A Scriptural Understanding Of Baptism Week 5

Covenant, Circumcision, and Baptism: The Promise-Fulfillment Issue

We're going to talk about Covenant, Circumcision, and then finally Baptism again. Now listen, I've got a lot of material to cover, so I'm hoping I can get it done. But if I see you fading, I'm going to quit.

After a half hour, any of you start going. If one of you starts fading, the rest of the class has to quit.

All right?

All right, let me pray. Thanks, Father, for our time together. Help us now to be charitable and clear. Help us to think of these things through Scripture. And we'll thank you for that as you work in our lives.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, so think about this. Since you're a Christian and a member of the Church, should you have your children baptized, since God promised to be the God of Abraham and all his descendants? Your Presbyterian friends insist that the Abrahamic Covenant applies, and that means that the Covenant sign has to be applied to your children.

Or Circumcision was a Covenant sign, and it was applied to God's people and their boys. Then, so you have to baptize your children because it's the new Covenant sign. Baptism replaces Circumcision. God's Covenant community is always a mixed community.

That is, it's always composed of believers and unbelievers. And Circumcision was applied to all the male children under the old Covenant, making them part of God's Covenant community, but not all of them believed.

And so now, under the new Covenant, baptism is applied to believers' children, making them part of God's Covenant community. And it's still true that not all of them will believe. What happens here is there's a straight line drawn from the old Covenant community to the new Covenant community.

But is there a straight line? Is it just a straight line from the Abrahamic community to the believers and their children today? Is it a straight line straight from Circumcision to baptism? Is it a straight line from a mixed community then to a mixed community now?

Is that just a straight line? There's nothing that happens. I would suggest that our Paido-Baptist friends have overlooked the primary issue of promise and fulfillment. Of pointer to where it's pointing.

That is to say, the way the Old Testament promises or pictures or points to a greater reality in the New Testament. And I didn't put it up there, but I want you to get that fixed in your mind. The Old Testament promises or pictures or points to a greater reality in the New Testament.

And when you just draw those straight lines, you miss that. There is no greater reality. As important as it is to show the absence of any recorded infants in the New Testament or that the idea of household baptisms just don't hold water, there are more primary issues at play.

And that's what we're going to talk about today. There are these very primary issues that are at play. Does baptism merely replace Circumcision? Or is there a greater reality to which Circumcision points?

Does the Church merely continue as God's people, the same people as Israel? Or does the Church constitute a new greater promised community? Does the Abrahamic covenant remain the same? Requiring us to baptize our children?

Or has something happened that fulfills that covenant so that it points to something greater? That's the issue that you have to think about. Always be thinking this. The Old Testament points to something greater.

Therefore, is it right just to draw a straight line? That's the question. And I believe our Paedo-Baptist friends follow the flat line and they miss the fulfillment. And that makes all the difference in the world.

That makes all the difference in the world. What we want to talk about now is the greater reality. How we have to get that into our minds. Or we're going to miss the issue of baptism. So let's talk about the Abrahamic covenant.

What about the Abrahamic covenant? Now remember the centrality of that covenant. So what were the promises?

They were this.

God promised Abraham a great nation to make his name great. Cursings and blessings for those who dishonor and honor him. Nations coming to him. The promise of an heir. Descendants like the stars. The land of Canaan.

And that God would be a God of his descendants. And a seed, most importantly, a seed through which God would bless all the nations. All that was in there. And remember that circumcision was the sign and seal of this covenant to say I'm going to fulfill these promises.

And remember, and this is key, the genealogical principle. That circumcision marking out the promises and the people of God must be applied to all of Abraham's descendants and their households. The genealogical principle that it still applies.

Since Abraham baptized his children in his household, the genealogical principle still holds to now so that he didn't baptize, he circumcised them. They baptize them now.

That's a key.

And then remember that although the covenant sign changed, the covenant promises continue to relate to us.

Alright?

But again, you've got to ask the question, does everything remain the same? Are there no differences as you move from promise to fulfillment? And for example, what happens to the physical and the national promises?

The land.

Right?

What happens there? What do we do with that? What our Paedo-Baptist friends tend to do is to ignore that part and they spiritualize or they take the other part more seriously. On the other hand, on the opposite end of the spectrum, our dispensationalists who emphasize the land promises and seem to tend.

