The Way



Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17, NRSV)


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Matthew 3:13-17 is our gospel reading for this coming Sunday, The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though none are scheduled in our church, the day is nominated as especially appropriate for being baptized. Baptism is the first of the two so-called dominical sacraments of the Church, dominical from Latin for Lord because, according to the Bible, the Lord Jesus himself instituted Baptism and Holy Communion, Mass, Eucharist, the Lord's Supper.


Volumes have been written about Baptism and Christian theology and practice of baptism, including in The Episcopal Church. Where one might look to determine what we believe, though, is, as the Latin phrase "lex orandi lex credendi" suggests, in our liturgy, at what we do and say and sing and pray when baptism comes along, in the liturgy itself and in our lives, our compliance, observance, practice, keeping the promises we make in the sacrament we receive.


Here's what the Catechism says. Remember, a catechism is a teaching in question and answer format.


Holy Baptism
Q. What is Holy Baptism?
A. Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and makes us inheritors of the kingdom of God.


The catechism answer is only half adequate. Holy Baptism is a covenant in which we make specific life-defining commitments to God, a "new life of grace".

A liturgical prayer expressing theology of Baptism reads:

"Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen."


Theologically, the prayer asserts that in Baptism we receive forgiveness of sin and are raised to a new life of grace. The new life of grace might be our stepping into the Way of the Cross as we live into the promises we make in our Baptismal Covenant. As to forgiveness of sin, does it mean forgiveness of each of the individual sins we’ve committed, known and unknown, petty and major, venial and mortal, up to now? Or does it mean the washing away of our human sinful nature as the doctrine of Original Sin has it?  

Baptism might be seen as a rite of purification of all the sins one has committed in one's life up to this point, as asperges and/or the Collect for Purity are a rite of purification as we enter worship, as washing hands before supper. And there may have been a time, or perhaps still is, when the church, or some, regarded Baptism as washing away the stains of Original Sin, about which our Anglican history, in the 39 Articles of Religion, says:


IX. Of Original or Birth Sin.
Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the  offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek, Φρόνημα σαρκός, (which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh), is not subject to the Law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized; yet the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin.


Also


XVI. Of Sin after Baptism.
Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as long as they live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.


And

XVII. Of Baptism.
Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New-Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God.
The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.



The 39 Articles trace to the 16th century Reformation, and, as well as some articles of doctrine, reflect the Church of England's position vis-a-vis certain aspects of Roman Catholicism and Calvinism, where some of the language is quite strong. Glory to whoever drafted Article IX, I'm sure he was proud of his product and himself, perhaps a stern ascetic shaking his head in disgust and pious disapproval that God, who looked and said it was Very Good, made sexuality such a central part of human nature and human life. 


In 1628 Charles I prefixed a royal declaration to the articles, which demanded a literal interpretation of them, threatening discipline for academics or churchmen teaching any personal interpretations or encouraging debate about them. It states: "no man hereafter shall either print or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain and Full meaning thereof: and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical sense". (Wikipedia)


In my experience of human nature for well more than eight decades, it is obvious to me that self-preservation is our first nature, and that we are basically selfish. As to a doctrine of Original Sin, though - - in the Episcopal Church of the 21st century, nihil obstats me from commenting, and my view is that a theological doctrine of Original Sin is nonsense, including not holding that Baptism wipes out Original Sin individual by individual, one by one. Somewhat in that regard, I enjoyed Archbishop of Armagh John Bramhall's 1643 comment on the 39 Articles:


"Some of them are the very same that are contained in the Creed; some others of them are practical truths, which come not within the proper list of points or articles to be believed; lastly, some of them are pious opinions or inferior truths, which are proposed by the Church of England to all her sons, as not to be opposed; not as essentials of Faith necessary to be believed by all Christians necessitate medii, under pain of damnation". (Wikipedia)


Baptism, I say and teach, is a start-over point, the sacrament by which we are inducted into Christ's body the church, and through which we promise henceforth to live our lives in a certain way, which may be defined as the Way of the Cross.