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[This book provides a solid
refutation of the false doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. The book is
copyrighted; however, it is out of print and the copyright is over 50 years old.
"Some say, why stir up trouble about a question of such minor importance as Baptismal
Regeneration. Is a so-called door to heaven a small issue? Spurgeon says, 'For
of all lies which have dragged millions down to hell, I look upon this (Baptismal
Regeneration) as being the most atrocious.' ..What
must I do to be saved?... the answer shall be Not Through a Legalistic System of
Water and Works, but through a genuine new birth, wrought in the sinner's heart
by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. V.L Petersen, 1947]
Baptismal Regeneration
and the Use of Vow
in Luteranism, Catholicism, Judaism
(An exposure of the Hagar System of Works,
a heresy that has damned millions of souls)
V.L. Petersen
© 1947
PRINTED BY
WILSON PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
CHAPTER VIII
The Use of the Vow in Lutheranism, Catholicism and Judaism
Work-righteousness, Satan's most potent
instrument against grace begins in Eden-The way of Cain-Judaism perverted in Babylon-Vow
comes from Talmudic system-Use of the Vow in baptism and confirmation-B. R. covenant
subverts true meaning of covenant -Covenant seen in the light of Gal. 3:lff -God's
dealings with Israel reveal basic difference between law and grace.
The Root of Work-righteousness
We are all born
with the Old Adamic nature in us, and thus we have an inborn tendency to work our way back
to God by our own efforts.
If we consider for a moment the fall of man, it
is not difficult to see the root of work-righteousness. Satan tempted Adam and Eve and
they fell and lost the image of God. Here Satan became the father of our old nature or Old
Man. This Old Man is Satan's masterpiece. He is set up in opposition to God's New Man it
Christ. He is to become the New Man's greatest rival and antagonist.
To make this Old Man so, Satan put into his
nature a peculiar law, known as the "law of works," i.e. that inborn tendency to
work our way back to God.
Adam and Eve showed that they had this
"law of works" in them for they sought to make themselves acceptable to God by
making a covering of fig leaves. Missionaries tell us that all heathens have some form of
religion, but it is a religion based on something they do for God. They know nothing of
what God has done for them in Christ. We do not need much knowledge of our own spiritual
life to know that we also have this tendency in us. This law was given us of Satan, and
has become the central power around which he builds his attack an God's way of salvation,
which is through faith in Christ. If we see this clearly it will not be difficult for us
to understand how he develops his system of works.
Legalism or Work-righteousness, Satan's Most Potent Instrument Against Grace, Begins in
Eden
Legalism or
work-righteousness, Satan's first last and all-the-time-between most potent instrument
against God's salvation by grace, is a deadly instrument operative among men from Adam
down. "And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons," reveals
it in operation in our first parents. It is seen in "the way of Cain." It was
the compelling force in the building of the "tower whose top may reach unto
heaven." It was the instrument used by Satan in leading Israel as a people astray:
"Israel following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law . . .
because they sought it not by faith but as it were by works." It was the issue of the
Reformation. It is the stronghold of present day Modernism, and the warp and woof of every
false sect under the sun that today curses men. Truly this is an issue of prime
importance. It is, has been and always will be, the divine duty of those who love the
church to zealously oppose Satanic error which violates her chastity.
When we turn to God's own commentary on what
took place in the fall of man, we find that, as to his relation to God, man is "dead
through . . . trespasses and sins." His heart became corrupt and a fountain of
iniquity: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt.
Out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications . . ."
As to nature, God says, "There is none that doeth good . . . there is no fear of God
before their eyes." Here is seen the beginning of sin with its sorrow, suffering,
tears, thorns, sickness and death. Immediately after the fall we note a peculiar law
beginning to operate in man: Through a volition and act of his own he begins to work to
make himself more acceptable to God. This instrument, as it is developed, becomes Satan'.s
most powerful instrument of opposition to God's eternal plan of salvation as it is in
Christ Jesus.
As we turn to the human family-in every man
from Adam down, whether he be the finest type of natural man, such as a Nicodemus, or we
go to the lowest Hottentot-we find this same law operative. All have some form of
religion, so missionaries tell us; and all seek by self effort to work their own way back
to God. Let us note how Satan has used this instrument.
"The Way of Cain"
Jude warns against
this way. Cain was just as religious as Abel. It was, however, a repudiation of the blood
sacrifice of Abel. It was an effort of his own as opposed to the way of God.
Babel and Babylon, the "Mother of Harlots!'
The tower of Babel
has ever stood as a symbol of the efforts of natural man to get to heaven by self effort.
In Babylon there developed a colossal system of work-righteousness. It became the fountain
head of every damnable religious heresy known to man. Here the forces of evil gravitated
after the Flood. Here was the beginning of the nations which God scattered-not, however,
before Satan had implanted in them the "Virus of Babylonianism" whose two great
characteristics are work righteousness and idolatry. Like a malignant cancer, this
"Virus" has penetrated the various religious systems of the earth. Indeed, we
should search zealously into the body of our teachings to see whether we be affected by
this cancerous growth.
Judaism Perverted in Babylon
Not only were the
various Gentile systems which developed after the Dispersion completely permeated by
work-righteousness, but even Judaism (we use this term in its good sense) was perverted.
Had Israel kept pure and free from admixture
the things God gave her in the Mosaic economy, she, like Simeon and Anna, would have known
Jesus when he came. That some foul fiend had succeeded in hiding from Israel the truth
that Moses gave her, is seen in the words of Jesus: "If ye believed Moses, ye would
believe me; for he wrote of me." Was all Israel so reprobate as not to wish to
believe in her Messiah. No indeed! For centuries she had been deceived by her own writers,
as we shall see.
