A Short Defense of Infant Baptism

In an email dialogue tonight, a friend asked me to articulate a defense of infant baptism. A better defense would have been longer, but I threw this together rather quickly, brevity being key. I believe it gets to the core, and does a decent job explaining why we believe infant baptism is consistent with the teaching of Scripture.

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God's way of relating to man is through His Covenant. The Covenant takes many forms throughout Scripture, which is something I won't get into right now. But we see in the Old Testament that the Covenant included not just believers, but also their children. In the Old Testament, the sign of the Covenant was circumcision. That's why God required Abraham, the recipient of God's covenant promises, to circumcise not only himself, but also his sons, his male servants, and their sons. They were all in God's covenant under Abraham's headship, so they had to receive the sign that they were in the covenant. The New Testament makes it clear that circumcision is no longer something to be practiced, because the Old Covenant (or Testament - the words are interchangeable) is over. A new sign has been instituted, though, and that is baptism. Baptism is the sign of the New Covenant. Lest we think that children are no longer in the covenant, and recipients of the covenant promises, Peter says in Acts 2:39, "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And in the same breath, in verse 38, he commands all to be baptized. Rather than excluding children, he seems to very clearly include them. And in that context of his sermon, it's clear he is talking about the Abrahamic Covenant. Colossians 2:11-12 seem to associate circumcision and baptism together - the circumcision of Christ, in which the body is put off, is the burial and resurrection of baptism.

One argument to consider is this: Hebrews 8:6 refers to the New Covenant as being a better covenant than the Old Covenant. How can it be a better covenant if children are excluded from it?

The baptist will say there are no infant baptisms in Scripture. But we would say that's irrelevant. There are three household baptisms mentioned in the NT: the Philippian jailer's household (Acts 16), the household of Lydia (also Acts 16), and the household of Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:16). The implication of the word "household" is such that if infants were present, they would be included, as the whole household was baptized, none excluded. Also, while there are changes from the OT to the NT, there are lots of things that aren't changed. And we are offered no evidence in the NT to suggest that children are no longer in the covenant, and therefore aren't supposed to receive the covenant sign. Quite the contrary. To put it succinctly, God doesn't have to repeat Himself. And if he wants us to stop doing something, he always makes it clear. He nowhere says, "the covenant sign is only for those who are old enough to clearly and verbally articulate faith in me, and consent verbally to the covenant sign." That wasn't required in the OT, and so unless He tells us otherwise, we can safely assume that it isn't required in the NT.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Saw "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" this evening. Enjoyed it. A couple of thoughts below (and some spoilers).


1.) Some have said it's better than the first one. I can't say I agree with that. But it was a good film.

2.) The most negative thing I have to say about it is that there was some measure of innuendo - some playing around with the notion of an unhealthy emotional relationship between Holmes and Watson, and other innuendo besides. Most of it came near the beginning of the film, but there were other moments throughout. It was a bit much, and enough to distract me from much of the rest of the good in the film. Many who watch this film probably won't be as attuned to such things; I'm not sure that's necessarily good. It's been a bigger trend with Hollywood of late, and one I wish they would lay off of.

3.) Good action scenes.

4.) The acting was great, as one would expect.

5.) The portrayal of Moriarty was fantastic. A wonderful and convincing bad guy, a perfect mixture of the psychotic and the genius.

6.) It's PG13, but there are things I wouldn't want my 13 year old to see if I had kids. Older teens, maybe, but not younger teens. For details, parents can always consult the parental advisory section on IMDB.com.

Our Native Narcissism

When a person has any sort of ongoing illness or disease, they think everyone else should be as conscious of it as they are. Everyone in the world should be in their awareness walk fundraiser. When we have a close relative or friend dealing with a particular culture issue that affects them personally, why everyone else doesn't see it to be as important as we do is baffling to us. Those obsessed with Christian counseling see everything in terms of Christian counseling, and those who believe being "missional" is central to the church don't understand how we can't see what a radically important thing it is. Hands don't think feet are really needed, and feet don't get eyes. Our thing is always the only indispensable one. And in all of this, it never occurs to us that we aren't God.

The Waters of Baptism as Journeying Through the Wilderness

"He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness" (Psalm 106:9, KJV). Israel's baptism in the Red Sea prefigured the baptism in the wilderness that they were about to undergo. Likewise, Jesus' baptism was immediately followed by his testing in the wilderness. "Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' And they said to him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared'" (Mark 10:38-40, ESV) Jesus' baptism symbolized the suffering he was to endure; in the same way, the Christian's baptism not only points back to Jesus' baptism, being in union with him and his salvation, but it also symbolizes the sanctifying suffering each Christian experiences in this life, the wilderness journey prior to entering the promised country.

An Unfinished Ecclesiological Primer

This is something I started writing for a specific situation a few years ago, but never completed or used. I thought I would put it here in its unfinished form, just for kicks. Comments are welcome.

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1.) There are three basics institutions in the world that were established by God. They are the church, the family, and the civil government. Because of the reality of living in a sinful world, these three institutions will often find themselves at odds with one another, and discerning how to reconcile them will often be difficult. All other institutions are secondary and derived, whether rightly or wrongly, from these three. Since God didn't establish these other institutions, their necessity and propriety is from the outset questionable. This isn't to say secondary institutions aren't necessary. But it is to say the burden of proving a particular institution's necessity is on the one who insists it is necessary, not on the one who questions it. Also, these secondary institutions are to be understood as temporary within the context of history, and for the purpose of addressing a specific problem. The only permanent institutions (that is, permanent until Christ's second coming) are the ones God Himself established. Secondary institutions exist because those in authority in the primary institutions are failing in the task God has assigned to them. Just because "things have always been done" thus and such a way, whether for the past ten years or the past one thousand, that doesn't mean they should be. If that were the case, then we should all be Roman Catholics and under the Divine Rule of the Queen of England.

