Question. What did your Sponsors then for you?
Answer. They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
The Catechism tells me that in Baptism I was made “a member of Christ, the Child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven”. This language of relationship runs two ways. As a member of Christ, I belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to me; as the child of God, I belong to God, and God belongs to me; as an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven (in present grace and future glory), it belongs to me, and I belong to it. To speak in these terms is to use the Biblical language of covenant, a bond of mutual obligation uniting God with his people. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). He is our God; we are his people.
The history of salvation begins with Abraham, and with the covenant God made with him – implicit at first, in the call of Abram (as he was named by his parents) to leave his country, and his kindred, for a land which God would show him and promises to give to his seed (Genesis 12:1-9) - but explicit before long, and signified by name-giving Abraham - and circumcision (Genesis 17).
For members of the Society
The full text of this article is reserved for members. Sign in with your email, or become a member, to read it in full.