Word of Salvation – Vol.22 No.13 – January 1976

 

Every Baby Among You Shall Be Baptised!

 

Sermon by Rev. W.F. Van Brussel, B.D. on Genesis 17:9-14

Scripture Readings: Genesis 17:1-14; Acts 2:38/9; Rom. 4:9-12

Suggested Hymns:

Psalter Hymnal: 77; 446:1,2; 210.1,2. 169:1,2,3,4; 445:3

 

Not every member of the Reformed Churches seems to be convinced any longer that Infant Baptism, or perhaps rather, Covenant Baptism, is Biblical practice and ought to be maintained for that very reason.  It may be necessary also to include a sermon on this particular subject in our series, “The Word of Salvation”.  All of our membership ought to be convinced that Infant Baptism is an institution of the Lord and not just one of those human inventions which are nice, but not so much based on Scriptural evidence.

When people have difficulty in regard to this matter of Infant Baptism this is due perhaps to the fact that they fail to see how Old and New Testament are interrelated; that the New Testament is the fulfilment of the Old.  In other words, that in the New Testament we find developed and matured what was basically present in the Old Testament all along, even as from the early chapters of the book of Genesis.  The New Testament revelation of God is the continuation and completion of God’s Old Testament revelation.

This explains why our Lord Jesus Himself and the apostles in their respective teachings never stopped quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures.  Their instruction went on from where the Old Testament had left off.  It would be entirely wrong to isolate the Old Testament from the New Testament revelation of God, as though the New Testament would be an entirely NEW revelation with no link whatsoever with what God had been doing for ages already, in and through His Covenant of Grace.

Yes, if there would be one thing standing out in both the Old and the New Testament, it would certainly be this that God has always been pleased to live in a Covenant-relationship with His people.  He started out straight away with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, even though He told them to leave that place of blessed and unbroken fellowship with their Maker.  For He said, according to Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her seed…….”.

Later on He singled out Abraham whom He charged to leave his country, and to go wherever the Lord would be going to lead him.  God gave him His promise and made it clear to him straight from the outset that His Covenant with Abraham and his descendants was only the beginning of His Covenant with “all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3).

Abraham was meant to become a blessing to the world……..!  And God bound Himself according to what we find recorded in Genesis 15 by establishing His Covenant with Abraham.  He then and there ratified His promise to Abraham.

In our chapter today we find in particular that the Covenant with Abraham was SEALED with the rite of circumcision, the Old Testament counterpart of Baptism,

Our Lord gave His New Testament Church two sacraments, Holy Baptism and His Holy Supper.  But the Old Testament “Church” also had its two “sacraments”: Circumcision and Passover.

We know, of course, that the latter were never given that name of sacraments in the Old Testament.  But the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Supper did not receive that name in the New Testament, either, did they?  Although they were not completely similar they at least functioned in a similar way among the people of God in both, the Old and the New Testaments.

For what are sacraments?  They are symbolic acts, ordained by the Lord God for the purpose of confirming and sealing with a special emphasis what He had said and promised to His people first.

This was a rather long introduction to this present sermon, but it may be of some help to see why this particular text of Genesis 17 was selected for this particular sermon.  Is it no longer true that we believe that Baptism has replaced Circumcision, BECAUSE there have always been signs and seals of the Covenant-promises of God for His people, both in the Old and the New Testament eras?  God’s people have always needed these God-given means of strengthening of their faith, to help them understand better, and to be sure of, what God in His marvellous Grace had promised them.

It must be seen as a loss if we could no longer maintain that Baptism in the New Testament and Circumcision in the Old Testament are each other’s counterpart in God’s Covenant-relationship with His people.  And we don’t have to lose this view as it is firmly based on God’s own Holy Word.

True, it is impossible to establish once for all that Infant Baptism is a Biblical sacrament by preaching one little sermon on this particular text in Genesis 17.  In this sermon we cannot do much more than refer to one or two aspects relevant to our problem.

What will be pointed out in this present sermon is that both, adult-and infant Circumcision were meant to be a sign and seal of the Covenant promise of God.

To understand this well, let us first look at something which is most common among ourselves.  Take a boy and a girl.  All of us have noticed, of course, that at a certain age boys and girls become more and more interested in one another.  They love looking at each other.  This happens even in church!  There may even be a certain stage in their young lives that the main reason why they like going to church is that they want to watch the girls (or the boys).  This would not quite be the appropriate motive for going to church of course, but at least it is understandable.

Now, when a boy likes one of the girls he sees in church, he starts making advances in one way or other.  It begins with a casual chat and… well, we don’t have to tell each other these things, do we?

All right, to make a long and dragging story short, he makes promises and declares his love earlier or later.  Before long, if things work out favourably, the two of them make a kind of covenant, when they exchange their wedding vows.  And what does HE do?  He puts a ring on her finger as a sign of his fidelity to her.  This makes them both feel really good and happy,

What God was doing to Abraham and his descendants was not so much different from this.  After He had made His Covenant with Abraham He gave him and his children a sign of their bond with Himself: Circumcision.