2.) When God created the church, He intended it to follow a certain pattern. A church isn't just whatever we want to make it, and just because an organization bears the name "church" doesn't mean it is one, or that it is rightly ordered. Just like other issues in the Christian life, Scripture isn't always as clear on this as we would like it to be. God often speaks in veiled ways to us about these things, and it is our duty to find them out through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to the best of our ability. And then, when we approach Scripture, we tend to take our own cultural baggage with us, which clouds our vision. Nonetheless, I believe certain things can be determined about church life, through study and reflection, which cannot ultimately be refuted. These would include the following.

A.) Church independency is unbiblical. There are no examples in Scripture of little pockets of believers starting up meetings that they call "church", who then remain structurally disconnected from all other local meetings. From the get-go in Acts, believers are saved, not in the fives and tens, but in the thousands. That means that there was never just one small parish church in each town in the early church, but lots of little churches that then composed one large church. This was true of Jerusalem, and that is why we are told that they broke bread house to house (Acts 2:46). To break bread means to celebrate the Lord's Supper together, which means worship. Where city churches are established in the New Testament, it is natural for us to think that meant one local congregation. But I would suggest that the word "church" in those contexts mean "a collection of individual parishes, all under one centralized authority", and all the historical and archaeological evidence points to that conclusion. In addition to this, the churches were started by and overseen by the Apostles and their authorized delegates, and so church unity existed under their authority.

All of this is not to say that those who start up a local church that is disconnected from all other churches are not saved, or that they are intentionally being disobedient. But it is to say that they are not following the pattern of Scripture, and a failure to follow Scripture always has negative results. Groups of people who are in unusual situations and who start churches (say, those living under a Communist regime who are consequently disconnected from the rest of the world) are to align themselves with other church bodies as God provides them the opportunity. And so, where church independency exists, it can only exist as a necessary evil.

This also means that denominationalism exists as a necessary evil as well. There should be structural unity between all true Christians throughout the world, but sin has created division. Whereas some Christians will break fellowship with you because you looked at them funny, others will unite with you no matter what you believe. Unity is the goal, but not at the expense of truth, though we might add that certain truths are more central than others.

B.) There are certain men to whom God has assigned the task of instructing other believers within the context of the church. They are referred to by different titles by different Christian denominations, but for simplicity's sake we will refer to them as the pastors of the church. Their office was established by the Apostles, and they were entrusted with the Gospel in a way that sets them apart from the laity of the church. This isn't to say that all believers aren't entrusted with the Gospel. But there is a sense in which the leaders of the church were entrusted with the Gospel in an authoritative way, distinct from the average Christian.

There are two lay offices in the church, that of the elders and deacons. They are to be able to teach, but their teaching is in addition to the teaching of the pastors, and is not essential to the church in the same way as that of the pastors.

There are opportunities for laypeople to teach, particularly within the family. Fathers are to teach their families; both fathers and mothers are to teach their children. We are to speak the truth, all of us, to one another, and you could call that, in a sense, teaching, though no authority is involved in such a situation, except insofar as the words spoke correspond to Scripture. But the task of teaching, within the authorized meetings of the church, is specifically assigned to the pastors. Any other teaching that takes place is extraordinary, and is generally, but not always, a result of a failure on the part of the pastorate.

If there are no pastors in the meeting of a group that it considers itself a church, then the group in question isn't a church. It may be filled with people who are truly saved, but their organization isn't a church, as Scripture speaks of it.

C.) The main meeting of the church is the Sunday worship service of the church. It is held on Sunday because Sunday is the New Testament Sabbath. It is also appropriate that it is held in the morning, in order to correspond roughly with the time of Jesus' resurrection, though this particular matter isn't absolutely necessary. The worship service is comprised of a few necessary elements: Singing Scripture-based songs, reading Scripture, preaching, prayer, Baptism (only when there is one present who needs to be baptized), and the Lord's Supper. These elements take different forms. For instance, the corporate confession of sin in worship is one form of prayer, and the declaration of pardon is one form of preaching. Without these elements, there is no Biblical worship service. That isn't to say that there isn't a sort of worship service happening when one or more of these elements is missing, or that the people involved aren't worshipping God. But the service they are participating in isn't structured after the Biblical pattern, and therefore isn't a Biblically constituted worship service.

This means that testimonies by laypeople, skits or any other form of drama, puppet shows, dance performances, or any other such activity that is common in Evangelical worship today, is unbiblical. This isn't to say that there isn't a place for such things elsewhere, but they have no place in corporate worship. These things have emerged in the church for a couple of reasons. Laypeople haven't carefully examined what Scripture says about worship. The ministers of the church have failed to teach on the subject. There has been a general antipathy toward the historic practice of the church in general, particularly with regard to worship. And popular culture (which may be better called commercial culture) has infiltrated the church and has so come to order our lives that we allow it to dictate everything we do.

There may be other worship services throughout the week, or additional services for prayer at other times. But the only service of the church that is binding upon the Christian is the once a week Sunday worship service.

Some Recent Typological Thoughts

Just a few things, mostly related to Revelation 11, which my Bible study group is currently in.

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In Luke 3, John the Baptist tells the people that whereas he was baptizing with water, one (Jesus) would come after him and baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (vs. 16). Peter follows the same pattern in 2 Peter 3 in distinguishing between the destruction of the ancient world and the destruction of "the heavens and the earth that now exist" (vs. 7). John the Baptist was a New Noah, leading the... repentant to safety through the flood waters, and bringing judgment on the unrepentant (1 Peter 3:18-22). Jesus would come to do the same, only this time with fire. As such, this seems to be the general pattern of the Old Testament (water) and the New Testament (fire), but also the pattern of the Christian life. Water is the means of Christian initiation, and fire the means of the Christian's sanctification (1 Peter 4:12).

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The parallel between the Flood and the destruction of Jericho had never occurred to me before until this morning. Noah and his family entered the Ark, and in it was the only safety from the Flood. Likewise, the two spies told Rahab to bring her Father's family into the house. Outside of its doors none would be safe, but inside its doors none would be harmed by the flood of the Israelite army. It is reasonable then to see in both the Church, which is in Christ. All who are in Him are safe from destruction.

