The section below is part of a commentary of the prayer found in the Reformed "Form for the Administration of Baptism," which says what follows.
O Almighty and eternal God, Thou who hast according to Thy severe judgment punished the unbelieving and unrepentant world with the flood, and hast according to Thy great mercy saved and protected believing Noah and his family; Thou who hast drowned the obstinate Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, and hast led Thy people Israel through the midst of the Sea upon dry ground, by which baptism was signified—we beseech Thee that Thou wilt be pleased, of Thine infinite mercy, graciously to look upon these children and incorporate them by Thy Holy Spirit into Thy Son Jesus Christ, that they may be buried with Him into His death, and be raised with Him in newness of life; that they may daily follow Him, joyfully bearing their cross, and cleave unto Him in true faith, firm hope, and ardent love; that they may, with a comfortable sense of Thy favor, leave this life, which is nothing but a continual death, and at the last day may appear without terror before the judgment seat of Christ Thy Son, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one only God, lives and reigns forever. Amen.
More specifically, what follows is part of Wielenga's commentary to the part in bold.
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| Bastiaan Wielenga (1873-1949). Source: https://bit.ly/3asMWhM |
Note, this is the symbol of what grace does. It pulls the old down, so that the new may rise. Just as Christ’s death and burial did not have the purpose in themselves but were the way, the means to his glorious resurrection, so are the death and burial of the old man the way of preparation, the trailblazer to the resurrection of the new life.
What is this new life? In every respect it is the contrast to the old life. Everything that the old man, who goes down into the grave and is left behind, is in a negative sense, the new man, who gloriously arises from the grave, is in a positive sense.
He no longer serves sin (Rom. 6:6). He is justified and freed from sin (v. 7). Death has no longer dominion over him (v. 9). Sin no longer reigns in his mortal body in order to obey it in the lusts of the same body (v. 12). He no longer yields his members as instruments of unrighteousness (v. 13). He has put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph. 4:22).
All this is the negative result. But that, as the reverse, brings with it a positive power and beauty and the blessedness of the new life.
Listen to what the apostle says of the new life that by baptism is sealed and signified to God’s child. He who by baptism partakes of the resurrection of Christ may believe that he shall also live with him, that is, here the spiritual and thereafter eternal life (Rom. 6:8). For in that he lives, he lives for God (v. 10). He yields himself unto God (that is, he is subservient to God) as those who are alive from the dead and yields his members as instruments of righteousness to God (v. 13). He has obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered to him (v. 17). He has become a servant of righteousness (v. 18). He has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life (v. 22).
To summarize all of this: Christ has given himself for his people so that he may sanctify and cleanse them with the washing of water by the word, so that he might present them to himself a glorious body, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26–27).
Thus new is not used here in the form in the way of, for example, the expression “a new year,” where it means nothing but something that follows on, that has just begun; or also as the expression “a new book,” which indicates that it has not been used. No, when God is asked in this prayer for the resurrection of a new life, this means a completely different and changed life, a life totally and radically different from the former one.
This kind of life comprises not just a part of man, but the whole of man: a new mind and a new heart; a new will and a new imagination; new emotions and a new consciousness. Everything must become new, in him and to him. Also the new body that will one day be raised from the grave as a perfect instrument of the renewed soul is the result of being baptized into the resurrection of Christ.
If perhaps the question arises among us, why all this is asked separately for this child when it is already included in the incorporation into Christ, the answer is that life, also the new life, is not only God’s gift to man, but also a calling, a task of man. The Reformed declare themselves dead set against all fatalism, whether this is forced upon them from Islam or from a modern form of the philosophy of Spinoza. The Christian is not forced to live but actively lives life, when God ignites the spark of the new life in his soul. He walks, as Paul says in Romans 6, in newness of life.
