Ode to baptism

Baptism is a call to faithfulness. It goes beyond the general status of man, already given over to the representation of God by virtue of being created in His image. History passed after that creation, and Adam fell. Baptism, then, no less than circumcision, is a specific call to recognise a restoration between God and man, and to embody that restoration in your own life.

Yet baptism goes beyond circumcision, as the latter went beyond the general status of man. Circumcision was a sign of one nation's restoration to one small part of the earth - a corner of the ancient middle-east. A proto-garden of promised land to a proto-people of earth, to be sure, but proto nonetheless, and under kings who were no faithful replacement for Adam.

Baptism therefore invokes a narrative continued even further. History passed beyond circumcision, and here comes the Christ, second Adam and king about to be crowned. Here he is, in that dusty corner of the middle-east, following John's inauguration: promising and signifying through baptism what was expected through the Temple and circumcision. Proto is about to expand and grow to cover the whole world, and through baptism it comes. And there he is, taking the throne of David, stamping on the serpent's head. There he is, gone to the grave in Adam's exile, the baptism of death, but - lo! raised again by the power of YHWH, to the new life long-promised. There he is, breathing on his disciples in image of re-creation. And there he is, ascended and crowned, Lord of the whole earth, sending the new breath at Pentecost, the new genesis for man, that the message might at last be carried to all the world: Christ is KING!

To be baptised into that purpose and that name is the highest of all mission statements. It is the ultimate raison d'etre. It is the most strident of calls, the most noble of identities. It is an identity more connected to the deepest realities of this world than any other. Movie-stars, presidents, rich, famous, CEOs be damned: we are the Christians, the priests of God. Baptism is a call to forsake the mis-representation typical of exile, of the estrangement between God and man, and even of the proto of Israel. It is an invitation and a command to take your part in the wonderful cosmic drama of God redeeming his lost bride. It means that you, and that you amidst your people (for God is not just a God of random individuals, but of people together, of restored communities) have been called to show forth His glory, to be representatives of and agents for that restoration, to be the redeemed of the Lord for the sake of the world; to write in every fibre of your being the plot of this great drama.

Who are you? You are an actor, and baptism is your commission to take your role.

And that is exactly why Lord's Supper is to be taken by all the baptised, because together they are the actors in Christ, the community of the redeemed, the new body of man gathered around the new family table, the politico-culturally subversive alternative polis. And it is also why, as Doug Wilson says, the command to participate in Lord's Supper that must go to all the baptised is a command to utter faithfulness. No slackness there: baptism constitutes and commands unto utter truthfulness the body of Christ. Let us, then, feed on his flesh and blood in the unity of mutual love: mankind restored to God.