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The two spies that Joshua sends to Jericho remain strangely unnamed in the text. But it is obvious that they are intended to point back to those faithful spies Joshua and Caleb, who first spied out the land, with ten others who also were unnamed, and were the only ones who believed God's promise. In a similar vein, we see in Revelation 11 the two unnamed witnesses, testifying against Jerusalem (...vs. 8). The typology tells us they are intended to point back to Moses and Elijah (vs. 6). Like Moses they came in the spirit of the Law, and like Elijah they came in the spirit of the Prophets (Rom. 3:21), testifying against those who would not believe in Jesus, the one who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, and through whom God would fulfill His promises. The same type of destruction that came upon Jericho would come upon Jerusalem as well.

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Absalom was killed while hanging from an oak tree, having been caught in the branches. And so he was a type of Christ. "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13)

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The two witnesses of Revelation 11 also point back to the two angels/men that Yahweh sent to examine Sodom after His conversation with Abraham (Genesis 18 & 19). It is the pattern of Scripture that judgment is made upon the testimony (witness) of two or three persons (Deut. 17:6, 19:15; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28). And God, fulfilling His own Law, sent two angels, that they might exami...ne the state of Sodom and Gomorrah, to determine whether it was worthy of destruction (Gen. 18:20-21). As Yahweh sent fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24), so also fire would come from the mouths of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 as a judgment upon Jerusalem (Rev. 11:5). And lest we miss the parallel, we are told that this city was "spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11:8). Jerusalem had become Sodom as well as Jericho; the Jews had become pagan Gentiles, persecuting the Messiah and His True People, the Church, and were receiving the judgment of God for it.

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God had told His people Israel that if they did not obey the words of His covenant, he would bring the plagues that he put upon Egypt upon Israel themselves, and even take them back in captivity to Egypt (Deut. 28:60, 68). This was partly fulfilled in the days of the reigns of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Jeroboam brought Egypt and its false worship to Israel, by setting up golden calves in Israel (1 ...Kings 12:28-29). Just as Israel herself in the Exodus had failed to learn from Lot's wife (Lk. 17:32) and looked back to the food and worship of Egypt, so Jeroboam sought to turn Israel spiritually from Yahweh and back to Egypt. And in accordance with God's promise of judgment, Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25-26). As the Israelites had once plundered the Egyptians as a blessing from God upon their leaving Egypt (Ex. 12:35-36), so now they were plundered by the Egyptians, who even took vessels from the Temple and the king's palace, some of which had been made from the very materials that Israel had originally taken from Egypt. Though God at first intended to bring the full judgment of slavery He had promised, Rehoboam humbled himself and God relented from His anger (2 Chron. 12:7-8).

But in Revelation 11, we see the plagues of Egypt that God had promised finally brought in full upon Israel. Like Moses and Aaron coming with signs and wonders, bringing plagues upon the Egyptians and calling them to cease their persecution of His people, so the two witnesses would come with signs and wonders, bring those same plagues upon Israel, and deliver His Church from her.

Hello, Old Friends

I'm finally catching up on your comments. I apologize for my absence. It's been a hard year, as my mother has had two strokes since December, leaving me as something of a caretaker. Lord willing, I will continue to blog, mostly on things that have little to no connection with Jonathan Sperry. If you are a Jonathan Sperry idolater, you may do well to look elsewhere. Otherwise, I invite you to visit me here often. But whatever your case may be, God bless you, and thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping you'll make a habit of it.

Thoughts on the Stoning of Disobedient Children in the Mosaic Law (Deut. 21:18-21)

As is evident, my blog posts are few and far between these days, largely due simply to life's circumstances. I do, however, find time for interaction with friends and acquaintances on Facebook, occasionally to some profit. Few of these are of a nature that can be easily turned into blog posts. But every once in awhile one ends up readily transferable to this page, and I had one such conversation this past week. The question began with a link to this article, and was followed by a friend bringing up the matter of the supposed stoning of disobedient children under the Mosaic Law, as is often brought up by atheists wanting to refute Holy Scripture. What follows is my response to the question. My response is a bit exploratory, and I will readily admit that I have never heard anyone approach the passage the way I have below. Nonetheless, I do so anyway, but not without some caution, and the awareness that I could be completely wrong.

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Well, my reason for pointing to a situation like this isn't necessarily to say whether or not capital punishment is wrong, even capital punishment of disobedient children. The point is to dispel the myths that modernist Muslims tell regard...ing what "true Islam" is. They claim it is peaceful, meaning that this is something real Muslims don't do, and that people like this are "extremists". But the heaping up of situation after situation like this proves that, if these are extremists, they sure are a common lot. And the Koran would confirm this as well.

The fact, too, that we're talking about Islam, a false religion, is another issue here. It is wrong for a Christian to marry a non-Christian. But for a non-Christian to marry another non-Christian is a matter of indifference to me, and not only to me, to Scripture. The true law of Scripture trumps all its competitors.

Now, does the Old Testament injunction still apply today? This isn't something I've studied in detail, but I'll take a preliminary crack at it. A couple of things are obvious in the passage (Deut. 21:18-21). First, the son (notice it says "son" specifically, not "daughter", or "child") is of some age of discretion. You don't have five year olds that are drunkards. And yet, this son is not fully an adult, because issues of obedience and discipline are in play. So we're talking about an older child or teenager, prior to independence.

Also, this is clearly not a case of one-off disobedience. This is a case of extreme, prolonged rebellion, that manifests itself in many ways, and is societally disruptive. And not only is the result that the son is doing things he shouldn't be doing; he also wouldn't be doing things he is supposed to be doing. He isn't assuming the role in home and society that he is required to assume. He is failing to be productive in an extreme way, and is not only counterproductive, but downright destructive.

Then there is the issue of who carries out the capital punishment. Notice that it isn't carried out by the parents in the home. The situation has to reach the point that the parents (both of them together, not just one of them) are willing to take the child to the elders for judgment. However brief, there is a trial, with the testimony of the parents, and then execution, by the men (women aren't mentioned) of the city.

