Wednesday, July 13, 2005
One Baptism
The Scripture reads:
"There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
Ephesians 4:4 thru 7
One baptism. I used to think, "Christian Baptism, right?" but which Baptism?
When I was 12 and became Baptist? How about the one when I was 18 and entered the Roman Catholic Church? no? Then what about the one when I was 23 and was attending a Vineyard Christian Fellowship? hmm. Then when I was 25 and married my Magdalena, Janice and we were all baptized in a swimming pool at a little Bible Faith Church in Arkansas? Not to mention when we were uncertain about our baptism, was it a saving one, when we were messed up with the "Jesus only" folk... (also known as Oneness)and were baptised by them too...
Which one 'took'? Which one was Salvific? (Yes I know, those who know me know that I joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2000 but that was thru the concept of oikonomia (economy) so I wasn't baptised Orthodox, they recognized my baptism sigh.. the Roman Catholic one, and therefore I was just Chrismated into the Faith via the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA...)
They even joke about it. "You know only One Baptism" So the first Baptism, grace given... The 2nd Grace Removed, the 3rd Grace Restored...etc.
And the we have Paul saying such seemingly contradictory things as:
"For as many as were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ." (Galations 3:27)
and then this!!:
"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." (I Corinthians 1:17)
course that may just mean we misunderstand the word "Gospel".
Sigh.
anyway, imagine my surprize when I read that the One Baptism didn't have anything to do with me getting baptized AT ALL!!
Check it out:
"....The Father tries to break in. “But what about the Pentecost party we’ve planned to get the church going? Won’t that…?”
“I’m sorry,” the Spirit insists, “but I’m afraid Pentecost will be just one more thing for them to misread. Don’t get me wrong: I’m totally on board with both of you. But suppose I do give you the rushing mighty wind and the party hats made out of fire. Even suppose I throw in the mystery of speaking in different languages in order to get the universality of the Son’s work into the picture. They’re still going to think the church is in the world to sell clam chowder to customers who never had it before.
“I mean, think of the possibilities for ecclesiastical arrogance. Jesus takes away the sins of the world, right? In him, everyone who ever lived gets free forgiveness for whatever went wrong in full, in advance, and all in one cosmic shot, no strings attached. I’m even going to get the church to include “one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins” in the Nicene Creed so they’ll see that the Baptism of Jesus himself does the whole job, even if no one else ever gets baptized. But do you know what they’re going to do with that? They’re going to paint themselves into a corner and say that the unbaptized go to hell or even that sins after Baptism make forgiveness flake off like a bad paint job, and that unless Christians go to confession for a second coat before they die, they’ll go to hell too."
(Taken from Fr. Robert Capon's "The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect through a History of Images pp. 1-4)
Wow. One Baptism. Could it be that simple? Jesus' Baptism? Not mine? I first read this passage on the Ooze (thanks Drew) but it wasn't until it leaped off the page of my own copy of the book that I began to wonder.
Could it really be that Simple? I then picked up Fr. Balthasar's "Credo" and it says something very similiar.. that the One Baptism of course starts with Jesus' Baptism.
(side note. Does any one else think it's strange we refer to the Son of God by the name Jesus when he probably never heard himself called that when He was incarnate? Should we start calling him Yeshua? or Y'shua?)
I'm beginning to think it is that simple.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on us!
I'shalom
"There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
Ephesians 4:4 thru 7
One baptism. I used to think, "Christian Baptism, right?" but which Baptism?
When I was 12 and became Baptist? How about the one when I was 18 and entered the Roman Catholic Church? no? Then what about the one when I was 23 and was attending a Vineyard Christian Fellowship? hmm. Then when I was 25 and married my Magdalena, Janice and we were all baptized in a swimming pool at a little Bible Faith Church in Arkansas? Not to mention when we were uncertain about our baptism, was it a saving one, when we were messed up with the "Jesus only" folk... (also known as Oneness)and were baptised by them too...
Which one 'took'? Which one was Salvific? (Yes I know, those who know me know that I joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2000 but that was thru the concept of oikonomia (economy) so I wasn't baptised Orthodox, they recognized my baptism sigh.. the Roman Catholic one, and therefore I was just Chrismated into the Faith via the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA...)
They even joke about it. "You know only One Baptism" So the first Baptism, grace given... The 2nd Grace Removed, the 3rd Grace Restored...etc.
And the we have Paul saying such seemingly contradictory things as:
"For as many as were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ." (Galations 3:27)
and then this!!:
"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." (I Corinthians 1:17)
course that may just mean we misunderstand the word "Gospel".
Sigh.
anyway, imagine my surprize when I read that the One Baptism didn't have anything to do with me getting baptized AT ALL!!
Check it out:
"....The Father tries to break in. “But what about the Pentecost party we’ve planned to get the church going? Won’t that…?”
“I’m sorry,” the Spirit insists, “but I’m afraid Pentecost will be just one more thing for them to misread. Don’t get me wrong: I’m totally on board with both of you. But suppose I do give you the rushing mighty wind and the party hats made out of fire. Even suppose I throw in the mystery of speaking in different languages in order to get the universality of the Son’s work into the picture. They’re still going to think the church is in the world to sell clam chowder to customers who never had it before.
“I mean, think of the possibilities for ecclesiastical arrogance. Jesus takes away the sins of the world, right? In him, everyone who ever lived gets free forgiveness for whatever went wrong in full, in advance, and all in one cosmic shot, no strings attached. I’m even going to get the church to include “one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins” in the Nicene Creed so they’ll see that the Baptism of Jesus himself does the whole job, even if no one else ever gets baptized. But do you know what they’re going to do with that? They’re going to paint themselves into a corner and say that the unbaptized go to hell or even that sins after Baptism make forgiveness flake off like a bad paint job, and that unless Christians go to confession for a second coat before they die, they’ll go to hell too."
(Taken from Fr. Robert Capon's "The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect through a History of Images pp. 1-4)
Wow. One Baptism. Could it be that simple? Jesus' Baptism? Not mine? I first read this passage on the Ooze (thanks Drew) but it wasn't until it leaped off the page of my own copy of the book that I began to wonder.
Could it really be that Simple? I then picked up Fr. Balthasar's "Credo" and it says something very similiar.. that the One Baptism of course starts with Jesus' Baptism.
(side note. Does any one else think it's strange we refer to the Son of God by the name Jesus when he probably never heard himself called that when He was incarnate? Should we start calling him Yeshua? or Y'shua?)
I'm beginning to think it is that simple.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on us!
I'shalom
