What We Are as Christians

There are many things that may be said about Christians, and these are often brought up when we ask, "What is a Christian?" Christians believe in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, or, Christians believe that the Bible is truly God's Word, etc. While all of these are true in themselves, and are important, they fall short of getting to the heart of the matter, which is that a real Christian is a member of Christ. A Christian is so united to Christ that he participates in everything that Christ has, and so as to have everything that he is sanctified by Christ. After describing the office of Christ in Q/A 31, the Heidelberg Catechism uncharacteristically steps out of the words of the articles of the Apostles' Creed to ask, "Why are you called a "Christian?" The Catechism adds this question because without it the doctrine of Christ is incomplete. What Christ does in His threefold office as Prophet, Priest and King is done not in isolation, but in union with His people. A good example of this teaching is found in II Cor. 5:14, where the apostle Paul says, "...we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died." Every Christian, past, present and future, died the death of the punishment of his/her sins in the death of Christ because they were "in" or united to Him on the cross. This is why "our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only a dying to sin and an entering into eternal life" (Heid. Cat. Q. 42).

Union with Christ

In answering Heidelberg Catechism Question 32, "Why are you called a Christian?" the Catechism begins with, "because by faith I am a member of Christ, and thus a partaker of His anointing...." The rest of the answer speaks of our participation in Christ's threefold office of Prophet, Priest and King, but this happens through our union with Him as members of His body. A "union" is a combination of distinct parts into a single whole, and this is exactly the fundamental conception of what a Christian is, that is, someone who is united to Christ. Throughout the Bible the use of the prepositions, "in," and "into," and a number of other expressions make clear that we are saved by Christ, because of our union with Him.

In Rom. 6:1-6, for example, Paul again and again tells us that our salvation and our sanctification as Christians is ours by virtue of the fact that we are "baptized into His death," "are buried with Him through baptism into death," so that "just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life," because "we have been united together in the likeness of His death," and "certainly also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." Furthermore, "knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him," so "that the body of (our) sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be the slaves of sin." Each one of these phrases forces upon us the notion that it is in Christ, as those who are united to Him, that our salvation is effected, and that it is in Him that we live in newness of life as those who have risen in Him from the spiritual death of our own sins. Union with Christ is the central theme of many texts about how we are saved and what it means to be a Christian (as we will see below).

A few notes about this Romans passage need to be added to correct the common misconceptions about it fostered by our Baptist friends. First, this text speaks of spiritual baptism, that is, baptism with the Holy Spirit and not water baptism as is seen by noting: 1) this baptism actually effects union with Christ which the Bible specifically says water baptism does not (1 Cor. 1:17; 1 Pet. 3:21); 2) this text parallels others that speak expressly of baptism with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:26-27-remembering that water baptism does not produce faith); 3) the Heidelberg Catechism makes the biblical point that "only the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin."

Secondly, we need to note that trying to find immersion as a mode of baptism in this text fails rather miserably because: 1) the text says in so many words "we are baptized into His death," (not into His burial) a death which was in the form of crucifixion. Yet no Baptist claims that crucifixion is the proper form of baptism. The first phrase of verse six says the same thing, "our old man was crucified with Him," again implying that crucifixion ought to be the form of baptism if the Baptist has a valid point; 2) the Baptist confuses the undertaker with the grave here. In the phrase, "we are buried with Him through (by) baptism into death," baptism is the active agent (the undertaker) and not the place of burial which is "death" (the grave in view here). The Baptist claim that baptism should look like burial is equivalent to saying that undertakers should look like graves, hardly a logical requirement. And, 3) the proper mode of water baptism is indicated by the form in which we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and in the blood of Christ (Heb. 10:22). The Holy Spirit is always "poured out" upon His objects and we are "sprinkled" with the blood of Christ (all three of the Old Testament baptisms described in Heb. 9:10-21 are sprinklings-the original Greek word translated "washings" in verse 10 is "baptism"). Romans 6:1-6 is about union with Christ through spiritual baptism, union with Christ in all His work which includes, but is not restricted to, His death and resurrection.

Union with Christ-Objectively Considered

When we think about union with Christ as the fundamental reality by which we are saved and sanctified, we need to begin with the objective reality of a union with Christ that we do not see or feel, indeed that is no way dependent on our action. When we speak of something "objective," we mean that something is outside of ourselves. If I am working far back in a cave, and it is raining outside, the rain is objective for me, it is real and is a fact, but I do not see, feel or know it in any way. On the other hand, when I leave the cave, the rain becomes a part of my experience, it then becomes subjective for me. We will consider our subjective union with Christ below, which also is essential, but we must begin with our objective union with Christ in God's eternal decree first, because that is the source of our salvation.

The fact that we are objectively "in Christ," that is, united with Him outside of our experience, needs to be seen in two ways. First, we are "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), and second we are "in Christ" when He lives and dies for us during His earthly life. As Reformed believers we know that all credit for our salvation belongs to God because He alone is the One who plans, carries out and applies our salvation to us. Like Noah, we have not earned our place on the Ark (which typifies Christ) but we have "found grace in the eyes of the Lord," a grace that is according to God's choice Who "works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11).

We are familiar and comfortable with the idea that God chooses who is to be saved and who is to be punished for their sins, but we also need to realize that God's predestinating choice is neither arbitrary nor unjust. We are, in fact, chosen not in ourselves, but as Eph. 1:4 declares, "in Him," that is, in Christ. Christ was foreordained in the plan of God to be our Savior (1 Pet. 1:20) to shed His blood for our sins, but in the same decree we were foreordained in Him to be those for whom He would die. Now we need to know that the plan or decree of God is just as real as the physical realities we see and touch every day. Indeed it is more real, for God's decree predates and is the source of every physical reality. Therefore we are not to think of our objective union with Christ in God's decree as some phantom possibility that only becomes real when it becomes a part of our subjective life, but we are to see this spiritual union in God's decree as the source and foundation for the subjective union with Christ that is ministered to us by regeneration of the Holy Spirit and exercised through our personal faith in Him.

