, as suggested by a Spurgeon quote posted previously, I argue for the weekly celebration of communion. I think the NT suggests this was the pattern of the early church. Beyond that it can be such a help to us as God’s ordained means of keeping our minds fixed on the finished work of Christ.

What do you think?

John Brown on More Frequent Communion

I have recently read John Brown of Haddington’s booklet An Apology for the more Frequent Administration of the Lord’s Supper: with Answers to the Objections Urged Against It (Edinburgh: Printed by J. Ritchie for Ogle & Aikman, Edinburgh, M. Ogle, Glasgow and R. Oble, London, 1804). According to WorldCat there are only about 3 copies of this booklet in North America so I was pleased to get a fiche version which could be borrowed.

This is the John Brown whose effort to teach himself Greek is recounted by A. T. Robertson in his ‘big grammar.’ Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson in their fine intro to Brown state, “Eighteenth-century Scotland produced many noted ministers, scholars and educators, but none greater, or so greatly loved, in his own day or afterwards, as John Brown of Haddington” (in The Systematic Theology of John Brown of Haddington).

Brown makes a persuasive argument about the value of celebrating communion more frequently. Here are some quotes:

“In the apostolic times it was ordinarily administered every Sabbath, as is granted by all those who have inquired into the history of these times”(5-6)

“Have Christians now less need of this ordinance? . . . . Has [Christ] transferred the virtue and usefulness of this ordinance to another? If none of these can be pretended, why count the example of the apostles a sufficient warrant for the observation of the first day Sabbath, for public worship, for holding synods and presbyteries, if we count not their example in the frequent administration of the supper also worthy of, and fit for, our imitation.” (6)

“That the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was generally administered every Lord’s day for the space of about 300 years is beyond dispute.” (Footnote: Vide Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Augustine, Mintius Felix, Cyprian, Fortunatus, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, and others) (6)

“As often as the church of Christ has been in a flourishing state, greater frequency has been practiced or pushed.” (12)

“On the other hand, a declension toward the unfrequent celebration of this ordinance, has been generally the close attendant of apostasy and backsliding.” (12)

“Is it not then merciless, is it not cruel, in an overseer of souls, to allow such persons but one or two sacramental meals in the year, when ; it lies in his power to afford them more? Christ allows them to communicate every Sabbath; Christ’s servants voluntarily refuse to allow them to communicate above once or twice in the year, by keeping away the sacrament from them bounds!” (17)

“All human devices to render God’s ordinances more solemn, are impeachments of his wisdom, and have always tended to bring the ordinances into contempt.” (27)

“If the abuse of an ordinance is any reason against the frequent use of it, why preach we any more than one Sabbath in the year, since to many our preaching is the savour of death unto death, and gives men an occasion to trample under foot the blood of the Son of God?” (29)

“…the conscientious approach to God in this solemn ordinance, the Sabbath before and the Sabbath after, would more effectually prepare the soul for receiving and rivetting [fastening firmly] divine impressions, than all the work of these three days.” (35)

I am pursuing the possibility of having this booklet republished in modern font and with some explanatory notations.

Doctrine of the Real Absence!

I am glad to see several comments on my last post. We need to recover an appreciation for the ordinances. Too much of the conversation that has taken place in the past about the ordinances has stressed what they don’t do. That is we have devoted too much of our time arguing that the Church of Christ say too much happens at baptism and Catholics and Lutherans say too much happens in communion. Well, I differ with these groups, but we must work on understanding what these practices positively do mean.

Here is a winsome and wise quote from Millard Erickson (elder statesman of Baptist theology) on this point:

Out of a zeal to avoid the conception that Jesus is present in some sort of magical way, certain Baptists among others have sometimes gone to such extremes as to give the impression that the one place where Jesus most assuredly is not to be found is the Lord’s Supper. This is what one Baptist leader termed ‘the doctrine of the real absence’ of Jesus Christ. (Christian Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books], 1123)

“Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances”

The journal containing my article by this name is now out. Mid America’s inaugural issue of Theology for Ministry came out just before Christmas. I have previously commented on some of my thoughts contained in this article.

This issue is varied in perspectives and strengths, I think. Here is a list of the contents other than my article:
Hershael York- Defending the new IMB policies/guidelines

Gerald Cowen- “Congregationalism and It’s Limits”
An argument for congregationalism and against elder rule. Account is not taken of a role for elders within a congregational setting

John Hammett- “Patterns of Leadership in Emerging Churches”

Earl Waggoner- “A Movement Toward a House Church Ecclesiology”

Jimmy Millikin- “The Nature of the Church- Local or Universal”
An argument against an idea of the universal church

Timothy Seal- “Church Discipline: Recovering the Lost Treasure”

J. D. Payne- “Ecclesiology: The Most Critical Issue in Church Planting Today”

Steve Gaines- “Worthy of Worship”

And an excerpt from E. C. Dargan, “Ecclesiology: A Study of the Churches” (1905)

As far as I can tell there is no information on Mid America’s website about the journal. If you wanted a copy you could contact the editor, Dr. Daryl Cornett.

The Church- Conduit of the Power of God

Hezekiah Harvey was a prominent Baptist preacher, teacher and author in the 19th century. His comments here on the importance of the church are strikingly relevant today.

“The gospel becomes a permanent and aggressive power on earth only through the church, the divinely constituted organization, to which God has committed it, and through which it is appointed to act on men. The pietism which, in the professed interest of spiritual religion, undervalues the outward institutions of the gospel, finds no sanction in Scripture; on the contrary, the church, with its heaven-given ministry and ordinances, there stands in the foreground as God’s agency for the conservation of his truth and the conversion of the world.”

