05.11 - Chapter 34 - Holy Ordinances
Chapter 34 BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER The Ordinances: Definition
What is an ordinance? A holy ordinance is an official rite instituted by Christ; wherein, by reasonable physical signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. The Number of Ordinances The Roman Catholics prefer speak of seven sacraments:
• baptism • Lord’s Supper • confirmation • ordination
• marriage • penance (including absolution) • and extreme unction.
Protestant theology maintains that there are two ordinances to be observed: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These two practices were given a significant place in the spiritual life of the early church (Acts 2:41-42; Acts 20:7, Acts 20:11; Acts 10:47). “Baptism and the Lord’s supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only law giver, to be continued in His church to the end of the world. These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.” (The Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapter 28; Section 1, 2; study Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:26; 1 Corinthians 1:1-31). The Effectiveness of the Ordinances
" The Roman Catholic View. In Catholic theology, the seven sacraments contain a special form of Divine grace. When properly administered by an authorized priest they convey the grace inherent in them. In particular, baptism is efficacious unto salvation.
Concerning the Lord’s Supper, the Roman Catholic view: embraces the doctrine of Transubstantiation. According to Catholic dogma the physical elements of the Lord’s Supper are literally changed or transformed: the unleavened bread becomes flesh, and the wine becomes blood. Christ is crucified afresh! True, the elements maintain the appearance of bread and wine, but the senses are not qualified to judge spiritual realities. Moreover, since the whole of Christ is in every atom in the elements, the bread, even by itself conveys both flesh and blood. The soul is inseparable from the body, and the divinity from the soul so that partaking of the body is partaking of Christ. Because of the seriousness of the ceremony, the priest alone should handle the elements. For many years only the bread was given to the communicates. In distinct contrast, The Baptist Confession of Faith vigorously denies that Christ is crucified afresh in the Lord’s Supper. “Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death; the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually presented to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward sense.” (Chapter 30, Section 7; study (1 Corinthians 10:6; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) The Baptist Confession of Faith would agree with the Catholic dogma that the elements of the Lord’s Supper should be handled with respect and dignity by duly appointed ministers.
“The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby set them apart from a common to an holy use, and to take and break the bread; to take the cup, and they communicating also themselves, to give both to the communicants.” (Chapter 30, Section 3; study 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 etc.) However, the Baptist Confession is adamant that both elements of the Lord’s Supper be given to the communicate in a spirit of solemn simplicity and not worshipped. “The denial of the cup to the people, worshipping the elements, the lifting them up or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.”
" The Lutheran View. According to Lutheran theology, faith on the part of the recipient is a necessity in receiving or administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is efficacious if not resisted. Infants are incapable of resisting, so baptism is efficacious to them but, in years to come, salvation may be forfeited by neglect, unbelief, or bad conduct in the after life. In the matter of Communion, Lutheran theology teaches the doctrine of Consubstantiation, which declares that Christ’s glorified humanity, is in, with, and under the bread and wine, in the Lord’s Supper. In the act of communion, the Consubstantiation is local, temporary, and confined to the sacramental occasion. Afterwards the elements are common bread and wine once more and do not need to be preserved or treated in any special manner. The glorified body of Christ partakes of the infinity and omnipresence of His divine nature, so everywhere present and inexhaustible. The body and blood of Christ may thus be received by the believer and unbeliever alike but is of benefit only to the former.
" The Baptist View. Baptist theology has consistently held that the elements are simply bread and wine and nothing more literal. “The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the use ordained by Christ, have such relation to Him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ, albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.” (The Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapter 30, Section 5; study 1 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Corinthians 11:26-28).
Though the elements used in the Lord’s Supper are always literal, they do convey great spiritual truths for they represent the body and blood of Christ in a symbolical way. The presence of Christ in the sacrament is not in the elements but in the heart of the believer.
