Element, Mode, Perpetuity

In this part of the sermon: This section introduces the fourth principle: the element and mode of baptism declare the New Covenant's blessings. Martin establishes water as the proper element, citing Old…

The elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper are used as an example to show that the elements themselves, not just the act, carry significance, paralleling this to baptism.

When we come to the Lord's Supper, it is not only that we eat and drink that has significance. But it is the elements that we eat and drink that also have significance. Our Lord took bread, the staff of life in those days. And He broke bread and distributed that which was the staff of life, indicating that the eating has symbolism in terms of the very elements used.

6:55 - 7:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin addresses the contentious issue of baptismal mode, asserting that immersion (dipping, plunging) is the proper activity. He provides four reasons: the meaning of the Greek…

A personal anecdote about giving driving instructions ('when the back of your car hits the end of the garage') is used to illustrate how context can demand a non-literal interpretation of a word, but that generally, words are taken in their accepted usage.

For instance, someone was backing out of our driveway. And I said to them, this was just this afternoon, I said, now when you back off the side of that driveway, when the back of your car hits the end of the garage, then you cut your wheel. He says, you don't mean that literally. Do you?

28:32 - 28:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It must be a subjectivity, a subject of regret, that the usual, the general discontinuance of this original form of baptism has rendered obscure to popular understanding some very important portions of the Word of God.

The analogy of substituting dried fish for bread and orange drink for wine in the Lord's Supper is used to argue against treating the elements or mode of baptism as indifferent, emphasizing Christ's specific commands.

Now, I'm a little bit offended when people say, well, it seems that that's what the apostles did. It seems that's what early Christians did. But how we are baptized is a matter of indifference. Suppose you came to the communion table the next time, and in place of bread, there was some dried fish.

40:26 - 40:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And it's the absence of this in the sprinkling of infants that has stripped baptism of its true vigor and its biblical significance.

A lengthy quotation from William Cunningham, a Paedo-Baptist theologian, is used to support the argument that adult baptism, as a conscious, voluntary act, represents the 'original and fundamental idea' of the ordinance, highlighting the difficulty in applying this to infants.

One of the most profound works on theology from a historical standpoint that I've ever read, and this is heralded by all theologians, William Cunningham, the reformers and the theology of the Reformation. Mr. Cunningham was professor of church history at the Free College in Edinburgh, a godly convinced Scots Presbyterian, a convinced paedo-Baptist. But listen to what he says in his section on the doctrine of the sacraments concerning baptism.

49:22 - 49:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin argues that the voluntariness of baptism underscores the conscious reception of New Covenant blessings and submission to discipleship. He highlights that all baptismal…

The historical origin of the word 'sacramentum' (an oath of allegiance in the Roman army) is used to explain how baptism was understood in the early church as a personal oath of allegiance to Christ, reinforcing the idea of voluntariness.

baptism cannot be an act ordained of God. Now some of you perhaps have wondered where did the word sacrament ever come in and it fits right here. You know where it originally came in? If you were a young man about to be conscripted into the Roman army, you would have to swear in what was called the sacramentum and when you swore your allegiance to the emperor and to the army into which you were being conscripted, that was the sacramentum. So in the early church, baptism was called a sacrament because it was the open avowal of a disciple that he was swearing allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ....

52:41 - 53:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that baptism provides supportive influence and a visible reminder of God's work.

Martin shares his personal experience of remembering his baptism when tempted by sin, finding it a powerful reminder to reckon himself dead to sin and alive to God, illustrating baptism's practical sanctifying influence.

I've found myself tempted in a given area of sin, here or there, and I've said, no, I cannot. I've been baptized. I've been baptized. I've declared that that life that responded to those enticements is dead and buried and is parched.

58:19 - 58:34 Read in full sermon