And how many parents, no matter how bad things got, would be willing to take that step? It would be pretty rare, to say the least. The parent would always be praying for the child's repentance, and only when things had gotten bad beyond imagining would a parent drag their child off to their death - unless, of course, the parents themselves were just extremely wicked, a rarity among God's people. And one would expect the elders of the city, if they were wise and godly men, to be hesitant to carry out the action, without some discussion - which the text does not exclude the possibility of occurring.

All taken into account, the situation here is a far cry from the way the Old Testament is often portrayed, and a far cry from Islam, which is a religion of violence at its heart.

And having considered all of these things, I would make some suggestions of my own about how the text is to be considered (once again, the scholars probably have a better take on this). The larger issue involved isn't one of mere rebellion, but one of maturing and taking one's role as a man and therefore a leader in society. The law doesn't apply to daughters, only sons, and only sons beginning to reach an age in which they are taking on responsibilities and becoming rulers in the family, the church, and the larger community.

The point is heading off future trouble. Every man fails in his own ways. But this is a case of not only a few failures, but behaviour that is all-around destructive. This individual, if allowed to live, will lead people away from the truth of God, and cause unspeakable trouble. He isn't just a well-meaning person who makes a few mistakes; he lives to sin and to destroy people's lives. The fact that leadership is the core issue here is also pointed out by the fact that it is specifically the men of the city who carry out the execution, I would suggest.

Some would seek to take these civil laws and apply them in the New Covenant to the church - the parents in the New Covenant should take the son to the elders of the church, and he will be subject to church discipline. But while I think it should go without saying that that should occur, I don't see Scripture giving any reason to eliminate it from the civil realm today. I don't see the Intrusion Ethic of Meredith Kline as being a legitimate reading of the Mosaic Covenant, and while I can see some adjusting of Old Testament law for the New Covenant situation (Scripture itself does that), Kline's idea that the civil penalties applied to Old Covenant Israel only doesn't hold water with me. I can't say for sure that allowing for capital punishment in this situation today is appropriate, but I would lean that direction.

Like I said, this is just exploratory on my part, and subject to some measure of correction, I don't doubt. But based on this analysis, I would say that it doesn't apply to daughters; it doesn't apply to someone who has just committed one sin, however major (there are other laws for major sins); it isn't an "honor killing", and isn't conducted for vengeance; and is carried out by the civil courts. And Islam is a false religion, so how we approach them is entirely different.

So I see application for today, in a Christian society, in the civil realm. That won't satisfy your atheist friends, of course.

It should be pointed out that the occasion of such an event was to cause all Israel to hear and fear (Deut. 21:21). It was to warn Israel that spiritual declension was in its midst, that it might rectify its ways, and not become what that son was. It typologically pointed to Israel himself as the son of God who was to fail God through such rebellion, and to point to Christ, who was to take the punishment of rebellious son(s).

Hardware Mispronunciations, pt. 4

Some time ago I had posted three lists of mispronounced terms and words overheard at a hardware store I used to work for. After much delay, here are the last of those mispronunciations. Those who are interested in the rest may go here:

http://hymnusdeo.blogspot.com/2007/10/hardware-mispronunciations-pt-1.html

http://hymnusdeo.blogspot.com/2007/10/hardware-mispronunciations-pt-2.html

http://hymnusdeo.blogspot.com/2008/03/hardware-mispronunciations-pt-3.html

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Jig jag blades - jig saw blades

Inchulation - insulation

Eproxy - epoxy

Limber - lumber

Almanacre - almanac

Ben Gay Roach Spray - Bengal (the brand of roach spray)

Java rocks - lava rocks

Butane tanks - propane tanks

Helium tanks - again, propane tanks

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, on the Differences Between the Heresies of Men and the Heresies of Women

From the book The Invisible War, by the late Donald Grey Barnhouse, former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Dr. Barnhouse was writing in the early twentieth century, and so his times were slightly different than our own. As since his time American culture has found itself more confounded in its understanding of gender distinctions, the differences he notes aren't as sharp as they used to be. Nonetheless, he is addressing matters that are derived originally from the creational difference between men and women, and as such, the distinctions will always be largely correct, until the effects of the Fall are completely eradicated from the world.

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"(I)t is enlightening to note the familiar pattern of difference which runs through those false religions which have come from women teachers as opposed to those which come from men. The religion put out by an Annie Besant, a Mrs. White [Ellen G. White}, a Mrs. Eddy [Mary Baker Eddy] or their imitators, is much more subtle than what might be called a masculine heresy. For Theosophy, Seventh-day Adventism, Christian Science, New Thought, Unity and other religions which have come from women, stress the love of God, without His hatred for sin, and with fair words deceive. They offer a "key" to the Bible which says that the Book is true, and then denies its truth. Men are different in their heresies. Boldly they affirm that the Word of God is not true. Modernism strikes at the first chapters of Genesis as folklore and legend, and declares the birth of our Lord to be a biological impossibility. He was mistaken, they say, when He declared Moses to be the author of the Pentateuch, and so on throughout the account. There is a brazen characteristic in most of the heresies put forth by men which is not found in the women's heresies, and there was this same difference in the sin of the garden as seen in Eve and in Adam." (pg. 90-91)

On Mark 1:40-45

It is significant that Jesus, in healing the leprous man, chose to touch him. Such an act would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean, and unable himself to enter the Temple or to participate in Israel's cultic life. By touching the man, Jesus showed himself to be greater than the Temple system (Mt. 12:6), that his work was bringing it and the Old Testament order to an end. As Jesus' work was not complete and the old order still in effect, Jesus did command the man to act in obedience to the commands of Moses. Yet the man in his actions showed that the old order was becoming obsolete by Jesus' coming. Rather than proclaiming the law of Moses by his works, he proclaimed Jesus with his mouth. And this, in spite of the fact that we are told that "Jesus sternly charged him" (vs. 43). How could the man have ignored such a command? Though the man may not have known it, he had already shown himself to the Heavenly High Priest, Jesus, and whereas the earthly high priest could only declare him clean, Jesus the true High Priest could make him clean. We also see in this act that Jesus symbolically took the man's uncleanness upon himself, and gave the man His own cleanness, which he would later do definitively upon the cross. Jesus was shut out of Israel's religious life, and therefore shut out from God, on our behalf. The diseases that Jesus went around healing were exactly the diseases that made people unable to participate ceremonially in the life of Israel. He was opening the way into the Temple for those who had previously been excluded. Yet a new Temple had arrived, Jesus himself, and it was into himself that he was ultimately calling all men.

