Christian Baptism

Christian Baptism
Rev. Dr. Chris Hensley
November 10th, 2024
Romans 12:9-21

Christian baptism is considered a sacrament in many Christian traditions and denominations, a religious rite which imparts Divine grace. Within Baptist – and other Free Church – traditions, baptism is considered an ordinance which basically means that baptism holds significance and authority, though it is not a mode of Divine grace. The same is true for communion. Essentially, baptism is not the way which Baptists receive Divine grace, though it is an outward profession of faith in the Christian God who does impart grace. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward decision to commit to follow the Christian God and emulate the teachings of Jesus the Christ as revealed to us in the Gospel accounts within the Christian Testament and beyond. One of the core teachings of Jesus was love of neighbor as oneself. Rachel has selected our passage for this morning, and a fitting passage for the occasion as it bears the summation of the Apostle Paul’s reteaching of Jesus’ words and actions. Bear in mind that the writings of Paul actually predate the written Gospel accounts by several decades which means that many early Christians of the first century did not have access to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth except through oral tradition which they received from individuals like Paul who went on those earliest missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean.

The letter to the church in Rome was Paul’s seminal work. Paul occupies a tenuous place in the minds of many, both within and outside of Christianity. This letter was used by theologians such as Barth in the early 20th century to great effect in influencing the Church in many areas to revisit a previous theologian in Calvin. The focus of Barth from Romans was to highlight the goodness of God and the sinfulness of human beings. If one is not careful in one’s reading of this letter, or any of Paul’s works, then the reader may become enraged with Paul and dismissive of the influence which he held throughout Christian history. Paul’s works may be read to support the unfortunate and incorrect ideology of complementarianism. Though, a more careful reading of Paul reveals that he is more egalitarian than that narrower reading suggests. Further, Paul does reveal in our reading for this morning, an important emphasis on the idea of love.

This was at the core of Jesus’ teachings, and it is the core of our passage for this morning from the pen of, as tradition tells us, Paul. The larger section of this text includes both chapters 12-13 and follows a chiastic pattern beginning and ending with the ethical implications of eschatological existence which further sandwich paralleling sections on love and Christian life and Paul’s understanding of God’s wrath. The common thread throughout this section is the idea of love in action, specifically within the framework of the teachings of Jesus the Christ.

Charles Talbert, in his commentary on Romans, points out that there are ten injunctions within the first half of this passage which magnify Paul’s emphasis on love being genuine, and a verb. For Paul the manifestation of the Holy Spirit within the lives of Christians is in the form of spiritual gifts which is then laid bare on the foundation of love, specifically love for another. This is of course a brotherly love as it is rendered in the Greek as philadelphia, the Greek word for brotherly love, not the city of brotherly love. This first half, vv. 9 – 13 reveal that this brotherly love is a love which extends to all people and is rooted in the idea of hospitality, an idea which has come to the forefront of many circles in our modern society and has been rebranded “radical hospitality.” It is not a new concept, and it is not necessarily a Christian concept as we see it play out in all three of the Abrahamic traditions as well as other religious, cultural, and geographic locations and contexts. Extend hospitality to others, this is the summation of the first half of our reading for this morning, and do this with brotherly love in mind.

The second half, found in vv. 14 – 21, focuses on the idea of nonretaliation. This teaching has parallels outside of the Biblical canon including both early Christian theologians such as Polycarp and Clement, as well as Christian written teachings such as those collected into the Didache. The teachings of nonretaliation precede Christianity and move beyond into more recent history encompassing cultures from ancient China and the Mohist movement between 470-391 BCE through to more modern movements such as the American Civil Rights Movement and the Free Palestine movement. Paul’s teaching here is that Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, respond to evil against them with good for the transgressors. Gandhi called these individuals Satyagraha or civil resisters. Violence has generally been the tool of the powerful afraid to lose their power. Christianity was birth as an eastern religion and was reared in the shadow of an oppressive regime in the Roman Empire. We can get into the weeds of the history of the Church as it rose to power another time. For now, our focus is on Paul’s teaching that Christians filled with the Holy Spirit and embodying the teachings of the Christ, love others, offer hospitality to both fellow Christians as well as those outside of Christianity, and engage with the world around them in a spirit of nonretaliation that is specifically steeped in justice, peace, and a brotherly love which surpasses differences. A fitting reminder in this highly charged and divisive season of life in which we as a society find ourselves.

Rachel, it is also fitting that you have selected this passage as the one which would serve as the focus of our time of worship on this day which we celebrate your baptism. This outward sign of your inward faith and belief in Jesus the Christ. Your public profession that you have decided to follow the teachings of the Christ which are steeped in love for God, for other people, and for the self. My hope is that, as you continue your spiritual journey, that this day serves as a milestone for you, a day on which you publicly state that you seek to center your life on the teachings of the Christ and engage with the world which God has created with a sensitivity and understanding that all of this world is for the good of us and all people are for the good of God and indeed are the beloved children of God.

Let those of us who have preceded Rachel into the waters of baptism remember our own baptism. What it means to follow the Christ; to love God, love others, and to love the self, to know that we are all beloved by this God in whose image we have been created. This image of love, self-giving love for others, love for justice and peace. We who are Christians follow and believe in the God who is love incarnate. Let us find renewed courage and encouragement to be love in action; working for peace and justice in all facets of life for all people of the world, and indeed for the world itself.