Sermon25-40 Col2 Guide

Col 2:6-19 theme verse Cor 2:12

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this thirty fifth Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we looked at what the sacraments of the church are, yet this week, among two Reformed sacraments, we would like to look at what the baptism of the church is together.

1)    First, to summarize today's text, Colossians is one of four prison epistles written while Paul was imprisoned under house arrest in Rome. It contains instructions for the Colossians after hearing some heresies infiltrated, such as denying the pre-existence of Christ, emphasizing on human philosophy, and angel worship and adherence to Jewish customs. Paul taught them that Christ is superior to all creations and authorities and through baptism, Christians have died with Christ and been raised again with Him, sharing His fullness. Therefore Christians not being bound by philosophy, angel worship, or human customs, have to walk in Christ, putting on new self in Him.

2)    Specially in today's text, Paul clearly explains the meaning of baptism. I mean, as our salvation is the imputation of His righteousness through Christ’s vicarious atonement in His death and resurrection, and justification by faith, reconciliation to God, becoming His children, His holy people, and living holy lives. This grace is a result of the union with Christ through the Word of gospel by the Holy Spirit. That’s why Ezekiel 36:24-28 said, “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Today’s text calls this forgiveness or cleansing of sins the circumcision of Christ, and says that through it we are died with Christ and also raised with Him. The sign of this grace in the New Testament is baptism. In other words, baptism, whether we are immersed in water or sprinkled with water, is a sign that our sins have been washed away, furthermore, our immersion and subsequent rise symbolize the death of our old selves and the rebirth of our new selves through the Word by the work of the Holy Spirit. And also through this rite, we are granted the grace to become members of the church, I mean, God's people. Through this sacrament, God makes us understand what has happened in our heart through the Word of gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit, and enables us to stand firm and grow in our faith.

3)    Therefore, Paul said to the Colossians, since we had received this grace, we have to walk in Christ, who is superior to any worldly philosophy, religion, or rituals. Here, "walking in Christ" means a) to lead a life worthy of Him (1:10) and b) to continue to live under the lordship of Christ, to be obedient to Him, and to learn more and more about what it means to be under His lordship and also c) as the outward manifestation of having received Christ as Lord, to allow his presence inspire and mold us every part of our life

4)    As such, regarding the baptism of the church, Belgic confession article 34 confesses that “We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, Christ established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God's church and set apart from all other people and alien religions, that we may wholly belong to him whose mark and sign we bear. Baptism also witnesses to us that God, being our gracious Father, will be our God forever. Therefore Christ has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In this way God signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and also is seen on the bodies of those who are baptized when it is sprinkled on them, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally, in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God. This does not happen by the physical water but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, who is the devil, and to enter the spiritual land of Canaan. So ministers, as far as their work is concerned, give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives what the sacrament signifies namely the invisible gifts and graces; washing, purifying, and cleansing our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving us true assurance of his fatherly goodness; clothing us with the "new self” and stripping off the "old self with its practices.” For this reason we believe that anyone who aspires to reach eternal life ought to be baptized only once without ever repeating it for we cannot be born twice. Yet this baptism is profitable not only when the water is on us and when we receive it but throughout our entire lives. For that reason we reject the error of the Anabaptists who are not content with a single baptism once received and also condemn the baptism of the children of believers. We believe our children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children. And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults. Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, just as the Lord commanded in the law that by offering a lamb for them the sacrament of the suffering and death of Christ would be granted them shortly after their birth. This was the sacrament of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, baptism does for our children what circumcision did for the Jewish people. That is why Paul calls baptism the "circumcision of Christ."

5)    So through this Belgic Confession, we can know that just as water washes away dirt when sprinkled on a person's body, baptism symbolizes the blood of Christ being internally sprinkled on the soul of the baptized person, washing away sin, purifying the soul, and regenerating us, who were children of wrath, into children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, through this baptism, we can experience a) the washing away and purification of sin, the removal of the filth and injustice from our souls, b) and the renewing of our souls, filling them with all comfort. c) And we can not only have true assurance in the goodness of God the Father d) but also we put off our old self and its practices and put on new self in Christ.

