Kuyperian Commentary

On August 5, 2024 By Paul Liberati In Church, Theology 4

What Does Baptism Accomplish? Part One: Introduction

One of the questions often posed about the sacrament of Holy Baptism is: What does it actually accomplish? The answer in its most basic form is that Baptism initiates a covenant relationship with the Triune God and with each of the three Persons in particular.

In this series, I will develop this answer in some detail, but first it may be helpful to give a brief explanation and defense of its several parts.

Baptism Initiates a Covenant Relationship

Some have argued that “initiate” is too strong of a word since baptism, like circumcision, merely “acknowledges” a child’s existing covenant relationship with God, provided that he was born to at least one believing parent (1 Corinthians 7:14). Indeed, such an argument is not altogether wrong, as the LORD states that a child not circumcised on the eighth day would be “cut off from his people” for having “broken My covenant” (Genesis 17:12-14). From this passage, it is evident that every Israelite boy had a legitimate covenant status prior to his circumcision. Otherwise, how could he have broken the covenant? Or what does it mean that he is to be cut off from God’s people?

At the same time, however, we need to understand that this pre-circumcision covenant status was provisional. To use an analogy, it is like a temporary paper driver’s license issued to a new driver until the official one arrives. The paper license is real but is intended for limited and temporary use, and therefore bears the disclaimer: Not a Valid Form of ID. While imperfect, this analogy suffices. The thrust of Genesis 17:12-14 is that when the circumcision of an Israelite boy was refused or neglected by the father, the provisional covenant status of the child expired on the eighth day. Thus, the lack of circumcision annulled the status that the child enjoyed for the first eight days of his life. At minimum, this implies that birth alone—like the paper license—was not a valid form of Covenant ID in Israel.

In the same way, we might assert that any child born today to at least one believing parent has an interest in the covenant by virtue of his birth. In this sense, his covenant status is assumed but still pending. The child is holy, but with a provisional holiness (1 Corinthians 7:14). Thus, it is only when he is baptized that he enters into the church and is cleared and confirmed as a member of the body of Christ. Being baptized, his provisional covenant status is both formalized and secured.

However, while such an objection may be valid, it is nevertheless limited since it only applies to covenant children who are born within the church and fails to account for the men, women, and children who come in from the outside. For those who come from the outside have no covenant status to formalize or secure. In their case, baptism serves to confer that status for the very first time, as it unites them to Jesus Christ, brings them into the new covenant community, and incorporates them into the life of church: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; cf. Acts 2:41).

Therefore, there is nothing improper in saying that baptism initiates a covenant relationship with the Triune God.

A Relationship with the Triune God

Of all the aspects of the answer provided, this is perhaps the easiest to understand. When a person is baptized, he is always baptized into the name of the Triune God. Jesus commanded the apostles to use the Trinitarian formula for Christian baptism, thus, employing a different form invalidates the rite. Unless we are baptized “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20), we are not baptized at all. This command has been faithfully followed by the church for nearly 2,000 years.

Unfortunately, many today question the necessity of using the Trinitarian formula, citing instances in Scripture where the apostles baptized people “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 10:48). To clarify this point, we must understand the flexibility of the term “name” (Greek: onoma). At times, it refers to a person’s reputation, as seen in Revelation 3:1: “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” At other times, it denotes a person’s authority, as when Paul said to the unclean spirit: “I command you in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” (Acts 16:18). In this latter sense, the apostles baptized in Jesus’ name—they acted under His authority, as His appointed representatives.

Moreover, the term “name” is used in Scripture to denote the person himself. This is evident in the Lord’s response to Moses when he asked to see the Lord’s glory (Exodus 33:18). The Lord replied, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you” (Exodus 33:19). Subsequently, as He passed by Moses, He proclaimed His “name” by listing a number of the communicable attributes of His own nature—specifically His mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, and justice (Exodus 34:6-7). From this, it becomes clear that God’s Name refers to God Himself, so that to be baptized into the Name of the Triune God is to be baptized into Him. Through baptism, we are united to God in Christ, made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and beneficiaries of His richest covenant blessings.

Nevertheless, as previously noted, the church remains committed to baptizing in the authority of Jesus Christ, who commissioned His disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This practice is essential to uphold.

