The New Covenant

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     In previous articles in this series we have shown that God has revealed himself to be a covenant-making person in dealing with intelligent creatures. The sacred history is simply the story of the covenants made with mankind, and the relationships growing out of them. In this essay we begin the study of the new covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus. No more important topic can engage the attention of this, or any other generation. We approach the investigation in a spirit of humility and reverence. And we begin with a prediction made by Jeremiah, recorded in chapter 31 of his prophetic scriptures.

     The background of this utterance was a time of crisis. Jerusalem had been attacked by the Babylonians who were fast developing into world conquerors. Prophets, priests and people had been carried into exile. The king and the queen mother had been seized and deported. As if this were not enough, the forces of the superstitious Nebuchadnezzar were again knocking at the gates of Judah. I doubt not that the words of Jeremiah had a primary meaning related to the return from exile, but the Holy Spirit used them in a far more extended sense with which we are especially concerned.

"Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

1. The covenant was to be new. It was not a continuation or perpetuation of a previous covenant. It was not a revised or amended version of a former one. In nature, purpose, method and results, it was to be distinctive.
2. It was to be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. At the time when Jeremiah spoke, the people of God were divided. The ten tribe kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria, had actually long since been carried away by Assyria. But the new covenant was not to be made with one segment of God's

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   people. It was to embrace all of them. It would destroy the spirit of hostility which had persisted and constitute a unifying force. Every one of the called ones would he a part of the same covenantal community.
3. The new covenant was to be different than the one made at Sinai. It was to have a different mediator, a different purpose, and be validated by different blood. The first covenant was national. It was engraved upon two tablets of stone, and the central location where these were kept was holy. It was the sanctuary. The new covenant was individual. It was written upon human hearts. Wherever a child of God chanced to be, with the Deity dwelling in his heart through the Spirit, that was consecrated territory. The human heart, the repository of the new covenant, was to be the only sanctuary on earth. Men who seek to consecrate buildings, or certain portions of earthly edifices, reveal that their lives are regulated, not by the new covenant but by the old. Such men are Judaistic, seeking to be perfected by the flesh.
4. The people of God violated the first covenant and trampled its specifications underfoot. In this, no blame was attached to God. He was a faithful husband. He sustained an intimate and pure relationship through the centuries. The deviations were the devising of the people. While the covenant was being written they forsook the first two requirements, and set up a golden calf. This stubborn and speedy disobedience was characteristic of the nation throughout its career.
5. The great difference in the covenants is pointed out. The first was written on tablets of stone. The statutes, judgments and laws growing out of it were written in a book by the mediator. It was a legalistic program and all the laws were given at the very inception of national status. The new covenant was not to be a written code. It was not engraved upon tablets of stone. It was not written with pen and ink. It was engraved upon the hearts of the chosen ones. The mediator of the new covenant wrote not one word, except what he traced in the dirt upon one occasion (John 8:6). The covenantal community had no sacred writings for many years. The message they heard from the beginning was to love one another (1 John 3:11). With such love they needed no laws, statutes, or commands, for "he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Rom. 13:8). "The commandments...are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Rom. 13:9). "And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us" (1 John 3:23). The epistles were not written to establish covenant relationship, or to constitute the testament, or agreement. They were written to those in covenantal relationship, so they would "know how life ought to be lived in the house of God, which is the Community of the Living God, the prop and stay of the truth" (I Tim. 3: 15 Authentic Version).
6. Under the former covenant, those who were born of the fleshly seed of Abraham, were circumcised at the age of eight days. This brought them under the covenant, but, of course, they knew nothing of their relationship. They had to be taught to know the Lord as they grew up. The entire nation was in covenant relationship by fleshly birth and a physical mark, not as a matter of volition, but simply by virtue of the circumstances of birth. However, under the new covenant, justification is based upon personal faith. This requires a knowledge of the identity of the Lord prior to making the decision to commit one's self unto him. Thus it is no longer required that those in the covenantal community teach each other to know the Lord, for all, from least to greatest, must know him, as a requisite to admission to the community of the holy ones.
7. Those who constitute the covenantal community are those whose iniquity has been forgiven, and whose sins will be no longer remembered. Since "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin," it is obvious that those are a part of the covenant whose hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and whose bodies have been washed with pure water. That

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   this is correct is evident from the quotation by the writer of Hebrews of this part of the prophecy of Jeremiah in the very context of the statement we have transcribed (Cp. Heb. 10:16-22).