Jesus tells us that Israel did not believe
Moses. Paul tells that Israel, though very religious, had been turned out of the way of
God, and was led to follow a way of her own-a way of work-righteousness. I do not wish to
speak a single word against Israel's writers as we meet them in the Talmud, purely as
writings of men. They are as good, yes, much better than contemporary literary
productions. When kept on that plane, they may be read and enjoyed, but when they reach a
place in the minds of men so they are placed away above the oracles of God, as seen in the
adage in Israel: "The Bible is like water, the Mishna is like wine, the Gemara is
like spiced wine," (the Mishna and Gemara are parts of the Talmud, Israel's sacred
book)-then it is time to protest.
The Talmudic writings reveal that they began to
be written during the Babylonian captivity. For seventy years Israel had been in Babylon,
that cesspool of religious poison. There Satan had skillfully inoculated her wise men with
the virus of work-righteousness. It was, therefore, most natural for the Rabbinical
writers to pervert the Mosaic economy into a "law of righteousness" which Paul
says they did.
What effect did these Rabbinical writings have
on Israel? True, there was much truth in these writings, but error is never so dangerous
as when mixed with truth. These Rabbinical writings turned Israel away from the Word of
God, so Jesus said of them that they no longer believed Moses. They began to study the
writings of men, and neglected the Word of God. Skillfully embodied in these writings was
this system of work-righteousness, or law of righteousness," as Paul calls it.
Because of the blinding power of these works of man, Israel did not see the righteousness
of God prepared through the blood. Thus she disregarded it and sought to work out her own.
This is the identical "way of Cain." These are the writings that blind Israel
today.
This was not all. Why does Israel so shun the
New Testament? When the New Testament came into being, then arose Rabbi Judah the Holy and
gathered the various Talmudic writings and traditions into one great digest. Had these
writings been regarded only as a secular instrument to preserve national unity after the
destruction of the Temple, they would not have been dangerous, but they soon received
almost divine sanction. By getting the Israelites to read and follow these, the effect of
the New Testament was almost nullified for Israel. Oh that Israel might see that she has
been deceived by the writings of men. The Talmud is the book that keeps Israel from her
Messiah today: "Ye have made the commandments of God of none effect by your
traditions" are the words of Jesus to Israel's leaders, Matthew, chapter fifteen,
verse six.
This tendency to deify men and their writings
is an old trick of Satan as seen in the deification of the schools of Shammai and Hillel.
Speaking of the eighty scholars in the school of Hillel, the following extravagant claims
are made for them: "Thirty of them were fit that the divine glory should rest upon
them, as it did upon Moses . . . thirty others were worthy that the sun should stand still
for them, as it did for Joshua . . . twenty others were of a form between." This
divine regard for men led to divine regard for their works.
Coming down to where we live, we find that when
the Pope speaks "ex cathedra," it is regarded as binding as Scripture. In many
churches today books written by men about the Bible have virtually replaced the Bible as a
textbook. By what authority have men done so? Is not the church God's institution? Then by
what right have men put in books of their own which are supposed to be just as good, or to
be as the Bible itself? If these books are so regarded, then we have taken great liberties
with the Word of God to replace it by works of men. Since God has given us a perfect
textbook, why replace it with the imperfect works of man? Does this not dishonor God and
his Word and grieve the Spirit? Since God has been careful enough to inspire not only
every word of the Bible, but every jot and tittle also, do you think that He forgot the
proper pedagogical principles, or forgot that children must be instructed? Have we found
God napping? Would not God be greatly honored if His Word alone were put back as the only
text-book? The only reason why certain, almost screaming errors have so long been
transmitted in the church, is because they found their way into certain textbooks used in
the church. Like as with Israel and the Talmud, so now-a halo of idolatrous reverence
developed and enshrined these books-and their error also-so it is regarded as blasphemous
to speak a word even against the error they contain.
Vow Comes from Talmudic System. Belittles Sin and Broken Law
The eminent
authority Joseph Barclay, gives us the following in his work on the Talmud: "Every
Jew when he attains the age of thirteen years and one day, becomes a "Bar Mitzvah
(son of commandment), and is henceforth responsible for his own sins. The ceremonies
connected with this event correspond to the Christian rite of Confirmation." At this
time he assumes responsibility for the keeping of some six-hundred-thirteen law
precepts. "When the Talith is put on, the Jew prays, 'That it may be made, through my
fulfilling this precept, a spiritual garment for my soul.'"
When God gave the commandments on Mt. Sinai it
was never intended to be a way of salvation. The law was to show Israel their sins, and
become a handmaid unto grace. God's salvation was given them in the blood. It was grace,
grace all the way through. Israel lost sight of the meaning of this, and turned to the law
as a way of salvation. This is the meaning of the vow-making: They openly declared their
intentions of keeping the laws of God as had been taught them, and if they could the)-
could be children of God. If they broke their vows they fell away and were not children of
God. Such an arrangement is as far from the purposes of God in grace as East is from the
West.
Here the vow appears in all its dreadful and
pernicious reality. What a perversion and a caricature of the grace of God. What hokus
pokus religious claptrap. There are just grounds for the most censorious sermon Jesus
preached against Israel's blind teachers as recorded in Matthew twenty-three, where he
castigates them for binding "heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on
men's shoulders."
When Vows are made in baptism, the sponsor on
behalf of the infant presumes to become responsible for the infant's Vow-keeping, which
responsibility is assumed by the youth himself on Confirmation day. Sponsors are often
worldly people, yes, some get drunk even on the day they assume responsibility for the
Vow-keeping, yet the child is supposed to be entirely secure because he has been so
baptized, yet the youth if he fails to live up to the Vows is told that he will fall away.
Popish folly!
Sin must indeed be a small matter if a mere
youth can assume the responsibility thereof. An automatic transfer of this burden was, of
course, made by the sponsor to the youth, which burden, the sponsor in his blind conceit
or pitiable ignorance had thought he was bearing up to this time. We have even heard a
sigh of relief from some as they relieved themselves of the pretended sin-burden they
thought they bore.
It ill becomes one to speak so lightly about
sacred matters of the church, you say. My answer is, it ill becomes teachers to so grossly
misrepresent Him who died on the cross as the real sin-bearer for men. Sin, as we view it
in the light of the cross, is no plaything that religious flesh can toss back and forth at
its pleasure.
But what is wrong, you ask. Yes, this
assumption of sin on the part of the individual makes sin but a plaything, and denies the
fact that Jesus has already borne the burden on the tree, when "God laid on him the
iniquities of us all." It casts a Stygian darkness upon Christ's finished work, and
in turn upon the soul, so that of the millions who enter this darkness but few ever find
their way out. Of this law way God says: "Let their eyes be darkened that they may
not see." Why is God so hard you say? God is good. He darkens the wrong way so you
shall realize that you are on the wrong road, turn back and find the right road. It is
indeed astounding that one who cannot care for his own sins shall publicly assume the
responsibility for the sins of others.
Not less astounding is it that one dead in
trespasses and sin, who in reality can do nothing, shall boldly undertake to do all. The
purpose of the Vow-making is that by the fulfilling of these obligations it shall produce
for him a garment for his soul, as if Jesus had not already produced a garment of
righteousness which he gives freely to those who believe. To such who would do, God says:
"Do this and thou shalt live . . . cursed is everyone that continueth not in all
things that are written in the book of the law to do them."
Vow-making destroys the true force of broken
law. Colossians tells us how Christ "blotted out the bond written in ordinances that
was against us." The terrible consequences of broken law can best be seen in the
terrible cost to Christ. How often have I seen men sweating when in pain. When the curse
of broken law began to press on Christ, so great was the burden of this wrath that it
literally forced the blood right through the skin, so He sweat great drops of blood. An
accident may disjoint a limb, but when the terrible force of the curse of broken law fell
on Jesus, it disjointed every bone of His body: "All my bones are out of joint."
When the last great downrush of God's wrath fell upon him, its fiery wrath melted him like
wax, so he was "poured out like water;" and so surcharged with pain were His
inwards that the pericardium of His heart literally burst, and He died of a broken heart.
So did the wrath of God crush Him who is strong enough to hold the world as it were, in
the palm of His hand, when He took upon Himself the curse of sin and broken law. Yet not a
few who stand in the very responsible position as teachers, think it a small matter indeed
if they so darken the finished work of Christ that men do not see this, and thus lead the
poor helpless sinner to assume the responsibility for his own sins and the curse of broken
law.
Undoubtedly there are such as say I speak too
harshly against the traditional ordinances of the church. Has it ever occurred to such,
that man-made traditional ordinances often speak harshly against Him who died for us? It
is His honor I seek to uphold.
Regarding the law the Lord says: "For if
the inheritance is of the law it is no more of promise. . . . What then is the law? It was
added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been
made." The law was not added to grace as a way of salvation, but in order to reveal
sin. Israel's Rabbinical writers, permeated as they were by Babylonian work righteousness,
perverted her own system of Grace as given to Abraham and Moses, into an elaborate system
designated by Paul as "a law of righteousness," through which the whole nation
was led astray, joined hands with the wicked Gentiles and crucified Him Who came to die
that we might live.
Catholic Church and Work-Righteousness
It is unnecessary
to elaborate on this matter as regards Rome, as for centuries now it has been known that
Rome swallowed this legalistic system of perverted Judaism, hook, line, and sinker. ' Yes,
she not only took it over, but added to it an elaborate addition from Pagan Babylon. From
Pagan Babylon comes the Confessional with its crafty Priesthood, the history of which
begins in Babylon under Nimrod. Later it was moved to Pergamos, and finally to Rome, where
it was united with the Roman Church under Bishop Damasus, about 378 A. D. From this hour
we note the following pagan practices come to the front: The worship of Virgin Mary, Pagan
festivals were given Christian names, the mystic "Tau," Celibacy, Tonsure, Order
of Monks and Nuns, Baptismal Regeneration, Transubstantiation, Holy Water, Lights on the
Altar, etc.
Not long ago the blade of a road-grader
unearthed a fox's den. No less than fourteen partially devoured skeletons from toads to
rabbits, more or less in a state of decay, were found. Oh that the good, honest, faithful
and well-meaning people of Rome would begin to investigate what their church is feeding
them-they would find just what Luther found: With every little grain of the true Bread of
Life they are given a large order of putrefying spiritual bodies fished from the sewers of
ancient Babylon.
Rome is a sad mixture of perverted Judaism,
Paganism and a little Christianity, scrambled together into a huge system of
workrighteousness. So Luther found it, and he cried out against it so that the echo of his
voice has been heard now for over 400 years. The vow comes to us, not from the Bible, for
we know it is not found there, but from Rome, and Rome got it from perverted Judaism. The
source of this Vow should at once make us a bit suspicious of its true character and
validity.
USE OF THE VOW IN BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION
Vow in Relation to Lutheran Order and Design in Baptism
When an infant is
baptized in the Lutheran Church, the sponsor who carries the child up to the baptismal
font, makes a solemn Vow on behalf of the child to believe in the Triune God, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, and to renounce the devil, and all his works and all his ways. On behalf
of the unconscious infant, the sponsor enters into a covenant with God. God's part of the
contract is to give life, while the sponsor's part is to keep the Vow on behalf of the
child. This covenant obligation rests upon the sponsor until the child reaches
Confirmation age, when the child, after being instructed in God's word, takes up the
obligation to keep these Vows.
When the child is so baptized, it is said to be
born again or regenerated, i.e. a new life is begotten in the child by God. To quote the
solemn statement made by the pastor with the laying on of hands:
"Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten thee again
of water and the Holy Ghost, and hath forgiven thee all thy sins, strengthen thee with His
grace unto life everlasting."
When the child in Confirmation has made
these Vows, the pastor again, with the laying on of hands, assures the child as follows:
"May the Triune God, who in holy baptism hath adopted thee as His child, and hath
made thee an heir of eternal life, preserve thee in the grace of thy baptism."-The
following facts are attributed to baptism [in Lutheranism]:
God hath begotten them again of water and the Holy Ghost.
God hath forgiven them all their sins.
God hath adopted them as his children and hath made them an heir of eternal life.