With Each Person of the Trinity

Here we transition from the “one” to the “many” and return to where we began. God is indeed one, yet He is one in three Persons. Therefore, while baptism initiates a covenant relationship with the Triune God, there are necessarily three distinct aspects to that relationship, each corresponding to one of the three Persons of the Trinity. As it pertains to the Father, the relationship is adoptive; as it pertains to the Son, it is marital; and as it pertains to the Holy Spirit, it is ministerial. Thus, baptism (serving simultaneously as an adoption, marriage, and ordination ceremony) at once incorporates the baptized person into the family of God, the bride of Christ, and the universal priesthood of the Christian church.

In the following three installments, I will take up and defend these propositions in turn, beginning with the assertion that Christian baptism is an adoption ceremony. This foundational aspect not only underscores our identity in Christ but also invites us into the profound and transformative relationship that God extends to each of His covenant children.

Good Shepherd Preparation mosaic Immanuel

On August 3, 2024 By Kuyperian In Culture 1

“Shepherds for Sale” Turns up the Heat on Gavin Ortlund

Chase Davis is the Lead Pastor of Ministry of The Well Church in Boulder, CO. A two-time graduate of Denver Seminary (M.Div., Th.M.), Chase is also a Ph.D. candidate at the Free University Amsterdam studying historical theology. He is the author of Trinitarian Formation: A Theology of Discipleship in Light of the Father, Son, and Spirit and hosts the Full Proof Theology podcast.

Much Like Climate Alarmism, The Charges of “Misrepresentation” in Megan’s Book Are a Hoax

Gavin Ortlund has made a name for himself as a YouTube apologist. As the son of Ray Ortlund Jr., a “respected” voice in the Young, Restless, and Reformed (YRR) movement, and grandson of Ray Ortlund Sr., a pastor and Christian radio program host, Gavin follows in the tradition of his fathers by pursuing a career of being a big-time Christian communicator to the next generation. As the author of several books, he, too, has now established himself as a “respected” voice for many mainstream evangelicals.

While Gavin is staking out his own claim on the YouTube silver screen, he is also undeniably positioned within the broader ecosystem of what some call “Big Evangelicalism” or “Big Eva” for short.

Along with trading on his family name, he is a beneficiary of a family-created position as the theologian-in-residence at the non-denominational “gospel-centered” Immanuel Nashville, serving alongside his father. Also on staff with Gavin is the former head of the ERLC and current Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today, Russell Moore, and Associate Pastor Sam Alberry, famous for his quibbling on matters related to human sexuality, and Assistant Pastor Barnabas Piper (himself a fellow progeny of a patron saint of the Young Restless Reformed, John Piper). To top it all off, he is a fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, a program started by The Gospel Coalition where the Lead Pastor of Immanuel Nashville, T.J. Sims, serves as a Council Member.

When it comes to his name and his elite evangelical pedigree, Gavin is a true blue blood. Perhaps that’s why he thinks he is above being questioned by scrappy reporters exposing a dark underbelly to Big Eva.

Names and Pedigrees Won’t Save You from Being Exposed in Shepherds for Sale

This week, Gavin found himself in hot water as an illustrative figure in the first chapter of Megan Basham’s blockbuster book Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, which sits in the top 20 of all books available on Amazon at the time of this article. It should be no surprise that men like Ortlund would be a person of interest in Basham’s work. Basham’s book covers the gamut of Leftist ideologies and infiltration in the evangelical church in America. With the eye of an investigative journalist, she details how various figures and entities in evangelicalism have knowingly or unknowingly adopted Leftist frameworks either by taking money or by parroting leftist slogans.

Her thesis is that evangelical pastors and speakers with large platforms are attempting to convince their followers of certain policies associated with the Left because they are being influenced wittingly or unwittingly by outside entities. These pastors and speakers are caught up in the propagandist nature of our day because there are certain incentive structures created to be a “good boy.”

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On August 1, 2024 By Kuyperian In Culture Like

Twelve: Old and New Connecting the New and Old Testament Foundations

Guest Post By Pastor Josh Waller

Joshua Waller is the pastor of Christ the King Presbyterian Church (CREC) in Tallahassee, FL. He is married to Rebecca and has four wonderful daughters.

