Living Out Our Baptism: Being Christ in this world

The following is an article I submitted to be published in my seminary's annual magazine.  It is using excerpts from a section of my thesis (a work in progress) and then built off of that.  The theme of the magazine this year is "Reformation: an invitation to sacramental living."   Please excuse the poor writing and grammatical confusions.  

 

Peter J. Leithart, in his book, The Baptized Body, discusses two ways of understanding the Body of Christ as the Church.  It is either the eschatological Church, that is, the glorified Church when Christ returns; or it is the historical Church, that is, the visible Church in human history.  The reason for the distinction is that the historical Church is still impure and going through a purification process.  It is only in the eschaton, when Christ returns, that the Church will be purified in its intended form.  The latter is the eschatological Church, the purified and glorified Church.  Understanding the distinction, scholars dispute as to whether or not the Body of Christ refers to the historical Church or the eschatological Church in Paul’s usage.  If it is the historical Church, that would mean this Church of so many imperfections would be part of Christ’s body.  That would be preposterous.  But Leithart rightly makes the case that the Body of Christ is the historical Church.  The Church today, even with all its flaws, is the Body of Christ.  His argument is that Paul is addressing a congregation with issues, with problems, with heretics in its fold.  Yet, Paul is still referring to them as part of the Body of Christ.  The Body of Christ is a historical reality. 

This Body of Christ is Christ, which Leithart also asserts.  Our bodies are not mere vessels for our souls to use as a medium to communicate and live with one another.  We are our bodies.  It is us.  Likewise, Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is not God using a body, but that body is him.  When Jesus touched people, it was not a body that Jesus controlled, but it was Jesus himself.  In the same manner, when Paul says the Church is the Body of Christ, the Church is Christ.  We have joined him as part of his body.  We have been baptized into it. 

Therefore the Church, even with the imperfections of its baptized members, is Christ in this world.  In the way the Spirit descended on Christ at his baptism, the day of Pentecost brought the same for the Church.  The Church was and is empowered to be like Christ in his ministry.  The Church is the body both historically and eschatologically.  Historically, the Church is undergoing the process of purification, and awaiting the joining with Christ in the consummation.  The eschatological Church is the body that is unified with Christ, the bridegroom.  But in both forms of the Church, the Church is the Body of Christ, and therefore, the Church is Christ.

            It is here that we see how the Church lives a sacramental life in history.   In Christ’s earthly ministry, he healed people, helped the poor, he preached, and showed grace and compassion to those who were sinners in society (as those that judged them as sinners believed themselves to be righteous).  It was by grace that Christ came down to them and loved them as he did.  In the same manner, if the Church is Christ, the Church should do the same as Christ did.  The Church should thereby be a sacrament to the fallen world, communicating the grace, love and forgiveness of Christ. 

            Reformation in the Church is thus a call to a sacramental life.  It is not a reformation that is necessarily doctrinal.  It is a reformation that is part of the ongoing process of purification.  Paul reminded his churches of the baptism they received.  He had to remind them that in their baptism, they put on Christ.  They have put off the old man and put on the new, which is what we have in Christ.  This reminder to the churches of the first century is true to this day.  This reformation, therefore,  begins within ourselves as the Church.  We must understand what happened to us in our baptism.  We must ask ourselves if we are living in the old man, Adam, or in the new man, Christ who we put on in baptism.   We must then live out our baptism.  In other words, we must be Christ.  But being Christ is not something we must try to achieve.  It is something that is already given to us.  As Leithart said, the historical Church is Christ.  However, the Church is not being faithful to what it really is. 

            The outworking of the Church living out its baptism and being sacramental in this world cannot be described in detail.  The many ways that the Church needs to reform itself to be true to the Christ it has put on cannot be contained in this article. Volumes upon volumes could be written, and still it will not be complete.  But we have to start somewhere.  I would like to briefly suggest three ways the Church should live out its baptism.

            1.  The Church should be faithful in the proclamation of the Gospel.  I would summarize the Gospel as follows: Jesus Christ is Lord and he has come with saving authority.  In other words, Jesus Christ is Lord and he is Savior.  If he is Savior, then he has come to save someone from something.  In the Scriptures we understand that we are to be saved from sin, the consequences of sin, the death of sin, and be given life in Christ, purified and righteous.  His Lordship implies his authority over all things.  Jesus said to teach all that he had commanded.  Why?  Because he is Lord.  He saved us and placed us under his Lordship.  When we proclaim the Gospel, we are sharing this news of the saving work of Christ, and are inviting the hearers to come under his Lordship. 

            2.  The Church should reach out to sinners of society.  We are all sinners.  That is a fact the Bible is clear on.  But there are people who our societies deem as far from just “normal sinners.”  They  could be people with addictions, whether it be alcohol, drugs or even sexual.  It could be prostitutes, slum lords or gang leaders.  These people should be reached out to in the way Jesus reached out to the adulteress woman, the tax collector, and the thief on the cross.  Reach out in love in their situation.  That love could involve rebuke, but it would be done gracefully.  It is a reach that also includes the sharing of the Gospel.  It is a reach that works to transform not only the people, but the society as a whole with the Gospel message, exorcising the demons (sinful structures) of that society that propagate sinful lifestyles.  We are to touch them as Christ would, because we are Christ.

            3.  The Church should be an agent of healing.  One may not have a gift from God to heal, but the Church is equipped to bring healing (spiritual, physical, mental and emotional) to people in need.  Churches tend to focus on one or two while neglecting the rest.  I have noticed some churches that put so much emphasis on the physical, mental and emotional that they neglect the spiritual.  There is also the other extreme: their only emphasis is spiritual healing, while neglecting their other needs.  Jesus, in his earthly ministry, was more than a healer of physical ailments and diseases.  He was a counselor.  He encouraged.  He educated.  He brought life both physically and spiritually.  He empathized.  The result of the healing ministry of Jesus was the healed giving praise and glory to the Lord.  The healing ministry of the Church, likewise, must be focused on addressing all these needs; but the end result should be those that the Church ministers to should see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.  If they glorify the church as the organization that brought healing, then the church has failed.  We are to be Christ to the world.

            Certainly more can be said about these three things, and even more areas can be brought up in regards to how the Church may live a sacramental life in its continuing reformation.  But my desire is not to give a blueprint of what the problems are and what the solutions should be.  Rather, it is to trigger thoughts about the church you go to, the denomination you belong to, the community of churches in your society, and the Church universal, and how is it reflective of the Christ we are to be.  Are we living out our baptism?  It is thus important that we as universal Church reform ourselves.  That reformation is a continuing work that begins internally by understanding the baptism we received; and the sacramental nature of the Church’s reformation begins externally as the Church lives out its baptism: being Christ in this world.