In the same way, our union with Christ in His work on the cross is objective to us until it is ministered to us by the Holy Spirit, but it is just as real and necessary to our salvation. When Jesus died on the cross, He was not dying alone. As we saw above in 2 Cor. 5:14, we died in Christ's death, that is, we were united to Him so really that He literally bore the punishment of our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Cf. Heidelberg #44). We should have no problem with this if we understand the biblical teaching that God is above time. He "declares the end from the beginning" (Isa. 46:10), that is, all things in our historical time are simultaneous for God. This gives us some idea about how Jesus can die for Abraham's sins, which were committed 2000 years before Christ and our sins, which are committed 2000 years after Christ. As Paul says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19), not just the world geographically, but the world throughout history.

This teaching, that Christ's sacrifice bore the sins of all the elect, is stated in so many words in Eph. 5:25, and is foreshadowed by the Old Testament sacrifices. This is shown by the fact that the High Priest wore a breastplate on which were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The High Priest represented Israel before God in those sacramental types of Christ's sacrifice. In Christ, the sacrament becomes real and we are really and literally in Him as He lives a perfect life for us and suffers for our sins. This clear teaching of Scripture helps to establish the Reformed doctrine of Limited Atonement.

Union with Christ-Subjectively Considered

Fundamental to the biblical teaching of salvation is that the predestination of God and the work of Christ must become real and living in our personal lives if we are to be saved. The fact that this will most certainly happen to every person chosen in the decree of God, is guaranteed not only by the atonement that Christ fulfills for them, but also by the sovereign and irresistible work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8). He unites us to Christ by regeneration and faith. The Heidelberg Catechism notes this fact not only in HC #32 (as described above), but also in #53 which confesses that the Holy Spirit "by true faith makes me a partaker of Christ and all His benefits," and #86 which notes, "Christ having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit after His own image...." God's sovereign character guarantees that this will happen to every elect sinner. Predestination does not teach the salvation of unbelieving and profane people (elect children who die in infancy are a special case united to Christ by the Holy Spirit without exercising knowledgeable faith).

Now the Bible depicts this living, subjective union with Christ as occurring through regeneration and faith. Please note that these two agencies for union with Christ are two sides of the same coin. Regeneration always produces faith, and true faith can only issue from regeneration (1 Cor. 2:14; 12:3). At the same time, regeneration, also called "baptism with the Holy Spirit," is completely the work of God, while faith issuing from regeneration is the work of man. The Holy Spirit works faith in my heart, but it is my faith. I believe, it is not the Holy Spirit who believes in my place even though my very faith is the gift of God. In this way it is perfectly clear that regeneration always precedes true faith, it is never the other way around. Billy Graham's book "How To Be Born Again," has it backwards.

The point here is that when we ask "How does the Holy Spirit save me?" or "How does faith save me?" the answer is the same, by uniting me to Christ. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:13 "for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body," that body of course, being the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). Regeneration and faith are put together as means of union with Christ in Gal. 3:26-27, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." "Put on Christ," of course means you are united with Him.

There is much more that can be said about Union With Christ from the Bible's teaching, including the fact that we spiritually eat and drink Christ by believing His word (John 6:63-64), thus being united with Him. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament celebrating this union with Christ by faith, just as the sacrament of baptism signifies and seals our union with Christ by inward baptism with the Holy Spirit, even though neither sacrament itself effects that spiritual union. We do need to understand the foundational character of this doctrine. Union with Christ begins in the eternal decree of God and ends in heaven where the New Jerusalem is the Church united to Christ in marriage, "the bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9). Union with Christ is how we are saved, and members of Him is what we are!

Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Part I

The purpose of this article is to point out that while there are two sacraments, both commemorate union with Christ for our salvation Baptism commemorates union with Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, while the Lord's Supper commemorates union with Christ by personal faith in Christ and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in us. There are two sacraments because regeneration is entirely a work of God, man in no way regenerates himself. On the other hand, faith is an action of man, and not of God. God works faith in my heart, but I am the one who believes, God does not believe for me. Regeneration and faith are inextricably bound up in each other so that they are like two sides of one and the same coin. No one truly believes who has not been regenerated, nor can anyone who is regenerated not believe (1 Cor 12:3). Nevertheless these actions are distinct. One is the sovereign action of God (John 3:8), while the other is the dependent and imperfect action of man (John 6:65). For these reasons, Baptism is once for all commemorating a perfect and completed action, while the Lord's Supper is repeated, ministering to an imperfect but continuing and growing faith.

There is a good deal of confusion these days, even in Reformed Churches, about the sacraments. The historic practices of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches are being overthrown and changed here and there with little or no respect for the teachings of our Reformed fathers in the creeds which they still claim to hold. Churches that used to observe the Lord's Supper four times a year, or monthly, are now doing that weekly. Others are inviting children and even infants who have never been instructed in the faith or made a public profession of faith to participate in the Supper. People off the street who have no real connection with the Church may have their children baptized in many places-something unheard of not very long ago. And much of this is being taught and tolerated in so-called "Reformed" seminaries.

What has happened? Have the theologians of today discovered new truths that our fathers somehow missed? Are the Christians of today sanctified at a higher level than that of our parents? Not surprisingly, the truth is quite the opposite. The theologians and seminary professors of today, and thus the pastors of the churches, often are fuzzy themselves about the Bible's teaching on the sacraments and so have been unable to recognize a drift back to Roman Catholicism that is going on right under their noses. In fact, a number of graduates of Reformed and Presbyterian seminaries in the United States have joined the Roman Church. No wonder the people in the pew find themselves defenseless.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper Compared

It is clear from Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ gave His Church two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Sacraments are ceremonies given by Christ to commemorate His own work of saving us, but the form of these ceremonies is also specifically commanded by Christ. Thus the Church has always recognized that Baptism must be administered with the words "in the Name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," with the intent of following Christ's commandment. Other washings (the word "baptize" means "to wash" in New Testament Greek) simply are not Christian Baptism. The same thing, of course, is true of the Lord's Supper. Christ's words commanding the Lord's Supper are to be used, and the form is always believers eating bread and drinking wine together in remembrance of Christ's death for our sins.

Notice that there is already a difference between the sacraments. The form of the Lord's Supper requires the mental exercise of "remembrance" on the part of the sacrament's participants, something not required of the person who is baptized. Why this is, we will explain below, but this is a clear difference. Indeed, the apostle Paul emphasizes and explains this difference by saying, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup."

Many other things could be said about the two sacraments, but we need to get to the heart of the matter.

