baptism

Invading the World

by Ben Zornes · Mar 11, 2025

As the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection invades and permeates this world, it does so primarily in this visible word. This is a sign that Christ has obtained the ancient promise given to Abraham to cleanse mankind of all his sins against God by simply receiving this great gift by faith. Of course, each one must lay hold of this promise by faith, but that is what this sign is a promise of: God washes away the sins of those who come to Christ by faith.

Thus, these parents are tasked with holding this promise with resolute faith. You all, as fellow heirs of this promise, are tasked with exemplifying this faith, and surrounding this young saint with a community of believers who really believe all the promises of God are “Yes and Amen in Christ.” And this little one is called, by the thunder of this waterfall, to believe this promise all her days, until at last she enters the heavenly reward of everlasting life with Christ.

So welcome our sister/brother to Jesus Christ…

The Architecture of the Christian Life

by Ben Zornes · Jan 2, 2025

Baptism sketches out for us what the entire architecture of the Christian life should be: faith accompanied by ready obedience. Baptism isn’t a word which man speaks, but is a visible word which God speaks. In this sign He promises to unite us to all the grace found in the person and work of Christ. God extends this sign in grace, and the one baptized receives it in passive faith.

But since faith without works is dead, baptism summons the one baptized to put off the old man, mortify the flesh, and strive by the power of the Spirit to imitate Christ. Corporately, we see then that baptism is the Church acting in faith (trusting in all of God’s covenant promises) and an act of obedience (doing according to all our King has commanded). Believe and be baptized really is the shape of the Christian life. Or as the hymn writer put it: trust and obey.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

Baptism as Death & Resurrection

by Ben Zornes · Dec 30, 2024

Scripture instructs to understand baptism as a death and resurrection. The world’s story is one of life coming out of death. Nothing followed by something. Seeds becoming harvest. Slaves becoming freemen. Gravestones being rolled away. Every episode of Scripture regales us with the story of death followed by resurrection.

That is most profoundly the case in our personal salvation. In our baptism we’re united to Christ, and this includes not just the person of Christ but all of His righteous works on our behalf. The pinnacle of that work is His death and resurrection. Paul describes baptism in terms of the dying and rising that takes place when a seed is planted: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom 6:5).” In baptism you are joined with the story of God’s glorious work of creation & redemption; a story where death is not the final word. Yes, you do die, but you die in Christ, and therefore you also shill rise with Christ into His everlasting life. Resurrection is the final word.

Sin Scatters. Christ Gathers.

by Ben Zornes · Oct 21, 2024

Sin always brings about scattering. After the fall in Eden, we see that the family unit is fractured as Cain kills Abel; Cain’s descendants contend with Seth’s; at Babel humanist vain-glory resulted in wide-scale scattering. Due to Israel & Judah’s idolatry the Jews were exiled to Assyria and Babylon.

This, in part, is what made the covenant which God made with Abraham a true marvel of mercy. God promised Abraham a Seed, a Seed which would bring blessing to every nation. God was intent to regather mankind unto Himself. The Lord started by gathering one household. But that isn’t where He finished. From that one household a nation rose, and from that nation the Promised Christ was born. Christ is now gathering individuals, households, cities, and nations. The sign of baptism is the sign of His great gathering. To be gathered in by Christ is a summons to abide in Him by faith alone. Sin had scattered; but the grace of God in Christ is now gathering.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

The Head of a New Creation

by Ben Zornes · Oct 14, 2024

By bringing our children to the waters of baptism we’re acknowledging the reality of the world. The world isn’t a sphere spinning aimlessly through lifeless & empty space. The molecules of matter aren’t the shrapnel of a reckless ancient bang. None of us are truly independent individuals. We don’t arise autonomous from the well-spring of our mere will power. Our very being hangs upon a long line of ancestors.

This takes us back to our first father, Adam; his headship handed down to us sin, death, and damnation. Headship is inescapable. Baptism gives you a new family Head, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He welcomes us into the new creation which He inaugurated. The reality of this world is that headship matters. Christ is the head of a new creation, Christ is the head of this father, and so, in faith, this child is brought to partake of the Second Adam’s new creation.

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…

The Imagery of Baptism

by Ben Zornes · Oct 7, 2024

The action of baptism is a common action: uncleanness washed away with water. A boy coming inside for dinner after a summer day needs a thorough scrubbing with clean water. To remove dirt and grime, you need some water.

Indeed, this common use of water for washing is the primary imagery which Scripture teaches us to think of when we think about baptism. Sin defiled and contaminated every aspect of man; heart, soul, mind, and body. The entire arc of the redemption story leads to the truth that the filthy, black stains of sin were to be washed away by the crimson blood of Christ. Man was entirely defiled. So, a potent cleansing agent must be used in order to make us entirely clean. This cleansing is found in Christ alone. Cleansing of the whole man is something only the Living Water can effect. Baptism is the promise of that cleansing.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

Baptism Never Stammers

by Ben Zornes · Sep 23, 2024

When we come to these waters we come to the everlasting covenant of grace. God has sworn to be merciful to mankind, and He isn’t in the habit of saying one thing but meaning another. He’s not deceiving us. Baptism speaks a mystery but it never stammers.

The mercy which God promises here in baptism, to a thousand generations, is not due to anything found in either these parents or this child. It is found in the covenant of grace which God made with mankind through our representative Head: Jesus Christ. The Father covenanted with the Son to reckon His death as satisfaction for our sin, and to make His resurrection the certainty of our everlasting life. The cords of love which bind us to this covenant of grace are the Father’s vow with His Son, and which the Spirit seals unto us in our baptism.

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…