The order of Baptism and the Lord's supper does matter very much so!! I was just visiting this site out of curiosity. I was looking for baptism pictures. Both Baptism and the Lord's supper are what we call mean's of Grace, the mysteries of God, closely connected to Jesus' death on the cross. Baptism ... saves (1 Peter) us says the Bible by creating faith in us. It is the gift of Christ flowing forth from the cross. It not only represents Grace, it is the gift of Grace. Jesus says, one must be born by water and the Spirit, as recorded in John 3. I Cor 11 clearly says that only those should commune at the Lord's table who discern the Body of the Lord. First Baptism then teaching or first teaching then baptism, confession of faith, then the Lord's Supper. That is how Jesus did with His disciples, recorded in the Gospel of John. Here follows a little article I wrote on Baptism: ONE Baptism 1. Introduction In Christendom most Christians are concerned about the unity of the Church of God. This is a good thing. The Lord Himself wants us to be of one mind and spirit. On the other hand a unity without the truth, not standing on the truth of God’s Word, is futile. Love should not be played out against the truth, because true sacrificial-love embraces the truth (1 Cor 13,6). In our emotion- sensitised- age it is even more important to state, that God also wants our minds to be captured by His Word. We cannot keep that part as our private possession. In Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, one of the things mentioned in the bond of peace, that keeps the church of God together, is ONE BAPTISM (Eph 4,5). Gratefully we may recognise, that many confessions acknowledge the baptism of each other. However, as we all know, there is a major division running through the church precisely over baptism. This need not be, because the Word of God is clear on what baptism is and does. While debating and writing on this subject I sort of stumbled on the huge significance of Jesus’ baptism for the correct understanding of baptism as a whole. This is no new teaching at all. It simply seems to have fallen under the radar, so to speak. That is, at least in the discussions on social media and elsewhere. What the Apostle Paul highlights in his letter to the Ephesians, other church fathers, including the reformer Martin Luther, also pointed towards. When I started reading up on this topic I did find some good commentaries1 which already echoed and refined what I started to realise. This is what I want to share with all Christians. It was helpful for me to better understand baptism. May it be helpful for you too. When one discusses baptism there are normally three main issues on which Christendom is divided on: 1.1. Who acts in baptism? a. If baptism is only a human act of confession it cannot save, because we are saved by Grace alone, by God's act alone. or b. if however, baptism is indeed God acting through His servants and means of Grace, then baptism saves! 1.2. How can earthly elements convey spiritual gifts? Put more theologically: How can the finite contain the infinite? 1.3. How are the three baptism's, mentioned in the New Testament, related to one another: John's baptism, Christ's baptism and baptism after Pentecost? This is where much confusion comes up. Some differentiate between a water baptism and a separate Holy Spirit baptism. Others see these two as combined into one. Whilst the main struggle is usually fought between these two options the baptism of Jesus is strangely sidelined. I say "strangely" because this is the only baptism which is described in full detail in three of the Gospels, whilst the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, gives some more theological insight into Jesus’ baptism! So, let us consider these baptisms in relation with one another. 2. John's baptism As I was discussing the issue of baptism with people on the internet I stumbled upon the question of Jesus [Mk 11,30]:"Was the baptism of John from man or God?” Jesus asked this question to the Pharisees, who were the only ones who had not been baptised by John, according to Luke 7,30! The context of this question was the issue of authority. In whose authority was Jesus acting? The Pharisees decided not to answer Jesus, because they realised this would have far-reaching consequences. Jesus’ answer caught me by surprise, though, because I expected that He would point them towards His works, His great miracles for authorisation (which also happens at another time, but not here). Instead, He pointed them towards His baptism being officiated by John the Baptiser. This places a lot of weight on Jesus’ baptism! That was God’s act of authority using His servant John, water and the Word of God. Nobody who takes the Bible serious can deny that John's baptism was commanded by God. God's authority was behind it. It was a [Lk 3,3] “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” And this baptism was proclaimed by John. That is: baptism and Word belong closely together from the start. We see that God provided the means of repentance through the baptism of John. It was a preparation for the coming of Christ! Important: God initiated it and put it into place. It was not man's idea. Furthermore, note that through this physical action, God gave "forgiveness of sins." Only God can forgive sins. It is true. Take note how God did it through His servant John and other means, through the proclamation of the Word and the application of water! 