Baptism Commemorates Union with Christ by Regeneration

Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs and seals of God's saving work for and in us. They both commemorate union with Christ because it is by uniting us with Christ that God makes us participants in His saving work. We are baptized spiritually into Christ's death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5, notice that it is not, as the Baptists claim, into His burial and resurrection), and therefore we participate in His death for our sins, and in His resurrection to new life. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in spiritual baptism as Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:13, "For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body...."

We know that this spiritual union with Christ is not effected by water baptism because the Bible specifically rejects that idea. Paul says, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel...lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect" (1 Cor. 1:17). When we trust water baptism to save us we miss the point and indeed miss trusting in Christ. The apostle Peter likewise denies saving efficacy to water baptism. He says, "The like figure (anti-type) also now saves us, even baptism (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God)." This "putting away of the filth of the flesh" would be water baptism which does not save us, whereas "the answer of a good conscience toward God" would be the result of baptism with the Holy Spirit, which does save us. This is why the Heidelberg Catechism so clearly says, "Is then the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins? No..."

The other spiritual washing that baptism commemorates is our washing from sins by the blood of Christ. This is specifically taught in Heb. 10:22, "Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." It is obvious here that having "our bodies washed with pure water" refers to water baptism, which commemorates our washing from sins by the blood of Christ. Notice also that we are inwardly "sprinkled" with the blood of Christ, not dipped in it. This is one of the reasons that biblical baptism is accomplished by sprinkling with water, not by dipping in it. The other reason for the sprinkling or pouring of water on the person to be baptized is that we are washed by the Holy Spirit into union with Christ by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us, not by being dipped into the Holy Spirit. Every New Testament reference to the giving of the Holy Spirit is by "descending upon," "falling upon," and being "poured out" (Mat. 3:16 and Acts 10:44,45 are good examples). Immersion is simply not a biblical form of baptism.

Nevertheless, water baptism is important as a sacrament, that is, as a sign and seal to us of our inward cleansing with the blood and Spirit of Christ. The Heidelberg Catechism handles this difference between spiritual and water baptism in two subsequent questions and answers. Question #69 asks, "How is it signified and sealed to you in Holy Baptism that you have part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross? Question #70, on the other hand, asks, "What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?" One speaks of the significance of the sacrament, while the other speaks of the inward reality signified and sealed to us by the sacrament. Furthermore, there is a clear distinction between the inward reality and the outward sign. Spiritual baptism is to be "washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ" and is to actually "have the forgiveness of sins from God through grace," and "to be renewed by the Holy Spirit." On the other hand, to be baptized with water is to have "this promise, that I am washed from the pollution of my soul, that is from all my sins as certainly as I am washed outwardly with water...."

Now we must distinguish between having a promise of something, and actually having that which is promised. Not only does the Catechism (and all truly Reformed theology) specifically reject the idea that water baptism can in any way cleanse us from sin or regenerate us, the whole of biblical teaching again and again makes inward regeneration and true faith the conditions for receiving the things promised by the sacraments. For example, the Heidelberg in #20 says, "Are all men then saved by Christ as they have perished in Adam? No, only those who by true faith are united to Him and receive all His benefits." It is a confusion between the sacrament as an outward sign and seal, and the inward reality of union with Christ by regeneration and faith that is the heart of the Roman Catholic heresy. Martin Luther rightly called this confusion, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, the title of a booklet about the Roman Mass written in 1520. Unfortunately, some in the Reformed and Presbyterian churches today want to takes us back to Babylon.

Thus the Sacrament of Baptism is to be used "not out of custom or superstition," as the Reformed and Presbyterian forms declare, but out of faith that the spiritual cleansing and renewal promised by them are just as real and certain as the water washing we can see, feel and touch. Since sin is a spiritual evil, and cannot be sensed with physical senses, so cleansing from sin is also a spiritual matter not to be touched with physical senses. Therefore our gracious God gives us physical signs and seals of that spiritual reality, the forgiveness of sins. But to confuse the outward sign with the inward reality is actually to change God's way of salvation. Luther and Calvin's vigorous condemnation of the Roman Church was well-deserved by Rome, and still is today as is shown by the present Pope's statement that Rome alone is the true Church and alone has the "means of salvation." Indeed, their "only means of salvation" turns out to be their idolatrous and sinful "Mass," that denies the one sacrifice of Christ (see Heb. 9:25-28).

- RG, Vermillion, SD

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Belgic Confession, Article 34

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has made an end, by the shedding of His blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin; and that He, having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, has instituted the sacrament of baptism instead thereof; by which we are received into the Church of God, and separated from all other people and strange religions, that we may wholly belong to Him whose mark and ensign we bear; and which serves as a testimony to us that He will forever be our gracious God and Father.

Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled upon him, so does the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external 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, that is, the devil, and to enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

The ministers, therefore, on their part administer the sacrament and that which is visible, but our Lord gives that which is signified by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace; washing, cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving unto us a true assurance of His fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off the old man with all his deeds.

We believe, therefore, that every man who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal ought to be baptized but once with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same, since we cannot be born twice. Neither does this baptism avail us only at the time when the water is poured upon us and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life.

Therefore we detest the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with the one only baptism they have once received, and moreover condemn the baptism of the infants of believers, who we believe ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same promises which are made unto our children. And indeed Christ shed His blood no less for the washing of the children of believers than for adult persons; and therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of that which Christ has done for them; as the Lord commanded in the law that they should be made partakers of the sacrament of Christ's suffering and death shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which was a sacrament of Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, baptism is to our children. And for this reason St. Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q.'s 72, 73

Q72: Is, then, the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins? A. No, for only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.

Q73: Why then does the Holy Ghost call Baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? A. God speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby that just as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token He may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.

Part 2. Why Are We Given Two Sacraments?

By requiring His disciples to "do this in remembrance of me," the Lord Jesus Christ requires faith in Himself as an essential element of the Lord's Supper. Thus the Heidelberg Catechism teaches that "Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of Him." Those who are not believers, either by choice or by being uninstructed infants, are simply not to partake of the Supper. Indeed, when those who are "unbelieving and ungodly," or by implication, those who are not able to profess faith and demonstrate a godly life as would be the case with infants, are admitted to the Supper, "the covenant of God is profaned and His wrath is provoked against the whole congregation" (Heidelberg Catechism #82).

