352 Dimensions of Baptism
obedient in presenting themselves for baptism makes this clear. Thus the
baptism of disciples may be seen as instrumental in challenging believers
to be obedient to the baptismal command of Christ (Mt. 28.19), to be
obedient by following the example of Christ (Mk 1.9 and par.) and to enter
into union with his death and resurrection so that a life of discipleship
might follow (Rom. 6.3-4). Further, it invites them to continue following
Christ in fellowship with other disciples who together form the body of
Christ.
This last meaning prompts us to recognize in this christological dimen-
sion of baptism an instrumentality which is directed reflexively to the
Church itself. Here the Church is patterned after Christ and here its iden-
tity as a gospel community is made clear and made possible. This is not
the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance. Neither is it simply the
baptism of faith—it is the baptism of Jesus into which disciples follow.
But the baptism of Jesus is not only his immersion in the waters of the
Jordan, but his immersion in the mission of God and his baptism in death.
Increasingly, baptism is being seen as a symbol of the whole of the
Christian life.^47 Christians are therefore called to 'live out their baptism'
and such a phrase has both devotional and ethical dimensions. On the one
hand, baptism embodies the believer's relationship with Jesus Christ and,
on the other, it embodies a readiness to bear costly witness to Christ. Here
immersion eloquently points to the waters of chaos which can threaten not
only the kingdom of God but those who are its messengers and citizens.^48
But baptism includes the lifting from this chaotic flood, as Christ was
raised from the tomb, and points to the final victory which the Church
proclaims and in the hope of which it lives.
These closing reflections suggest that there is still fruitful interpretation
to be undertaken in seeing baptism as the baptism of disciples and in
exploring its function in enabling the Church to be the Church. The old
debates about the proper subject and mode of baptism have tended to
deflect us from serious study of the sacrament's meaning as a 'performa-
tive ritual' and even when such meaning has been expounded it has tendedto be in relation to the individual being baptized rather than with regard to
its meaning for the Church. This essay is the beginning of a larger,
- G. Lathrop, 'The Water that Speaks: The Ordo of Baptism and its Ecumenical
Implications', in Bestand and Heller (eds.), Becoming a Christian, pp. 17-18; Brian
Haymes, 'Baptism as a Political Act', in Fiddes (ed.), Reflections on the Water, pp. 69-
- Haymes, 'Baptism as a Political Act', p. 72.