Heidelberg Catechism

Question 73. Why then does the Holy Ghost call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?

Answer: God good reasons for these words. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ wash away our sins just as water washes away dirt from the body. (a)

But more important, he wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that the washing away of our sins spiritually is as real as physical washing with water. (b)

(Scriptural proofs after the fold.)

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Sunday's Hymn: Not All the Blood of Beasts

Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain:

But Christ, the heavenly Lamb
Takes all our sins away,
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.

My soul looks back to see
The burdens thou didst bear,
When hanging on the cursed tree,
And knows her guilt was there.

Believing, we rejoice
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love.

—Isaac Watts

I’ve found two different tunes for this hymn.

I love the words, but I think this hymn is a good candidate for an updated tune. What do you think?

Other hymns, worship songs, prayers, sermons excerpts, or quotes posted today:

• There’s Salvation Full and Free at the Cross at By Grace Alone
• Hallelujah, ‘Tis Done at The Happy Wonderer
• Wisdom is my name at The Upward Call
• By Faith at Theology for Girls
• Still, my soul be still at Triablogue
• Give Me Grace to Know More My Need of Grace from Trevin Wax
• Your weekly dose of Spurgeon: One talent dangers at Pyromaniacs
• Magnify the Lord this day at Tried With Fire
• Christ Gives Peace at Gentle Reformation

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Linked Together: The Trinity

Two posts for you weekend reading.

In “Let Us”
Is “let us” in Genesis 1:26 a reference to the Trinity even though the author and the first readers probably didn’t understand it this way? Tom Schreiner says yes and explains why (Justin Taylor).

In “I Am” (and More)
A primer on eternal Sonship with four scriptural proofs (Kevin DeYoung). 

Without the eternality of the Son, we do not have a Christ who can fully save because we do not have a Christ who shares in all the attributes of deity. Without eternal Sonship, we cannot affirm that the Father has always been the Father. And if the Father has not always been in communion with the Son, then love cannot be eternal, for the Father would have had to create another being in order to give and receive love. Likewise, it is only with eternal Sonship that the economic Trinity (that which we see about God in the unfolding of redemptive history) corresponds to any real ultimate truth about God. The God who is must be the God who always was.

When I get time, I’ll add a link to this piece on the theological term page for eternal Sonship. (I see that I need to tweek the definition, too.)