     Since the new covenant consists of the writing of God's law upon the hearts of those who know him, and since this involves forgiveness of iniquity and blotting out of sin from the divine memory, it is obvious that whatever is essential to forgiveness of sins, is essential to entering the covenant relationship. All therefore, who obtain remission of sins under the economy of the new testament, are thereby brought into covenant relationship with God, and are entitled to all of the rights, privileges and prerogatives accruing from such relationship.

     The covenantal community at Corinth consisted of "those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints." This implies the issuance of a call and a response to it. The call of heaven is motivated by love. What motivates the human response to it by sinful men? All religion derives from a sense of need. This creates a recognition of dependency upon a power or force outside of self, but interested in and concerned about the individual and his ultimate attainment to the fullest expression of his personality. Each of us must realize a feeling of helplessness and the utter futility of our own efforts through the flesh to attain our ideal. This is exactly what happens when the soul has an encounter with the Christ and his own sinlessness compared with the divine estimate of our sin, is borne into our consciousness.

     "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh." The enormity of sin is thus demonstrated by the greatest act in the drama of the ages. The malignity of sin is manifested by the fact that Deity had to interpose in human affairs by assuming the likeness of human flesh. The death of Jesus for sin, and its condemnation in the flesh, forever impresses upon the heart the guilt of sin until it is removed by an experience so great, it can only be called a death, and the recovery from it a resurrection. That experience brings us into covenant relationship with God. It makes possible that agreement through divine grace which is called the new testament. We speak of one owning, or having, a testament, referring to a volume originally consisting of letters written with pen and ink. Actually, we are a part of the new testament. It is written upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is the result of a personal and individual encounter of the human spirit with the Son of God. We conceive that there are four related aspects by which we enter into the Great Agreement with God. No one can really reach that state where God "has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor 1:22) until he passes through these phases of soul response to God's call.

     The covenant with God is based upon unreserved trust in the power of God, and utter negation of human ability to rescue self from sin. The apostle states it thus, "For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." The Authentic Version renders this, "The intention is there, but the capacity to carry out what is right is not." With this feeling of futility comes a realization of the inevitability of death, in a spirit of slavery and fear. There is the feeling of being hopelessly trapped with death awaiting at every turn. The helpless victim cries out in anguish, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this death?"

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(Rom. 7:24). Now it was precisely at the time when the world was in a state of helpless agony that Christ brought hope through his death. "And we can see that it was while we were powerless to help ourselves that Christ died for sinful men." What was true of the universe of mankind is true of every individual in it, for we are saved as individuals. It is only when we touch bottom that we can begin the upward climb. With pride and arrogance crucified, and emptied of all thought of ambition, grandeur and power--there is then no other way to go but up!

     The sense of being unwanted, resulting from a guilt complex, fades away in the glorious revelation that grace operates through love for the best interest of every man on earth. "For while as a result of one man's sin, death by natural consequence became the common lot of men, it was by the generosity of God, the free giving of the grace of one man Jesus Christ, that the love of God overflowed for the benefit of all men."

     The troubled soul, now conscious of God's love, and stimulated by it to love, eagerly reaches out to appropriate to itself the benefit accruing from grace. The testimony relating to the "one man Jesus Christ," who was the very embodiment of divine grace, accomplished what no law could ever do. God put him forward to be received by faith, for in the receiving of him we become sharers of the promise of the ages. "That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace, and be guaranteed to all his descendants" (Rom. 4:16). "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law...the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe...they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith."

     The wonderful thing about God's grace is that it places everything in proper perspective. It admits that sin is deep and wide. It acknowledges the weakness of law which can never give life. It recognizes man's inability to save himself by sheer will power. It asserts the futility of human effort and works to earn or to achieve justification. It is axiomatic that justification cannot be obtained as payment for duties performed. It must be a gift, and a divine one. "Now if a man works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as a fair reward. But if a man, irrespective of his work, has faith in him who justifies the sinful, then the man's faith is counted as righteousness and that

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is the gift of God. This is the happy state of the man whom God accounts righteous, apart from his achievements" (Rom. 4:4,5). This in no wise affirms that those who are justified need not serve God, nor does it suggest they are not required to work. The key is found in the expressions "irrespective of his work," and "apart from his achievements." There is work and there are achievements, but justification is not based upon these.

