The Sacramental Nature of Baptism

It caught me by surprise!  I didn't realize that I was that far along, but, during Morning Prayer, I finished singing through Wesley Hymns (edited by Ken Bible), once again. 

The last hymn in the book is wonderful.  It is a baptismal hymn, and it, of course, expresses a very Wesleyan understanding of holy baptism as a sacrament.  In fact, it does such a good job, I think I will quote it during my upcoming workshop on the Sacraments for the Southwest Indiana District Church of the Nazarene.  It fits very nicely with our new Article of Faith on Baptism.

What this hymn does is remind Wesleyan Christians (especially Evangelical ones) that we are not quite like many of our "Evangelical" sisters and brothers when it comes to our understanding of the sacraments.  Instead, we stand in line with our Methodist and Anglican forefathers, back to the Ancient and New Testament Church.

Many of our Evangelical sisters and brothers (e.g., Baptists), view holy baptism (and holy communion) as a mere ordinance.  (I say mere, because ordinances they surely are.  Even the hymn uses that term.  However, they are not merely so.)  As a mere ordinance, our sisters and brothers of these traditions view baptism as something that, while commanded by Christ, is exclusively understood to be a testimony by the one being baptized concerning what Christ has done in his/her life by faith.  (The very sad and frustrating thing is, as I have been trying to help my son find a good church home while in college at Olivet Nazarene University, I have just recently read a website statement on baptism from a NAZARENE CHURCH that echoes this very Baptist, i.e., non-Nazarene/non-Wesleyan, understanding of baptism!)

We Wesleyans would affirm that, when a convert is being baptized, s/he is, indeed, testifying to what Christ has done in her/his life by faith . . . BUT we believe that this testimony is secondary.  Along with our forefathers in the faith, we believe that holy baptism is primarily God's work.  That is to say, we believe that baptism is not just an ordinance.  It is also a sacrament.  Whether the one being baptized is an infant or an adult convert, when we come to the waters of baptism with faith in Christ, God is present and at work.  Further, as the hymn makes clear, we believe that the whole of the Holy Trinity is at work in this sacrament.

Charles Wesley says it so well:

 

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

1. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
In solemn pow'r come down!

Present with Thy heav'nly host,
Thine ordinance to crown,
See a sinful soul of earth!
Bless to him the cleansing flood!
Plunge him, by a second birth,
Into the depths of God.

2. Let the promised inward grace
Accompany the sign;
On this newborn soul impress
The character divine!
Father, all Thy name reveal;
Jesus, all Thy name impart;
Holy Ghost, renew and dwell
Forever in his heart!