2. Luke 1:59-66

Introduction — Connection of baptism to circumcision

[Child] will be baptized this morning. If he had been born before the cross of Christ had wiped away all blood ceremonies, I would be performing a circumcision on him. I’m glad we are living in the time of the new covenant! Jesus was the final sacrifice, and the only thing that remains from the Old Testament initiatory sign is baptism. Baptism takes the place of circumcision as the sign of the covenant. And I have a two-page chart in my notes here of 21 things that the Bible ascribes to both baptism and circumcision, with 88 supporting Scriptures.2 Baptism entirely replaces the other and has exactly the same meaning as the other. I won’t cover those points, but the chart gives Scriptures that show that both circumcision and baptism are a sign and seal of the covenant of grace; both initiate people into the covenant; both symbolize regeneration, both point to the need for justification by faith; both point to cleansing from defilement; both oblige the recipients to die to the world and to walk in newness of life. John Calvin said that any argument that could be brought against infant baptism could be brought against infant circumcision. They signify and seal the same things. I won’t cover all twenty-one points, but I just say this much as background to Luke 1, where I want to take my baptism meditation. I am assuming the truth of this chart that baptism and circumcision signify and seal exactly the same things.

Meditation

John was receiving the sign of circumcision in Luke 1, and since the meaning of circumcision and baptism are the same, I think we can learn a lot from this text. First, circumcision was not just applied to believing adults (like Abraham), but it was also applied to their children. Verse 59 says, “So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child.” All the way back to Genesis 17, God commanded the sign of the covenant to be applied to infants on the eighth day and said that those who were not circumcised would be cut off from the covenant and its privileges and protections. The early church understood this connection. That’s why all the way up to AD 2533 many in the church appear to have baptized children on the eighth day after birth, because that was the day infants were circumcised in Old Testament times. Thus, Fidus (who was the moderator of a large presbytery) wrote a circular in AD 250 to all the churches in his presbytery saying that baptism should be delayed until the eighth day after a child was born on the analogy of circumcision. Apparently some people preferred to have their child baptized on Sunday. In the New Covenant, they argued, Sunday was called the eighth day. They appealed the decision to the Council of Carthage in AD 253. At the council, it was settled that babies could be baptized on Sunday even if it was earlier or later than the eighth day, and they gave several reasons. But they too argued that they were faithfully showing the connection to circumcision.

I find it significant that there is no evidence that anyone objected to infant baptism at this time. In fact, almost a hundred years earlier, elders from other presbyteries — like Justyn Martyr, Aristides, and Clement of Alexandria spoke of baptism as an apostolic practice. Numerous church fathers in the second and third centuries equated baptism with circumcision. So it is no wonder that you see infant baptism everywhere. Irenaeus (who was taught by Polycarp, John’s disciple) applied baptism “to infants and little ones and children and youths and older persons,” and he wrote that in AD 180. Origen said, “the church has a tradition from the apostles to give baptism even to infants.” So all over the church you see people practicing infant baptism as a replacement of circumcision. Hippolytus said the same in AD 215. Etc., etc. The point is, the early church never stopped including children in the covenant, and the first church council at which any controversy was raised over baptism was in AD 253, and it was only on which day the sign should be applied to the infant. Infant baptism was universally practiced; Sunday was treated as equivalent to the eighth day.

Second, the same verse says that they were planning to name this child when it was circumcised. The father usually named the child, but in this case, the father couldn’t talk, so the mother gave the father’s previous wishes. When they asked the father if that was so, he wrote on a tablet in verse 63, “His name is John.” He named this child. This practice explains why during the first fifteen hundred years of church history, parents named their children at baptism. This was a carry-over from circumcision.

Third, this circumcision did not save John. Luke 1:15 tells us that John was filled with the Holy Spirit long before he was circumcised. It says, “He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” So John was already saved before he was circumcised and Christ didn’t need to be saved when He was circumcised. Don’t ever think that circumcision in the Old Testament or baptism in the New Testament saves our children. It’s the sign of the covenant. Only Spirit baptism saves, and that can come before, during, or after water baptism.