This same requirement for participants in the Lord's Supper is found in Question and Answer #97 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In answer to the question, "What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?" this Catechism answers, "...that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love and new obedience..," all of which express the necessity of living faith in the participants.

The Importance on Faith

This emphasis on the presence of faith in those who participate in the Lord's Supper rests upon the fact that the Supper commemorates union with Christ through faith in Him. The Heidelberg Catechism handles the Lord's Supper with the same series of questions that it uses for Baptism, but the content of the answers is somewhat different. When asking in Question #75, "How is it signified and sealed to you in the Holy Supper that you partake of the one sacrifice of Christ..?" the Catechism answers that this ceremony is according to the command of Christ and then teaches, "and has joined therewith these promises...." The operative word in the significance of the Lord's Supper, just as it is in Baptism, is "promise." The promise in the Supper is somewhat different, though really closely related, but the Lord's Supper is a promise. The Supper promises that Christ's body was "offered and broken on the cross for me," and "that with His crucified body and shed blood Christ Himself feeds and nourishes my soul unto everlasting life... (Heidelberg #75).

The point is that through faith the participant in the Lord's Supper does spiritually participate in Christ's sacrifice and does spiritually "eat my flesh and drink my blood," as Christ commands in John 6. The Supper is the visible promise and seal (or guarantee) that this invisible thing is actually happening. Again, the spiritual union with Christ and His work is just as true and real as the physical bread and wine are to our physical senses.

Now, when asking, "What does it mean to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ?" the Heidelberg Catechism points directly to faith. "It means not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ and thereby to obtain the forgiveness of sins and life eternal...." The Lord's Supper commemorates union with Christ through faith, or in the words we have just quoted, "embracing (Him) with a believing heart." Thus, while commemorating union with Christ, just as Baptism does, the Supper commemorates union with Christ as the other side of the coin, through the human action of faith, rather than through the divine action of regeneration. And this is why there are two sacraments.

While there is a great and fundamental unity between the two sacraments, which is commemorating union with Christ, they are clearly distinct in the means of union with Christ which they commemorate. Again, one commemorates union with Christ by the action of God, the other by the resulting action of man. When we confuse the two sacraments, we either make them entirely divine as does hyper-Calvinism, thus treating man as a "stock and a block," or we make them entirely human, as does Roman Catholicism, thus giving man the ability to save himself by using the Supper more and more frequently and indiscriminately.

The Work of the Spirit

There is a further point made by the Heidelberg Catechism concerning the Lord's Supper about the work of the Holy Spirit. This too is stated in the Heidelberg Catechism. "Eating the crucified body and drinking the shed blood of Christ" is also described as "being more and more united to His sacred body by the Holy Spirit, who dwells both in Christ and in us, that although He is in heaven and we are on earth, we are nevertheless flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones, and live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as member of the same body are by one soul." Notice, first of all, that this work of the Holy Spirit commemorated in the Lord's Supper is not regeneration, but a continuing indwelling of the Spirit that supports our union with Christ and draws us ever closer to Him spiritually. Like a marriage in which the husband and wife are just as much married when a thousand miles apart as when they are touching each other, (indeed in that physical separation their mutual love may even grow), so it is with the Christian and His Savior. His love for and obedience to Christ will grow even though Christ's physical body is out of reach in heaven. Indeed, Christ's spiritual body is manifested in the Church (1 Cor. 11:52; 1 Cor. 12:27), and our attitude toward the Church speaks volumes about our faith or lack of faith in Christ. "Discerning the Lord's body," especially in the context of 1 Corinthians 11, must then include knowing that that body is not present physically in the bread and wine, but is present spiritually in the other Christians with whom we are participating, in addition to remembering that His physical body was offered and broken for me on the cross.

It remains to demonstrate from Scripture that the Lord's Supper commemorates union with Christ through faith, and that this is not just a nice little stack of cards erected by our Reformed and Presbyterian fathers. The first Scripture we must examine is John 6, where the Lord Jesus Christ speaks very specifically about "eating my flesh and drinking my blood" as being necessary for our salvation. We need to see that here in John 6 the central subject is salvation through faith in Christ; this is mentioned specifically no less than seven times in verses 29, 35, 36, 40, 47, 64 and 69. Secondly, we need to note the parallel between believing in Christ and "eating and drinking Christ." We see this particularly in verses 47 and 54 where "believes in me" in verse 47 is replaced with "eats my flesh and drinks my blood" in verse 54. This, plus the fact that Jesus goes directly from commanding faith in Himself to the necessity of "eating my flesh and drinking my blood," indicates clearly that we eat his flesh and drink His blood by exercising saving faith.

The capstone of Christ's teaching in John 6 is found in verses 63 and 64. When the Jewish listeners began to think in terms of eating and drinking Christ physically, really quite in the way that Roman Catholics and Lutherans do, Christ sharply rebukes them and set them straight. When the Jews said, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" and some of His disciples said, "This is a hard saying, who can receive it?" Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who makes alive, the flesh profits nothing...." Even if we could eat and drink Christ physically, it would do us no good! Speculating about the physical presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is then unbiblical foolishness. And thinking that physically eating bread and drinking wine is going to help us in itself, as do those who would give the sacrament to infants or who think that the more often we get that bread in our mouths the more saved we will become, is even worse foolishness.

What Christ means by, "It is the Spirit who makes alive," He goes on to explain clearly. He says, "the words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are life, but some of you do not believe." It comes down to, "eating my flesh and drinking my blood is believing in me through my word." Eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood is a spiritual exercise accomplished by faith - faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit's use of the Word, just as the Reformed confessions teach.

Now, Christ also teaches us in John 6 that "eating my flesh and drinking my blood" means union with Himself. He teaches this virtually in so many words when He says in verse 56, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." Thus while the Lord's Supper itself is not even mentioned in the book of John, Christ's teaching here in John 6 clearly tells us that we are united to Christ by faith, and that this union with Christ by faith is what He means by "eating my flesh and drinking my blood."