Partaking of the bread and wine signifies spiritual participation in the benefits of Christ’s death or atonement. There should be no thought of any transubstantiation or consubstantiation. The Baptist heritage is stated very plainly on this point. “That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ’s body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 30, Section 6; study Acts 3:21; Luke 24:6, Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
" The Presbyterian faith agrees. "To eat of the feast is to partake of the sacrifice, and so to be His guests to whom the sacrifice was offered, and this in token of friendship with him.
Thus to partake of the Lord’s table is to profess ourselves His guests and covenant people. This is the very purpose and intention of this symbolic eating and drinking; it is holding communion with God, and partaking of those privileges, and professing ourselves under those obligations, which result from the death and sacrifice of Christ; and this in conjunction with all true Christians, with whom we have communion also in this ordinance." (Matthew Henry) The ordinances, when properly administered are symbols of truth, or of the facts of redemption. They are signs and seals of a covenant. The ordinances are channels of grace. The efficacy is not in them, nor in the administration, but through them as the Spirit conveys grace to them who exercise true faith. The ordinances are memorials, like the rainbow in the sky after the Flood, or the pile of stones on the bank of the Jordan. The elements in the Lord’s supper are badges of men’s profession. The Baptist Confession of Faith agrees with this view. “In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to His Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of Himself by Himself upon the Cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same. So that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominable, injurious to Christ’s own only sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.” (Chapter 30, Section 2; study Hebrews 9:25-26, Hebrews 9:28; 1 Corinthians 11:24; Matthew 26:26-27)
Because Christ does not want the Church to forget the great work He accomplished at Calvary, believers are encouraged to go often to the Cross and remember “The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by Him the same night wherein He was betrayed, to be observed in His churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth the of Himself in His death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in Him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to Him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him, and with each other.” (The Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 30, Section 1; study 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 1 Corinthians 10:21).
Before the Cross in awe I stood, Beholding brow and pierced hand; For me it was He bled and died, No other price for sin beside, Could pay the price for me. His precious blood, there flowing red, Was love’s best gift most freely shed; No one but He the price could pay, On save from death and point the way For sinners, you and me.
Conclusion The ordinances become effectual means to salvation, not by any virtue in them, nor in him that doth administer them, but only by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them by that faith receive them. All faiths and positions do unite in affirming that the Lord’s Supper in particular is to be received with great reverence. “All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord’s table, and cannot, without great sin against Him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto; yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 30, Section 31; study 2 Corinthians 6:14-15; 1 Corinthians 11:29; Matthew 7:6).
Concerning Baptism A formal definition of baptism might include the concepts that baptism is an ordinance wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, signifies and seals the engrafting of a soul into Christ, and the partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace and our pledge to be the Lord’s. The Mode of Baptism
Much discussion has been offered over the proper mode of baptism as to whether or not the subjects should be sprinkled or immersed. The classical usage of the word “baptizo” often expresses immersion but not always. The word is used about 90 times in the New Testament and therefore has a New Testament usage. To Dip? Or, To Immerse?
Those who favor dipping as the proper mode of baptism appeal to various passages to support their position relying on the use of the term.
♦ Luke 16:24 “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
♦ John 13:26 “Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”
♦ Mark 7:4 “And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.”
However, there are other passages where dipping is doubtful and some form of immersion is more probable. “The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 29, Section 3,4; study Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8:38; Matthew 3:16; John 3:23). In the act of immersion, baptism speaks of going completely under the waters of judgment and death, and rising to newness of life in Christ.
Baptism is an unconditional commitment to the living Christ.
♦ Matthew 3:16 "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:"
♦ Acts 8:38 "And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."
♦ Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”
♦ Romans 6:4 "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."
♦ Colossians 2:12 "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." The Proper Subjects of Baptism To whom is baptism to be administered? Many believe that baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they confess their faith in Christ, and obedience to Him. “Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.” (The Confession of Faith of 1689, 29, Section 2; study Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36-37; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12; Acts 18:8).