3. The baptism of Jesus Then Jesus arrives on the scene! As He literally steps into the Jordan water and commands John to baptise Him- [Mt 3,15] "to fulfil all righteousness"- baptism is taken to it's utmost level, to perfection! Jesus is baptised with water and the Spirit. Jesus literally took over John's baptism and brought it to fulfilment! The Holy Spirit came down on Jesus, in the physical form of a dove- "like a dove"- and remained on Jesus. God the Father spoke from the cloud, "this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased". Jesus, born of Mary, became the Holy Spirit bearer amongst cleansed Israel and in Israel’s stead. He was anointed as the Messiah of God. His ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven, suffering and sacrificial death to fulfil all righteousness had started. Jesus took the sinner's place in His baptism, which led to suffering and death! By being baptised He loaded our sins on Himself, and by suffering and dying on the Cross, He took our sins away and thus fulfilled all righteousness for us. So Jesus' baptism was fulfilled with His death on the cross. All righteousness had been fulfilled there and then. Jesus took our place so that we could have His righteous standing before God. (Mk 10, 38ff). 4. "Our" Baptism In Rom 6 Paul explains baptism, which is applied to a sinner, as follows: When we are baptised our old Adam is crucified and buried together with Christ. Please note: These verbs are in the passive mode which means: God is doing it! I am not doing it myself! And the old Self is crucified and buried in Christ's crucifixion and death. We are united with Christ in baptism! In God's eyes our old Adam is crucified and dies in baptism! With what result? That we may live together with Christ! See, there is the new life, the new birth, the gift of the Spirit! So, two things happen in baptism: The old Adam dies and the new man raises to live with Christ! The link between Christ’s baptism and “our” baptism is the death of Christ. Therefore, we can say the following: When we get baptised, we are baptised into Christ's baptism, namely into the whole of His sacrificial ministry FOR US!! What one needs to realise here is, that Christ's baptism is the ONE central baptism which cannot be topped! It is the perfect baptism, with water and the Spirit. All persons of the Trinity are involved. John's baptism points and leads to Christ's baptism. In our baptism we are joined to Jesus' baptism through His death. Rom 6,8 wraps this up so profoundly if we pay attention to the tenses of the verbs: "Now if we have died (past tense) with Christ (referring to baptism), we believe (present tense) that we will also live with Him (future tense). Our Old Adam dies in baptism. Out of baptism follows faith, faith in what? That we will also live with Him! Now all these are indicative verbs, indicating what truly happens in baptism from God's perspective, because God is the one who acts. Then only, in Rom 6,11 follows, how we should consider ourselves, in light of what God has already done to us in baptism: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." What God has done to us in baptism, perfectly, we now have to acknowledge and consider done, FOR US!! Notice again the two actions, the Old Adam died and we are alive in Christ! This is a fact of God's new reality! Therefore, our lagging mind needs to learn to consider ourselves as God sees us, namely as dead to sin and alive in Christ! 5. ONE Baptism In Ephesians 4,5 Paul explicitly states that there is "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism! " Paul speaks about "baptism" in the absolute sense, because there is really only ONE baptism, namely Christ's baptism2! Jesus' baptism fulfilled John's baptism and installed the new Christian baptism. We are baptised into Christ's death which is the fulfilment of Jesus’ baptism. So, Christ's baptism draws all baptisms into itself so that there is indeed only the ONE ultimate baptism, which is applied to us, personally, by God, through His servants! 6. Baptism: A Washing of Water with the Word I want to call up another certain word which summarises very profoundly what we have seen so far. Eph 5, 25-27: "25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." What we have here is a most beautiful and clear Word which first of all ascribes all the powerful doing in baptism to Christ, not to us. Furthermore, we learn that it is a "washing of water with the word". We learn, water and word belong together in one baptism. We learn what Christ accomplishes through this washing of water with the word: HE cleansed us. Furthermore, once again, baptism is tied tightly to the sacrifice of Jesus, to His ministry- [Eph 5,25]"He gave Himself up for her". 