Nevertheless, John's gospel is not the only Scripture that states this teaching of union with Christ by faith. The apostle Paul tells us in Gal. 3:26-27, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Now, it goes without saying that to "put on Christ" means to be united with Christ, and as Paul says, this happens by being "baptized into Christ" (this is parallel with the teaching of Rom. 6:1-4 and 1 Cor 2:13). Coupled with the whole New Testament's teaching that Christians are what they are and have what they have by being "in Christ," there can be no doubt what Paul has in mind, especially in the light of Gal. 3:26. This expression "in Christ," appears some 72 times in the New Testament in various connections, but most often as shorthand for what it is to truly be a Christian.

Now, notice the parallelism between verses 26 and 27 of Galatians 3. Both verses say the same thing in a different way (a typical case of "Hebrew parallelism," such as the common expression "answered and said," when in English either "answered" or "said" would be sufficient). We know that this is parallelism because of the word "for" at the beginning of verse 27. "For" is a causative connective, it connects two phrases or sentences just as does the word "because." In other words, we are "sons of God through faith," because "we have put on Christ by being baptized into Him." Thus we have both means of union with Christ, faith and spiritual baptism brought into parallel with each other. Together these verses tell us that we are "united to Christ by spiritual baptism and therefore are the sons of God," and, "we are united to Christ by faith and therefore are the sons of God." It is telling that the Holy Spirit would place these two means of union with Christ in such close proximity and parallel that we cannot doubt that they are two sides of the same coin, that coin being the union with Christ by which we are saved!

The Word and the Sacraments

Any time we deal with the sacraments, it is important to remember that they are secondary, or dependent, means of grace. The sacraments do not by themselves work faith in our hearts, and much less do they communicate salvation by themselves. As Martin Luther well put it, "without the Word, the sacraments are empty ceremonies." The sacraments do communicate God's grace and do provide a strengthening of our faith, but, as the Reformed and Presbyterian creeds always point out, only when they are received by true faith. What needs to be clear is that this "true faith" is worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit using the Word of God, and only the Word of God. As the apostle Paul says in Rom. 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." The formulation of this truth is also very careful in the Heidelberg Catechism, which answers the question, "...where does this faith come from?" with "The Holy Ghost works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments" (Q&A #65).

That this understanding of the Word of God as the primary means by which He communicates saving faith to us is argued by Scripture itself. When Paul is teaching about justification through faith alone in Romans 4, he specifically asks the question, "does this blessedness (of justification) come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?" (verse 9). His answer, using Abraham's life as his proof, is that you do not have to be circumcised to be saved. In fact, he says that righteousness was imputed to Abraham "Not while he was circumcised, but while he was uncircumcised" (verse 10). Furthermore, the sacrament of circumcision was given to Abraham as "a sign" and "seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised" (verse 11).

Since Baptism in the New Testament replaces circumcision, it is clear that Baptism also does not save us. In fact, this is clearly why Paul says "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel...." The thief on the cross next to Christ was most certainly saved, although neither baptized nor a participant in the Lord's Supper. You cannot be saved by the sacraments, you can be saved without the sacraments, but you cannot be saved without the word.

This truth about the primary place of the Word of God is demonstrated in a number of other ways in Scripture. For example, neither the Gospel of John nor the book of Romans even mention the Lord's Supper, which would be a great dereliction if it were necessary to our salvation, or if it were a primary means of grace. Yet both books constantly make us responsible to believe the word of God with all our hearts. This truth is also taught indirectly when Paul tells us that it is possible to "eat and drink judgement to (our)selves" when the Lord's Supper is received in an unworthy manner. This would not be possible if the Supper brought grace to everyone who chews the bread and drinks the cup (which is interestingly the Roman Catholic conception - they are extremely careful not to let the rats and insects eat the "host").

The upshot of all of this is that the Reformed and Presbyterian creeds have it right, and the historic practices of the churches that hold these creeds are also right. There simply is no need to change them, indeed changing them demonstrates a real ignorance of, or obstinacy, against Scriptural teaching.

Every year on Easter Sunday we celebrate the premier miracle of the Christian faith. From the very beginning of Christian life in the early Church down to the present day, faithful Christians marvel, rejoice and triumph in Christ's resurrection from the dead. The early Church, even during the time of the apostles gives us a measure of the importance that was attached to the resurrection of Christ by meeting for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) and naming it the "Lord's Day" (Rev. 1:10), thus celebrating Christ's resurrection day every week. This is especially significant because many of the earliest Christians were Jews and would have had a strong attachment to worshipping on last day of the week. For twenty centuries the resurrection of Christ has been at the center of the Christian faith. Even modern liberal churches, that do not believe that Christ actually physically rose from the dead, make a big thing out of Easter.

This powerful emphasis on the resurrection of Christ is, as the German idiom often puts it, not without great cause. The Bible not only informs us of the fact that the New Testament church emphasized Christ's resurrection, it gives us great and fundamental reasons for doing this, reasons that fit us as much today as they did during the time of the apostles. Our purpose in this article is to lay out some of these reasons for celebrating Christ's resurrection so that our Easter celebration, and indeed our weekly day of rest and worship, may glorify God by being well-informed. Our procedure will be to look at several New Testament texts that emphasize the resurrection.

The Necessity and Certainty of Christ's Resurrection

The New Testament's great chapter about the physical resurrection of the body as the hope for the future of the Christian begins by speaking about the resurrection of Christ. In 1 Cor. 15:3-4, the apostle Paul summarizes the Christian gospel by declaring, "that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." This, the apostle has said in verse 1, is "the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand." Thus for Paul, the facts that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, are basically the Christian creed. Knowing the Corinthian church as he does, Paul is not so concerned to assure them that Christ died for their sins, but he is very concerned that some of them do not believe in the physical resurrection of the bodies of Christians. He then argues for the resurrection of the body by reasoning that "if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen," and that would mean that the whole gospel would be false, something that Paul simply cannot abide.

Paul gives a number of reasons for the necessity of the resurrection of Christ. First, this teaching of Christ's resurrection is "according to the Scriptures." If there is no resurrection, then Christ has not risen, and therefore the Scriptures cannot be true. Again, for Paul such a thought is simply impossible. "Scripture cannot be broken," as Jesus said, "every Scripture is God-breathed," and for it to lie is to say that God "who cannot lie" has lied. Therefore to be a Christian is to believe in Christ's resurrection, period. There can be no exceptions to this rule.