Two on Baptism

1 Peter 3:18-22 tells us that in the event of Noah's ark and the flood we should see baptism. As the ark passed through the flood, so we pass through the waters of baptism. But it also points to the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17). The dove that Noah sent out first returned to rest at the ark, finding no land. Being sent out a second time, she returned with an olive leaf. And being sent out a third time, she found a resting place elsewhere, and did not return to the ark. The fact that she was sent out every seven days, seeking a Sabbath rest, in essence, should not be overlooked. This occurred as the waters receded, and the ark came up out of the waters, as it were. In Jesus baptism, the Spirit descended as a dove and rested immediately upon Jesus as he came out of the waters of the Jordan. Jesus is our ark of deliverance from the waters of God's judgment.

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In Matthew 3:11-12, John the Baptist tells of the coming of Jesus, who he says will baptize "with the Holy Spirit and fire". The baptism with water by John precedes the baptism with fire by Jesus. Baptism is a sort of judgment. For the righteous, it is purifying and saving. For the wicked, it is destructive. We then see in vss. 13-17 the arrival of Jesus and His own baptism with water. To accomplish is mission of baptizing with fire, He Himself must first pass through the baptism with water. This is echoed in Peter's treatment of the coming judgment in 2 Peter 3. The judgment on the ancient creation came first by water (vss. 5-6), speaking of the flood. But the judgment to come would be by fire (vss. 7-12). Jesus himself spoke of this judgment by fire in connection with baptism (Luke 12:48-49). He would first pass through His baptism by fire, only later to bring the fire of judgment upon the earth Himself. I will leave aside, for now, questions of the fulfillment of 2 Peter 3. It is worth noting, however, that Jesus Himself never passed through a judgment of literal fire.

Both Hodge and Podge

So while I haven't been blogging regularly, I do spend a fair bit of time on Facebook, where I make my own attempts at wit and wisdom rather frequently. Since I haven't found the space to do any serious writing recently, I thought I would post what Facebook comments I thought were worth repeating here. They're largely in reverse chronological order, going backwards to sometime last Spring. As the reader will see, there's no rhyme or reason to them otherwise. Hopefully they will prove interesting to others, and not merely an exercise of narcissism on my part.

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The recent rise of the local 24 hour news channel is an interesting phenomenon. It tells me that in spite of all the ideas of a global culture that are promoted, people have a inescapable longing for local culture. A person can't be more than one place at a time, and the longing for a place called "home" is natural and normal, even for those who try to live their lives hopping from place to place across the globe.

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Genesis 9:18-27 parallels Gen.3. In both, the partaking of fruit results in nakedness, or the realization of nakedness, which is subsequently covered. The result is the proclamation of curses upon the descendents of the parties involved, though in the case of Noah, righteous men are found, to whom are proclaimed blessings. Noah acts in imitation of God in proclaiming blessings and curses. Noah's sons act righteously in imitation of him (Gen. 6:9) just as he acts in imitation of God. When taking Gen. 6-9 as a whole, as over against Gen. 1-3, one sees that the flood and the covenant with Noah are a re-creation, a redoing (of sorts) of the original creation - a New Creation. Peter shows this to be linked to the death and resurrection of Christ, therefore also to our death and resurrection, that is, our salvation, including our baptism (1 Peter 3:18-22).

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Cross references for Hebrews 1:10-12, which quotes Ps. 102:25-27, points out the parallel with Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same...". The Book of Hebrews is bracketed on either end by the proclamation of the eternality of the Second Person of the Trinity, only He is transformed by the end of the book, having been incarnated in the hypostatic union, eternally now both God and man. Heb. 1:1-4 summarizes the Book of Hebrews, and therefore the work of Christ.

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Jesus has been the head of the Church since its founding. He then appointed the apostles, who appointed other Church leaders. The fact, therefore, is that the true Church has always been an organized body with a structured leadership, not just an invisible entity with no governing body.

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The Christian life is one of ongoing repentance. We recognize our sins, confess, and repent. This is the reality of sanctification in our lives. Where there is no ongoing repentance, there is no sanctification, which means there is no justification. And if there is no justification, the person was never born again to begin with.

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Dispelling myths: It's perfectly possible to be an Evangelical, Bible-believing Christian and not believe in a Pre-trib rapture. The notion of a Pre-trib rapture didn't appear until the early 19th century, and it has nothing to do with the Gospel.

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1 Cor. 15:23-24: There is no break in time between Christ's Second Advent/the resurrection of the dead, and the end of all things when Christ's earthly reign ends. This means that the end of the Millennium coincides with the end of the current age, and there is no Millennium yet to begin after Christ's return.

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Romans 6: If you think the Gospel means you can now live however you want, you've misunderstood the Gospel. If you live the same way you've always lived, you don't have resurrection life, but are still dead in sin. And if you are still a slave to sin, you were never enslaved to Christ to begin with.

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Psalm 39: Your time in this life is short, and therefore so is your opportunity to speak for the glory of the Lord and for the good of his people while in this life. Reflect on life's brevity, and don't waste it with silence.

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If children were included among God's people in the Old Covenant, and they are now excluded in the New Covenant, how can the New Covenant be a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6)?

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A person is saved, neither by going forward during an altar call, nor by praying the "sinner's prayer", but by trusting in Jesus Christ alone. Those who are truly saved will persevere in faith to the end, and that means a pursuit of holiness and spiritual growth are inevitable. There is such a thing as false conversions.

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The sudden interest in the latest cause celebre, opposition to bullying, is a good thing, though a few decades too late. A big problem remains, though, in that the relativists running the schools have no moral basis on which to oppose bullying. On Darwin's thesis, which still reigns in the government schools, bullying is just survival of the fittest.

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Nondenominational churches are just denominations in denial. When you have declared denominations, at least it's clear what your church believes. In nondenominationalism, one is left with a large amount of confusion and guesswork. Perhaps this is why people are so quick to latch on to heretical dogmatism from New Age gurus and televangelists.