In corroboration of the above statement as
to the saving power attributed to baptism, we quote from the book of Concord, page 468:
"The power, work, profit and fruit and end of baptism is this, viz (namely), to
save."
Let no man be deceived into thinking that this
is a mere scuffle of words about matters of no consequence. A yes or no has slain
millions. At once we note that we have set before us what is purportedly a door into God's
kingdom. A way whereby men get Eternal Life-a rite through which God is supposed to
exercise more power than it took to create the world. Through this door into the kingdom,
Rome and her followers take in hundreds of millions of subjects, without as much as a
thought, act or volition of their own.
It appears that when Rome set up the doctrine
of infant regeneration in baptism, where people are taught to look to the magic power of
the font, they closed their eyes to the four thousand year testimony of Scripture on the
use of means, for conveying the grace of God. Many and varied were the types, figures and
symbols of the Savior in the Old Testament, such as: the altar, laver, table of shewbread,
candlesticks, ark, altar of incense, serpent on the cross, Aaron's rod that budded, etc.
All these types and figures had their use, but not as saviours. Being fulfilled in Christ,
they were set aside. To not a single one of them was attributed the mighty power that the
Book of Concord attributes to baptism: "The power, work, profit and fruit and end of
baptism is this, viz (namely) to save." Remarkable as it is, even the serpent on the
cross was ordered destroyed. Should this not be enough to teach us that symbols are not
saviours? When we set up symbols as saviors, it must of necessity replace the true Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make us guilty of idolatry. Many are they who are much more
zealous for the sacrament of baptism then they are for the Savior. Him they will not
confess nor obey, but baptism they will extol and fight tenaciously for. Nothing stirs up
such contention in many a congregation, as to speak a word against baptism not having
saving power.
It will at once be seen that salvation is here
made dependent upon a contract between God and the infant through the sponsor. God gives
life to the infant, but its part of the covenant is to forsake all evil and do all good,
which the Vow virtually implies. The party is assured that the Vow can be kept by God's
grace, and that breaking the Vow will end in loss of salvation. Our contention is that
this contract with the child is contrary to the basic principles of grace, where the
contract on which our salvation rests is not between God and the sinner, but between God
and his Son. Secondly, it is a plain law arrangement. It is a "do this and thou shalt
live" agreements law contract which subverts the entire gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a sad mixture of law and grace which places the sinner under the curse of a
broken law. It is the embodiment of the very error Paul so strongly warns against in
Galatians. It takes the sinners' eyes off Christ's finished work, and directs them to his
own feeble doings.
Baptismal Regeneration Covenant Subverts True Meaning of Covenant
The word covenant
occurs nearly three-hundred times in the Old and thirty-three times in the New Testament.
"Berith" is the Hebrew word for covenant, translated by the Greek word,
"diatheke." The New Testament writers all chose the same word
"diatheke." The word means: "An arrangement or disposition which God makes
with men in regard to salvation: The system of statutes, directions, laws and promises by
which men are to become subject to Him and to be saved." "Diatheke"
expresses the idea of a covenant, not as we ordinarily understand a contract between two
parties. It indicates that God acts alone. That he in his own love has decided to save
men, and that this salvation is prepared in Christ. Man is not regarded as having
covenant-making qualifications.
The Greek word "syntheke" also means
covenant, and is the proper word to use when two people in ordinary life make a contract.
Remarkable as it is, this word "syntheke" "is never used in the septuagint
. . . is never used in the New Testament with reference to any arrangement or covenant
between God and man," (Rev. Albert Barnes on Hebrews), "though it is referred to
more than three hundred times in the Old and New Testament. The word "diatheke"
is used by no less than six different writers of Holy Writ, yet not in a single instance
has one of them been betrayed into the use of "syntheke" with reference to
covenant. The covenant regarding our salvation is the covenant mentioned in Hebrews 13:20:
"Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of sheep by
the blood of an eternal covenant." This covenant, being eternal, was not made with
men, but with the Son of Man.
A party regarded as dead in trespasses and sin
cannot be regarded as a fit party to a contract. We do not make contracts with spiritual
corpses, dead people, idiots and imbeciles. What good is the promissory note of a bankrupt
man? Popish folly creeps out here is this Vow arrangement. Admittedly it is an invention,
for it is not found in Scripture.
This Vow arrangement is a law contract. It is a
two party arrangement where salvation is made dependent on man's power to do his part. If
he fails he is cursed. Grace is so different. Instead of appealing to man's ability to do,
it appeals to man to acknowledge his inability to do anything, and to receive salvation as
a gift from God, on the basis of the contract that God made with his own Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Covenants Seen in Light of Gal. 3:18ff
Paul's argument as
seen in Gal. 3:18ff, as to the fundamental difference between grace and law will further
show us why so careful a choice of words is used relative to covenant: "If the
inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise. It (the law) was ordained through
angels by the hand of a mediator. A mediator is not a mediator of one." (Note that
under law, two parties are in view with covenant-making qualifications.) So it was under
law. God was one party and Israel the other, with Moses as go-between or mediator. The
conditions God required under law were set forth in the Holy Law on Sinai-an expression of
the holy nature of God. He could require no less, or He would deny Himself. "Do this,
and thou shalt live," was the requirement. If you fail, you are cursed. No blood
comes between here, to speak of mercy and judgment. The law arrangement is a simple
contract between two parties, where failure on either part violates it. There is no mercy
in law. "Do this and thou shalt live." If you fail even so much as in one point,
you are cursed.
Paul then shows us how entirely different it is
under grace: "God is one." That means that under the grace arrangement God acts
alone, as indicated by the word "diatheke." God has acted in conjunction with
His Son, and they are one, and out of pure unmerited favor, They have arranged a free
salvation, which is offered to men to accept: "Look and live" is the grace
arrangement: It is to receive and believe. How totally different from law, where it is do,
do, do! But why, you ask, can God be so merciful under grace and not under law? Simply
because under grace, the blood of His Son comes between the sinner and God. When God sees
the blood, He sees his own arrangement with His Son, who on the cross died to shed His
blood for the payment of our sins. This enables God to be merciful and still be righteous.