     The Holy Spirit conditions our hope on the rich mercy, great love, and tremendous generosity of God's grace "expressed toward us in Christ Jesus." This lifts salvation out of the domain of wage or reward and places it in the realm of divine kindness, where it is available through faith in the Lord Jesus. "But even though we were dead in sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ--it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved....Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed toward us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve--it was God's gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do" (Eph. 2:4-9).

     Crucifixion was cruel, agonizing, shameful and debasing. Every moment on the cross was one of torture and torment. It is essential that we remember that those enslaved by sin cannot choose some polite, respectable and easy way to rid themselves of the sinful passions which produce fruit unto death. There can be no new life without a resurrection, no resurrection without death--and that death must be crucifixion. The old man of sin must be nailed to the tree that a new creation, all that counts for anything, may result. "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Gal. 6:14, 15). "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24).

     The new creation is the work of the Spirit of God. Man can no more create himself anew than he could create himself originally. We put the body of sin to death by the Spirit. "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live" (Rom. 8:13). To be truly in covenant relationship with God, one must destroy his wicked self. The corpse must be removed from the tenement, so that a new tenant can move in and abide. So long as we toy with the idea of having both we deceive ourselves and are of all men most miserable. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). "It is no longer I who live." "The life I now live." What does this paradox imply? Simply that faith in the Son of God is so powerful that it actually causes the complete personality to be merged into and identified with its object, until the believer no longer lives except as the object of his faith, Christ Jesus, lives in him. That is why the new covenant is not at

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all based upon faith in a system of doctrine, a theological concept, or a series of creedal interpretations--but upon faith in a person, the transforming person of the Son of God.

     We must be united with Jesus. Fellowship is a sharing. It is a joint participation. It is not merely a sharing of good things. It is the sharing of a life with all that life entails. "We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (Rom. 8:17). But Jesus died and his death was by crucifixion. To be united with him we must experience a like death. "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin" (Rom. 6:5-7). "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3).

     We have learned that in all ages God has made his blessings available to mankind upon the basis of ordinances. This is true in both the domains of nature and of grace. The ordinances of God are always designed to accomplish His purpose. They are always adapted to the needs and conditions of those to whom given. Separated from the divine enabling power the ordinances would be useless, empty and futile, and would appear merely superstitious. It is the investment with divine authority which makes the ordinance meaningful, the fact that it is an ordinance of God.

     Since the relationship of the new covenant is established by grace through faith, any ordinance of God in conjunction therewith must act as a test or measure of the quality of faith. The conditioning of blessings upon such a test does not imply that they are granted on a basis other than faith, but upon the basis of faith perfected, that is, demonstrated and proven to be effective. Religion involves both the will of God and the will of man. The authority of the first and the freedom of the second must be preserved in order that the proper relationship be unimpaired. Any subjection of man to God must be voluntary, a willing surrender, rather than a forceful capture. This surrender must be a commitment to Jesus, the result of sincere faith or wholehearted confidence in Him as the revelation of God.

     God proposes and man accepts through faith. This necessitates the providing of proper motives to induce man to act. Such motives must be worthy of the dignity of Him who offers them, and commensurate with the blessings to be bestowed. Inasmuch as the conferring of divine blessings or benefits is the result of God's grace through man's faith, it is but reasonable that such faith be tested to determine its worth or merit.

     The fairness and impartiality of this procedure is indicated in the fact that God authorizes man's faith as a test of his own integrity. He promised Israel abundant material blessings, conditioned upon their willingness to surrender unto him a tenth of such blessings as they already possessed. This could be nothing less than a test of faith. One does not surrender what

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he now has in order to secure something greater upon the basis of a promise, unless he has confidence in the one who promises. God said, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Man tests God's promises by his faith; God tests man's faith through his promises.

     In every dispensation God has tested the faith of man. In every instance such a test has obviously been made by a positive, rather than a moral ordinance. In no case could man see the connection between the requirement and the result. If he had been able to do so, his obedience would not have been a matter of faith, but of rationalization from the law of cause and effect. God tested Adam with a command not to eat a certain fruit; Abraham with the command to offer the son of promise upon an altar; Israel with orders to march around a walled city thirteen times before sounding a blast on trumpets of ram's horn and raising a shout.

     The greatest need of man is freedom from sin and reconciliation with God. It is only when the guilt and penalty of sin are borne away that we can enjoy covenant relationship with him who is holy. Our whole being cries out for cleansing from the guilt of sin; justification from the nature of sin; and remission of the penalty of sin. God has proposed a universal proclamation of good tidings as a basis of salvation from sin for every person who believes. That proclamation, by its very nature, must concern facts. These facts, in order to be believed, must be well-defined and attested to by credible witnesses. The belief of those facts places man in position where the amnesty of heaven can be granted unto him.