‘During Jesus’ ministry, he was laying the church’s foundation. The apostles are included in this work, as Christ is the chief cornerstone and Peter, James, and John, his inner circle, should be considered the other cornerstones. As with many images, there is more than one way to describe what occurs. For example, Jesus’ body is the temple, but the Spirit also grafts us into Christ as the temple. We should be able to see Jesus himself as the temple and the church, the body of Christ, as the temple at the same time. Ephesians 2:20 refers to the foundation laid as “the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone” and I Peter 2:5 says that “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

A word on architecture. A chief cornerstone is the first stone laid and the one around which the rest are laid. The other stones are laid according to the chief cornerstone. You must lay that one stone first and work out from there because otherwise, the structure would not end up straight or sound.

Jesus chose twelve disciples because it represents the new Israel, to be sure, but twelve is a significant number in terms of foundation-building, as well. A twelve-stone foundation would be a 3×4 structure and 3+4=7, which signifies the completed project. Now, this has implications for the miraculous gifts, but that is not the purpose of this article.

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On July 31, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture 1

How to Re-Build a Trust Culture

Aaron Renn notes, “America is in the midst of a slow-motion shift to a much lower-trust society.” The more our institutions fail, the more prone we are to distrust others, even those nearest us. In some ways, the challenges before us are challenges pertaining to the fifth commandment. The entire nature of communication and exchanges will add additional notes of skepticism to authority structures in our society. Who do we trust? How do we honor fathers and mothers who do not have a history of honesty and trust?

So, how does a biblical society rooted in authority and categories of honor succeed in an age where no one’s word is taken authoritatively? Renn notes that J.D. Vance’s email correspondences with close personal friends many years ago were revealed to the New York Times. Those emails offered personal information and back-porch chat between young men. Trust was broken. Intimacy was severed.

This is not exhaustive, but there are a couple of principles to remember when rebuilding a “high-trust” society:

a) Trust institutions and leaders that have a history of trust. If an institution has existed briefly and its history is marred by missteps, firings, and scandals, they are not worthy of your trust.

b) When looking for churches, see/check if they possess a DNA of durability and longevity. Have there been constant moves and changes in a short period of time among the leadership? Is there a consistency of message? Does the community manifest healthy interactions and practices? Is there fruit in their children?

c) When relating to other peers, keep intimate details close. Don’t overshare. Consider whether that person has a reliable story. Do you think that individual will repent readily? Does he/she affirm his/her weaknesses? Do they handle small personal details well or quickly disseminate information shared privately?

d) Finally, for more meaningful discourse, almost always choose face-to-face or phone conversations instead of email or lengthy chat exchanges. The value of personal interaction cannot be overstated. Our personableness doesn’t always translate well into words, or its interpretation can be misunderstood.

Our low-trust culture results from the failure of the trust currency in our culture. Government and ecclesiastical betrayals have led to a society of disinformation. Who can we trust? Who do we seek guidance? Who should we submit to? Who are my people? The answer to these questions must be rooted in a framework that allows longevity to shape our trust. Trust should not be given immediately. It needs to be built.

On July 29, 2024 By Uri Brito In Culture -1

Paris Olympics and the Fall

The mastermind behind the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, with his vast resources and power, created a spectacle that was a stark contrast to the beauty and order of Eden. Instead of using his power to create a harmonious environment, he allowed depraved creatures to roam that space, seeking affirmation and adulation from a world gone mad.

In Eden, the creatures moved, lived, and existed in God’s good pleasure. They were created, and therefore, they cherished their creator. But on that stage in Paris, these creatures re-invented themselves. Instead of doxology, they stood pridefully displaying their distorted postures and allegiance to the gods of the age. They denigrated God’s table of order, choosing a table of chaos.

That creator who designed and choreographed those liturgical movements in Paris used power to show what a world designed by Genesis 3 produces. The Christian should not be afraid of power, but he should use it to produce Edenic worlds, mini-Christendoms that show forth the worlds of Genesis 1 and 2 in their uncorrupted power and glory. Christians use power to show God’s artistic splendor and display heavenly realities in our daily liturgies.