Second, Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15, that "if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain" (verse 14). Furthermore, this implies that if Christ is not risen, "your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (verse 17). Not only that, if Christ is not risen, Christians who have died are goners. "Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (Verse 18). Without the resurrection of Christ, "we are of all men most pitiable" (verse 19), and we who preach the gospel of Christ's resurrection are "false witnesses of God" (verse 15). For Christianity to have any credibility it is necessary for Christ to have risen from the dead.

Thirdly, the testimony of the rest of the New Testament collaborates Paul's teaching that Christ's resurrection is necessary. Jesus Himself declares to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he shall die, yet he shall live" (John 11:25). Luke reports that David prophesied of Christ's resurrection (Acts 2:31), and Peter proclaims that Christ has given us new life through His own resurrection from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3).

Now, as to the certainty of Christ's resurrection, the apostle points out the many witnesses, including himself, who saw Christ walking around alive. The appearances of Christ after His resurrection include not only the original eleven apostles (Judas had committed suicide), but also Paul himself as one "born out of time," no doubt referring to Christ's appearance to him on the road to Damascus, and five hundred other disciples at one time. In other words, the numbers of witnesses, and their credibility is without question.

The rest of the New Testament also corroborates the certainty of Christ's resurrection. In the texts mentioned in the previous paragraph, this is already clear. But there are also numerous instances to reinforce this conclusion. Peter on Pentecost declares to the assembled Jews of all nations, "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). This statement follows Peter's point that David prophesied Christ's resurrection in Psalm 2 (Acts 2:29-31). These instances could, of course, be multiplied into many pages, for example, by studying the four Gospels about Christ's resurrection, but the fact is clear, Christ has most certainly risen from the dead, and this resurrection is necessary to His work and to our salvation.

The Power of Christ's Resurrection

When we study the New Testament about the reasons that Christ's resurrection is so important, we again find plenty to work with. We will give an overview of some important points but cannot claim to exhaust the subject.

The first point made by the Heidelberg Catechism about Christ's resurrection is that by it He "overcame death" (Q45). Christ was the first and only human being for whom "it was not possible that He should be held by death" (Acts 2:24). A couple of persons had escaped death (Enoch and Elijah), and several had been raised from the dead (the Shunamite's son, Lazarus, etc.) but they all lived only to die again. Christ's resurrection is entirely different. Christ's resurrection proves that His statement to Lazarus' sister is literally true, "I am the resurrection and the life." Thus significance of Christ's resurrection is not only His coming to life again, but His resurrection is the power by which we too will be raised from the grave. Jesus did not die for Himself, nor did He rise for Himself, but He rose to overcome death for us. Christ's resurrection is not only a "sure pledge of our blessed resurrection" (Heidelberg Q45) but is also the power by which we too will rise from the dead.

Secondly, Christ's resurrection is the vindication of all He did and said. When the Jews sought a sign, Jesus told them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days" (John 2:19). He gave them and us a sign that what He was doing was true and entirely legitimate, which they did not understand and the disciples did not either until after His resurrection. This is why the New Testament so powerfully witnesses to Christ's resurrection. This miracle is witness to the whole world about Who He is, and what He has done. Indeed, in Acts 17:31, Paul declares to the assembled Greek philosophers of Athens, that Christ's resurrection is a public declaration, a waving flag to the whole world, that God will judge the world by Christ and that God now commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. The public power of Christ's resurrection should not be forgotten in our efforts to evangelize the world.

Thirdly, the resurrection of Christ calls and enables us to rise from the deadness of sin, and live a new life of obedience in thanksgiving to God for our salvation. Paul's point in Romans 6 is that since we are by spiritual baptism united to Christ in His death, we are also united to Him in His resurrection. This means, "that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4), and "that we should no longer be the slaves of sin" (Rom. 6:68). This point is also emphasized by the Heidelberg in Q45, "we are also by His power now raised up to the new life."

Resurrection Faith

The resurrection of Christ is not only so important as to be commemorated by having the church worship on the Lord's Day (that is, the day of Christ's resurrection), but it is also made the center of true Christian faith. The apostle Paul puts it most directly this way, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). Note that Paul does not say, "If you believe Jesus did miracles," or that "Jesus walked on water," or even that "Jesus preached the gospel to the poor," all of which He did. No, Paul points directly to the resurrection as the premier, that is the central miracle and work of Christ. Christ was "raised again for our justification." It is through faith in Christ's resurrection that the "righteousness that He obtained for us," is applied to us personally (Heidelberg Q45). Again, this is a measure of what the resurrection of Christ means for us, and for God Himself. In Christ's resurrection, Christ's exaltation becomes public, open and powerful to save (His exaltation actually began with His soul at death ascending to the Father). Christ's humiliation is over and His reward as ruler and judge of the universe has begun. As we noted above, His resurrection is a flag to all men of the coming judgement that is to be carried out by Christ Himself.

Real Christians really believe that Jesus really rose from the dead. Their faith in Christ's resurrection is celebrated every Sunday. Their resurrection faith is a year-long source of joy and peace because of the power of His resurrection, and because when He comes again, we "shall be in the likeness of His resurrection" (Rom. 8:11).

We are all squatters, living in God's world, a world that does not belong to us in any permanent way. I use the word "squatter" because God made and therefore owns the world and we are very temporary residents. Every one of us needs to be very honest about who and what we are. We are nothing but creatures, beings that have been created by someone else. None of us has contributed anything to the design or construction of himself or herself. We did not design one fingernail or create one hair. The apostle Paul puts this very bluntly: "For none of us brought anything into the world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" (1 Tim. 6:7).

In this world, three things about God are clearly revealed for everybody to see. First, the universe shouts out the awesome wisdom, intelligence, power, and goodness of God. Not only are things fantastically well-designed, but the universe is a unified whole in which each part fits in with all the other parts. God made a world stuffed with natural resources as well as other human beings who are wonderful companions and servants to our needs, whether they make cars in Detroit or serve on the Vermillion police force. Another awesome thing that the universe reveals about God is His righteous judgment upon the sinfulness of the human race. Whether we see men hurting other men, or face natural disasters, we are face to face with the fact that God is a righteous Judge and that there is no such thing as a sinless human being (Jesus Christ being the only exception for a very special reason). The third thing that the universe shouts out about God is His awesome mercy. Things are never so bad that they could not be worse. Even folks tortured in prison camps were still free in their hearts and minds to find confidence and peace in God. The real question is not, "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" as someone once entitled a book, BUT, "Why do good things happen to bad people?"

The most important revelation of God's mercy, of course, is that He sent His own Son Jesus Christ into the world to pay the penalty of the sins of those who trust in Him. Jesus founded the Christian Church as the community that would truly worship God and spread this good news of forgiveness around the world.

Because the universe is this kind of a place, there are two kinds of squatters here, those who know, honor, trust, and serve the Owner, and those who do not. And there is no excuse for not recognizing God. As the apostle Paul wrote in Rom. 1:20-21, "so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." The courts, politicians, and many educational systems have been doing their best to get God out of the lives of the American people. They are sure to fail. We need to take a lesson from the Soviet Union's Politburo, to which it was reported in 1981 after seventy years of official Atheism and severe persecution of Christians, that fully one-third of the Russian people were still Christians. Indeed, persecution often makes more and better Christians. God still runs the world, we are sojourners.

As we come to the fall of the year and our Reformed Churches begin their catechism classes, the question often arises, "What is this all about?" The question arises because even though all Reformed and Presbyterian churches were practicing careful catechetical classes for covenant young people 75 years ago, very few of us have continued this practice into the 21st century. The form of catechetical instruction was also quite uniform among Reformed churches in the past. The course of study included the history of God's people found in the Bible along with the memorization and understanding of the Heidelberg Catechism in Reformed churches, and of the Westminster Shorter Catechism in Presbyterian Churches. The real question then should be, "Why did so many Reformed churches drop this practice during the last century?" Have children become far more educated and mature in their Christian faith than their grandmothers and grandfathers were? Has the Bible become less true and less important to a robust Christian faith? Has a systematic knowledge of Bible doctrine, as summarized in our creeds, somehow become unnecessary for leading a truly committed Christian life? Or have parents and churches simply gotten lazy and fallen in with the very weak educational practices and standards of our time. We don't have to go very far for answers. When one-third of Nebraska school children read below grade level, it is not surprising that more than two-thirds of Reformed young people are treated like babies in their so-called "profession of faith" classes.

God's Covenants with Mankind

God created trees mature and fulfilling God's will for them. They had fruit on them with the next generation of seeds already in them. Plants are naturally experts at their own reproduction. For animals, God gave them the specific command to multiply. He did this by placing instincts in them that moved them to reproduce willingly, using the minds and bodies He had given them for this, among other purposes. Man, on the other hand, was created to exercise God's rule over creation by having dominion over all the fish, birds, animals, and creeping things, and also to use them for his own needs and purposes to the glory of God. This complex task required a complex mind and nature for man, and the ability to receive words communicated from God. This is because spiritual relationships, like remembering the Day of Rest, entering into monogamous marriages, and obeying the commandment not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could only be communicated by words. It is particularly true that the only way God could establish a personal relationship with human beings would be through words.

Now the words by which God establishes His relationship to the human race, as well as the nature of marriage and His commandments demanding good and forbidding evil, form a covenant between God and the creatures He made in His own image. This first covenant God establishes with mankind has often in the past been called the "Covenant of Works," but probably is better called the "Covenant of Creation," because human works could never have merited all that God freely provided to mankind under this covenant. In any case, after man fell into sin, God came and transformed the creation covenant by graciously providing the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, even though man as a sinner deserves eternal death. We call this additional covenant the "Covenant of Grace," because its most prominent feature is the unmerited favor of grace given freely to God's chosen people. All human beings are still under the Covenant of Creation and owe God a perfect life as well as bearing the just penalty of their sins in hell. Those who are also in the Covenant of Grace have the promises of God that they are united to Christ through faith and thus have the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life. The writer of Hebrews declares that Christ is the surety, that He is the one who makes these promises sure by His perfect life and death.

Privileges and Responsibilities in the Covenant of Grace

When we speak of the Covenant of Grace we must distinguish outward membership in this Covenant, by which we have the promises of the Covenant, and inward spiritual membership by which we receive the things promised in the Covenant. Outward membership belongs to all those who confess faith in Christ, and to their children (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39). Inward membership belongs to those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have exercised true faith in Christ. The apostle Paul makes this distinction clear at the end of Romans 2, where he says, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of heart, in the spirit...." It is at the point of regeneration that God's sovereignty enters the covenant, because while all confessors and their children are outward members of the Covenant of Grace, God alone decides who will be regenerated to become true believers.

Now, we could speak of many privileges of being born and living in the Covenant of Grace, but the apostle Paul at the beginning of Romans 3 immediately follows his teaching of inward vs. outward membership in the Covenant with the question, "What advantage then has the Jew and what is the profit of circumcision?" His answer tells us all, "Much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the words of God." (The Greek word often translated "oracles" here, is literally the "words" of God.) Notice carefully that the great benefit of being outward members of the Covenant of Grace is that we have the words of God. We live in families and churches that preach, teach, and believe those words. We live under the outward discipline of those words. And we hear constantly the call to believe them in our hearts and live by them. Even more importantly, these are the words that the Holy Spirit promises to use, and does use to regenerate our hearts (1 Peter 1:23). God can of course regenerate without the word, as He does sometimes in babies, but His normal method is to use His Word.

With this in mind, we can now speak of the requirements or stipulations that God places upon His people in the outward Covenant of Grace, so that they might receive the blessings this Covenant promises. The main and fundamentally important requirement of receiving the promises of the Covenant of Grace is faith. From Abel, who "by faith offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, to Abraham, who "believed God and it was accounted to Him for righteousness," down to the present day when "those who are of the faith, they are the children of Abraham," God's people receive the promised blessing of the Covenant through faith. Now, just because faith is a "gift of God, and not of works," does not mean that it is not a real requirement. God regenerates us to produce true faith, so all the glory belongs to Him alone, but every true preacher from Christ on down calls men to "repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The Bible is clear, believers are saved and unbelievers are lost.