     Reconciliation implies restoration of peace with God. This peace is the result of justification, the declaring of the sinner free from guilt, and justification is by faith (Rom. 5:1). "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:24,25). "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ" (Gal. 2:16). "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26).

     In view of the enormity of sin and the magnitude of the blessings to be conferred by justification and reconciliation, what type of test could be proposed and arranged in harmony with the divine purpose and majesty, which would provide adequate proof of man's faith and thus his worthiness to be recipient of the promises? We very humbly submit that such a test in connection with the new covenant should possess the following characteristics.

1. It should consist of a single, simple overt act, so no complex relationship of a series of acts, can create any question or confusion as to when obedience is completed and the result obtained. This is very essential because of the varied states of those who need reconciliation.
2. It should be revealed in language, the meaning of which is easily ascertainable according to accepted rules of interpretation, that no doubt be entertained as to the exact nature of the requirement.
3. It should be a public act, easily discernible by others. This we predicate upon the fact that such an act of obedience must initiate the one submitting thereto into the community of the sanctified ones, and for the perpetuity and preservation of the rights and privileges of that covenantal community, all must know who are the members thereof, and when such membership became valid.
4. Any material element employed in the fulfillment of such test must be universally distributed, that no man on earth be required to submit to that which is impossible by virtue of lack of an essential natural element
5. In view of the fact that a man must

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   die to his previous life, the act which tests his faith must be one in which the subject enacts the role of the dead, that is, it must be one of passive submission to an action performed in his behalf by another.
6. Since it is for induction into the fellowship of those who have humbled themselves by complete commitment and unreserved surrender to the will of another, it should be personally humiliating from the standpoint of the unbeliever, and destructive of all pride.
7. It should also be universally recognized as a symbol of cleansing, to be appropriate to its relationship to sin.
8. So that its connection with the facts of the good tidings which must be believed may be clearly perceived it ought to be a re-enactment of those facts, so that the subject may experience a sense of personaf participation in those facts, and all others may be made aware of the impact of those facts upon his heart.
9. It must be an act in which the doer can see no connection between the thing done and the blessing to be received as a result.

     Those who heard, were convicted of the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and that he had been elevated to the right hand of God, having been made both Lord and Christ. This conviction caused them to cry out and ask what to do. Theirs was a plain question. It demanded an unmistakable reply. That reply is positive and incisive. "Reform, and be immersed every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). Note that they were to be baptized in the name, that is, by the authority of Jesus Christ. Here was a genuine test of their faith in that authority. There are certain things recorded by Luke which cannot be denied as relating to this occasion. Men may, in order to justify certain creeds and opinions, quibble about the meaning and applications of these things, but the facts are unalterable and undeniable. Consider these things. The people asked what to do. They were told to reform and be immersed. They were told to do this by the authority of Jesus Christ. They were instructed to do so by an ambassador of the absent King. That ambassador was under the direct influence, yea, was filled with the Holy Spirit.

     Regardless of what may be entailed in baptism as here commanded, and irrespective of its antecedents, consequences, or relationships to the new covenant, sinners were told by divine authority to be baptized and this applied to Jews, their posterity, Gentiles--that is, all who were subjects of the call of the Good News. This is the test of faith proposed by divine authority. The scholarship of the whole world is in agreement that the word "baptism" in its original import meant "immersion, submersion, burial, dipping, overwhelming." This is substantiated by the universal practice of the primitive church when closest to the time when the command was given. That this was immersion in water is evidenced by Peter himself in Acts 10:47.

     Does immersion of the believing penitent in water constitute a proper and valid test of the faith of such a person? Let us examine the suggestions previously enunciated and consider them as num-

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bered, so that you may make proper comparison.