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Adventures in language: the English word "scholar" is derived from the Greek word "schole", which means "leisure".

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Any doctrine not worth defending isn't worth believing.

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Pop/rock music is designed to enslave the listener to the temporal. What's new is what's best. Radio stations play the same songs over and over again, causing the listener, who at first is interested in the new song, to grow sick and ready for the next new thing. The songs are short and catchy, and require little thought or depth of engagement. This is a radical contrast with the worldview of Scripture, which instructs us to seek wisdom, to love God with all our minds, to honor the past, and to think in terms of a thousand generations.

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"You live in a world in which a spontaneous worship service has to prove nothing...and in which a formal worship service has to prove that it isn't dead...I would suggest that is an unbiblical state of affairs." - Douglas Wilson. Putting on a show or stirring up emotions aren't necessarily signs of spiritual vitality. It's perfectly possible that groups of people in such settings are dead as a three day old corpse.

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Wandering around Barnes & Noble this evening, I was surprised to find they have a section of books entitled "Teen Paranormal Romance". It was a sheer accident that I ran across it, though. I was looking for the "English Gardening How-To Books Written by Guys with the Middle Name 'Jed'" section. I never found it.

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Parents: do you want your children to remain faithful to God, and to be sustained through the difficult times of life when they get older? Then teach them theologically-rich songs when they are young. It is those songs that God will use to communicate His word to them when they need it most throughout their lives.

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The influence of pop culture: growing up in Fundamentalism, I didn't hear the word "holy" used as an adjective very often (such as "Holy Scripture", "Holy Trinity", "Holy Christian Church", etc.). Consequently, when I hear those phrases now, I always am tempted to follow them with the word "Batman".

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Watching "Chariots of Fire" for the first time in a long time. Interesting to see Eric Liddell pushed to run on the Sabbath in the name of love of his country, taking precedent over his love of God. He made the right choice. Which leaves a question - are you an American first, or a Christian first? Earthly nations come and go, but the Kingdom of Christ abides forever.

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In all my years of working with elderly folks, probably the most repeated statement I've heard from them is "I'm old, so I can say anything I want." But that isn't the way of Scripture. Grey hair should be a sign of mature wisdom and godliness, not foolishness, selfishness, or a loose tongue.

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A man goes to see his doctor and the doctor tells him he's going to die if he doesn't change his lifestyle. "Doc, don't tell me I have to give up wine, women, and song," the man says. "I'm not," says the doctor. "You can sing all you want."

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"Now listen, brothers and sisters. Now listen. Now listen." But I was listening, Charles Stanley...

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Today is the anniversary of the first sustained flight by a manned aircraft, performed by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, N. C., in 1903. The flight almost never took place, however, as Orville refused to either pass through the body scanner or to let Wilbur pat him down before boarding the plane.

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When I've spoken to defenders of Contemporary worship music and raised the complaint of copyrighted worship music, the response I've usually received has been that copyrighting protects the songwriter from someone abusing his song. And yet someone can take an old hymn, tack on three or four new lines, and make a bundle of money through CCLI, as if it were a new song. "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)". Who's going to protect the old hymns? Does a songwriter cease to matter once he's dead?

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Good theology is like a cathedral. We all enjoy its beauty, but few of us really understand the time and effort it took in building it.

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I've gotten to the point that I don't want to read any contemporary Evangelical literature, just because I'm sick of seeing the word "broken" - which I'm pretty sure, according to its current usage, doesn't really have a definition.

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It is often assumed that in order to have a genuine Christian society everyone in that society must be converted. But that isn't the case. When the Church is believing and behaving as it should, it becomes the leader in the society it's in, by virtue of the positive effects of God's Law. And then even the unregenerate begin to act like Christians, because of the fear of man and the weight of tradition.

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I consider it one of the supreme ironies in life that those who talk the most usually have the least interesting things to say.

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Jim Caviezel is my co-pilot.

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You know, if I found myself in a desert on a horse with no name, I think one of the ways I might entertain myself would be coming up with a name for that horse.

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Classic metal group Black Sabbath has announced they are planning a reunion in the near future. Commenting recently on the upcoming tour, lead singer Ozzy Osbourne said, "uhwa bluba puh buba fuba duh, uh pwa tuh fuh puhduh uhh."

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In the news: Prince William proposes to long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton - British citizens rejoice to have something to live for again

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Difficulties in life are inevitable, and are God's means of saving His people, of shaping them into what they are to be. The choice is whether one will try in vain to avoid the trouble, or accept it with gratitude as a gift from God, and allow Him to show how to rightly deal with it.

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Harry Potter. By the time these kids graduate from Hogwarts, they'll be able to draw Social Security.

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When I worked for a counseling ministry a number of years ago, a counselee I worked with ran across 2 Samuel 1:26, where David said that his love for Jonathan was greater than that of women, and the fellow mentioned the passage to me. He couldn't get past the idea that Jonathan and David must have been gay, and no amount of my trying to explain the passage in light of male friendship got through to him. He was just another victim of our society's sinful perversity. An over-sexualized society, and especially the prevalence of homosexuality in our society, destroys male friendships.

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Notice: This evening's Procrastinators Anonymous meeting has been postponed until Monday evening.

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In a day in which selfishness and self-righteousness are often confused with love and justice, much clarity could be found simply through repeated watchings of Tombstone.

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It is interesting that the two sacraments Christ gave His Church to celebrate are symbolic of death - Baptism, of burial, and the Lord's Supper, of flesh and blood given over to crucifixion.

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Fairy tales are a display of beauty, goodness, and truth, and set before us those things that, though we see them now only in glimpses, we will see fully one day in the resurrection of the dead and the eternal kingdom.

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Nine out of ten people agree that the tenth guy will always disagree with them, because he's just difficult like that.

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If Train A is heading west from Raleigh at 55 miles per hour, and Train B is heading east from Greensboro at 50 miles per hour, what flavor of ice cream is the eight year old boy in the third car back on Train A eating?