Grace and law are totally different. They cannot be mixed. Putting mercy into law destroys
it, Putting law into grace subverts it.
God's Dealings with Israel Reveal Basic Differences Between Law and Grace
Turning to the
history of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt under Pharaoh, we note how mightly God
wrought to save Israel, putting them under the blood, and that without the help of the
law.
Exodus 19:3-6 tells us how God reminded them of
His mighty dealings with them under grace, miraculously saving and keeping them; "Ye
have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought
you unto myself." As a parting word He pleads with them to remain under this mighty
protecting arm of grace.
If we turn now to Ex. 19:7, we see God
preparing to give the law. What a striking contrast to His dealing under grace. Now He
appears in thunder, lightnings and a thick cloud, accompanied by the terrible voice of the
trumpet. After God had spoken to them through the law, so terrified did they become, (Ex.
20:18ff), that they could not bear to hear God's voice. Note that grace drew them to God,
whereas the law drove them away. When the law appears in its true aspect, as "the
ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones," it terrifies-it slays. When
we mix law and grace, so we put mercy into the law, we get neither law nor grace, but
destroy the true character of both.
When Israel got the law she proudly asserted,
"All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do." Her subsequent history is summed up
by Paul in the ninth and tenth chapters of Romans: "Israel, following after a law of
righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith
but as it were by works." -"They have a zeal for God but not according to
knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own,
they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." There is the whole
story of how Satan got them from under grace and back under law. Let us Gentiles beware
lest he do the same to us. I fear he has already been all too successful in getting the
Gentiles back under the law.
The baptismal Vow is a pure law arrangement.
God is one party, the infant, through his sponsor, the other. God's part is to create
Eternal Life in the infant. The infant's part, as he is represented in the sponsor, is to
keep his promise. These promises require a forsaking of the devil, and all his ways and
all his works. This friends, requires absolute purity and holiness in all our thoughts,
words and deeds. Certainly God wants such purity in our lives, but not as a condition of
salvation. God is looking for poor, helpless sinners that He may bestow upon them His
grace freely, and give them life as a gift. The poor infant is solemnly warned that if he
fails to keep his vow he has fallen away.
Talk about putting a yoke on their shoulders
that neither we nor our fathers could bear. There you have it! I know that appeal is made
that all this done in dependence upon God's grace. God's careful use of
"diatheke" should warn us that God tolerates no such mixture of law and grace.
God will not lend grace to pervert grace. In this matter of the Vow we are on law ground,
and "as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse." The poor souls
feel unworthy, for they are tortured under the consciousness of a broken Vow. They have
failed in doing their part, therefore they dare not approach God. This is due to the fact
that their salvation rests on a contract they made with God, and they can never be assured
that they have fully done their part, hence they must always be in doubt as to whether God
will do his part. This is a plain perversion of the gospel of the grace of God.
Baptismal Vow Examined.
When the infant is
brought up to be baptized he is asked through the sponsor to renounce the devil and all
his works and all his ways. The enormity of this requirement is seen at a glance, for in
short it requires absolute perfection in thought, word, and deed, and that according to
the perfection of God. This is the infant's part or obligation. God will on His part give
Eternal Life to the child, forgive all his sins, adopt him as His child arid make him an
heir of eternal life. That the obligation to keep the Vows on the part of the sponsor or
infant is serious, can be seen from the terrible penalties attached to the breaking of the
Vow. If you keep the Vow, then life is yours, but if you break the Vow, you will fall away
and lose Eternal Life.
When you consider the terrible
requirements-perfection even in thought according to God's standards-then it must be
evident to all in what a miserable state such a poor soul is. The sincere souls will fare
the worst. There can be nothing but a constant terror of eternal condemnation in the soul
in the same degree as the Vow is seriously taken. Here is where religion slays:
In Confirmation, when the instructed child of
his own free will places himself under the awful weight of this Vow (and that, as a
necessary condition of salvation, for he is warned that if he break the Vow, he will in
time fall away), it must be clear that his salvation is made to depend upon a covenant to
which be himself makes himself a party. Christ is represented as willing to do his part,
provided the confirmant do his. The poor confirmant being ever conscious of his inability
to reach the perfection demanded of him, must of necessity be in constant terror of
eternal condemnation, and rightly so, for he is on the ground of law.
No dear friends, the only thing that can free
our sin burdened conscience is the positive knowledge that, "it is finished."
Christ on our behalf has put away all sin, canceled our debts, satisfied all claims of
divine justice and provided us with the righteousness of God, as a gift. Only as we stand
in the presence of God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ which is ours as a gift by
faith, and the knowledge that we live because He lives, and not because we can or cannot
keep Vows, can there be any settled peace. No wonder confirmants do not come to the Lord's
table. The confirmant finds himself righteously exposed to the curse of a broken law, but
he naturally blames only himself for did he not willingly enter this contract? He meant to
do everything, but he found that in reality he has done naught but fail.
If while on the ground of law we seek to depend
on grace to help us out, i.e. we try to keep the Vows as well as we can and depend on
God's mercy for the rest, we are virtually looking to God for grace to subvert the entire
gospel of Christ. We cannot depend upon God's grace to enable us to abide under a curse.
Seeking to keep the Vow of Confirmation is seeking to reach a perfection that will satisfy
the confirmant in his own conscience, of God's claim on him. He promises in the most
absolute manner to do all good and cease from all evil; and that his salvation is made
dependent on his ability to keep the Vow is seen in the penalty attached to a broken Vow,
for if he fails, he will lose Life Eternal. I am well aware that many do not think much
about their Vow one way or the other. Their principal burden as Confirmation day
approaches, is to learn the questions well so they will not fail, get through the class
with honor even as they do in graduation at school. Certainly here is a case where
ignorance of the awful demands of their Vow is bliss.