1. Immersion in water is a single, simple open act, to which one can submit purely upon the basis of faith in the authority and Lordship of Jesus, and without being possessed of great philosophic ability.
2. Baptism can be misunderstood only by those who want to do something other than what God has authorized, and by the very act of beclouding the meaning of the term, show that they lack the first essential--faith! The same rules of interpretation applied to any human document written in the same age as the account of Luke, will establish beyond any doubt what baptism involves.
3. Immersion in water is not a secret, personal, private or internal act, but is an open act which may be witnessed by many, and must always be witnessed by at least one other, the person who performs it, thus constituting an initiation ceremony into the covenantal community, which can be established in the mouth of two or more witnesses.
4. The material element is universally obtainable. Man's body is three-fourths liquid, and water covers the globe in approximately the same proportion. This one item alone goes far toward establishing immersion in water as a test reflecting divine mercy, and when considered in conjunction with the other attributes of such a test will conclusively demonstrate it.
5. The role of the one being immersed is passive. The one who immerses acts in the role of a mortician, merely burying one who is dead. One could no more scripturally immerse himself than he could physically bury himself after his decease. All divine communication relative to the action of baptism is given to the one performing the act, never to the one submitting to it. What other arrangement could the divine intelligence have commanded which so aptly fits this requirement?
6. Only humble souls can be recipients of God's blessing. Any test, therefore, which would admit the ones who are worthy, by the same token must bar entrance to those who are not. Rebellion and pride are the twin evils of the human heart. Faith dethrones the first; humility destroys the second. Baptism is proof of our triumph over these. In baptism one submits to authority simply because it is authority. No reasoning process known to man can figure any relationship between what he is required to do and what he seeks to obtain. Rebellion is crushed in baptism. And what could be more humbling than for one who has exhibited pride in dress and grooming, to be led into a pool, and there be plunged beneath its waters, to be lifted up with wet garments clinging and water dripping from the whole person?
7. The immersion of the body or any part thereof in water has been recognized as a means of cleansing, and is universally practiced for that purpose. So true is this, that special instruction had to be given, that in the performance of the act as a test of faith, it was not for "the putting away of the filth of the flesh."
8. Baptism is a re-enactment of the facts of the glad tidings which constitute the power of God unto salvation. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (Rom. 6:3-5).
9. It is here that baptism proves its worthiness as a real test of faith. Remission of sins takes place in heaven. It is a judicial act of God, and not of man. But baptism is performed on earth by man and for man. No one can see any connection between one man immersing another in water on earth, and the remitting of the sins of that person in heaven. There is but one reason why any accountable being on earth would submit to baptism of his

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   person in water as a religious act, and that is because of faith in the authority of God.

     The riches of the glory of the mystery hidden from ages, but now revealed is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col.1:27). The blood of the new covenant was his own blood. Our covenant is personal. Our covenant is a person. He is engraved upon our hearts as our signet. He dwells in our hearts by faith. Faith is always active. It seeks expression. Divine wisdom has made it possible for us to prove our faith in the Son of God at the very entrance to our relationship as new creatures. Baptism in water of a believing, penitent is merely that faith expressed. So the apostle affirms, "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26, 27).

     The divine design of baptism is a test of faith. Does someone immediately affirm that the design is remission of sins? In our view this is incorrect, and has been the cause of developing a creedal system which has crystallized those who so affirm into a narrow and bigoted sect. Baptism is unto the remission of sins, and such forgiveness is one of the fruits of baptism, as is the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the one forgiven, and the hope of eternal life. These are consequents resulting to the one immersed.

     There is nothing in water which has the power to remit sins. There is nothing in the act of being submerged which can remit sins. Forgiveness is an act of the divine mind operating in behalf of man. It is conditioned upon the faith of man. We are justified, that is, declared to be guiltless, by faith. Forgiveness of our iniquities is an act of undeserved kindness bestowed upon the basis of belief in a person or in the supreme fact that the person was the Son of God and the promised Messiah. Baptism is a test of that faith. By submitting to that test man places himself in the position where the grace of God can become operative in his behalf.

     God has not eliminated the will of man in redemption. He only tests the willingness of man to bow unto his authority. Can a man have remission of sins if he refuses to be baptized? Certainly not! When God proposes a test of faith as a condition to reception of certain blessings, it is an act of unbelief and rebellion to ask him to grant those blessings while deliberately ignoring or intentionally refusing to submit to the test.

     Any person who becomes convicted of his sin, who earnestly desires to appropriate the grace of God unto his salvation, who crucifies the old man of sin, and who then is immersed in water upon the basis of his faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God, receives the remission of sins, and is adopted into the family of God as an heir. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." These are the words of him who is our covenant. But some man adds, "That is, if he understands at the time that baptism is for remission of sins." But God does not say that. That is a human rider attached to divine revelation. It is an unwritten creed.

