The Church & the Eternal Plan of God

 The Bible tells us that the Church is the eternal plan of God and that through the church God's manifold wisdom is displayed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 3:10-11). But how exactly? 

Christians often think of the church as some entity that God had in mind to bring into existence in 1 Century AD. But I believe that may not be entirely true, rather it was God's day 1 plan.

In fact the word Church (greek - Ekklesia) use to refer to Christians in the New Testament, is the same word that was used to refer to an Israelite assembly in the Old Testament.

Let us dig a little deeper to see what I'm talking about.

 

Creation

 

The author of the book of Genesis explains the purpose of creation and how humans play a vital role in God's purpose behind creation. 

 

God created the world in six days and on the sixth day, He created the first humans. God assigned humans to rule over everything that He created. God made the humans in His own image so that they can take care of His world appropriately i.e. man has to rule with love, kindness, justice, self-sacrifice and other virtues that are characteristics of God Himself. (Genesis 1:26-27)

 

God then created a beautiful Garden, Eden. Eden was special because it was a place where God dwells. (Not to say that God isn't present in every other place but this place was something different because it's a place where 'God loves to dwell'). Now, the first humans were supposed to multiply and fill this earth with people who are all in God’s image. (Genesis 1:28). To put it in other words, it was a mission of humans to make the whole earth a dwelling place for God, a place where God loves to dwell. The whole world should be made into an Eden.

 

But alas! Humans doubted God's intention and everything fell apart. Not only the first humans failed but the ones who came after them made it even worse. A glance at the current affairs will show us how horrible a place we have eventually made this earth. Far from the Eden that God wanted us to make.

 

Israel

 

Just because humans didn't do what they were supposed to do, doesn't mean God will give up. In fact, He already had a solution in place. 

 

He called Abraham and his children to be His partner, the nation of Israel. Israel was now the new Eden, and God dwelt in their camps. (tabernacle (exodus 40:34-38) and then the temple (1 Kings 8)). They were to rule the way Adam and Eve were supposed to rule. But what's obvious from history is that Israel too failed. And not just failed but ended up into exile as a punishment for their great transgressions.

 

The Messiah

 

God's desire to make the whole earth, an Eden, looks far from a reality. Moreover, Israel seems to be the last nation that can restore things. 

 

Has God failed?

 

No, may it never be! Yes, the whole world will be Eden and yes, it will be through Israel. None of God's plan will be thwarted. 

 

Jesus lived his entire life in submission to God. He was obedient to God even unto his death. God's characteristics were manifested in every facet of Jesus' life. He was a king; yet He ruled like a servant, being humble, loving, kind, just and self-sacrificial. He is the true human, the exact way man was supposed to be when God created them. He taught this same lifestyle to his followers. And His message was preached to the ends of the earth. There are followers of Jesus from every tribe and every nation and they are together called the Church, and God dwells in the Church (2 Corinthians 6:16).

 

So, God’s desire to make the whole earth Eden, a dwelling place for God was finally accomplished by Jesus, the true Human; and He was a Jew too, the true Israelite. And I'm convinced that this is what Paul means when He says Church was the eternal plan of God. 

 

The church displays God's characteristics when they live according to Jesus’ instructions, they have filled the earth and God dwells in them. And thus they display God's manifold wisdom. Whereby God fulfils his plans even when everything seems to be going against it. 

 

The second coming

 

Christ has fulfilled God's desire, however, the evil still exists in the earth and earth is not exactly how Eden was. That is what God will accomplish when Jesus returns. He'll judge the World. He'll eliminate the evil and new heavens and new earth will be created. The church will get a glorified body and all things will be made new. And this is the hope in which, we the followers of Christ, live. Looking forward to the day when this too will be fulfilled, like the way everything else He has accomplished. 

 

The whole earth as Eden, where God loves to dwell! 

Baptism – What good is it for?

 In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize and to teach the new believers. This should remove every doubt about the question, “Is baptism necessary”? Every command of our Lord, is our duty. Even if we do not understand anything about Baptism, we must still do it, because our Lord commanded it. His command ought to be a sufficient reason for us, to obey.

 

But then one might wonder, what is the significance of this ritual? What happens when someone takes Baptism? Is baptism required for forgiveness of sins? If faith saves you, then why Baptism? Should children be Baptised or only adults? 

 

These are few of the many questions that we struggle with. Answer to these questions may not be necessary, after all obedience is what counts, but it definitely is important. 

It is important because, it makes you stronger in your faith; it answers why you believe what you believe.

 

Before we start our investigation, something crucial to note:
Every time the word “baptism” is used in bible, we shouldn't always associate it with the rite of water baptism. The word baptism, in Greek, simply means – to immerse, to dip or to dye. Thus, whether or not the author used the word baptism as a rite, should be undersood from the context.
Example: in Septuagint Old Testament, 2 Kings 5:14, Joshua 3:15, Leviticus 11:32 and in New Testament Luke 11:38, Mark 7:4 etc, the word baptism is used and in these passages it clearly does not mean, the rite of water baptism. Romans 6:3-5; is another passage where we cannot be completely sure, whether Paul is using the word baptism as a rite or otherwise.

 

For our study today, I have chosen, Colossians 2:11-12.
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self, ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

 

I chose this passage because, in my understanding this is the clearest passage about the rite of water baptism.

 

Paul in this passage makes a clear analogy between circumcision and baptism. This connection is important, and understanding circumcision and what it meant for the Jews, will throw light on our understanding of Baptism.

 

We know clearly that circumcision did not save anyone (Paul talks about it in Romans 2); Jews circumcised their kids, thus Judas most likely was circumcised yet he was not saved, we know many Jews were apostate, we know that Israel’s disobedience was the reason for their exile. Circumcision had no salvific benefit however, it was a sign of covenant (Genesis 17:11, Romans 4:11), it brought the person into a covenantal relationship with God. Covenantal relationship is the key here, it means that the person is in God’s family and has access to all His oracles and promises.

 

When a man and a woman gets married, they enter a covenantal relationship with each other. Now love is the one which initially brought them together and keeps them together. But marriage is a covenantal rite, during which they bind themselves with each other; for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.

 

In the same way, faith is the one that brings us to God and keeps us with Him, but baptism is a covenantal rite which binds us with God. When this covenant is made, we become one with Christ (His body)

 

Now, one may argue that circumcision was done for infants, so baptism should be done for infants too!

 

Not really! first of all, Paul relates baptism to spiritual circumcision (a circumcision not performed by human hands); spiritual circumcision applies to adults (people who can understand its true meaning).
 More importantly, circumcision was ethnic in nature and therefore applies by birth, baptism is not ethnic.



 

What if someone is already baptised as infant, should he be re-baptised?
Again, the answer is NO. Once someone has entered a covenantal relationship with God, he need not enter the covenant again. God honours the covenant that He makes, even if man doesn’t. Consider someone who got married as a child. Once they grow up and want to continue with the marital covenant that they made unknowingly, they need not get married again.

 

So, to conclude, Baptism is a wonderful rite, that binds us with Christ. It is a sign that confirms to us that we belong to Christ and He to us. He is faithful to the covenant even when we are not. As Paul said, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". We are one!

 

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P.S. https://www.lexico.com/definition/covenant