To forget the other promises.

But they're all there.

All those are in the Abrahamic covenant. And so does the genealogical principle, does that still apply exactly the same way? Are there no differences as you move from promise to fulfillment? Are there no differences?

Well, I bet you know.

Where I'm going, don't you?

Alright?

Something has happened to fulfill the covenant promises and to bring about a new reality.

Okay?

A greater reality emerges as Jesus fulfills the promises of the Abrahamic covenant.

Alright?

God still deals with us according to that covenant since he blesses all the nations through the promised seed of Abraham.

Okay?

Now, as you as you read through the Old Testament you see that first of all there's his seed and that included Ishmael, it included Isaac, it included the sons of Keturah, his second wife, Abraham's second wife.

They were all circumcised too.

Right?

But then the line narrowed to Isaac and Jacob and the patriarchs. So there's a seed and then there's this seed that God is particularly working with. He went from not Ishmael.

But Isaac,.

Not Esau but Jacob and so forth. So there's this true seed that sends. And then the nation of Israel is the fulfillment of that seed as it brings to us the Messiah. But notice Galatians 6 or 3, Galatians 3.

You know we got a lot of scripture to look at so please someone volunteer quickly. Someone read Galatians 3 verse 16 and then verses 25 through 29. This is key to understanding these things. Alright? Galatians 3 16 and verses 25 through 29.

Alright.

Okay, 25 through 29.

Alright, so what happens here. According to Paul, the promise of the seed in the Abrahamic covenant finds its fulfillment in Jesus. He's the promised seed. Jesus is the promised seed. And then because and then because.

Of Jesus.

Believing Jews and Gentiles are the promised seed or become the promised seed of Abraham through Jesus. So Jews and Gentiles now become the promised seed of Abraham through Jesus. He is the seed. And now we have been joined to Him.

And the way into Abraham's family is no longer dependent on circumcision or the law or birth but by faith in Jesus and a spiritual rebirth. That comes with it, right? We're born again when we are united to Jesus.

The seed now is spiritual in nature. That is you're the seed of Abraham if you believe in Jesus, if you put on Christ. So one has written now that Christ has come, only those who have faith and have experienced spiritual rebirth are His people and part of His family.

So you become a part of Abraham's family only through your union with Christ through faith by the Spirit. Okay? That's what Paul is saying here. So only if you then put on Christ can you call yourself part of Abraham's family and heirs of the promise.

Notice that it's only those who put on Christ who are the heirs of the promises.

Okay?

You are sons of Abraham and heirs of the promises. Those of you who have come, become part of his family by faith through the Spirit. So you're part of Abraham's family not if your parents applied the covenant sign of baptism to you, but if you've placed your faith in Jesus.

You're heirs of the covenant promises not if your parents applied the covenant sign of baptism, but if you've placed your faith in Jesus. So you can see then how the genealogical principle has been reinterpreted and expanded because of Christ.

So.

This is how our Paedo-Baptist friends look at it. They look at it this way. Here's Abraham. Here's Abraham's seed, which is a true Israel. Right? And then here we are believers and their children now equal Abraham's seed and true Israel.

Okay?

Straight line. Straight line.

Nothing's happened here. However, if I understand Galatians correctly, here's Abraham.

And then there's.

Abraham's seed in the true Israel. And then what?

Jesus. Jesus.

Who is Abraham's seed and true Israel? Jesus now is Israel. And by the way, if you want to see that just read through the book of Matthew. Right? Matthew continually tries to show that Jesus is the true Israel.

In other words, the nation of Israel goes all the way down and finds its focus in one person.

Alright?

The seed promise goes all the way down and finds its fulfillment in one person. For example, let me just give you an example. The really famous verse where it says that Joseph and Mary and Jesus.

Had fled to Egypt.

And then they came out. Right? And then Matthew says, because the Bible says, out of Egypt have I called my son. Right? Oh, see, that's a prophecy about Jesus. Yes, it is. But when you go back to the Old Testament, who is Hosea talking about there?

He's talking about Israel and its exodus out of Egypt. And he's saying Jesus is Israel. He's come out of Egypt. Do you think there's anything significant about Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness?