     It proposes to allow men to sit in judgment upon earth and determine who of those who believe and are baptized shall be admitted to God's grace. When there

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is a believing penitent and the proper action, it is beyond the power of any man to affect the design, whether the subject fully comprehend the design or not. The design of baptism has to do with God's part. When man does what God demands, God will do what he has promised. The falsehoods of men will not frustrate the grace of God. It may surprise many to know who all have misunderstood the design of baptism.

     In any ordinance of induction or translation, a proper subject complying with the ordinance is inducted into that state to which the ordinance is intended to induct, whether he understands the design or not. A slave who is ignorant of the design of the papers intended to secure his freedom, will be just as free when he makes his mark in lieu of a signature, as one who fully understands all that is involved in the whole legal procedure. The sacred scriptures nowhere teach that the design of baptism is contingent for its fullfillment upon a knowledge of that design by the subject of baptism. Such a requirement cannot he a matter of faith. It is arbitrary, dogmatic, and a mere creedal opinion. Men have confused a fruit of baptism with a knowledge of the design. Thus they make remission of sins dependent not upon obedience to the act that God authorizes, but upon the degree of human knowledge of the divine purpose. That which God ordains as a test of faith, men have changed into a criterion of knowledge at a given time, and have supplanted the divine requirement of faith perfected, with perfect knowledge! This is legalism in its worst form, and makes of those who are its practitioners, judges of the hearts of men!

     There is but one question I have any right to ask of one who has been immersed, and that is, "Were you prompted to be baptized by faith in Jesus?" Every person who believes that Jesus is the Son on God, and who was immersed in water in conformity with and motivated by that faith is God's child and my brother. He may have a lot of mistaken ideas, and may be in error on many points of sacred writ. He may be in the Babylon of religious confusion, but God's people did not cease to be such when carried into Babylon, else Daniel and the three Hebrew children became pagans under the compulsion of Nebuchadnezzar. It is my task to plead with all to forsake Babylon that we may unite our efforts to restore the ekklesia of God in this age in its purity. But our call to baptized believers is not a call to aliens and pagans, but a call to children of God, separated and segregated from each other by the party spirit which has prevailed through the instrumentality of Satan over our lives.

     In many instances this stems from a false view of baptism and what it was intended to accomplish. It predicates our relationship upon our degree of human knowledge of the divine purpose, rather than upon faith in God and His promises. Frequently those who torment themselves inwardly about this matter do so because of an idea that we are justified by conformity to a purely legal system and they want to be sure they have done everything right, so they are baptized "to remove all doubt." This is a negative approach to a positive ordinance. Doubt is the opposite of faith. We are not to be baptized to remove doubt, but because we have no doubt we are to be immersed.

     One of the things which contributes to the problem is a misunderstanding of conversion. Many have thought that this

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was an instantaneous effect resulting from our encounter with Christ when we first became convicted of sin, and heard the Good News of promised deliverance. Not having been able to detect any great change in life or thought, and having been plagued by temptation and failure, in spite of sincere efforts to live a good life, such persons feel there must have been something wrong about their initial response to the Spirit's call.

     We need to distinguish between being begotten by the word and conversion. The last is a continual and never-ending process in the lives of those who are led by the Spirit. Conversion is a change, and we must be transformed daily by renewal of our mind. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18). A sculptor who has an image in his mind may purchase a piece of marble in a few minutes, but may require years of patient and painstaking toil to bring out the likeness. The process of converting the rough stone into the beautiful figure is one that requires time and labor.

     Those who were conscious of their sins, and who felt the need of a Saviour and Deliverer, who also trusted in him as demonstrated by their obedience in baptism, should not be immersed again, when, in later years, they once more respond more anxiously to the Spirit's urging and prompting, under the hallowed influence of their maturing thought. Instead, let all who believed in Jesus and who were im--mersed into him on the basis of that faith, trust in him fully and completely. God loves us and cherishes us. Let us serve him more seriously and soberly. Let us love him and all of our fellowmen. Let us help all who need him and hinder none.

     In our next issue we propose, God sparing us, to discuss with you the designations of the covenantal community. What should God's people in the aggregate be called? Is there a specific title given by the Holy Spirit which must invariably be used to refer to the church of God which is in Christ Jesus, and if so by what means can that title be kept free from encroachment of others in this day of sectarian strife and partisan division? You will want to read the next issue over and over and study it carefully, if you love truth and seek it. If you do not, you will want to cast it aside, where it will not trouble your conscience. In any event, we trust that you will reserve your judgment until you have seen the article.