What are Ordinances?

It’s been a while since I’ve written a Words Not Found in Scripture post… but I still have a list of words that I want to get through. Today’s word is Ordinance. You may have heard this word from time to time while listening to a preacher or perhaps in a business meeting. It is usually coupled with the word “Church” as in “Church Ordinance”.

There are several different ways to define Church Ordinance and the differences largely depend on your religious views. I would say the most global way to define Church Ordinance is a command or ritual that was given to the Church and must be obeyed. The list of ordinances will grow or shrink depending on your religious views. For instance, Baptist commonly hold two church ordinances

1. Believer’s Baptism
2. The Lord’s Supper

From my understanding of Church Ordinances, they are tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by the church can they be performed. So, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism must be administered to the church, by the church. Some might argue that their validity lies in the who is doing it and who is receiving it.

In Catholic circles, Church Ordinances are synonymous with their Sacraments, which are:

1. Baptism
2. Penance (Confession)
3. Holy Eucharist (The Lord’s Supper)
4. Confirmation
5. Matrimony
6. Anointing of the Sick
7. Holy Orders (“Ordination” or recognition of people as “ministers”)

Usually in practice Baptists believe that “Ordination” can only be administered to the church, by the church — but I would doubt they would say it is an Church Ordinance (in the scripture sense). I have also heard of some Baptist theologians who believe that Matrimony is indeed a Church Ordinance.

In practice, we generally look for a single professional to administer these ordinances. In Catholicism, they have Priests who perform these deeds; Baptists usually look toward their Pastor to perform them. Sometimes this changes the definition of Church Ordinance, from “tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by the church can they be performed” to “tasks that are given to the church to perform and only by leaders of the church can they be performed.” I contend that this change can be somewhat detrimental to the heal of the church.

Church Ordinances Are Not Found in Scripture

Of course, most of the things we usually call Church Ordinances or Sacraments can be found in scripture. The Lord’s Supper is very good to recognize, to remember the sacrifice made for us by Jesus. Baptism is a great ritual, as a recognition of the accepting of God’s freely given gift. But these rituals are not commanded, nor are they prescribed, and they are barely even described. Their lack of description is mainly why Catholics believe the Lord’s Supper turns into the physical blood and body of Christ (transubstantiation) and Baptists believe the Lord’s Supper is merely a symbol or memorial to Christ himself. Or why Catholics believe that Infant Baptism is the proper mode and method of Baptism, while Baptists believe that Believers Baptism is the proper mode and method.

One could say that a devout non-believer performing the Lord’s Supper ritual is meaningless and essentially I would agree. However, the examples we have in scripture of the Church performing this ritual does not mean that it was an Ordinance given to the church to perform. It is merely an example of what the Church did to recognize and remember their savior.

Church Ordinances, Are They Found in Scripture?

Ok, so maybe I lied… there is not an official lists of Church Ordinances, but there are some rituals and commands that were given to the church and would be beneficial if we followed them today. I am just not sure that Believer’s Baptism or the Lord’s Supper are them. How about these?

1. Consider One Another (Hebrews 10)
2. Imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11)
3. Rejoice in Jesus (Philippians 3)

What about you, can you think of some Church Ordinances that we ignore?

I will continue my series on Words Not Found in Scripture with the word “baptize”. Technically you will find “baptize” (and it’s derivatives) throughout your English translations. In fact, technically you will find “baptize” in the original Greek. The actual word though is “baptizo” (βαπτιζω). And that is exactly the problem.

You see, the word “baptize” is not actually a real English word. It is a transliterated word and like “church” was used by King James as a form of deception. When you use a word that has no meaning, you can assign any meaning you want to it. Then you require a professionally trained individual to tell you what it means. Of course, the word “baptize” for 1500 years has been twisted and distorted and even today, there are people who misuse or mistranslate it.

According to Merriam Webster, baptize means:

1 : to administer baptism to
2 a : to purify or cleanse spiritually especially by a purging experience or ordeal b : initiate
3 : to give a name to (as at baptism) : christen

And, baptism means:

1 a : a Christian sacrament marked by ritual use of water and admitting the recipient to the Christian community b : a non-Christian rite using water for ritual purification c Christian Science : purification by or submergence in Spirit
2 : an act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, initiated, or named

βαπτιζω in the Greek means literally the “act of immersion or dipping”. It does not mean, “to immerse in water”. It only means “to immerse,” however, in the context of water, it would mean that you immerse in water. Similar, in the context of fire, it would mean that you immerse in fire. It can be used to describe a ship sinking, washing your hands, or even washing your dishes.

The Facts

1. The word “baptize” (and it’s derivatives, including baptism, baptist, etc.) occurs 106 times in the NASB.
2. βαπτιστης (the noun form for Baptist or “Baptizer”) occurs 14 times in the Greek and is always in reference to John the “Baptist”.
3. βαπτιζω (the verb form for “Baptize”) occurs 77 times in the Greek New Testament. In Mark 7:4 it is referring to ceremonial washing; Luke 3:16 “he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire”; Luke 11:38 refers to ceremonial washing of hands before dinner; and more.
4. βαπτισμα (the noun form for “Baptism”) occurs 22 times in the New Testament and is always transliterated as “baptism”.
5. βαπτισμος (another noun form for “Baptism”) occurs 4 times in the New Testament, is transliterated as “baptism” once in Col 2:12; and refers to ceremonial washing or other washing in Mark 7:4, Hebrews 6:2, 9:10.