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There are three social strata of adults in American society - "Jeopardy", "Wheel of Fortune", and "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader".

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Ah, teas. Just like skin color, black tea isn't black, white tea isn't white, and green tea isn't green. This was pointed out to me by a green friend of mine.

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The word "priest" is actually a Latinized, and then Anglicized, form of the Greek word "presbyteros", which is typically translated today as "elder".

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I have a feeling that future generations, looking back on our culture, will think the "f-bomb" was a real bomb.

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I've been doing a fair bit of thinking on the theology of the cross vs. the theology of glory, as per Luther, born out of study of Rev. 4 & 5. And watching the Beatification of Cardinal Newman on EWTN. As I watch, I am struck by the bittersweet nature of the traditional liturgy of the Church, though laden in beauty, and how it contrasts with the theology of glory as found in the contemporary church.

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I'm atching Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I haven't seen in a long time. What a great movie. It just struck me that there is a common theme throughout the Indiana Jones series - there is such a thing as knowledge forbidden to man, certain things that God has made off limits to us. True "success" in God's world only comes through acknowledging and honoring mystery. This can seem ironic in a movie series about finding out ancient secrets, and yet rightly understood, it is essential to finding all truth. Unless one understands one's limitations - both inherent and given by authority - one cannot become greater than he is.

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Christian cliche #3245: "Jesus Christ - 'H' isn't His middle initial." For some people, I know this is a sincere attempt to address blasphemy. But it's about as effective as the Southern Baptist Convention's boycott of Disney a few years back. Cliches like this trivialize Jesus' name, reducing it to a hollow slogan, and they merely give pagans more occasion to mock and blaspheme.

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I noticed that a local church was holding a ADHD support group, and I'm trying to imagine how that would work out. If nobody has the attention span to listen to you as you complain about your problem, and they're interrupting you the whole time, wouldn't that sort of work counter to the purpose of a support group?

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Christian cliche #3246: "God couldn't be everywhere at the same time - that's why He made grandmothers." Saw this one on a throw pillow in a neighbor's house a couple of years ago. A good example of how sentimentalism is a fertile seedbed for heresy. As a guest in their house, I didn't feel that pointing out the heresy was the most appropriate thing to do.

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Books of the Bible that we would not immediately think of as directly connected, other than the fact that they are God's Word, are often more related to each other than we might realize. The Book of Proverbs, for instance, features the contrast between the Adulterous Woman and Lady Wisdom. Likewise, the Book of Revelation contrasts two women, the Harlot Babylon and the Bride of Christ, the Church. Adultery and harlotry are regular Biblical images for idolatry. To live unwisely is to worship false gods. In contrast, to be part of Christ's Church is to live wisely and purely. All sin is idolatry, but to worship the true God and to be united to Him is to live in accordance with His Law.

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It is often regarded as impolite to discuss religion and politics in social settings. The funny thing is that Jesus went around discussing both, and he did so in social settings, where everyone could hear Him, and could be offended.

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How the word "religion" can to be regarded as a bad thing, or at least redefined such that it came to be regarded as a bad thing, is a bit baffling. But the idea that a religion is a scheme of self-salvation, or man's attempt to get to God by his own doings, and therefore contrary to Christianity, is false. Christianity is a religion, the only true religion, and is about one's relationship with God.

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Tradition is not only inevitable, but is also necessary and good. The question is whether or not your tradition is shaped by a Biblical worldview, and whether or not you're willing to let it go when it becomes an idol.

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Everybody knows generalizations are bad.

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Christian cliche #3247: "You'll never find the perfect church." Absolutely true. But I think people have the right to expect a church that doesn't use that as an excuse for not doing what it should.

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Dispensationalism's self-fulfilled prophecy:

1.) Declare that the world is getting worse
2.) Sit back and do nothing to prevent the world from getting worse
3.) Watch as the world gets worse
4.) Point out that the world - at least within ten miles of your house - is getting worse, just like you said

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The loss of modesty has broader effects than we might initially think. The attack on modesty is in effect an attack on mystery, and therefore an attempt at supplanting God. And one outworking in our society is that we find it hard to believe that there may actually be some things that are none of our business. This is especially manifest in the celebrity gossip subculture. Holiness honors the hiddenness of God, even as it exists in His image, which is man. This is simply another example of loving the Lord your God and loving your neighbor as yourself.

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Contrary to the commonly held view today, not all sins are equal in terms of their wickedness, and some sins are actually worse than others. If that weren't the case, then there wouldn't have been varying degrees of punishment in the Mosaic Law. When Jesus said, "He who hates his brother has already committed murder in his heart," he wasn't saying that murder is equal to hate, but rather that sin is more than action, it is also attitude, from which sin acts arise.

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It was no mere coincidence that a crown of thorns was placed upon Christ's brow in his suffering. God told Adam that due to his sin, man would tend the ground by the sweat of his brow, and that the earth would brings forth thorns. Christ took Adam's curse, the curse of the ground, upon himself. Man is from the dirt, and the redemption of the earth is inseparable from the redemption of man.

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In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan the prophet comes to Jerusalem to confront King David with his sin by means of a parable. In so doing, David pronounces his own judgment upon himself. Likewise, in Matthew 21 Jesus comes to Jerusalem and confronts the chief priests and the Pharisees by means of a parable with their failure to rightly shepherd the people of Israel. Like David, they pronounce their judgment upon themselves.

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Dante's "Inferno" - was it the fourth or the fifth ring of Hell that contained telemarketers and time share salesmen?

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Genesis 2:18-25: It is interesting that God brought the animals to Adam to name them (in connection with the creation of and naming of Eve), but we find no specific statement of God directing Adam to name other parts of the creation, such as the plants. This is not to say it isn't proper to "name" plants. And yet we see from this that not all living things are equal. In other words, tree hugging isn't allowed.

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New Student Orientation: the term "orient" derives from medieval church architecture, and is to point the direction of the eastern wall in a church, where the altar is, and where Christ was believed to reside in the Sacrament. True education can only come in conjunction with a proper looking toward Christ.