Does that ring any bells?

Sure it does.

That's why when you come to Matthew 5 Jesus says, I've fulfilled the entire Old Testament. You get to Luke. He shows how Jesus fulfills the entire Old Testament. So Jesus is Abraham's seed and the true Israel.

And then those who believe are Abraham's seed and true Israel. So it's not just straight from circumcision to baptism. Circumcision has to come through Jesus. The seed has to come through Jesus. And all who are related to Jesus are Abraham's seed.

Not believers and their children.

Okay?

Now, how does this apply to baptism? I think you can see what happens then. First of all, the covenant sign then has to be applied to all those in Abraham's family.

Right?

Who's in his family. Those who believe. Those who are members are those who have exercised faith. Who have put their trust in Jesus and therefore the covenant sign must surely be applied to the members of Abraham's seed.

But they are all.

Believers in Jesus.

Okay?

Now,.

Next thing. What about the new covenant? What about the new covenant? Now remember how it was under the old Mosaic covenant. Circumcision is the covenant sign. It doesn't save, but it marks you out as part of the people of God.

That naturally results in a mixed community. There are some who are going to believe. There are some who will not. And it is a conditional covenant. That is to say when you read the covenant and Andrew gave us a hint of it in the Confession of Faith today where it talks about Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and what they did was they renewed the covenant and they had some people standing here and some people standing there and those on Gerizim pronounced the blessings if they were faithful to the covenant.

Over here, the curses if you were unfaithful to the covenant. So there was a condition. You've got to remain faithful to the covenant or God will bring all these curses on you. If you do remain faithful, He'll bring all these blessings on you.

Let's turn and look at the new covenant that's promised in Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 beginning in verse 31. Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them. I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.

Now there's the promise of the new covenant. And so let's compare that. So now we have our Presbyterian friends saying clearly we baptized these children into the new covenant. And what do they say about that new covenant?

Baptism doesn't save but march you out as part of the.

People of God.

It of course results in a mixed community and of course.

It is a.

Conditional covenant. You keep the covenant by believing in Jesus and you reap the blessings of eternal life. You break the covenant and you reap curses of eternal judgment. Now some of you. I hope you're right now thinking this thought.

Wait a minute.

What's so new.

About this new covenant?

It.

Looks almost exactly the same, does it not? Am I wrong? Do you see that? What's so new about the new covenant? Well let's look at what the new covenant is. How the new covenant is described.

Number one.

Starts out, I'm gonna make a new covenant not like the old one. Now that ought to be a kind of a major point. Don't you think? It's not gonna be like the old one. Alright? Notice every covenant member, everyone who's in this covenant has the law of God written on his heart.

Every member or every covenant member will have God as his God. Notice the original Abrahamic promise. By the way you see that all the way through. When you get to Revelation, what do we find at the.

Very end of the Bible?

You see that same thing. I will be.

Their God and they will be.

My people and I will dwell amongst them. So there's that promise from the Abrahamic covenant. Every covenant member, though now, will have God as his God. Every covenant member will know God.

Alright?

Every covenant member will know God from the least to the greatest.

Alright?

From the children to the adults. From the poor to the rich. Everyone who's a member of this covenant, who's under this covenant, will know God. And knowing God means properly acknowledging and recognizing him.

It doesn't mean kids who've just been catechized. It means that you know God.

Alright?

Tons of Israelites knew all kinds of things about God too, but they didn't know God. Alright? Every covenant member will know the forgiveness of sins.

Okay?

Every covenant member is included because it is an unconditional covenant. There are no conditions in this covenant. It says, this is what I'm going to do. That God will do this for every member. And by the way, the faith that brings forgiveness is included in this covenant.

It has to be. If God promises for everyone who's in this covenant that they'll have forgiveness of sins. And they'll know God. All of those things.

Okay?

So, this is what the covenant promises. But again, notice this. It comes to us. Oh, I'm sorry. The main point. To sum it all up. The New Covenant community appears to be a regenerate community. It doesn't appear to be a mixed community.

It appears to be every member.

Of this...

Every member under this covenant is going to be a believer. I mean, it just... I don't know. It reads that way to me. But once more, lest we forget, it comes to us.