But fourth, don’t ever think that this sign is unimportant. It is a sign and a seal of God’s grace. When the sign of the covenant was applied to John, Zacharias referred to God’s “oath which He swore to our father Abraham” (v. 73). God didn’t just give a sign; He gave an oath that He would fulfill what the sign signified. In other words, it was a seal or a pledge that God would fulfill what He promised. That’s why Romans 4:11 called circumcision a sign and seal. A seal is a pledge. You see, at the heart of every covenant is God’s promise, “I will be a God to you and to your children after you.” That’s God’s covenant oath. When we baptize our children, we take vows to raise our children up in the fear and nurture of God (that’s an indispensable part of the covenant according to Genesis 18:19). But God is also making an oath that He will bless our nurture of these children. And if [child] is not already saved, God will honor [parents’] faith by saving [child] at some point in the future. It’s God’s oath of the covenant. Take comfort in the fact that baptism is a seal or pledge just like circumcision was.

A fifth thing we see in John’s circumcision is given in Luke 1:50, which says, “His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation… as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his children forever.” That is dealing with covenant succession. To be part of the covenant was to have God claim your children and your children’s children. Since you give all that you are and have to God when you enter the covenant, it makes sense that you would give your children to God. He owns them; He claims them, and then God gives them back as a stewardship trust. In Ezekiel 16 He speaks of “your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me,” and then calls them “My children” (Ezek. 16:20-21) Yes, they are your sons and daughters in a sense, but they also belong to God. Isaiah 40 says that God not only owns the adult believing sheep who are in His flock, but He also claims their children as part of His flock. Speaking of the New Covenant, it says, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” God’s covenant is a family covenant. God told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Well, that hasn’t changed. Acts 3:25 quotes that verse and says that it continues to be true today. It says that in Christ, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That’s what baptism signifies. So it is no surprise that Jesus said, “allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” They are at least outwardly in the kingdom or in His flock. He protects them and cares for them.

And as I pour water on [child], consider the following two Old Testament prophecies of our New Covenant times: Isaiah 44 promises, “I will pour water on him who is thirsty… I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” The poured water represents the poured Spirit, and both come on our descendants. Water baptism should be with the same mode as Spirit baptism. And every single time the Bible mentions Spirit baptism it is the Spirit moving downwards upon an individual. We baptize the way God baptized the church with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts– it was always the Holy Spirit being poured out, shed forth, coming upon, and resting upon. The mode symbolizes the fact that it is not our actions that save, but God’s actions. So just as this water is poured out upon Ethan, we need to pray that the Spirit who is symbolized by the water would be poured out on him in God’s good timing. Amen.

Vows

[Parents], please come forward to take your vows. What are you naming your son?

VOWS OF PARENTS

  1. Do you acknowledge your son’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?
  2. Do you claim God’s covenant promises on his behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation as you do for your own?
  3. Do you now unreservedly dedicate your son to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before him a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

VOW OF CONGREGATION

Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of praying for and encouraging these parents as they seek to fulfill these vows. If so, say Amen.

