Tag: Baptism

Music Monday: Something in the water

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The theology of baptismal regeneration is nicely expressed in today’s song, a country number, “Something in the water” by Carrie Underwood:

VERSE 1
He said, “I’ve been where you’ve been before.
Down every hallway’s a slamming door.
No way out, no one to come and save me.
Wasting a life that the Good Lord gave me.

VERSE 2
Then somebody said what I’m saying to you,
Opened my eyes and told me the truth.”
They said, “Just a little faith, it’ll all get better.”
So I followed that preacher man down to the river and now I’m changed
And now I’m stronger

CHORUS
There must’ve been something in the water
Oh, there must’ve been something in the water

VERSE 3
Well, I heard what he said and I went on my way
Didn’t think about it for a couple of days
Then it hit me like a lightning late one night
I was all out of hope and all out of fight

VERSE 4
Couldn’t fight back the tears so I fell on my knees
Saying, “God, if you’re there come and rescue me.”
Felt love pouring down from above
Got washed in the water, washed in the blood and now I’m changed
And now I’m stronger

BRIDGE
And now I’m singing along to amazing grace
Can’t nobody wipe this smile off my face
Got joy in my heart, angels on my side
Thank God almighty, I saw the light
Gonna look ahead, no turning back
Live every day, give it all that I have
Trust in someone bigger than me
Ever since the day that I believed I am changed
And now I’m stronger

Simple Grace

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NaamanToday I was just thinking about how we try and complicate things so much. What prompted me to think of this was the story about Naaman which is found in the Second Book of Kings.

Naaman was a successful military commander who has everything the world has to offer, but he has a problem, he has leprosy. Although he’s a gentile, he comes to Samaria to see the prophet Elisha because he hears that he might be able to heal him. When he arrives at the prophet’s house, Elisha sends him a message…

“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” – 2 Kings 5:10

Naaman is disappointed, perturbed and even rather angry! This prophet just wants him to go wash in the river! This isn’t what he expected. He explained to his servants:

“Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper” – 2 Kings 5:11-12

Naaman had expected something of a show! Instead, he’s told to just go take a bath! Naaman initially intends to ignore the instruction, call it a day and just head home.

Fortunately, his servants reason with him, pointing out that if Elisha had asked him to do something difficult, he would have surely done it! If he were willing to do something difficult, why would he not do something that was easy? Naaman concedes this point, humbles himself and heads down to the Jordan:

So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. – 2 Kings 5:14

How many times do we try and complicate God’s grace? How many times do we think secretly that we can earn our salvation, bargain with God by doing some great deed?

Naaman’s story is a figure of New Covenant baptism. Naaman was plagued by leprosy and we are plagued by sin. Naaman was told to go wash and we are invited to the Sacrament of Baptism. A little bit of water and invocation of the Holy Trinity and we are healed, our souls cleaned and restored, as fresh as baby cheeks.

Happy-Baby

Baptism Matters: Part 4 (History)

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For the past few days (Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3) we’ve been looking at the case for infant baptism. Today I would like to conclude the series.

So far in our study, we’ve looked at the implicit inclusion of infants in household baptism. We’ve examined how baptism actually affects the soul of the one being baptized. Yesterday, we also briefly looked at how baptism parallels, and is the fulfillment of, the circumcision of the Old Covenant.

Up until this point, I have tried to address the question of infant Baptism as though I were a Protestant, restricting myself to the testimony of Scripture. However, as a Catholic, I do not hold to the Bible alone, but also to Sacred Tradition, the oral teaching of the Church passed down through the generations.

Church-Fathers

Even for a Protestant, who doesn’t hold to belief in Sacred Tradition, the witness of the Early Church in the centuries following the Apostles is a significant, albeit less important, consideration. So, today I would like to ask a simple question: Did the Early Church baptize babies?

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Baptism Matters: Part 3 (Circumcision)

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Over the last two days I have been looking at infant baptism. On Day 1 I looked at the evidence of infant Baptism in the New Testament. On Day 2 I demonstrated how the earliest Christians believed that Baptism actually does something to the soul of the one being baptized, thereby making it something that parents would naturally desire for their children.

Today’s entry will be a short post. All I would like to do is very briefly show the relationship between the circumcision of the Old Covenant and the Baptism of the New Covenant…

Pope-Ben-Baptism_Of_Child-640x426

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Immersion Only?

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As you may have noticed, I’m doing a bunch of posts at the moment about infant baptism. One issue I’m not going to address in this series is the question of the mode of baptism: immersion, pouring etc.

Fortunately, Doug Beaumont over at Soul Device has just released a post on that very subject:

Immersion Only?

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