Through Jesus.

Alright? Someone read Luke 22, 17 -20. Very familiar words. Who will read it?

Alright.

Joe. Luke 22, 17 -20. Who will read for us Hebrews 7, 23 -25. Hebrews 7. Okay, Pam.

Alright. Go, Joe. And he took a cup, and he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup, after he had eaten it, saying, This is the cup that is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood.

But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom he has betrayed. Okay.

Notice what Jesus says when they take that second cup. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This cup is the new covenant which has come about by my death, by blood. That's what.

The word blood means.

It means death. Okay?

So this covenant is yours through my.

Death.

Alright, Hebrews 7, 23 -25. Okay, so here it talks about the former priest.

Who was.

Prevented by death. There's a new covenant where the priest goes on forever. Drop down to chapter 9, verse 15,. Therefore he, that is Christ, is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

So there, because of Jesus, we have a new covenant. It's part of his work to give us a new covenant. And then drop down, of course, to 23 -25. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy place.

Every year with blood,.

Not his own. So again, what we see here is the fact that Jesus has guaranteed a better covenant. His death brings.

About a better covenant.

It's ratified and inaugurated.

By Jesus.

And his death guarantees the promises of this new.

Covenant. Okay?

His death guarantees the promises.

Of the new covenant.

And not to put too fine a point on it, not to put too fine a point on it, but the writer to the Hebrews applies this directly to the church. It is our covenant.

The church.

Is under the new covenant. The new covenant that promised all of these things.

And by the way, if you look at Hebrews chapter.

8, he runs through the whole new covenant promises.

Again.

Telling us this is what Jesus has.

Brought. Alright?

So through Jesus, the new covenant that we find promised is applied to those who belong to him. Okay? It's applied to those who belong to him. All those things are true.

Now,.

What does that then have to say about baptism? If the covenant sign of baptism has to be applied to covenant members, then it can only be applied to those who are in the new covenant, that is, those who have been regenerated.

And who have.

Repented and who have believed. If the new covenant is what it says, and Jesus brings it to us, and we're under the new covenant, well then, what does that say? It says the covenant sign is applied to members of that covenant community, which are those who know God, law of God written on their heart, and so forth.

And so the question is how then can infants be baptized? And I've never quite understood that when I hear the baptismal formula and they talk about this baby being baptized into the new.

Covenant, it just.

Seems like, to me, there's a major disconnect.

When you.

Look at the promises of the new covenant, are you saying that this baby has the law of God written on his heart? Are you telling me this infant knows God? Are you telling me this.

Infant, right?

By the way,.

I poked around to some of my Presbyterian resources, and you know what I found out? Some Presbyterians do.

Believe that.

Baptism has a salvific effect. I was surprised to hear that. I was surprised to hear that there's a group of Presbyterian-like churches who accept, and by the way, this Presbyterian showed me in the Westminster Confession where it says it can have a salvific.

Effect.

And then.

I found out that the.

Group, the Presbyterian type group that this church is a part of, accepts the Lutheran formula for baptism.

As well as the Westminster.

So there are some Presbyterians, and I don't know all the details of it. I don't know if they're saying every child is or the spirit can do that. I don't know. Andrew?

Federalist vision?

You know, it's been a while since I thought about.

That since it seems to be the way out, but.

Is that the Federalist vision? The Federalist vision seems, I thought, said, and the.

Federalist vision is a.

Is a.

A.

A concept.

That Doug Wilson and some of you young 'uns here know who Doug Wilson is. Doug Wilson started this thing with the Federalist vision, and man, he caught for it, because essentially my understanding is, Andrew, that once you're baptized, you're in, and we'll just consider you.

Now, this is what I picked up. We'll consider you as saved unless something shows.

That you're not. It takes extra stuff, doesn't it, say you are saved, right? It could. I could be wrong, and I don't want to butt in.

Yeah.

I don't know, because I'm trying to figure out how Presbyterian even.

With a... I think it's consistent.

It is consistent. It's consistent with what the Bible says about the New Covenant,.

Isn't it? Yeah, with.

What they say about baptism. If you're baptizing this baby.

Into the New Covenant, then.

