Baptism – What Does This Mean?

The Forgiveness of Sins

Encore Post:

[Thirty-Seventh in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

King David was a prime example of someone who needed forgiveness. In one episode, he managed to shirk his duty as a commander, lust after his neighbor’s wife, use his power to rape or commit adultery with her, lie to her husband, send him on a suicide mission to murder him, then marry Bathsheba to cover it up. He sinned against everyone, it seems. Yet it is to God he goes for forgiveness. In the end, all sins are rebellion against God. (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25 and Psalm 51)

Forgiveness is hard to come by in this world. When we are hurt, we want to return that hurt in kind. Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism have no forgiveness — you pay back the bad karma you give with suffering in this life or nearly endless reincarnations. Mormons must cease sinning to pay for forgiveness and progress towards godhood. Pagan religions require a suitable sacrifice to an appropriate spirit.

Christianity is different. We have a loving and merciful God, who, in Jesus, died to pay for our forgiveness and, through the Holy Spirit, gives faith, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Spirit uses his Church to bring this forgiveness to all. In the Church, the Gospel is preached, God adopts his children through baptism, Jesus gives his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, and he hears our confessions and absolves us of our sins through pastors he sends to do so.

So, then, the Church is not a country club, a place where only good people need apply. It is a hospital, where we who are sick can get well, taking the only medicine that can make us well. We are, after all, beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

One Flesh in Two Persons: Marriage

Encore Post: For six days, God had been creating the world. He spoke, and light appeared, earth took form, land appeared out of the great sea. The sun, moon, and stars shone in the sky. Plants grew on the ground, fish swam in the sea, and animals roamed the earth.

Now Father, Son, and Holy Spirit conferred and said, ” Let us make man just like us. “And so he made us — male and female. He planted a garden, came down, formed Adam (His name means “ground, soil” in Hebrew) from the soil, and breathed life into him. But something still was not quite right. Adam was alone.

So God brought all the animals to Adam. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and Cats just didn’t do it. So God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God–– two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman—she-man, and named her Eve—life, because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good.

This perfect image of God, holy like him and the closest human beings have to understanding the nature of God, was ruined by sin and its consequences. When people make themselves the center of the universe, there is no room for a god or another. Now sin tempts us to look everywhere for pleasure rather than in the very good gifts God has given to us. As we turn our hearts from our beloved and the Beloved, they grow cold and unfeeling.

This is why God condemns adultery, pornography, same sex relationships and acts, pre-marital sex, sexual assault, rape, and all other seeking of desire outside of the love of one man and woman, united in marriage for a lifetime. It divides what God himself has joined together and mars the image he placed in us. It destroys the image of Christ’s marriage to the Church and obscures the work he has done for us.

But when we were lost, unfaithful to God our husband, Jesus came and sought us to be his holy bride, with his own blood he bought us, and for our life he died. When he found us, he washed us, cleansed us in baptism, so that he could present us as his radiant bride. On the last day, he will come for us, and bring us to the wedding and the marriage reception that lasts forever.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2018-2026 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share, and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Enlightened with His Gifts

Encore Post:

[Thirty-Sixth In a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism,]

Everyone loves receiving gifts. They show us we are appreciated and that someone was thinking about us. This is true even when it comes from someone you love. Of course, a young woman loves to receive an engagement ring. It not only shows her that her boyfriend cares about her, but it also carries a promise. The day soon will come when he will make her his bride. It is filled with visions of a happy life, children, and the hope that she will not be alone as long as they both live.

It is likely the ring is not the first gift she received from him or the first gift he gave to her. And it will not be the last. Yet she would never consider returning a gift from her beloved. Each new gift comes with the same reminder that she is loved.

God, the Holy Spirit gives us many gifts. The Means of Grace are the most precious of them. While they are simple in form — written words on a page or said by a man, water poured on your head, bread and wine eaten with other very ordinary people — they are precious gifts. All of them come with the power of the Holy Spirit to create faith in our hearts, make a new Adam or Eve within us who loves God and wants to serve him. They give us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

In the waters of baptism, we are adopted as God’s children. With the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, we eat the body of our Lord broken on the cross to pay for our sins and drink the blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. In Absolution, we hear the words of Jesus that our sins are forgiven in the voice of the one sent to say them to us.

These are gifts that produce more gifts. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These gifts serve God and our neighbors and testify that God is indeed good. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Christ is Risen!

Encore Post:

[Thirtieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

Since ancient times, Christians have greeted each other on Easter with “He is risen!” or “Christ is risen.” The words of the angel to the women at the tomb (Mark 16:6) are still joyful to this day. In Lutheran churches, it is common for pastors to open sermons throughout the Easter season with these words. The greeting is repeated at the end of Lutheran burial services, reminding us of the resurrection. So, why does the resurrection strike such a chord with Christians? After all, the full price for our salvation was completed when Jesus died on the cross.

The reasons we cling to the Resurrection of Jesus are many. The most important thing is that the resurrection of our bodies is tied to it. In baptism, we die with Christ, and when he rose, we rise to new life. (Romans 6:3-4) If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would remain in our graves. We would have believed in a lie. But Christ did rise from the grave, the first harvest of God’s children. (1 Corinthians 15:20) His resurrection broke the seal of the grave. On the last day, we will rise, body and soul, to live with Christ forever.

The resurrection of our Lord also fulfilled all the promises of God’s word and the predictions of Jesus himself. When he rose, he demonstrated that God’s promises are kept. The three days in the grave — Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Saturday evening — fulfilled these in great precision. So, with the Church of all times and places, we confess, “on the third day, he rose from the dead,” knowing that it makes our resurrection a sure and certain hope. So, we can face death, knowing it has no sting any longer.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Three Ways God Cares for Us

Encore Post:

[Twentieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

When we baptize a new Christian, we ask him to promise several things and to confess several things. Following the Church’s ancient tradition, we ask the candidate whether they believe what the creed proclaims. But we do this with three questions: “Do you believe in God the Father…?” “Do you believe in Jesus Christ…?” and “Do you believe in the Holy Spirit…? We do this because each person of the Holy Trinity has His own role in our life and salvation.

