May 26, 2007
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One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: Mark 1:4
(This is Part 1)
I was honored this week to share the sacrament of Holy Baptism with three believer’s from the same family. Baptism involves the contrast between an old life and a new life……baptism is a milestone in a persons life as they grow in faith. In baptism, no matter what denomination, no matter what traditions……one purpose remains constant: The public declaration of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). However and wherever this act is performed…..it lends unity to the body of Christ.
My friend, Susan…..
her daughter, Samantha…..
I would like to take a walk through the Scriptures to discover the full meaning of this milestone on one’s life.Mark 1: 4 John the Baptist Preaches Baptism of Repentance for the Forgiveness of Sins
“And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
I would point out something here that many people don’t always realize. There is a span of 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. There had not been a prophet in Israel for over 400 years! And here comes John the Baptist…with a message……a message we know well……
Additionally, if we look at the OT Scriptures of Joel 2:28-29 as well as Malachi 3:1, we see that it was widely believed that when the Messiah would come, prophecy would reappear. And again, here is John the Baptist, speaking like the prophets of old, saying that people must turn away from sin and turn to God to experience His mercy and approval!
This is interesting because the Jewish people were very knowledgeable about ritual washing (detailed in Leviticus 11-15). Anyone who was not of the Jewish race (gentiles) was unclean. In order for a Gentile to convert to the Jewish Faith, they had to do three things:
– They had to undergo circumcision (we will touch on this later on in another Scripture we study in this series). Circumcision was an outward sign of the covenant with God and Israel. Keep in mind the covenant that was mentioned above in Malachi 3:1.
– A blood sacrifice had to made for this person because only blood could atone for sin.
– They had to be baptized, fully immersed in water as a symbol of the cleansing of their past life.
Here’s the interesting part……..John, he himself a Jew, was calling on Jews, to repent (to turn away from or change their mind about) the sin, the wrongdoing, in their life….to get right with God. Baptism was generally only something a Gentile needed. I believe that John understood that to be a member of God’s chosen people, was not necessarily “simply” to belong to the Jewish race, but that many Jews were in the exact same place as Gentiles….they needed a cleansed life to belong to God.
It is also important to point out that because Mark’s intended audience were primarily Roman Christians, he chose to begin his Gospel with John the Baptist, whose mission it was to announce the coming of Jesus…the most important man who ever lived!
Repentance for the Forgiveness of Sins:
This words for repentance in Greek are “metanoeo“, which refers exclusively to turning from one’s sin; “metanoia” which refers to renouncing and turning from one’s sin; “metamelomai” which refers to changing one’s mind, and finally, “ametameletos” (used only twice in the NT, which refers to repentance that leaves no regret.)“Repentance means doing an about-face—a 180-degree turn—from the kind of self-centeredness that leads to wrong actions such as lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, taking revenge, abusing, and indulging in sexual immorality. A person who repents stops rebelling and begins following God’s way of living prescribed in his Word. The first step in turning to God is to admit your sin, as John urged. Then God will receive you and help you live the way he wants. Remember that only God can get rid of sin. He doesn’t expect us to clean up our lives before we come to him.” 1
I believe that it is also best summed up by William Barclay, the great world-renowned New Testament interpreter, “The end of pride is the beginning of forgiveness. It is when we find it possible to say, ‘I have sinned,’ that God get’s the chance to say, ’I forgive’. It is not those who desire to meet God on equal terms who will discover forgiveness, but those who kneel in humble contrition and whisper through their shame, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner’ “.
What do you think?
1- Life Application Bible Commentary
Comments (11)
Regarding Barlay’s quote–I am not entirely sure that he has the order right. He says “It is when we find it possible to say, ‘I have sinned,’ that God gets the chance to say, ‘I forgive,’”–But I do not think God is so limited by our actions. He came down to redeem us while we were yet in our sins. He reaches out first. I think that reaching out includes forgiveness. Remember that on the cross he prayed “forgive them for they know not what they do.” Barclay’s quote above places the emphasis on the sinner’s need to do some appropriate act of contrition before receiving forgiveness and that is a huge burden on any sinner. It leaves us all wondering if we have ‘really repented’ enough for God to forgive us. All security is lost, but Jesus went to cross to buy us and assure us of His love.
