“All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth... And behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age.” - Matthew 28:18, 20
Kempton New Church

Week 3
Day 2

    Listen:

Baptism and Confession of Faith

Then Jesus, being baptized, came up straightaway out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him. Matthew 3:16

The First Use of Baptism

And Jesus, coming, spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go forth, therefore; make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all things whatever I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:18-19)

TCR 677 The first use of baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the spiritual world.... Baptism is a sign that those baptized are of the Christian church... and a sign is nothing more than a means of recognition, just as swaddling clothes of different colors are put on the children of two mothers to distinguish them and prevent their being exchanged.

That it is merely a sign of introduction into the church is made clear by the baptizing of infants, who are wholly destitute of reason and are no more able to receive anything pertaining to faith than the young branches of a tree.

Not only are infants baptized but so are all foreign proselytes who are converted to the Christian religion, both the young and the old, and this before they have been instructed, solely because they confess a wish to embrace Christianity, into which they are introduced by baptism. This is what was done by the apostles, according to the Lord’s command,

That the disciples should make disciples of all nations, and baptize them (Matt. 28:19).

All this, however, is what takes place on earth. But in the heavens infants are introduced by baptism into the Christian heaven, and angels are there assigned them by the Lord, to take care of them. Therefore, as soon as infants are baptized, angels are appointed over them, by whom they are kept in a state to receive faith in the Lord. But as they grow up, and begin to exercise self- control and be governed by their own reason, these guardian angels leave them, and they draw into association with themselves such spirits as make one with their life and faith. From all this it is clear that baptism is insertion among Christians in the spiritual world also.

TCR 678. The reason why by baptism, not only infants but all others are inserted among Christians in the spiritual world, is that it is by their religions that peoples and nations in that world are distinguished from each other.... Moreover, all who are of the same religion are arranged in societies in heaven in accordance with their affections of love to God and love toward the neighbor.... In the spiritual world... all things, both as a whole and in every part, or in general and in every particular, are most distinctly arranged. Upon this distinct arrangement there, the preservation of the whole universe depends; and such distinguishing is impossible unless everyone after he is born can be recognized by some sign showing to what religious body he belongs. For without the Christian sign, which is baptism, some Mohammedan or some idolatrous spirit might attach himself to newly-born Christian children, or even to youths, and breathe into them an inclination towards his religion, and thus draw away their minds and alienate them from Christianity, which would be a distortion and destruction of spiritual order.

TCR 679. Everyone who traces effects back to their causes may know that the firm establishment of all things depends on order; and that there are many kinds of order, general and particular; and that there is one order that is the most universal of all, and on which depends the general and particular kinds in connected series; also that this most universal order enters into all the others as the essence itself into its forms, and that thus and not otherwise they make one. It is this unity that effects the preservation of the whole, which would otherwise fall asunder, and relapse not only into primal chaos, but into nothing. How would it be with man if each thing and all things in his body were not most distinctly arranged and this community of parts made dependent on one heart and one pair of lungs? Otherwise, what would follow but confusion?

Questions
  1. We are taught that baptism is merely a sign because infants who are baptized cannot yet receive anything of faith. And yet this section goes on to teach how important this sign is. Why is something that is merely a sign so important?
  2. We are also taught that gentiles are baptized “before they have been instructed.” How much instruction is needed before an adult is baptized into the New Church? How much instruction do parents need before baptizing their children?
  3. What is it that should inspire people to seek baptism for themselves or for their children?
  4. We are taught that all infants have celestial angels around them caring for them. What changes for an infant when he or she is baptized into the New Church?
  5. The teaching about Mohammedan or idolatrous spirits attaching themselves to newly-born children or youths is pretty scary. How much danger is there for the little child or youth if not baptized? Or is the danger more for the general state of the church and the world?
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