This is a bit of a mystery, since all three persons are involved in these acts of love for us, yet Scripture speaks of each having a distinct role. Rather than try to puzzle out how this is so, we rejoice that each person loves us in his own way.

Martin Luther, in his Small Catechism, calls each person’s work an article and speaks about them separately. He talks about the good news that God the Father created and provides for us, that God the Son redeems us through his own blood, and that the Holy Spirit makes us holy. This good news gives us joy, especially since we just considered his law in the Ten Commandments. We have been confronted by the fact of our sinfulness. Now we can have peace in the gospel of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Sabbath Rest

Encore Post:

[twelfth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people, the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it — rested every night, and on the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.

Yet for Christians, the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still, the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.

While Christians should worship God every day, resting on Sunday offers the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other, and to study the Word of God. It is not so much that we have to go to church as that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places, that freedom does not exist.

So we honor Sundays and holy days. We used the opportunity to receive forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days, and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Pray, Praise and Give Thanks

Encore Post:

[Eleventh is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

A name has a lot more packed into it than we often realize. It carries a person’s reputation, authority, and power. In ancient magical lore, if you know a person’s true name, you can have power over them. God’s name is the most important of all, not because it is magical, but because God has promised to hear us when we call to him.

The Second Commandment is all about using God’s name in prayer, acting as his tools in this world to bring the Gospel to the lost and to do his will as we serve him and our neighbors. We baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We teach all that he commands us to teach. When we make promises to tell the truth and make promises to each other in his presence, we commit ourselves to keep them.

The problem is our sinful nature wants to use God’s name to cover lies and to make people believe we intend to do what we have no intention of doing. We want God to give us what we desire, treating Him as if He were some kind of cosmic vending machine — insert prayer. Believe you will get it, and it will come to you. We are inclined to say “Oh my God” when we are surprised or shocked, rather than as a prayer for help. These uses are misuses of God’s name and are what the command forbids.

So, then, do we go the other way, as Judaism does, and not even use his name at all? No, God wants us to use His name. We call him in trouble. We are comforted when, in His name, our pastors forgive our sins. We draw strength when we remember that he came to us in our baptism and put his name on us so that in his name we are saved. We call his name the way we call a beloved father, mother, or grandparent, knowing we are loved and that they want to share our lives. We use his name to praise him and thank him for his love and mercy.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2018, rev. 2020 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Faith

[Seventh in a series of posts on Ephesians 1 & 2] Encore Post: Faith is one of those “church words” that everyone knows and uses, but finds hard to pin down. We use it to mean everything from a family of church bodies, to a system of things people believe, to trust in God, to accepting something is true, but that we cannot prove. The Greek language uses one word for both faith and belief. (πιστεύω — pisteoo — to believe, πίστις; pistis; Faith) When the New Testament uses the word, it uses it for both what we believe in and our trust in God to keep his promises to save us.

When the Bible talks about faith in God (Saving Faith, Justifying Faith) it means a trust in God to keep his promises, especially his promise to save us. This trust is not something we create by things we do. It is created in us when the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Gospel, Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper. (Romans 1:17, John 20:30-31, Ephesians 1:13, Romans 1:16-17) Our faith clings to Jesus, believing that his sufferings and death on the cross forgives our sins and gives us everlasting life. This faith responds to the Grace given to us in God’s Word and the Sacraments. It thanks God for his mercy, praises him and gives us the desire to serve God and our neighbors. (much more on this later. For now, see Ephesians 2:10)

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Means of Grace

[Sixth in a series of posts on Ephesians 1 & 2] Encore Post: Now and then, the news is filled with excitement over lottery jackpots worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Long lines form at convenience stores as everyone wants to buy a ticket. For all but a handful of people, the only value of the ticket is entertainment. Yet the very lucky winner is very happy indeed. She has won a fortune! Yet her bank account hasn’t changed a penny. Until the money is deposited, nothing has changed — other than she discovers she has more cousins than she ever knew she had!

Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have amazing riches in heaven. God loves us, gives us his grace. We are his children. Our sins are forgiven and we will live forever. Yet without a way of these things coming to us, it is not yet applied to us. To give these gifts to us, God uses the Means of Grace.

The Means of Grace are visible means by which God the Holy Spirit gives the gifts Jesus earned by his death on the cross. He uses these to plant faith in our hearts, strengthen and preserve it. Through them, we receive the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. He uses this to enter our hearts and live there.

These means are the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and perhaps Absolution. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and sometimes absolution are called sacraments.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Baptized into Christ’s Body

Encore Post: Fifty-Fifth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Baptism connects us with Christ. We are united with him in his death and when he rose from the dead; we rise with him. That is about as personal a relationship as we can get. Yet there is more. When we are united with Christ, we are also made a part of his body, the Church. We now have brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we will live forever.

When Jesus gave his final instructions to his apostles, he commanded them to make disciples from all peoples, baptizing them and teaching them. (Matthew 28:18-20) When we were baptized, we were put into Christ’s body, one of many members. God knew we would need each other and so bound us together. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) In this one body, we are united by the Holy Spirit. We have one Lord, one hope, one faith and one God and Father of us all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

For this reason, the church ordinarily baptizes new Christians, young and old, during worship services on a Sunday morning or during the Vigil of Easter. In this way, all the new Christian’s spiritual family can welcome them and rejoice with God that his child who once was lost has now been found and brought home to be him and them forever.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana