The Value of Baptism (Part V)

Calling on His Name

While today we tend to think of baptism as a uniquely Christian practice, historically speaking it was a practice that originated from the wider Jewish world. One of the defining features of Christian baptism was that it occurred in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Jesus’ name obviously played a significant role in the baptismal process. It always appeared in baptismal formulae in the New Testament (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:38, Ephesians 4:5.) Now by his name I do not simply mean what he is called. In the world of Scripture, a person’s name represented their status, reputation and personage. So as we shall soon see, the significance of the Lord’s name was not just a procedural matter.

The entire baptismal event occurred in Christ’s name, that is under his authority

Our Lord

The gospel is the fundamental message of the Christian faith.

Yes Kanye: “Jesus is Lord”

The release of Kanye West’s gospel album “Jesus is King” last year was one of the biggest events in music and pop culture worldwide. The release of any new music from Kanye garners a lot of attention anyway being one of the biggest and most influential contemporary musicians today. What made the release of this album such a phenomenon is that it was in some sense the culmination of his very public transformation from Yeezus to a servant of King Jesus.

The Christian world has warmly received this once improbable addition to Christian music. In a way, he is fulfilling his mission of being here “to convert atheists to believers” by making millions of people around the world, including non-Christians say, “Jesus is King.” Many have reviewed the album and commented on what their favourite songs are. My favourite song is the final track “Jesus is Lord.” It is probably the least talked about track and I have heard no one call it their favourite. I will explain why I love it and why it is the most important song on the album.

Gospel Allegiance with Matthew Bates

New Testament scholar Dr. Matthew Bates has written a follow-up to his popular 2017 book Salvation by Allegiance Alone, which had a great impact on me and I have talked a lot about on this site. The follow-up is called  Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ (2019). In it he updates his summary of the essential elements of the gospel as follows:

Raised to Ascend

The resurrection and ascension are two intimately connected events in the New Testament. Unfortunately these two are events that are commonly misunderstood. We mistake the meaning of resurrection, do not know the purpose of the ascension and then it follows that we fail to see the connection between them. As far as the New Testament is concerned it is one event broken into two parts separated by a brief interlude.