The Sponsor
Before closing
this chapter, we wish to look at the idea of a sponsor. Can one person stand sponsor for
another? First let it be noted that we find no such human sponsorship in Scripture. It is
an invention and an addition.
In answering this question we would like to
ask, is a bankrupt person to become security on a note and pay the bills of others when he
cannot pay his own? Who would want such security? Can a person who admittedly cannot take
care of his own sins, presume to take care of the sins of another? At times even wicked
and worldly people stand sponsor and promise to keep the Vows on behalf of the child.
Mothers, you who love your children as no one else, do you think your child very secure
with such a one to keep Vows for your child? Your child's salvation cannot be any more
secure than the power of the sponsor to keep the Vows, for under this arrangement, if the
Vows are broken, the contract fails. Mothers, have you thought seriously about this, or
have you just done as others have, without understanding it at all?
But, you say, what is wrong with the sponsor?
The real truth is that we have a heavenly sponsor, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has from
eternity made Himself responsible for all vow keeping, all the curse of sin, and the power
of Satan on our behalf. This He completely took care of when He was made sin for us. The
curse of a broken law fell on Him. God beheld all that He did on our behalf, and was
satisfied, raising Him from the dead for our justification. This is our real sponsor or
go-between.
When we employ an earthly sponsor, we set aside
the heavenly sponsor. We imply that He needs assistance. Our mind and attention are
directed to a poor, frail, earthly sponsor, who on Confirmation Day is glad that he or she
is relieved of the burden, as though he had really done something beyond breaking his Vows
and placing the child under a curse all the while. Do you knowingly and willingly want to
set Christ aside as sponsor, and seek an earthly one? Then have no sponsor! This great
heavenly sponsor or mediator, met all the judgments of sin on the cross, was buried and
raised up to new life, and is now at the right hand of God for us as High Priest and
keeper, presenting us before God even as he is: "God looks upon us in Christ as if we
had never sinned." That is the standing of the child of God in Christ, and it is
God's gift in Christ. What awful sin and wickedness it is to cast a shadow on such a
mediator.
When I now get a godfather or godmother to make
Vows for me, it is an open confession of the fact that I do not know the wonderful
blessedness of having all my Vows and short comings fully answered for me as a lost sinner
in the blessed Cross of Calvary. Remember, we may make Vows to renounce the devil, but he
will not renounce us unless the bonds by which he binds us are broken asunder by Calvary.
"The Cross must either be everything or nothing." The Vows the sponsor makes for
me, and the Vows I may later make myself, place both sponsor and me under the curse of a
broken law and set aside the cross of Christ.
God has given us Christ as our great sponsor.
The Vow arrangement gives us one sinner to stand sponsor for another. God gives us one in
whom we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The Vow
arrangement in baptism and confirmation makes one "bankrupt stand as security for
another or himself." What a caricature of Calvary.
Colossians 2:14-15 says: "Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made
a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Here definite victory over the
hosts of Satan is attributed to Calvary because there Jesus took away the curse of the law.
What a tragedy to hide this finished work. What a parody on the shrewdness of Satan if he
does not bring his master influence to bear in accusing the troubled conscience day and
night for failures that have all been met on the cross.
Remember Israel, "to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of
God, and the promises." What a marvelous revelation of the grace of God did she not
have as a nation, but did she remain under grace? No, she did not! In spite of all of
God's mercies to her she was skillfully maneuvered away from the protecting grace of God
back under the law. "But Israel following after a law of righteousness, did not
arrive at that law. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were,
by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling."
THE USE OF THE VOW IN THE JEWISH BAR MITZVAH OR CONFIRMATION
What is true of the vow among the Catholics,
Lutherans and Episcopalians is also true of its use in Israel. The use of the vow in the
Jewish Bar Mitzvah is identical.
As before stated, the Jewish boy at the age of
thirteen becomes a Bar Mitzvah or son of commandment. In so doing he publicly assumes
responsibility for the keeping of some six-hundred-thirteen law precepts. When the Talith
is put on, the Jew prays, "that it may be made, through my fulfilling this precept, a
spiritual garment for my soul."
Again we say, we do not wish to speak a single
word against the Jewish writers of the Talmud purely as wise sayings of good, moral men.
They are as good or better than contemporary literature of a similar nature; but when
these. are placed alongside the oracles of God, or even above them, then all we who, love
God's Word should protest such blasphemous efforts.
As a Gentile Christian we appreciate-and we
believe every Jew also appreciates-the almost superhuman efforts put forth by writers and
preservers of Holy Writ, to keep the Word pure. One Jewish preacher told us that there was
a saying among the Jews, that when a Scribe made an error in copying the Word, he would
fast for four days, and write the whole book over again. In the light of this, how
is it possible for us who love the Word to hate the Jew?
Just because we love this same Word, so
zealously loved and guarded by the Jewish forefathers, we today contend for the purity and
authority of this Word. Inasmuch as the Jews have written so much to us Gentiles, it
should not be thought out of place that we write a little to the Jews. For us to write as
we do is not a light matter. Figuratively speaking, we have gone through blood
and tears, and suffered the loss of all of all things to say what we do.
Where is the command of God that authorizes you
Jews to administer those vows to your boys in the Bar Mitzvah? By what authority do
you exclude the girls? Large groups of Gentile preachers zealous for the Word, began to
search the Bible for these vows but could not find them there, so they cast the vow out.
If you Jews will really begin to search the Old Testament Scripture for these vows you
will not find them either, for the simple reason that they are not there.
This vow-making perverts the true meaning of
covenant, (Berith) as used in the Old Testament. Berith means a covenant, not as we
ordinarily understand a two-party contract. It means that God acts alone as a plurality in
unity. One in three. Three in one. The three persons of the Godhead act together. The Son
as our mediator dies as a sacrifice for sin and broken law. His death satisfies the
justice of God on our behalf. God can still be a righteous God and freely forgive us as
sinners who come to Him for mercy, because the Son has suffered and paid the penalty for
sin for us. God forgives us for Jesus sake. The Son does all this through the power of the
Holy Spirit. Thus covenant as understood by the word Berith means that God acts alone as a
trinity and prepares salvation for us freely. Man is not regarded as having covenant
making qualifications.