Chart comparing circumcision and baptism

  1. Both are a sign
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:11; Rom. 4:11
    • Baptism: Implication of Romans 4:11-12. Also since, signs point to a spiritual reality, see all the things signified below
  2. Both are a seal
    • Circumcision: Rom. 4:11
    • Baptism: See all the things promised (sealed) in the meanings below. Also see the implication of what is sealed in Rom. 4:11-12; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13,30; 2 Tim. 2:19; Rev. 7:2-8; 9:4)
  3. Both initiate into membership in the covenant community
    • Cirumcision: Gen. 17:14; 21:4; Lev. 12:3
    • Baptism: Eph. 2:12; 1 Cor. 12:13
  4. Both symbolize regeneration
    • Circumcision: Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4
    • Baptism: John 3:5; Col. 2:13; Tit. 3:5
  5. Both point to justification by faith
    • Circumcision: Rom. 4:11; Col. 2:11-12; Rom. 2:25-29; Phil 3:3
    • Baptism: Acts 8:37; 2:38
  6. Both point to cleansing from defilement
    • Circumcision: Jer. 4:4; Lev. 26:14
    • Baptism: 1 Pet. 3:21; Acts 22:16; 1 Cor. 7:14
  7. Both are for those who are holy or “set apart” by a parent’s relationship to God
    • Circumcision: Ezra 9:2; Is. 6:13; Mal. 2:15
    • Baptism: 1 Cor. 7:14
  8. Both point to the need to die to the world (“Egypt”) and enter into new life
    • Circumcision: Josh. 5:9 with verses 2-9
    • Baptism: Romans 6:3-4
  9. Both point to union with God
    • Circumcision: Deut. 30:6; Jer. 4:4; Gal. 3:16,29; Gen. 17:7,8; Col. 2:11
    • Baptism: Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:1-8
  10. Both point to the need for an inner spiritual experience, namely spiritual circumcision and spiritual baptism
    • Circumcision: Rom. 2:28-29; Jer. 4:4
    • Baptism: 1 Pet. 3:21
  11. Both were placed on whole households
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:10,23-27
    • Baptism: Acts 16:15,33; 1 Cor. 1:16
  12. Both were a sign and seal of the covenant of grace
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:9-14; Deut. 30:6; Rom. 4:11
    • Baptism: Rom. 4:11; Col. 2:11-12
  13. Both point to remission of sins
    • Circumcision: Deut. 30:6; Col. 2:13
    • Baptism: Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Col. 2:13
  14. Both oblige the recipient to walk in newness of life
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:9; Deut. 10:12-16
    • Baptism: Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 7:14
  15. Neither one saves or benefits a person automatically (ex opera operato)
    • Circumcision: Jer. 9:25; Rom. 2:25-29
    • Baptism: Acts 8:13-24; Heb. 6:4-8; 10:29
  16. People can be saved without either one
    • Circumcision: Ex. 3:1; Rom. 4:10; Josh. 5:1-12; John was saved (Luke 1:44,47) before circumcision (v. 59); so too Jer. 1:4; Ps. 22:9,10; 2 Sam. 12:15-23; 1 Kings 14:13
    • Baptism: Luke 23:43; Acts 10:2-47; see implication of verses under circumcision.
  17. Both are given to children
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:10,12,14; Luke 1:59
    • Baptism: Acts 2:39; 16:15,33; 1 Cor. 7:14; Gal. 4:1-2 in context of baptism of heirs in 3:26-29
  18. It is not lawful to give to a child if both parents are unbelievers
    • Circumcision: Josh. 5:1-12 shows that children of unbelieving generation were not allowed to be circumcised
    • Baptism: 1 Cor. 7:14-16; Acts 2:39
  19. Both signs were given to non-elect children of believers
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:19-25 with Gal. 4:21-31; Gen. 25:34; Rom. 9:13
    • Baptism: Acts 8:13-24; Heb. 6:4-8; 10:29
  20. Both signs were usually only administered once
    • Circumcision: obvious
    • Baptism: Eph. 4:5; also the implication of 1 Cor. 7:18; Tit. 3:5; Acts 8:22-23
  21. It is a sin to neglect this sign
    • Circumcision: Gen. 17:14; Ex. 4:24-26
    • Baptism: Luke 7:30 with Matt. 21:23-27; 28:19; John 3:5; Acts 10:47-48
  22. Both signs point to the cross of Christ
    • Circumcision: Col. 2:11-14
    • Baptism: Col. 2:11-14; Mark 10:38; Rom. 6:3

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3. Stewardship