I believe God reaches out with forgiveness first, and we respond in gratitude. That seems to be the only real way we can have assurance. The only way we can avoid a works-based salvation.
ryc MrsDarcy
I certainly agree that Christ died for our sins while we were yet sinners. I believe that Barclay was speaking more on true repentance (the context in which I placed this quote as well as the context in which he was saying it, was concerning repentance). Jesus certainly “went to cross to buy us and assure us of His love“…..yet we have a part to play….we must choose to believe and follow. I do not believe that Barclay was saying that forgiveness was not already there, only that we must “ask” in order to “discover” that forgiveness. I think of me as a father and my daughter lying to me or doing something wrong, essentially….I have forgiven her…..yet, it is when she truly realizes the wrong and turns away from it, that I have the opportunity to say, “I forgive” and she has the opportunity to be encouraged and grow by those words. Maybe Barclay should have said “The end of pride is the beginning of ‘understanding’ forgiveness” 
You make a good point and I certainly agree that God is not limited by our actions. He reached out to us first, and I certainly agree that we respond in gratitude. This is the essence of repentance….
I appreciate your comments
Thank you! God bless!
Thank you for stopping by my Xanga today. I always take the time to check out my visitors, and this is one instance where I am glad i did. Your thoughts, and your comments, have been a blessing to me just now.
Look forward to reading more in the weeks to come.
wayne
ryc Wayne: Thank you for visiting
I agree also with your thoughts left on another post “Why I am leaving LifePoint“. I agree, “The Church may not be perfect, but it is the chosen vesel to display God’s grace, mercy, kindness, love, forgiveness, and any other facet of his Being you may name, to a dieing / hurting / needy world today. We should be honored that He thinks so highly of us…. imperfect as we are.” God bless you my friend!
Praise God for baptism, that act of obedience is life changing.
Heather
Excellent article!
Jan, yes, I think we are both on the same page about it. The funny thing is, though, that I heard about the forgiveness-coming-first doctrine from an Episcopal priest I admire, and it struck me as revolutionary. I realized (or thought I realized) that I was breaking with my Calvinist roots in accepting that doctrine, until he explained to me that actually, true Calvinism does preach the priorty of forgiveness in the logical order of salvation. But what I was actually taught in my Calvinist church, through the casual doctrinal discussions, and gossip and other judgmental talk there, was that someone has to repent before God will forgive. I don’t know for sure how it is that that warped doctrine got into me at a supposedly Calvinist church, but in it got. And other people who are still in that church still speak that way. They will not ‘forgive’ someone who has mis-stepped in life until they are satisfied that he demonstrates proper repentance. Or at least they will tell him that God has not forgiven him yet. They are going against their doctrinal roots, for whatever psychological motives of their own, and don’t even know it!
ryc Heather
I agree….this act of obedience is life changing! God bless!
ryc CKoepp
Thank you for visiting and thank you for the kind words. God bless!
ryc Mrs Darcy
It’s funny that often times people look at God as over here and us as over there…..when God wants us to be near each other. I believe that God HAS forgiven us……though He longs to have us see that we need to be forgiven….this is the only way that we can grow. In fact, I believe that forgiviness is more about OUR heart than it is about the person that committed the “offence”. Thank you for the comments 
God bless!
Good study, Jan! I knew that the Jews were familiar with baptism, but didn’t realize that it was considered to be something for for non-Jews..how much more radical that makes John’s message; especially when he directed his comments at the religious leaders! I also dodn’t know about the 3-part step of conversion to faith in God…so awesome about the blood sacrifice being a requirement
What a privilege to baptize memers of a family like that…it reminds me of the stories of the centurion and others who believed and were baptized, with their households.
thanks for this…Jim.
Well put. I have seen too few baptisms over the past ten years, which is not a good sign
An important part of any spiritual growth is the idea that we need to do away with the old ways that didn’t work and bring in a new person. Baptism is a positive affirmation of a spiritual death of the old person and the beginning of a new person.