TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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of God without being born of water and the Spirit, and the Titus 3:5 reference that Christ saved us not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit. White does not use the term baptismal regeneration, but he talks of how "baptism marks the beginning for us of a new creation'* and of how we are born into the church and its royal priesthood. He does speak of God giving us birth in baptism. White's assertion is interesting: Baptism, then, is God's free gift, not contingent upon us or our worthiness. By baptism, God makes us Christians^ because of our baptism we try each day to become disciples. A third well-known United Methodist interpreter of liturgy and sacraments in our time is William H. Willimon. Remember Who You Are: Baptism a Model for Christian Life contains a chapter entitled "How to Be Born Again," in which Willimon criticizes Billy Graham's book by that tide because in it Graham gave a simple method for making the New Birth happen—recognizing what God did, repenting of our sins, receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and confessing Christ publicly—without recognizing that new birth is God's gift and not something we can do for ourselves, and without mentioning baptism. 6 Says Willimon (who also draws upon John 3:5 and Titus 3:5 at this point, among other scriptural texts), "In the New Testament, any talk about rebirth, regeneration or being born again is invariably baptismal talk." 7 Willimon spends a helpful paragraph or two discussing the relationship between the outward rite of baptism and the inward experience of renewal. He does not completely identify them but says that they are related. He would not say that rebirth is impossible if we are not baptized. Actually, Willimon avoids a magical understanding of baptism by stating that regeneration is a part of baptism but that it may not occur chronologically when baptism does. This is because baptism is not a momentary rite but "a lifetime process of God's work in us. So is our rebirth in baptism." 8 Willimon has quotes from the Protestant reformers to support this affirmation that he makes. He sees a lifetime of repentance and conversion necessary to follow baptism. To him 42 QUARTERLY REVIEW / SPRING 1993
Baptismal regeneration of infants only makes sense if baptism is seen not as completed in a moment, but as completed throughout life. 9 I have quoted extensively from Stookey, White, and Willimon not only because I consider them to be important weather vanes with regard to United Methodist sacramental theology but also because I highly value the more objective and foundational meaning they attribute to the sacraments. I see them as voices calling United Methodism out of its sometime blatant humanism, experiential subjectivism, and flat works-righteousness into a deeper and more biblical understanding of the Christian gospel. I do not agree with them at every point. 10 Nonetheless, I greet affirmatively the sacramental interpretations these authors have provided us. We should not accord only Stookey, White, Willimon and others like them sole credit for the current directional change United Methodism seems to be experiencing regarding the sacraments. The ecumenical milieu in which our denomination has long been a vital part has involved us in a move toward a more churchly direction with the emphasis on God's grace communicated sacramentally as well as orally. It is difficult, for example, to measure the influence of the World Council of Church's Faith and Order document, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (BEM), on the United Methodist Church. For those pastors and laity who take it seriously, this 1982 statement affirms, among other biblical images for baptism, "a washing away of sins (I Cor. 6:11), a new birth (John 3:5)," and "the experience of salvation from the flood (1 Pet. 3:20-21)"—all equated with baptism. Much is claimed for the sacrament just at this point. Thus those baptized are pardoned, cleansed, and sanctified by Christ and are given as part of their baptismal experience a new ethical orientation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. United Methodism's official response to BEM, in the form of a report made by a theological task force appointed by our bishops and the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, expressed reservations regarding baptismal regeneration in terms that see baptism only for the forgiveness of sins. 12 When the Council of Bishops affirmed BEM on behalf of the church in 1986, they did not appear to criticize rebirth in baptism. Instead, BAPTISMAL REGENERATION 43
Page 1 and 2: Quarterly Review/Spring 1993 55.00
Page 3 and 4: Quarterly Review A Journal of Theol
Page 5: VOL. 13, NO. 1 SPRING 1993 Contents
Page 8 and 9: I have always rather liked the gruf
Page 10 and 11: of discipleship in the New Testamen
Page 12 and 13: imagine a week without visiting the
Page 14 and 15: transform all of life, and all that
Page 16 and 17: Contemporary North American Christi
Page 18 and 19: We must now see what it is that cha
Page 20 and 21: saying "call no one your father in
Page 22 and 23: 13:12). There is no following of Je
Page 24 and 25: Both New Testament discipleship and
Page 26 and 27: 17. "The Duty of Constant Communion
Page 28 and 29: earliest Christian congregations be
Page 30 and 31: his baptism to the experience of Ch
Page 32 and 33: Holy Spirit comes down willingly fr
Page 34 and 35: The Sacramental Nature of the Bapti
Page 36 and 37: to save them from "the wrath to com
Page 38 and 39: aptism—for mature youth and adult
Page 40 and 41: purpose of a rite of maturity is to
Page 42 and 43: church, namely, thatbaptism-chrisma
Page 44 and 45: 31. John Wesley, Works, X: 151. 32.
Page 46 and 47: In Baptismal Covenant I, in the "In
Page 50 and 51: they urged a stronger claim for a p
Page 52 and 53: After analyzing how American Method
Page 54 and 55: eferred to as "a symbol of an inner
Page 56 and 57: of baptism is "the washing away the
Page 58 and 59: Although there is only scant likeli
Page 60 and 61: ut the inner man, where we have put
Page 62 and 63: Notes 1. Lawrence Hull Stookey, "Th
Page 64 and 65: 44. Borgen, 159f.; Stein, 319, f, 1
Page 66 and 67: I am not a liturgical scholar or pr
Page 68 and 69: ounden duty...to consecrate our chi
Page 70 and 71: formed in the gospel not only by le
Page 72 and 73: life, for one could always lose gra
Page 74 and 75: However, I have focused on human ac
Page 76 and 77: Osborne, Kenan B. The Christian Sac
Page 78 and 79: It was raining pretty hard one Satu
Page 80 and 81: the same time a young man came to s
Page 82 and 83: theologically unpacked. A pastoral
Page 84 and 85: Elizabeth Achtemeier's Preaching fr
Page 86 and 87: prophets by the traditions of ancie
Page 88 and 89: eading; it seems as if one is heari
Page 90 and 91: Brueggemann's discussion of royal v
Page 92 and 93: limitations, even in quite valuable
Page 95 and 96: M. Eugene Boring Interpreting 1 Pet
Page 97 and 98: particular way. The particularity o
Page 99 and 100:
in the capital of the empire felt m
Page 101 and 102:
location but about the way we relat
Page 103 and 104:
answer: Read. Interpret. Examine. B
Page 105 and 106:
in liturgical settings. Yet all of
Page 107 and 108:
word accomplished by Jesus, who cal
Page 109 and 110:
community that does what priests do
Page 111 and 112:
kings, slavery as a divinely author
Page 113 and 114:
wives and husbands. To each it migh
Page 115 and 116:
etained some of the oral style appr
Page 117 and 118:
Brox, Norbert. Der erste Petrusbrie
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