6)    Yet, regarding this baptism, there are few views on it. I mean, according to Dae-seon Jang’s explanation on baptism in his "Commentary on the French Confession of Faith," he says there are three main views, depending on where they emphasize in baptism. The first is the Roman Catholic view, which holds that baptism is essential for salvation and justification, since sins are actually forgiven through baptism, so that without baptism, they believe there is no salvation. This view holds that actual grace of forgiveness of sins is bestowed through baptism itself. On the other hand, the second view, unlike the Roman Catholic view of baptism, Anabaptist’s view focuses on the repentance of those who were baptized. I mean, they emphasize the repentance or faith of the baptized person as the essence of baptism. As we can see in Article 1 of the Schleitheim Confession of Faith (1527), the Anabaptist confesses that "Baptism shall be given to all those who have learned repentance and amendment of life, and who believe truly that their sins are taken away by Christ, and to all those who walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and wish to be buried with Him in death, so that they may be resurrected with Him, and to all those who with this significance request it [baptism] of us and demand it for themselves,” this view emphasizes a lot on the faith and actions of the baptized person rather than on God, who baptizes. Regarding this, by saying, "Now, by the grace of God, we repent and condemn our blindness and stubbornness in longing for God's great goodness. However, we believe that God's promise itself has not been extinguished. God promises us forgiveness of sins through baptism and undoubtedly fulfills that promise to all believers," Calvin argued that the essence of baptism should lie in God's faithfulness who performs baptism regardless of the weakness of our faith. Therefore, this Calvin’s view, as the third one, being different fundamentally from the Roman Catholic view, which emphasizes on the baptism itself or from the Anabaptist view, which emphasizes on the believer's faith, Calvin’s views centers on God's promise and the effects of Christ's death. Calvin's fundamental understanding of baptism is that "baptism is a sign of initiation into the community of the church, where we are grafted into Christ and recognized as children of God," and his understanding that "the benefits our faith receives from baptism are a sure proof that we are not only grafted into the death and life of Christ, but also intimately united with Christ himself, sharing in all his blessings." Therefore, we can know that the basis of baptism lies not in the authority of the baptismal rite itself or the authority of the priest who performs it, nor in the faith or repentance of the believer who willingly seeks baptism, rather, baptism is based solely on God's promise to graft one into Christ and achieve union. In response, Calvin's 18th Article of the French Confession of Faith confesses, "We reject all the methods of those who imagine that we can be justified before God in any other way. We do not claim any virtue or merit, but rely solely on the obedience of Jesus Christ, who has been imputed to us to cover all our sins and grant us grace and good will before God."

7)    And then these different views on the baptism lead to differing positions on infant baptism too. I mean, the denominations that emphasize the repentance and faith of the baptized person do not baptize infants, since infants cannot have faith or repent on their own. Instead, they hold dedication ceremonies where parents dedicate their infants to God and then when children became a adult, they baptize them at their own will. On the other hand, some denominations, such as Christian Reformed Church In NA and the Presbyterian Church, do practice infant baptism. Since we view it as a sacrament in which God proclaims those who are baptized as God's people by God Himself, rather than an expression of human faith. Just as God commanded the Israelites to circumcise their children on the eighth day after birth, we also baptize the children of God's covenant people based on this principle. In other words, baptism has a covenant backdrop.

8)    And the, based on the meaning of baptism and the learning from the various perspectives, I think we can answer some important questions about baptism. First, do you think baptism is a channel of grace, or a means of grace? Catholic churches teach that baptism is a channel of grace, that original sin can be effectively removed through baptism. However, our Christian Reformed Church views baptism is not a channel of grace, but means of grace. I mean, the external calling through the word of the gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, the awakening of faith, and justification may occur simultaneously with baptism, or they may occur before or even later than baptism. So we view baptism as a sign of regeneration and justification, a visible manifestation of the invisible grace, enabling us to understand and appreciate the grace of salvation and grow in faith. Secondly, do you think we can be saved without baptism? There is an incident in the Bible that a person was saved without baptism. I mean, when the thief on the cross at Golgotha ​​who stood beside the Lord said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," the Lord replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." So, we can know that people can be saved even without being baptized. Then, as the final and third question, as some denominations insist baptism should be immersed into the water, do you think that baptism of immersion into the water is absolutely necessary? Looking at church history, baptism of immersion into water was universally practiced until the 12th century, yet at that time, it evolved into a method of dousing or sprinkling water on the head of those who were baptized. One theory is that this method was practiced because it was difficult to immerse the sick or infants in water. Another theory is that during the 12th century, when the Crusades were in full swing, it was difficult to baptize each and every crusader recruit, so simplified baptism began. Anyhow, it seems to me that the latter seems more convincing. However, some churches still prefer baptism of immersion, perhaps because immersion in water is considered more memorable and helpful in faith.

9)    In this way, our salvation, which we have been sealed and guaranteed with through baptism, is that we walk in union with Christ, so that through his death we might die to sin and, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we might walk in newness of life. As we walk in newness of life in Christ, God causes us to grow into the image of Christ. Therefore, let us pray that this year, through the grace of Christ's circumcision, we may all grow into him.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, as the baptism is a sign and pledge for the forgiveness of sins and dying of old self and raising in new self, we became to understand what happened in us by the Holy Spirit through the word of gospel. So, meditating on the baptism we received and also the grace of God in it, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And, also we became to know that this baptism is a sacrament through which we can know we were forgiven and our old self died and we were raised in new self so that we have to walk in Christ. So while reviewing our life, to check whether we walk in Christ, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.