On July 24, 2024 By Bill Smith In Family and Children, Men, Theology, Wisdom, Women 2

A Husband’s Love

“Husbands, love your wives and do not become bitter with them.” ~Colossians 3:19

Marriage has been a fight for survival from the beginning of time. The present-day battle of the sexes is nothing new. Feminists rail against biblical marriage because the thought of submitting to a husband is barbaric and demeaning. But Feminism, with all its evils, is not the primary problem. The lack of masculine leadership is the principal problem; it has been since the Garden. Modern men respond to Feminism not by assuming masculine responsibility and seeking to win women back with strong, confident leadership but by agreeing with them that marriage is a bad deal for men as well. “The courts are stacked against us. A woman can take almost everything I have, including my children. Marriage is a bad deal for men.” Black-pilled (at least in the area of marriage) MGTOWs (Men Going Their Own Way) have blamed women for everything, becoming resentful. “Masculine” influencers encourage young men never to get married; in other words, never truly love a woman.

Marriage is risky. It always has been. You are entrusting yourself to another person, opening yourself up to the possibility of the greatest pain you can ever experience. But it is also true that you may experience some of the deepest joys known to a man. Masculine men take risks and take on responsibility. Effeminate men hide behind all the excuses of everything being against them, whine, and refuse to fight for what is good. Real men take the risk of loving a woman genuinely and deeply.
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On July 18, 2024 By Bill Smith In Discipleship, Family and Children, Theology, Women 2

The Submission of Wives

“Strong Independent Woman” has been a meme in our culture since the 1970s, and not a funny one. The character developed within the Feminist movement has leavened Western culture so that now this is the cultural ideal. Women who refuse this title are backward and old-fashioned in the worst possible way. The Strong Independent Woman “don’t need no man” and must never do anything for the express purpose of pleasing a man. If she happens to choose marriage, she will remain on a separate path from her husband. Her subservient husband (whom she will call an “equal partner”) supports her independence so that she can achieve her hopes and dreams.

Enter Paul’s words to Christian wives: “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Col 3:18). The words come as so out of place to some Christian commentators that they see Paul’s command as “culturally bound” and can’t be translated into our more enlightened twenty-first-century context. Reading this part of what is called “the household code” must be only to “unmask them as texts promoting patriarchal violence.” (Fiorenza in David Garland, Colossians, 253).

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On July 17, 2024 By Rick Davis In Podcast Like

KC Podcast – Episode 136: Honor Thy Fathers

On July 17, 2024 By Uri Brito In Theology 2

The Death of Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism is not faulty because of its adherents. As the prevailing evangelical ethos in our country, I have met thousands of faithful, Bible-believing, zealous saints who subscribe to various dispensational features. It’s the mode of operation of the American church.

But the system of Dispensationalism is faulty for ten reasons:

1) Literalizes the text in places where literal readings are unnecessary. This approach overlooks the Bible’s rich, genre-saturated literary nature, which is a source of profound enrichment to the Christian reader.

2) Separates theological paradigms like law and gospel and thus misses the gracious nature of the law and the command-driven imperatives of the gospel.

3) Fails to see the compelling nature of Israel’s story as a preparation for the story of the new Israel. Israel is the seed planted in the parched desert places, nourished by priests, prophets, and kings, and flourished under the reign of the One Priest, Prophet, and King.

4) Truncates biblical categories that demand far more glory and weight in the text. It minimizes covenantal realities into stages rather than the maturation of history.

5) Subjectivizes and moralizes historical characters instead of seeing their typological and historical function in the text.

6) Reject eschatological realities that were declared in the first century to be true and tangible by futurizing them into a future millennium.

7) Differentiates Israel and the Church without reading the Messianic story as a recapitulation of the Israel story.

8) Spiritualizes this age and thus fails to see the earthly transformative effects of the vindication of Jesus.

9) Transforms piety into an introspective paradigm that sees the salvation of souls as the sine qua non of the Christian experience.

10) Fragmentizes the biblical story and thus fails to see each biblical text as a part of the overarching whole.

Dispensationalism is a system that is slowly perishing. As a mode of interpretation, it cannot survive the test of time or the present tests of biblical scholarship.

On July 12, 2024 By Rick Davis In Books, Podcast 1