What would otherwise be the sense of the admonitions that he adds to the picture of that glorious renewed life? Why in verse 13 this: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
Life is not letting oneself be swept along by the tide, simply awaiting those things that will happen. It is a battle, a pushing forward; a striving for development that comes to an end; and running the race that must find its end. It is not without reason that our marginal annotators at Romans 6:4 point to Hebrews 12:1, where we read, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Thus this prayer has its origin in the truth that the new life of God’s child is in itself perfect and spotlessly holy, but it needs to develop into full maturity. He must strongly resist the sin that is rampant and attacks man from within and without. The prayer to enable the Christian for life’s entire task and the whole of his calling is thus encapsulated in this petition, [So that it be] raised with him in newness of life.
The congregation prays for the child that he later will live this new life, internally in the hidden relationship with God, but also externally in all walks of life in which God may give him a place—in the family; in the church; in his place of work; in society and in the country. It is the prayer that grace, sealed and promised by baptism, may spread its sphere of influence over all that the child is, thinks, wills, speaks, and does. Thus how meaningful is this prayer and how rich in content.
But in order that this new man not regard himself for a moment capable to do all these things in his own power, the congregation adds the conclusive and most significant few words: with him! To be raised with Christ in newness of life is the prayer. Not only now, but always. Never without Christ. Always sharing in his resurrection.
Outside the vine the shoot has no sap and does not bear fruit. Without a connection from moment to moment with the great power source, the platinum filament of the electric lamp refuses to glow. Without the root the plant is doomed to die.
Only when we have become one plant with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom. 6:5). Christ can say of himself, “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26). But the glory of the Christian is, “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20).
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One does not easily exhaust the thoughts of the prayer that the child be raised with him in newness of life. The resurrection of the new man is a process as of a budding flower that under the fertile dew unfolds its beauty by an ever-increasing glorious life. It is a process that begins in regeneration, and through the various steps of the life of faith and sanctification it reaches its climax in the last day in the glorification of soul and body. To partake of the resurrection of Christ is to possess, partly due to right and partly in reality, all the gifts and treasures of grace, power, beauty, and purity that are present in the treasury of the opened grave of Jesus.
Therefore, I can do nothing but recommend this prayer so that it may be an edifying meditation for the congregation. Hence I only point out that I hear the echo of the promise of the Son in this phrase and presented in the doctrine of baptism, in which the Son promises, indeed seals, that he incorporates us into his death and his resurrection.
We also find unmistakably here a hint of what is said in the third part of the doctrine of baptism: we have become duty bound to a new obedience that exists in clinging to God, forsaking the world, mortifying our old natures, and walking in a (some editions say new) godly life.
In this way we see this exemplary fact that the prayer refers back to the promise and to the admonition of the Lord. It is much, inconceivably much, for which the congregation implores the God of the covenant for this child. Yet it is no more than what the same God first promised and later will seal by the water of baptism.
How gloriously the light shines now over this remarkable admonition in the second part of the covenant, in which God claims the whole of man. Our merciful Father, knowing our frame, does not demand anything from us without promising to effectuate his power in our weakness, and then he allows us to plead this promise. So it is also true in baptism that the congregation may transpose the commandment into a prayer. Here also we find: “Incline my heart, Lord I pray, and grant the power to obey. Then in thy truth I shall walk, fearing and blessing thy holy name.”
How edifying this is for the wavering Christian, this profoundly encouraging thought that with God’s all-embracing command to walk in a godly life, he stands between the promise and the prayer. By the promise on one side and the prayer on the other, the limping, doddering walker may know he is supported on the steep, difficult path of obedience. Thus this deeply humbling consciousness of being incapable of all good in and of himself does him no harm nor makes him lame, for he knows that here also the Pauline word is true, “For when I am weak, then am I strong” [2 Cor. 12:10], and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me [Phil. 4:13].
~ Bastiaan Wielenga, The Reformed Baptism Form: A Commentary (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2016), 238-243. Shared with permission. The book was translated from the Dutch by a dear sister, Annemie Godbehere, now with the Lord.
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