Clothed and Cleansed

On separate occasions over the past month, I have been presented two scripture passages related to baptism or washing that caused me to take pause because they demonstrate that integral relation of baptism to salvation.

Clothed

The first passage came from studying Galatians. In chapter three, St. Paul establishes that God had made a promise to Abraham and his Seed (Christ). The Law was later given to service as a combination guardian and tutor to point us to Christ through whom we are justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we no longer need that guardian/tutor:

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. (Gal 3:26–27)

Notice the apostle’s argument: we have passed from childhood to maturity and family responsibility through faith in Christ. This is all well and good, but then he states that we are sons because we put on Christ through baptism. The immediate objection I anticipate is that someone will object that we become a son of God by faith, not through baptism. I say why not both? Faith and baptism are not antithetical here, rather they are linked together and cannot be separated. How do we resolve the tension that has arisen in American evangelicalism that a person comes to faith in Christ at one point, then follows some months later with baptism as an outward demonstration of an inward reality? Simply by pointing out that this separation and distinction are improper. Baptism is not a subsequent work. In order for it to be a work, you or I would need to be the active agent, but baptism is received, therefore in every way passive.

Cleansed

The second passage is:

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19–22)

This does not explicitly mention baptism, but notice that the language uses water imagery to describe what has been mentioned above. First, our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience. What can this be but the “circumcision made with hands” that St. Paul describes in Colossians or what Moses promised the people of Israel if they return to God after falling way?

And the Lord your God will purify your heart and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul, that you may live. (Deut 30:6)

Second, our bodies are washed with pure water. In the Mosaic Law, washing was an act of purification to remove uncleanness. This could be performed on common household items (Lev 13) or individuals (Lev 14)—especially those set aside for the tabernacle, both priests (Exod 29) and Levites (Num 8). Without cleansing, the item or person must be cast out. To apply it on a personal level, then, the only way to attain usefulness is through an external washing. This being the case, without both an internal and external washing, we have no direct access to God’s presence.