God is still doing this today, be it in a different, New Testament form.  There certainly is a great difference, but the ceremony is still for the same purpose.  What God did to Abraham and his children in Circumcision He is still doing to us and our children (both, boys and girls) in Baptism.

Now, look at it a little bit more closely.  Why do we say that a person is married?  Do we say that because we have seen a young man go to the jeweller’s and come out from there with that little jewellery-box in his pocket?  No, of course not.  That ring means only very little as long as that lovely partner has not been found as yet first.  What is the use of that ring if there has not been that most important exchange of vows, the promise of love and fidelity?

Yes we know from the stories of both, the Old and the New Testament periods that things have gone that kind of way indeed.  The ring was appreciated apart from what it represented.  People turned out to be proud of their Circumcision, and they took it for granted that they were all right with God.  Just as there could be people today – and we know there are plenty of them – who would say: I was baptized when I was an infant.  I was told that this was what God wanted.  So, I am a Christian, no worries!

True, there are far too many people who worry very little about their relationship with God.  They fail to come around to believing what God has said to His people.  To believe that beautiful Gospel of Christ that there is salvation for all sinners in the Covenant of Grace through faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that expresses itself in word and action.  There are indeed many people who never think about those great promises of God concerning forgiveness and new life in the blood and the Spirit of Christ.  Also who fail to ever think about the question: What would God expect from me as a person who was entitled to receive holy Baptism as a little child?

Yes, there have always been people (in both the Old and the New Testament situations) to whom Circumcision and Baptism became mere signs which were accepted and taken for granted without any further ado: without faith in the relevant promises:

In the case of that man with that ring in his pocket, was there a marriage-relationship really?  No, not at all.  Even so, in the case of people who take Baptism for granted there is not really a Covenant-relationship, is there?  And there is no doubt about it that God would be most displeased when people make light of the signs and seals which HE has chosen and given to His people for their encouragement.

By the way, you may ask, why do you call Circumcision a sign AND A SEAL?  The text does not talk about Circumcision as a seal; why do you say this then?

Well, that is true, the text does not say this, but we could borrow this term from Romans 4:11.  That verse speaks about the same thing in New Testament light.  We cannot go into the context there now, but it says: “He received circumcision (this is about Abraham’s circumcision) as a sign and seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.”  There is more involved with that particular text, of course, but for the time being we could just accept it for Divine information that Circumcision was a sign AND A SEAL.

But now back to our text.  This matter of Circumcision was much more important than some Christian people seem to realise.  It would be helpful to look now in particular at the latter part of vs.13 and vs.14: “…So shall My Covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.  Any uncircumcised male who is NOT circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My Covenant.”

Because of its tremendous importance God wanted this rite to be carefully observed by His people, even to the extent that if they failed doing this they would be cut off from the fellowship of Himself and His people.  This explains why Moses had so much trouble later on as he had failed to circumcise his little son on the eighth day of his life.  You may recollect that story or otherwise, take some time out today and read it and think about it.  It is found in Exodus 4.

If people would take the Circumcision-ceremony lightly God was extremely angry with them.  It is for this reason that we find several instances in the stories of the Old Testament that God made it clear to His people, that once Circumcision had become just one of those things that people do, it would have become entirely meaningless.

This is why we find it stated time and again in Holy Scripture that Circumcision in itself would not matter much if there was no circumcision of the heart as well.  One could check this by turning to Deut.30:6 for instance, where we find God recorded as saying: “And the Lord, your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may LIVE!”.

What is so interesting about this particular passage is that it speaks, not merely of adult-Circumcision, but of Infant-Circumcision as well.  Of course, Circumcision could very easily become meaningless to people, just as Baptism can today.  But to remedy this failure among the people of God would NOT be that they said: All right we won’t circumcise our little boys any longer, or: We won’t baptise our little girls and boys any more.  GOD NEVER SAID THAT!

God wanted to have maintained among His people what He Himself had ordained, but He told His people that they were responsible for the matter of living up to what God had instituted in their midst.

And this is exactly what WE must do.  This is why our presenting of our children for Baptism in church is serious business.  And the vows we make as parents are extremely meaningful to us.  We cannot possibly take this thing lightly.  If we do, we’ll certainly be in trouble as breakers of the Covenant of God with us and our children.

But, on the other hand, if this relationship is healthy on our part; if we realise what we are doing when we do God’s will in this matter of Covenant Baptism, then these signs are most meaningful and helpful.  For this is what they meant, and mean still today: God, our Partner in the Covenant of Grace, for which He alone took the initiative, has sworn fidelity.  We can bank on Him, and on His promises of cleansing and new life.  He has pledged with His ‘ring’ that He will forsake neither us who believe His promises, nor our children who by His grace are children of promise as they, together with their believing parents, are in the Covenant of God.

Are there now no problems anymore?  We would not say that.  Yet, what God ordained ought to be maintained obediently and faithfully and prayerfully.  Here we may remind each other in particular of what we read in verse 10: God said there: “This is My Covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your descendants after you, EVERY MALE AMONG YOU SHALL BE CIRCUMCISED!”

This would mean in New Testament terms: Every little baby (male or female) among you, My people, shall be baptized!

Amen.