--H.H. Harvey, Timothy to Peter, An American Commentary on the New Testament (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1890), 129.
Several of Harvey's books can be found online here.

Spurgeon on Weekly Communion

I am currently writing an article in which, among other things I am arguing for the weekly celebration of communion. In the process I was pointed to this quote from Spurgeon. I like it especially because it expresses so well what I have experienced at our church where we do have communion weekly. The biblical arguments are readily available and the benefits can be enumerated at length. More on those later. But here is Spurgeon's quote:


“So with the Lord's Supper. My witness is, and I think I speak the mind of many of God's people now present, that coming as some of us do, weekly, to the Lord's table, we do not find the breaking of bread to have lost its significance—it is always fresh to us. I have often remarked on Lord's-day evening, whatever the subject may have been, whether Sinai has thundered over our heads, or the plaintive notes of Calvary have pierced our hearts, it always seems equally appropriate to come to the breaking of bread. Shame on the Christian church that she should put it off to once a month, and mar the first day of the week by depriving it of its glory in the meeting together for fellowship and breaking of bread, and showing forth of the death of Christ till he come. They who once know the sweetness of each Lord's-day celebrating his Supper, will not be content, I am sure, to put it off to less frequent seasons. Beloved, when the Holy Ghost is with us, ordinances are wells to the Christian, wells of rich comfort and of near communion.”
“Songs of Deliverance,” Sermon no. 763, July 28, 1867, preaching from Judges 5:11. http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0763.htm.

Amen!

Baptism: Why Do We Not Value It More?

Yesterday I spoke to a group of ‘ministerial’ students here at Union and my assigned topic was baptism. I chose to frame my comments with the question, “Why is baptism so unimportant in our Baptist churches?” (I am here writing clearly from my baptist perspective, though I realize non-Baptists may read this blog as well). It is a concern to me that though we, Baptists, take our name from this ordinance, we treat it with little concern. So, I argued for four reasons why baptism is so little appreciated in our Baptist churches.

1. We have bought our culture’s line that ritual is bad. We don’t tend to have the ability to see the value and beauty of traditional practices. Instead we tend to think that spontaneity and change are always best. But we should examine critically this assumption. Why do we assume that having a regular pattern to our worship is necessarily bad and that ‘changing things up’ is necessarily good? Probably part of the reason is that generations before us failed to think through for themselves and thus to teach to us why we did what we did, so that we saw empty tradition and ritual. However we must not let a bad example turn us away from the real thing. As you search the Scriptures you find that God is pretty big on tradition and ritual- properly done. Jesus and Paul will warn us not to let our man-made traditions obscure Scripture (Mt 15:1-9; Col 2:8); but, Paul also praises the church for holding firmly to apostolic tradition (1 Cor 11:2), exhorts the church to hold fast to apostolic tradition (2 Thess 2:15), and calls for the discipline of those who do not live according to apostolic tradition (2 Thess 3:6). This is pretty high commendation for tradition. The distinction between good and bad tradition is whether it is something God has commanded or whether it is something we have dreamed up. Baptism, and communion for that mater, are traditions Christ has commanded. If we appreciate the place of history and tradition, baptism becomes all the more meaningful as we join with the church through the ages in administering the sign of Christ.

2. This leads to a second and related point. Our culture has largely lost its ability to appreciate symbolism. In short we have lost our poetry and as a result have little appreciation for the symbolic. As people are realizing this many try all sorts of way to integrate the use of the symbolic and dramatic into our worship all the while missing that Christ Himself has instituted for us two symbolic practices which are dramatic portrayals of the gospel.
Our general failure to appreciate symbols is seen in the language used when baptism or communion is described as a ‘mere’ symbol. ‘Mere’?! Why ‘mere’? Not ‘mere’, but Christ-ordained, holy, precious symbols which portray for us the gospel.

3. A third problem is that baptism does not fit well in entertainment driven worship services. Things like baptism (and communion as well) take up too much time and get in the way of our show. They don’t make for good television. It should be a cause for pause when we feel that events commanded by Christ ‘get in the way’ of things desired by us.

4. Lastly, I think we have removed baptism from its proper place as the public profession of faith. We have created new ordinances which are not mentioned in the Scriptures (e.g. walking the aisle, praying the prayer) which have pushed aside the divinely ordained ones. In the New Testament baptism functioned as the public profession of faith (which is expected in Rom 10:9-10) as the new believer publicly identified himself with the Church by taking on himself the ritual sign of this group typically in the public square rather than inside a church building. Notice this with the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul, the Philippian jailer, etc. We tend to make ‘walking an aisle’ the public profession rather than baptism thus robbing the act of baptism of some of its significance.

This connection of baptism with the public profession also helps us to make sense of the texts which could seem to say that baptism is necessary for salvation. Acts 2:38 is an example when Peter calls upon the people to “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Baptists too often see this as a text to explain away. Having successfully argued that it does not mean baptism saves we contentedly move on without addressing what it does actually mean! It is not enough to be sure what a passage does not mean if we have not wrestled what it does then mean. The typical apostolic call is to repent and believe. Baptism here takes the place of ‘believe’ because it is the expected way of professing this faith. If we would reclaim baptism’s place as the profession of faith, I think we would more readily see its significance.

More could be said on each of these points (esp. more exegetical defense of point 4), but this is long enough already. Perhaps there is enough here to stir some conversation. I am very interested in response and conversation on these points and the basic idea in general.