The Presbyterian Heresy

It’s Infant Baptism of Course. But Why, and What is Baptism Anyway.

The Presbyterian church believes that baptism was a ” sign and a seal” . It is a common view but not a Biblical one. The Bible describes circumcision as a sign and a seal only.

Today I’ll just look at this passage.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells sbodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

 

As water baptism requires hands, I don’t think it is too big a leap to assume they refer to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as it fits the description.

And lets consider the meaning of sign and seal. These are physical things that can be seen, not that we want to see a circumsion, baptism will make you wet for a time, but it is not a lasting thing. We dry off. The Holy Spirit is what lasts and makes a Christian different.

Here’s another question, how can you be buried with Christ in baptism by being sprinkled with water?

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The early baptisms were done in a river, so it is logical to believe they involved immersion as this verse speaks of being buried and raised.

 

I will not be dominated by anything

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”-and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1Corinthians6
That first line is what is effectively the point. We are not to be dominated by the desires of our body. Even food becomes an issues.
Definitely do not compromise on sex. Most Christians understand this idea but I think men battle with it more than woman, and it’s when a married couple gets older that we see the sin in their lives. If a man only loves his wife to quench a physical desire what will happen when she gets sick. He’ll be tempted to go to a prostitute. Or he’ll look at dirty pictures or just simply despise his wife for not being what he imagines she should be. So many Christian marriage books go on about how a woman must make the effort to look desire able to her husband when the bible doesn’t say this. This impossible goal for woman to meet up to the perverted sexual desires that advertising and movies constantly throw at them is destructive to the whole of society. Young woman should not be constantly struggling to meet up to the out of control desires of men. Self control is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Can homosexuals become pastors in the Christian religion

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1Corinthians6

This is a passage that can lead to a belief that if you sin after becoming a Christian you lose your salvation. It isn’t however, but it is clear that issues such as practicing homosexuals wishing to be pastors should not be accepted.

Judging within the church.

1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud-even your own brothers!

1Corinthians5

The Roman Catholic Church is well known for its incompetent handling of petifile cases. They stand as a warning to the way we should take these verses. I don’t see much success in brothers seeking out someone to settle disputes in the church. General people will just suffer the wrong as in vs 7 and then move to another church. These verses do allow for judgement however and could be used by “Pirate Christian Radio” to validate their critical approach to bad sermons.

Avoid who?

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-
10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler-not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

1Corinthians5
This passage should be a must read for every reporter. I’m sick of the confusion about this matter. Christians do associate with people who are not Christians who are sexually immoral,
greedy, swindlers, or follow another religion. In this passage a person who is not a Christian is referred to as a person of the world. We are not to associate with someone who is calling themselves a Christian but who is sexually immoral, greedy, worshipping other gods(idolator) reviler(don’t know what that is) drunkard, or a swindler.
The reason we avoid such “Christians” is because they could effect the whole church.
We need to pay less attention to the sins of those who do not follow Jesus and more to those who do.
So yes there are excommunications

The Leven of malice and evil

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1Corinthians5
If you were to read this wish out reading the rest of the book of 1Corinthians who knows what you might think it would mean. This is why we read in context, that is with understanding of the rest of the book and in this case it is important to have read Exodus. In Exodus when the people of Israel were finally leaving Egypt, they were told by God via Moses, to have a Passover feast. During the night of this feast the angel of death passed by the doors of the Israelites because they followed the instructions of God to the letter.
The instruction we remember most is that of the painting of lamb’s blood on the doorway of the house. This is remembered because the blood of Jesus is now protects us. There was however another rule concerning the bread, the bread was not to have yeast in it. Leaven, I believe is a little leftover doe that you place in a new batch of doe in order to add the yeast.

For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

Exodus12
This was called the feast of the unleavened bread.
Now Paul in the above scripture compares the church to a new lump of doe and Christ to our Passover lamb. The old leaven is compared to malice and evil, as opposed to the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So now for the application. As Christians we should not have malice and evil in our hearts but instead we should be sincere and truthful.

Made sick or excommunicated ?

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1Corinthians 5
I generally just read this and think automatically that it refers to an excommunication. However I am considering this time how the church gathering has a power. Paul speaks of his spirit being present. Using both the power of The Lord Jesus and the presence of Paul’s spirit they are instructed to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit might be saved”, this sounds more like the opposite of a healing. Not something that is familiar to churches today. But something is mentioned in Revelation

0 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other

Revelation 2
Notice verse 22 “I will throw her on a sick bed” this is another person who boasts even teaches sexual immorality.

Sexual Immorality in the Church

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

1Corinthians 5
And now we get an example of the sort of false teaching that Paul is concerned about. The church is always being attacked for not being lenient enough toward sexual immorality but here Paul is clear that we are not lenient about these matters. This fellow he uses as an example, some guy who has been sleeping with his fathers wife is to be removed from the church. (It is to be pointed out however that in the second letter this fellow seems to have repented and is to be forgiven).

Disciplining those who have made errors in the way of Christ.

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

1 Corinthians 4
Paul sees himself as a father to the church in Corinthians because he was the one who first told them the gospel. He is obviously concerned about some false teaching that has entered the church and intends to send Timothy to them to sort out the false from the true. The test for this is in their power. The question that naturally comes to us as we read is : What does he mean by power? So I read over Corinthians again looking for a mention of power

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

So the power we are looking for is previously referred to in the same letter.

I find in Church their is a judgement towards those who may enjoy studying theology that is sometimes wrongly applied using these verses. People don’t like being corrected and when we are corrected it might be tempting to say that it’s not about talk but about power.
But the talk Paul is talking about is that used by Greek philosophers that were popular in that time period. A good theologian will be focusing on Christ crucified and using the bible to explain and correct.

Paul the Apostle, buffeted and homeless

6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!
9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,
12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

As Christians no one is better than another and we can’t be judged by the standards of this world. If the apostles struggled with getting food, clothing were treated with dishonour, then we can expect the same. The idea that if you are not rich , you do not have enough faith is ruined by this verse, Paul had faith, but look to verse 11. If God has answered your prayers and given you good things it does not mean you are more important than anyone else.