The Necessity of Thorough Catechization

Because true faith can only be, as the Heidelberg Catechism says in Q21, "an assured knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His word," we need to know and understand the Bible's teaching. We cannot be ignorant of biblical teaching and be real Christians. All Church members, not just Covenant youth need to be thoroughly trained in the Bible's teaching, in its history, its dealings of God with His people, and in the functions of God leading His people out of slavery in Egypt and back from the exile, so that they will truly know that God is their only Savior and King. We need to know the progressive revelation about the coming of Christ in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of His work in the New Testament. We must also know thoroughly the Bible's doctrines of creation, fall, redemption, and sanctification by the Holy Spirit. We use the term "catechization" because this means teaching in such a way that the young person can echo it back in his or her own confession of faith.

Now the fact is, you and I do not know anything we have not memorized. It is not possible to do mathematics without memorizing the sums and times tables. In the same way, it is not possible to do Christianity from the heart if we do not have the truths of Christianity in our hearts through memorization. A creed is simply a sound expression of biblical truth that the church has adopted to enable its members to know and be unified in the truths of the Bible. My ignorance and your ignorance are just not good enough to serve God.

Why Do We Have "Confirmation?"

First of all, because as Jesus put it, "to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." Covenant children are privileged to grow up under the teaching and discipline of God's word. They must respond to that word in faith, lest their damnation be greater than that of unbelievers out of the general population (see Matt. 11:20-24 for this principle).

Second, covenant children do not become members of the Church by their profession of faith, they have already been members since conception in the womb. What has happened is that God has confirmed His promises of blessing to them by working a true faith in them by His Word. They now not only have the promises of the Covenant of Grace; they have received the blessings promised. Therefore they are qualified to partake of the Lord's Supper, which is believers eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Christ's death for their sins.

Third, the Church confirms to them, by its discipline of accepting their confessions of faith, that their faith is a true faith. Without the church to judge my confession of faith, my assurance may be a delusional self-deception.

Fourth, we practice covenant confirmation because in it we are following the Old Testament example of receiving young men and women as adult members of the Covenant when they reach an age and maturity by which they can make a credible profession of faith. We see this in particular with Jesus, who first attended the Passover with His parents at the age of twelve.

Fifth, we are following Christ's example with respect to the responsibility of those who have been trained in Christian teaching. In Matthew 16:13ff, we find Christ demanding a confession of faith from His disciples after He has taught them and is ready to go the way of the cross. He did not just leave them; He brought them along, but He brought them along as men who confessed with the Apostle Peter, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Conclusions

As modern-day Christians we must be aware that the historic practices of the Church did not grow up in a vacuum, but are based on biblical principles and practices. True faith is indeed a "sure knowledge by which I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word." Pastors who are not teaching and leading their people into a broader and deeper knowledge of God's word and the doctrines of our creeds are sinning against God and His people. Parents who want their children confirmed without teaching them the sound principles of a biblical faith, are robbing them of the very advantage of the Covenant of Grace. We all want the best food, clothing, and medical care for our children, which are all material things. How can we want less than the best for them spiritually?

Millions of young boys and girls over the past 450 years have memorized the Heidelberg Catechism. Is this work? Of course it is. To gain anything valuable takes work. But is it impossible or unbearable hard work? Not at all. Pastors must learn how to memorize so that they can teach the children of the church how to memorize. We do this with songs and Bible verses from the ages of four and five on up. This not only makes learning the Catechism very doable, it gives them a tool for success in all the endeavors of life.

As we see United States courts and legislatures today regularly rejecting and discarding religious laws and practices that have come down to us from the nation's founders, we have to wonder what is going on. What was right to the founders, such as blue laws against working on Sunday, or "In God We Trust" on our currency, is today declared to be "in violation of the separation of church and state." Why did the founders include religious laws and practices in the legal systems of their states, even while writing the famous "Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof" into the US Constitution. Didn't they know that they were contradicting themselves? No, the problem is that we have twisted "no establishment" into meaning "anti-religious," which then contradicts "the free exercise thereof."

The founding fathers of the United States on July 4, 1776, not only signed the Declaration of Independence, they pledged to one another their lives, their fortunes and their "sacred honor." This was an act of tremendous courage and commitment seldom equaled in world history. Men from scattered locations in the Colonies bound themselves together to carry out a cause to a triumphant, or to a bitter end. While we might understand the great commitment of a person's life or fortune, the idea of "sacred honor," which these men considered their greatest possession, has been lost to many Americans today. Honorable men were men who refused to lie, steal, commit adultery, and especially to break their word. These people, who had the same desires and needs as all of us, looked upon these actions as simply wrong, and in spite of temptations to do otherwise, they knew that they would lose their honor, not only before others, but especially before themselves if they gave in to those temptations.

Now these men also called their honor "sacred," which means holy, or pure and incorruptible, a purity they saw as coming from God Himself. God is a holy God; He cannot be touched with evil or disrespect; and these men took God's commandment seriously-"you be holy, for I am holy." In other words, these men, as they said at the end of the Declaration, saw God as the final and greatest witness to their lives.

As we think of the changing of the year from 2009 to 2010, many of us will make resolutions about improving various aspects of our lives. For many this is just an amusing pastime, but for others it is a very serious matter of truly trying to overcome some bad habit, such as spending more than we make, or solidly establishing a good one, like setting aside some savings every month. Now, while New Year's resolutions can be a very good thing, they often demonstrate a basic approach to life that is in itself less than effective because it is reacting to some problem or bad habit we have discovered in our lives. What we are doing is sliding through life's normal events and then reacting by the seat of our pants when something bad (or good) shows up, and ending up wondering why the cure is so often worse than the problem, or turns the good thing into a bad one.

The earth on which we are privileged to live is a fantastic production of the Creator's hand. The unbelievable variety of physical things from "simple" (try making one) atoms of hydrogen to the complex combinations of thousands of individual molecules (each made up of millions of atoms) that make up the physical chemicals of biological life bear witness to the unimaginable intelligence of their Designer-Creator. Indeed, only a divine Person of immense power and wisdom could possibly have come up with a tiny part of this universe. The universe literally shouts out the greatness of its Creator at every turn of our attention.

Add to the physical universe the mysterious spiritual life force that animates all living things (animals and humans have differing souls, one dies, the other returns to God at death), and you have a universe that will always escape the most powerful microscope. The heavens literally do "declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork," and, "there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard" Psalm 19:1, 3). Everywhere we turn, we are face to face with God, thus making the unbeliever without excuse and deserving of hellfire for his refusal to glorify God and be thankful unto Him (Rom. 1:20-21).