Why are you even telling us? Like, I've proposed to you... By the way, what I've said is the majority Presbyterian view, which is it doesn't save you.

It's a covenant that.

If you keep the conditions of believing.

In Jesus, you will.

It's, again, future, right? But this Presbyterian brother told me that this is the minority view, the salvific view that you're at. He says it's the minority view.

Okay?

But, evidently, there are some Presbyterians.

Who believe. Doug Wilson. Quite probably,.

As Andrew has.

Explained, believes it. By the way,.

When Doug Wilson proposed what's called.

The Federal Vision, Presbyterian Church all across the nation were up. It doesn't save you. But let's say this. If you're baptizing a child.

Into the New Covenant, it sure.

Makes sense that they're saved. Because the New Covenant says.

Law of God written on your heart,.

Knowing God, your sins are forgiven, all those promises.

Right?

Anyway, I'm thankful for inconsistent Presbyterians.

Alright, so you.

See, what's the point? The point is, with the coming of the New Covenant, covenant members have all these things true of them. How, then, can you say you apply the New Covenant sign to infants. When, are you trying to tell me that infants have the law of God written on their hearts?

It's just inconsistent with what the New Covenant says. Okay?

Alright.

I don't see anybody fading yet.

Are you fading now?

Okay.

Because if anybody's fading, we're going to quit.

Alright. You remember that in circumcision, Pedro Baptists say that baptism replaces circumcision. Straight line.

Straight line.

Okay? One or the other.

Now, what did.

Circumcision signify? First of all, it marked out Israel as the people of God, which by its nature, then, was a mixed.

Community. Okay?

It marks out the people of God. So, that's what it does. But it produces a mixed community because that doesn't mean everyone's going to believe. It just marks you as part of the people of God.

And it pointed.

To the need for a circumcised heart that would result in wholehearted devotion to God. Alright. Who will read Deuteronomy 30, verse 6? Who will read Jeremiah 4, 4? Alright. Which one do you want? Carrie?

Deuteronomy. Jeremiah 4, 4.

Caleb?

I'm not even going to give you guys the five count on the.

LaRue volunteer system. And the Lord, your God, will circumcise your heart so that you will love God.

Alright. So, God says, you know, someday I'm going to circumcise the hearts so that you and your children will obey. Alright? Jeremiah 4, 4. The prophet says, circumcise your heart. Get rid of that uncleanness so that you can be what God wants you to be so you can obey.

Alright? So, again, we have to ask the question, how does this point to a greater reality in Jesus? How does circumcision, then, point to a greater reality in Jesus? Alright? Because circumcision's fulfillment is a greater.

Reality.

Alright? Let's look at Colossians 2, 11 through 13. Alright, now look. Colossians 2, 11 through 13 is the only scripture passage in the New Testament that directly talks about circumcision and baptism.

Okay? It's the only clear passage in the New Testament that talks about circumcision and baptism. So, what would you expect.

In that text?

What you should expect, what you should expect, is that he's going to say that circumcision is replaced by baptism. But that's not what he says. Colossians 2, 11 through 13.

Okay, I'll get there. Hang on.

In him, in Christ also, in Christ also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,.

Having been.

Buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.

Now,.

Notice what he says. You've been circumcised with a circumcision done without hands. It was done by.

Jesus.

When, or having been,.

How does it happen?

With baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. He's saying here circumcision points to the circumcision that Jesus performs.

Right?

A circumcision that is accomplished through our union with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. A circumcision that has actually been accomplished by Jesus. He was crucified. He was buried. He was resurrected.

And our circumcision, accomplished by our baptism, unites us to all that he has accomplished. So, circumcision finds its fulfillment in regeneration and baptism testifies to the fact that those realities.

Have occurred.

Okay?

Circumcision is pointing to regeneration, not directly to baptism. So again, straight line, it's not circumcision,.

Baptism.

Right? Something has happened and it's Jesus. Right? Circumcision of God's people.

Jesus.

Comes and we have the circumcision of Christ and now we talk about.

Baptism.

So, I kind of think of it this way.

Right?

Circumcision looks forward to that spiritual circumcision and baptism looks backward to that spiritual circumcision. One anticipates it, one testifies.

To it. Okay?