Baptism

Acts 2:36-39

Baptism as a sign and seal of the covenant. Peter speaks of the promise, what promise? The Jews understood the promise there. The promise and covenant are related. I will be your God and you shall be my people. This was a promise throughout the whole Scripture. Peter says it is for those he was speaking to, but not just them,.. Their children and the nations. The same nations they are to go out and witness to. Those nations and their children. This was the promise understood here in Acts. *If* you do this, then the reward shall be theirs, as long as they remain faithful. What is formed then is a covenant community. These people are distinct and unique, they belong to God and God is their Father. They are not like the broader culture around them. God has a way of dealing with His people and that theme is running through the OT, the heme of salvation. The modern church is about the personal relationship with Jesus, but it is a legal relationship. Atonement and covenant. Restitution. The relationship is only as legitimate as His sacrifice makes it. Baptism is linked with justification and sanctification. It is His sign upon us to say "This is mine, keep your hands off". Baptisms are a sign for life. Peter says in terms of the covenant that it is not just for them but for their children as well. With Adam, he fell and the human race fell. Noah went to the boat with his family. When Abram was promised the covenant his children were included. Households were to go all together. Families are what makes up the covenant, not quite so much of individuals. Christianity is about community and welded groups, it's not an individual and personal relationship with God. There is a purpose to the covenant community. It is to fight as the church militant. The gates of hell shall be prevailed upon. We are on the attack, and we will conquer. At one point it was seen as odd when you didn't baptize your children. But the idea of individualism crept into the church and it became the individual with his own relationship with God. They cannot get the nurture and care like they would as a family unit. It is not our response to the Gospel that is our focus, it is rather, the Gospel. The Gospel promise still does apply to infants and children. God initiates and we respond. It is not our response that saves us, it is God. An infant baptism is a particular reminder of how it is God who does the doing and we who are the passive recipients of the Promise. It is not us or our doing or our promises...rather God, God's doing, and God's promises. "I am a sinner, but I have been baptized." - baptism has sealed us, God has promised salvation. Infant baptism brings about a building block of our salvation. It is not a work, there is nothing about our salvation that is a work, especially our work.