The vow as used in the Bar Mitzvah is used in
an entirely different meaning. The poor Jewish boy is made a party to a law contract,
where the terrible burden of keeping the whole law and six hundred thirteen other
commandments added by man are required of him. That the poor boy really means this
seriously and makes his salvation dependent upon his ability to so do, is seen from his
own statement when he makes the vow: "that it may be made, THROUGH MY FULFILLING THIS
PRECEPT, a spiritual garment for my soul." In short, through his own striving he is
to make a garment in which his soul shall appear before God. How pitiable. Of this garment
the prophet Isaiah says, chapter 64:6, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags."
We are well aware that many feel that they will
de the, best they can on this road and trust God for mercy to make up for their failures.
God does not lend mercy under this law way. If you choose this road it is either do or
die. There is no mercy under the law. The law most clearly says-. "Cursed be
he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." If you fail in the
least you are cursed.
A terrible curse from God rests upon this law
way, just as we cut down the weeds that the vegetables may grow, so God to preserve
the right way of salvation by grace must smite this way of works, Therefore He smites with
spiritual blindness those who go on this way as the prophet Isaiah says in chapter
6:9-10, "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye
indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes. . . ." This is one of the most terrible judgments that we know
of in all the Bible. God becomes the enemy of His people. Trusting in our own ability to
work our way to heaven is a subtle form of idolatry, and that is why God judges it so
severely.
The judgment does not end there. When this vow
is taken and really believed and followed, then the poor boy goes through a spiritual
birth or change of heart which results in terrible spiritual blindness. A spirit of stupor
fills the mind, so men wander about like sheep lost in the wilderness. What we have
written we have written out of a broken heart. When Jeremiah saw this he cried out and
said: "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might
weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Not physically slain,
but spiritually slain. What an unspeakable tragedy!
Did Not God Command Israel to Keep His Covenant When the Law Was Given?
I heard some Jew
say, is it not clearly said in Exodus 19:5 that if Israel would obey God's
voice and keep His covenant then they should be his own possession? Yes we are well aware
that the Bible so speaks, and that in connection with the giving of the law on Sinai.
However, we would have you observe that the covenant mentioned in Exodus 19:5, is not the
ten commandments or Torah as given on Sinai. The covenant God refers to there is the blood
covenant under which Israel had been from the days of Abraham, and under which He led them
out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Then please observe that when God spoke-those words the
Commandments or Torah was not yet given on Sinai. He could not have referred to a set of
laws not yet given. Oh that Israel could get back under the covenant of blood given them
by Abraham, then they would experience in a spiritual sense the glorious power of
God to deliver from sin as typified in their wonderful deliverance from the power of
Pharaoh and in the crossing over of the, Red Sea. Israel, here is where Satan set a trap
for you. May God help you to see it. Remember you were under the protection of the
blood covenant of Abraham as seen in Genesis chapter fifteen, for over four hundred years
before the law was given to you. If the blood covenant of God kept you there, why should
it not be possible that you should be kept under the blood covenant after the law was
given. The law was good and it helped you to see your sins. The new revelation of God's
grace to you under the blood covenant showed you how to get forgiveness for these sins as
portrayed so beautifully for you in all your offerings, sacrifices and Tabernacle
services. May God help you see this.
Abraham Our Common Spiritual Father Was Saved by Grace Under the Blood Covenant
Abraham our common
spiritual father was not saved by trying to keep laws and make vows, for there was no law
given until more than four hundred years after Abraham's day.
In Genesis 15:6, we see clearly how Abraham got
right with God. There we read: "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him
for righteousness." Abraham was told to take a lamb and sacrifice the lamb for his
sins. As he saw the fire consume the lamb he saw how God's wrath was upon his sins. This
lamb being consumed in the fire was a true picture of how the Messiah was to come and take
all our sins upon Him and be judged for them upon the cross of Calvary. That was the
meaning of all your sacrifices. Yes for four hundred and thirty years you as a people had
been protected by God under this wonderful blood covenant. This was all you had. Come back
to the blood covenant of Abraham and you will receive the blessings of Abraham. No doubt
it was for this reason that God later on opened up the heavens and showed us Abraham
there. If you want to be sure of getting to heaven then come the way Abraham
came-through the blood of the lamb.
Reasons Why Vow is Wrong
Admittedly it is an invention, for it is not
found in Scripture. The fancied need for additions bespeaks incompleteness on the part of
Scripture. It is the best we know for the child, they say. But was it the best God
knew of for His children for 4,000 years?
It virtually denies the fall, for if a
party reckoned dead in trespasses and sin can enter into a contract, and that before life
is supposed to be imparted, for the contract is made before the child is baptized, then
such a party cannot be helpless and without strength.
It is a law contract where salvation is made
dependent upon the poor child's ability to keep virtually the whole law, and that
according to the perfect requirements of God. If the child breaks the Vow he falls away,
and the penalty is attached.
It begets fear and uncertainty instead of
faith, hope and love in the consciousness of the soul. The consciousness of a broken Vow
gives Satan the full power of the law to use against that child-this law that Christ so
wonderfully has taken away.
It is a sad mixture of law and grace,
strongly condemned by Scripture. The terrible ultimatum of the law is for all who are under
it: Cursed be everyone who fails even in one point. Trying to do the best you can with the
Vow and then depending on grace to take care of your failures, is asking God to subvert
the entire Gospel of His Son to help you. Both Cain and Esau tried this way, but God did
not lend His hand to pervert grace. Don't ask God for grace to remain under a curse. Get
into God's way and you will be blessed freely, as was Jacob.