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Do the earthly promises of the fifth commandment still apply in the New Covenant? Scripture seems very clearly to say so: "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit......" (1 Peter 3:8 and following for the context). This life is short, and man is but a vapor in it. And yet we are called to love life, even in its fallen state, and not just the lives of others, but our own life as well. This is a reality that transcends the unique characters of the Old and New Covenants.

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True spirituality: Just use the word "broken" alot. "Struggle", "feeble", "real", and "heart" are good ones too. And talk about falling down on your knees. The key is to make sure everyone knows you're being self-deprecating. Hey, what's that in my navel?

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One of the glories of the Westminster Divines and the catechism questions they composed is that they understood that the commandments had a broader application than what is explicitly stated in the commandment. This comes out clearly in the fifth commandment (WSC 64). The command to honor father and mother has at its heart the issue of obedience to God-ordained authority, and therefore has application in areas beyond the parent-child relationship.

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If the eternal God, He who never slumbers nor sleeps, who never grows tired such that He needs to rest, still rested on the seventh day, is it not appropriate that we, subject to the weakness of flesh and the effects of the fall, by walking after His example, should also rest on the seventh day?

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On Matthew 7:1-5: I always find it funny that those who are quick to quote verse one couldn't tell you what the other four verses say. In fact, I find such people not only ignore the fact that Jesus is passing judgment in this statement, but He does so in ...all that he says elsewhere, as do the prophets and apostles throughout Scripture, by the sanction of God. So this passage obviously doesn't mean what some people want to make it mean. In addition, those who say "judge not" usually manage to do so simply when you say something they don't like, mostly on an issue about which they are thinking more like the ungodly culture around them rather than in accordance with what Scripture says about the matter. And all of this, summed up in the fact that those who tell someone "judge not" are themselves judging, and proving themselves hypocrites. Judgment is inevitable; what God calls us to do is to make a righteous judgment.

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In His prophecy spoken through Jeremiah, God said that He had given the "beasts of the field" to serve King Nebuchanezzar (Jer. 27:6). This is obviously reminiscent of and a continuation of Adam's reign (Gen. 1). But it was the very "beasts of the field" that Nebuchadnezzar was driven out among when God judged him (Daniel 4:32). He lost his rule over them and became like them. Note also that Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his palace when his vanity overtook him (Daniel 4:30), just as David was walking on the roof of his palace when he saw Bathsheba bathing (2 Samuel 11:2). They were both guilty of the... same vanity and pride, that which those who are in positions of power and authority are so prone toward - that of failing to remember that their power and authority are not their own, and that they answer to a greater King.

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Jesus came as the beginning, or the genesis, of a New Creation. Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the deep in the conception of the Old Creation (Genesis 1:2), so the Spirit overshadowed Mary in the conception of the New Creation (Luke 1:35). And so anyone now who is united to Christ is himself a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

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Blended worship is like being a little bit pregnant.

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Mark 1:40-45. The significance of Jesus touching the leper as he healed him is easily overlooked. But the point is that in healing him by touching him, Jesus took the man's uncleanness upon himself, becoming unclean in the man's place. This is why Mark adds that Jesus was then forced to walk in desolate places (Mark 1:45, Leviticus 13:46). To be unclean is to be shut out from the Temple, thus from God, as well.

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It would be nice if the minsters of the church were to return to wearing distinctive clothes that symbolized their office, especially in worship. Everything we do, including how we dress, is a symbol, and communicates something about ourselves and how we view God and the world around us. In a unique way, how our ministers dress, especially when they are functioning in their office, points to the God they serve. This is true of all God's people, but particularly for minsters, as their vocation is uniquely to the full-time ministry.

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There is no Christian who has "no creed but Christ". It's just that some write it down on paper, while others merely hold it in their heads.

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"My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers: There was a time in my early twenties when I practically lived on every word in this book. I read it over and over again, and tried desperately to live out what it taught. I have since come to the conclusion that this book was one of the biggest sources of spiritual distress in my life. Chambers' focus in the book is on the surrend...er of all of one's life to God, as if that were possible in this life. Those who are serious about God will confess all of their sins and surrender fully to God, Chambers says. This is the Carnal Christian - Spiritual Christian doctrine, and it is a false doctrine that has probably done more damage in the church than we will ever know. There is only one kind of Christian - justified in Christ and striving toward holiness, but constantly faced with his failures as a Christian. He rests in the grace of God, knowing that forgiveness is his, in spite of the fact that he could never remember all his sins to confess them. Lutheran pastor Rod Rosenbladt once said that Oswald Chambers should have stuck with painting rather than becoming a pastor. That might be calling it a little harsh, but if this book is any example of Chambers' teaching, Rosenbladt's statement isn't far from the truth.

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When couples who appeared in eHarmony commercials go through a rough spot in their marriages, do they think to themselves, "we can't get divorced. We laughed together in slow-motion on an eHarmony commercial"?

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So if the race for the office of governor is called a gubernatorial race, is the winner the biggest guber?

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It is true that being in a church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than being in a garage makes you a car. Still, there are certain places where one expects to find cars, and the ninth hole on a sunny Sunday morning isn't one of them.

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I'm regularly struck by the fact that Evangelicals tend to be obsessed with images, sometimes using them as a substitute for the Word. And yet the images they use are from pop culture, rather than folk or high art. What a shame. If you're going to do art, at least do it right.

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I'm regularly intrigued at the things we have children participate in, that have nothing to do with preparing them for adulthood. This year, rather than sending your child to summer camp, why not stick him in a cubicle for a week?

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Dr. Jeremiah: the text says that the mark of the beast is "on" the hand or the forehead, not "in". Computer chips don't qualify.

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This morning on David Jeremiah's radio show he noted the similarities between Adam and Eve, and Job and his wife. Just as Satan used Eve to get at Adam, so Satan used Job's wife to get at Job. I had never made the connection before. Even a Dispensationalist finds some typology every once in a while, I guess.

So...

...I've reverted back to the old template for now. I hope to make more changes in the future. The circumstances of life have prevented me from doing much blogging as of late, let alone any site alterations. Hopefully that will change soon. In the meantime, thanks for visiting.