R.C. Sproul on the History of Christmas Celebration

On December 22, 2011, the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast aired a presentation from R.C. Sproul on the history of Christmas. I found this presentation to be very informative.

A few notes from the presentation:

• In the first few centuries A.D., the Church established the celebration of Christ's birth on January 6th, a date which is still honored as Christmas in some Eastern communions. January 6th was originally celebrated to commemorate the day of Jesus' baptism, but the Church began to honor His birth on this day as well, and over time the celebration of His birth took precedence.
• December 25th was established as the day to celebrate Christmas by a decree of Emperor Constantine, and he set Christmas on this day for the specific purpose of replacing existing pagan celebrations on the same day.
• Sproul seems to view Christmas celebration not as an example of syncretism (a blending of pagan and Christian practices), but as an appropriate repudiation of the original pagan celebrations, based on mythology, in favor of honoring Christ, based on the saving work of God in history.

The entire presentation may be heard HERE.

Samuel Renihan on Sacraments

Each Lord's Day at Kosmosdale Baptist Church, we are blessed to take the Lord's Supper at the end of the worship service. Thinking of baptism and the Lord's Supper together, many Christians would use the term "sacraments". Most times when I hear the word "sacraments", I cringe. None of the Baptist confessions use this term (though, admittedly, many of the framers and signers of these confessions did use it in their writings), and most Baptist catechisms, including the one we used in my household, do not use this term. I tend to prefer the term "ordinances" to speak of baptism and the Lord's Supper.

However, if everyone who used the term "sacraments" were as careful in their thinking as Samuel Renihan is, then I would be nothing but glad whenever I heard the term. Near the end of his book, The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant and His Kingdom, which I cannot recommend highly enough, Renihan offers a brief discussion of the sacraments. His entire discussion, found on pages 203-206, is helpful; I want to offer some brief excerpts below.

Defining the sacraments, Renihan writes: "a sacrament is a visible word... Sacraments are words in a visible mode." Renihan then describes how these 'visible words' functioned through various biblical covenants:

In the Covenant of Works, the trees made the promises of life and death visible. In the Noahic Covenant, the Rainbow makes the promise of preservation visible. In the Abrahamic Covenant, circumcision makes the promise of Canaan and the threat of punishment visible. In the Mosaic Covenant, the Passover and sacrifices made the promises of God [to Israel] visible. In the New Covenant, baptism and the Lord's Supper make the promises of the covenant visible.

Renihan notes: "Sacraments are not just God's Word to His people, but also His people's participation in the very promise made visible."

He then writes more specifically of the New Covenant sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper:

In the Lord's Supper, for example, God reminds us of His promise to forgive our sins through the sacrifice of Christ. And we remember and proclaim that death until He comes.

Baptism is a visible word, a representation, of new creation life through death.... the symbol of regeneration and union with Christ, baptism, is the visible initiation into the kingdom of Christ, the first blessing of integration into the local gathered kingdom of the saints. It is God's visible promise to His people, and the people's declaration of participation and trust in that promise.

The one point that I would add to what Renihan writes (a point to which I believe he would agree), is that the word "visible" is being used a synecdoche. The sacrament of baptism is visible to the entire congregation. However, for the participants in baptism and the Lord's Supper, more than their sight is engaged; the sacraments are a whole-body experience: the person being baptized being literally immersed in the water and the person taking the Lord's Supper literally taking the sacrament into himself. Both of the sacraments, then, display the entire-life transformation–body and soul–that the gospel brings about.

Associations Between Churches: Why They Should Exist and What They Should Do

Baptists and other Christians who hold to a congregational model of church government believe that the New Testament does not allow for any ecclesiastical authority outside the local church. Each congregation is under the direct headship of Christ. However, if churches and members are bound "to pray continually for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ in all places" (2LBCF 26.14), then each congregation should also act in ways (within biblical limitations) to assist in the good and prosperity of other congregations.

From the New Testament, we see the following kinds of legitimate cooperative church help that formal associations facilitate:

• Giving advice in difficult questions of doctrine or practice, going beyond the training or experience of an individual congregation (Acts 15)

• Helping with financial needs, for which an individual congregation is unable to provide (2 Corinthians 8)

• Sending missionaries (Romans 15)

• Helping to supply/appoint leadership for congregations in need (Acts 11)

• Holding fellow congregations accountable (Revelation 2-3)