On Baptism Class and Lousy Expression of Words

Just went through the first baptism class. One question I knew will be asked (and did come up) was 'Are those Christians who were not baptised, true Christians?'

Well, yes, they can be. And there might be those who are physically baptised, and still not Christians (thought that would be very sad). Anyone disagree with me?

Anyway there was one point when we were asked by Dr. Wee to describe what baptism means to us. Most of us said that it was a sign of God's grace, and an outward expression of it. I agreed, and elaborated that baptism was mostly a declaration "for the church" (and the world of course, but I forgot to mention that, how careless) and then I said I felt baptism "does not really change anything".

Siao liao. I knew at that point I was going to be misunderstood. Does baptism change anything? Of course it does! What I meant was that baptism can do nothing with regards to our justification. All protestants will agree that justification is through the blood of Christ, the finished work of Christ on the cross, received by faith alone. Baptism thus does not change anything with regards to justification. If we are saved, then we are, by faith, on the basis of the finished work of Christ, already; baptism thus will not change this fact. We are saved apart from works. If baptism becomes a 'work' for us, then we relegate Christ to providing that which we lack, and Christ is not all.

However, I do believe baptism has its usefulness. Apart from visible changes like:

1) a public declaration of our faith
2) a demonstration of God's grace
3) an act of obedience to follow God's command

I do believe that through the actual process of baptism, through the partaking of the monthly Holy Communion , we are to be regularly reminded of our sinfulness and our pledge to follow Jesus and obey Him, and these are the spiritual benefits of baptism. It makes us refocus and readjust our priorites. Thus the change is in our sanctification (if this is the correct word to use) or our spiritual growth, not our justification, which is fixed and finished, and perfectly completed by the death of Christ. The Holy Communion can be a means where the Spirit teaches us and reminds us what we have taken by faith - the death of Christ, the effects of His sacrifice etc.

And to take a look into the 'Christ our Life - a Communicant's manual' - the book we are studying, I can say that 80% or even more of the information inside does not apply to baptism. It applies to the basic faith of all Christians. I am not downplaying the importance of baptism, but then again, peace, prayers, regular studying of the Word of God, communion with God, walking in the Spirit, obeying the commands of God, decidedly following Jesus, are not the job of the baptised, but of all who profess to believe in Jesus, baptised or not.