Baptismal exhortation

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:47 pm by Peter Leithart

Baptismal exhortation 2017-09-06T22:47:40+06:00 Peter Leithart

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1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to those who believe into the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”

We are all born into the world bearing the name of Adam, with his heritage and his destiny. Baptism assigns us a different name, the name of the Last Adam. According to Jesus’ instructions in the Great Commission, the church is to baptize the nations into the “name” of the Triune God.

Baptism “into the name” is the language of ownership. When the Name of God is placed on us in baptism, we become His property, sacred ground, a temple of the Spirit. Those who are baptized into the Name are no longer their own, but belong to another. And this is a great comfort in life and in death, the only comfort in life and in death, that I belong body and soul to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Receiving the name of the Triune God in baptism means that we are made part of a new family, the church, and that we are to present ourselves to the world bearing this name well. Receiving the name of the Triune God links us with the history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus, and points us to the future consummation of all things.

Jesus talks of baptism into the name, while John talks of faith in the name. John uses similar language when he says he writes to those who “believe into the name” (1 John 5:13). He doesn’t say that he writes to those who believe “in Jesus” but to those who believe “into the Name” of Jesus. The similarity of language is instructive: Baptism and faith point in the same direction and the same destination. Faith is directed toward the Name, and baptism is toward the name. This means that, among other things, baptism is a road sign pointing faith in the right direction, toward the “name” of God. As such, baptism’s efficacy continues beyond the moment of baptism, persistently signaling that our trust must be directed to that Name.

Baptism is a permanent road-sign pointing us to Jesus as the One whom we can trust in every situation and challenge of life. When the waters of trouble surge around us, and we flounder around to find something to hold on to, we can remember our baptism; our baptism points to the saving Name of Jesus, and directs our faith to Him, our Rock. When we are falsely accused or slandered, and we look for assurance that God accepts us, that He has pronounced a word of forgiveness, we can look to our baptism; and our baptism points us to the Name of Jesus, the Beloved in whom we are accepted. When our own sins overwhelm us, and we are on the verge of despair, we can look to our baptism, and be assured that we belong, live or die, to Jesus Christ; and our baptism will point us toward Jesus, for it is baptism into His Name.

This is the genius of infant baptism. We all receive names before we can give ourselves a name. We all have received names that we didn’t choose. We all receive a heritage and a future, a family and a position in the world, before we have said or done anything. Infant baptism makes the child a member of the family of God in the same way he becomes a member of her own family. Laura Elizabeth’s baptism inserts her into a past and future that she didn’t choose, just as the name she received orients her in time.

Even more, infant baptism means that the signpost is given before faith matures. That’s the way it should be. How can faith know where to turn if it doesn’t have the sign? If the sign comes after faith, how does faith ever know its destination? Infant baptism gives the sign first, and as our faith matures baptism is always already there to nudge it in the right direction. The effect of baptism lasts a whole life, pointing us in every situation to the Name of Jesus.

So, as you raise Laura Elizabeth, remind her frequently of her baptism. Teach her to live out of her baptism. Teach her about the name she received in baptism, about the heritage this gives her and the future it calls her to. Teach her that she bears the family name of the Triune God, and that she is responsible to bear that name well before the outside world. Teach her that her baptism into the name points her trust in the direction of Jesus, and that whatever she faces in life she can look to her baptism, which will never lead her down a wrong path.

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