Conclusion

I have a pretty big problem with transliterations. Mainly because they do not mean anything to the reader. Actually, they mean a great deal to the reader. For instance, to a Catholic the transliteration of “baptize” means, “an infant who had water poured on its head to wash away its original sin so that if it dies it will spend less time in purgatory.” But baptize, literally means “immerse”. Now, this post is not about which modes of baptism are acceptable in God’s eyes, frankly, just because the word means “immersion” does not mean (to me) that people who are “sprinkled” are not real Christians. Why? Well because there is a ceremonial definition to the word Baptism. It is a symbolic act done as a proclamation of your acceptance of Jesus’ gift and acknowledgment that he has purified your soul.

I believe “immersion”, “dipping”, or “washing” are suitable translations in replacement of our current transliterations. As BDAG puts it, “the transliteration ‘baptize’ signifies the ceremonial character that NT narratives accord such cleansing, but the need of qualifying statements or contextual coloring in the documents indicates that the term ‘baptize’ was not nearly so technical as the transliteration suggests.”

As it turns out, I was talking to Alan Knox about this post and he reminded me of some research he posted on his blog about the word βαπτιζω. Here are some links to his series on Baptism:

• Baptism in the LXX
• Baptism in Philo
• Baptism in Josephus
• Water baptism in the New Testament
• Other Baptism in the New Testament
• Ambiguous Baptism in the New Testament

As Alan’s research shows “we must recognize the importance of context in understanding the meaning of the verb. The verb does not always mean ‘to submerge under water’.”

I have a question for all my readers… what would your “ideal Bible” look like?

For a while I have been desiring certain features in a Bible, such as, Greek and Hebrew along with a solid English translation; perhaps with or without Chapter and Verse divisions; maybe it would have cross references; a single column rather than two columns; room to write notes.

What about changing the book order, especially in the Old Testament?

Remove all transliterated words like “baptism” and “deacon” and replace them with their translations like “immersion” and “servant,” respectively.

What are your thoughts? What do you want in a Bible that you can’t get now?

The reason I ask is because I have thought about creating my own Bible. With direct printing services available from companies like Lulu.com or Cafepress.com this is definitely a real possibility. Of course it will take a lot of work and time, but I think it would be worth it… at least for me.

Last week I was asked to teach a Sunday School lesson for one of our brothers. They just started going through the letter we call 1 Corinthians and he asked me to teach on chapter 1:10-17.

¹⁰ But I exhort you brothers through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that you all say the same thing and there be no division among you but that you be restored in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by those of Chloe that strife exists among you. ¹² But I say to you that each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ. ¹³ Has the Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I give thanks to God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵ So that no one might say that in my name they were baptized. ¹⁶ But also I baptized the Stephanas house, beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any other. ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ might not be rendered void.

Paul uses these verses to setup everything he is about to talk about in the next few chapters of this letter. The reader should pay careful attention here and keep these verses in mind as they continue to read. I knew no other way to teach these verse but to go through each verse and point out the significance of different words. So in this post, I am going to give a brief summation of what I taught and ask you all to consider what Paul is saying.

10 – Paul is exhorting the Corinthian Christians for four reasons:

1. So they would all say the same thing.
2. So there would be no division among them.
3. So they would be restored in the same mind.
4. So they would be restored in the same purpose.

• Exhorting – to urge strongly, to make a strong request for something. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)
• Division – the condition of being divided because of conflicting aims or objectives. (1 Corinthians 12:22-26)
• Mind – An attitude or way of thinking. (Luke 24:25, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-24)
• Purpose – purpose, intention, mind, mind-set. (1 Corinthians 7:25, 1 Corinthians 7:40)
• Same – has to context of agreeing with one another. He is talking about having unity. (Romans 15:5-6)

11 –

• Strife – Engagement in rivalry, esp. w. ref. to positions taken in a matter. (Galatians 5:19-21)

12 – Paul is referring back to 1 Corinthians 1:12. “So that you all say the same thing” – “each one of you is saying that one the one hand I am of Paul, on the other hand I am of Apollos, on the other hand I am of Cephas, on the other hand I am of Christ.”

• I noticed that some people believed Paul put him first in the list and Christ last because he was trying to show that he is the least (thus furthest) from the most important figure (Christ).
• Paul obviously believes that Christ is superior: “whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” – 1 Corinthians 3:22-23
• Why then does he make it seem bad that some were saying “I am of Christ”? In my opinion it was because people were doing it to take part in a faction. They were not doing it because they truly thought of themselves as “of Christ” but because they were competing against the other people and their factions.
  

• What is Paul telling us about leaders in this verse?
• Some answers given in class:
  
• We should not idolize them
• Our relationship with Christ should drive us, not our desire to follow an earthly leader
• …
  
• Can this verse be applied today in any other way?
• Some answers given in class:
• Church unity
• Congregationalism (the idea that I am a member of XXX Baptist Church)
• Denominationalism (the idea that I am a Southern Baptist/Pentecostal/Catholic/etc.)
• …

13 – These questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer.

• Is the Christ divided?
1. Divided – to separate into parts. (Matthew 12:25)
• Paul was not crucified for you, was he? “we preach Christ crucified” – 1 Corinthians 1:23
• Were you baptized in the name of Paul? (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48a, Acts 19:5a)

14-16 – Paul makes it clear that he is glad that he baptized few of them.

• Don’t we see a high number of baptisms as a mark of a successful ministry?
• It seems that being focused on numbers goes against what Paul sees as his focus.
• What does this tell us about our view on baptisms (and numbers)?

17 – Christ did not send Paul to baptize? What then?

• “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
1. There is only one command in the great commission, make disciples.
2. While you are making disciples, you should be going, baptizing, and teaching.

So this pretty much what I taught. There was a lot of great conversation in the class – so I ask you all, what do you think Paul is doing here?