The question is asked, would it not be all
right for a confirmant who is really a child of God to make Vows? The making of Vows
assumes the competency to fulfill these Vows. Getting life from God does not come from
keeping Vows, it comes from accepting Christ as your Saviour in Faith: "As many as
received him, to them. gave he the right to become the children of God." If you, as a
saved person make Vows, you at once come under the curse of the law, for the law knows no
such thing as a regenerate or unregenerate person. It only knows that all who fail to
fulfill its demands at once are under a curse. No, dear friend: Jesus saves you. Jesus
keeps you. If unsaved, no amount of Vow making will give you life. If saved, no amount of
Vow keeping will keep you saved. Therefore neither baptismal confirmation nor any kind of
sacramental Vows are necessary if you have found salvation in Christ. In Him you are made
full: "As He is even so are we in this world." A true knowledge of this begets
love, and a willingness to do His will. This is fruit bearing, and not vow keeping.
Fruits of Vow-Making.
Most prophetic
students believe we live in the days of the Laodicean church. The church, poor in what she
should be rich, and rich, in what she should be poor; a deceived church.
We berate Israel for her spiritual blindness,
but history is repeating itself today, though in a slightly different manner:
When religious leaders must be driven under protest to allow laymen activity in church,
such as testifying and personal soul-winning, those leaders are blind.
When saloon-keepers, lodge-members who
fraternize with idol worshippers, pleasure-seekers who insist on turning the church's
prayer-room into a club-room where eating, drinking, smoking and the telling of funny
stories becomes the order of the day, as they plan their self-righteous works-when all
this is permitted without church discipline which results in putting away the
reprobate-that church is blind.
When a church will invite poor, unsuspecting
young people into her fold to entertain them with picture-shows and game-playing, eating
and drinking that church is blind.
When good women who are capable of such
wonderful soul-winning work allow themselves to degenerate into a Jezebel brood, proceed
to turn the house of God into a den of confusion, far worse than that which raised the
indignation of Jesus to such a fury that, so far as the writer is aware, it was the only
time in the life of Jesus when he employed an instrument of physical force to accomplish
his purpose-when such Babylonian confusion on the part of these Jezebel chickens is
allowed without effective protest, that church is dying and under judgment.
When a pastor joins lodges, drinks beer and
goes to shows, that pastor is blind.
Sad, sad to say, this is the active, everyday
fruit of altogether too many Vow-makers in the church today, and no man can deny it.
"Time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God." That day is here!
Hard words you say. Is it not better, however,
to hear these word here rather than to wake up in hell to hear them? Just a little serious
thinking will tell you that, unless Jesus changes his mind and He does not change, then a
good many people who have helper turn the house of God into a house of merchandise in
performing their stomach-ministry, will surely taste the wrath of God.
Leaders Fail to Warn People.
Where is there a
serious word of warning from the higher-up as to these flagrant sins? Who with but slight
discernment cannot see that the church is fast flowing into the molds of Rome instead of
back to the simple, chaste New Testament forms? What are all these Christian laymen so
stirred up about? They see the downward trend spiritually and are trying to stem the tide.
Is this why we must have controlled laymen's activity or none at all?
Indeed canonicals are even becoming an issue.
No longer is there dignity enough in the gown or robe to clothe these self-styled
ecclesiasts, who rob the local congregation of her dignity and honor by taking offices
rightly belonging to her and placing them in a, super-organization after the pattern of
Rome. No, now we also see the imitation pallium and the surplice. Rightly may we ask, how
long before we shall also see the scarf, the tunicle, the cardinal's hat, and in time the
tiara itself?
Jesus drove the money-changers out of the
temple and cast their money out with them. In other words, he would not use this polluted
money in doing God's work. Can there be any connection between the royal bounties our
higher ecclesiasts receive and their unwillingness to testify against the polluted sources
from whence these bounties come? "Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam." The voice of Luther can scarcely be heard in our midst, but the voice of the
Leipzig Dominican prior, John Tetzel, is heard over all the land.
Obey God at All Cost
Dear reader, what
does the inner voice of conscience say to you in this matter? On hearing a portion of this
message, a brother said: "It was as if the Spirit of God were speaking to me on this
subject." Truth seen and not acted on is dangerous. "And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie-who believed not the
truth." You do not really believe a thing you are not willing to act on, for faith
without works is dead.
Do you, dear reader, knowingly and willingly
wish to be a party to belittling sin and the curse of broken law? Do you wish to be a
party to casting a shadow on the finished work of Christ upon the Cross? Do you want to be
a party to placing men under a curse? Do you wish to ask for grace to pervert grace? Do
you wish to be a party to ask for grace to keep you under a curse? Do you wish to dishonor
Christ as the one and only mediator between God and men by forcing one poor helpless
sinner, who cannot care for his own sins, to assume responsibility for the sins of others?
Do you want such security for your own sins? Then why be a party in providing such poor,
worthless security for a helpless infant? Rome uses the Virgin Mary as its intercessor.
She was at least a good woman, whereas many earthly sponsors are wicked, worldly people.
Since the Vow is an addition to the Word of God
and admittedly not found there-therefore young people, let no one scare you into taking it
against the voice of your own conscience. Fear not to disregard it. It is not of God.
Church members, fear not to speak against the
Vow. No congregation can legally put you out for so doing. The Bible is the supreme
authority.
Pastors who are bothered, fear not to make an
issue of it. We are bound to obey God rather than men.
The writer is not the only one protesting this
matter. The good Christian laymen of Norway have made such an issue of the use of the Vow,
that even the "Altar Book" was changed so as to remove some of the objectionable
features of the Vow.
At least one whole Lutheran group, the
"Brodersamfundet," has repudiated the Vow, and for over twenty-five years has
stood as a testimony against it.
Is it not high time for the Lutheran church to
rid herself of this carry-over from Papal Rome? Let the large number of converted people
and pastors who are troubled about the Vow rise and demand its removal as they did in
Norway. God help you to say: "I will not knowingly and willingly be a party to
transmitting error to my fellow-men that will place them under a curse."
CHAPTER IX -
Judaism, Catholicism And Lutheranism, All Build On The Same Foundation In The Use Of The
Vow. A Word To Our Jewish Friends. Closing Remarks.
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