7. Baptism ..., now saves you! In case you still need a Word of God which actually spells it out in so many words, here it is: 1Peter 3,18-22: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. One cannot deny it: Something great happens in baptism: baptism saves! If it saves it must be the work of God, because it is true, only God saves us! We cannot save ourselves! 8. Conclusion Now, lets see if we can put the picture together which the Word of God has painted for us so far: Baptism is indeed God's act, commanded by Him and done through His servants! Baptism is never seen as man's own work, which he does to himself. We are baptised by someone else, a servant of God, outside of ourselves. This does not make baptism a human work. We don’t do it to ourselves based on human commands. We cannot baptise ourselves! God does it through one of His servants to us. This is where the quest of the authority of the servants comes in. Why are the servants of God’s Word allowed to do this? Very clearly these passages above confess that God works through His servants, who hand out His means of Grace in His Name. This is maybe something which is often overlooked, that God does His spiritual work using first creation means, which answers the second question from the top. The Holy Spirit does indeed come to us through physical means of the first creation (as the Holy Spirit came in a physical form of a dove onto Jesus). Trying to separate “physical” and “spiritual”, when saying that the spiritual cannot come through the physical, effectively denies that the eternal Word became flesh! God uses specific means of the first creation, like language, water, bread and wine to hand out His spiritual and eternal Grace. These are the means of Grace or the means of the Spirit. God's first creation and His redemption work together. They are not against one another. The problem is not God's first creation. The problem is sin! The beauty of this action of God to us through an ordained servant is: It makes baptism so objective! Baptism is a wonderful objective gift of God given to those sinners, who are in a receptive mode, that is in repentance. Whenever my faith goes through times of drought, God’s act remains like an anchor to hold me. I have got something on the outside of myself to cling to. Furthermore, it is also clear why baptism is necessary for salvation, because it ties our salvation to the sacrificial ministry of Christ. Whoever wants to be saved without being united with the baptism of Christ fulfilled in His Death (with His sacrificial ministry), effectively denies the necessity of Christ's sacrifice! Such a person is an enemy of the Cross of Christ! So baptism is in fact central for our salvation as it is God's good gift to us, personally! 9. What difference does this make? When asked what is most important for a Christian, many will answer: "To have a personal relationship with Jesus!" Yes, indeed, but how does one get into such a relationship? If you have to begin that relationship from your side, by making your decision, how long will it last, how deep will it be? Will it be enough, will you be able to keep up with it, did you really, really mean it? If you don’t ask yourself these questions, Satan will most certainly ask these things. This could result in you finding yourself sliding from pride to despair, back and forth, without any certainty of salvation! This is where the strength of baptism comes in: We have seen in all of the quoted Words of God that God acts in baptism, which is a formal ceremony, which is linked to the formal crucifixion of Christ. God binds Himself to the formal ceremony of baptism where He gives to us what Christ has won on the cross! Baptism comes to us as a pure gift from God, as a formal gift: we are baptised into the New Covenant. This is God's formal promise to us personally, that He will, from His side, never forsake us! So, God provides the frame, the foundation, wherein and whereon our relationship with Him begins. He places us on His confession to us, so to speak, on His promise which He formally gave to us, in a ceremony which He Himself has instituted. Now what about the relationship part? We still need a good relationship with God. That is, our sins need to be forgiven. If a son sins against his father, the father doesn't disown his son straight away. However, the father does expect of the son to ask for forgiveness, because his son is still his son. On the other hand the son knows that the father will forgive him if he asks. Still, he asks his father for forgiveness. It is the same with our Father in Heaven. The beauty is, we remain under His Grace, although we fail! Immediately the question arises, 'but won't people misuse this grant, this gift, to carry on sinning then'? This is the exact question Paul addresses in Rom 6. 10. What about misusing baptism? It is crucial to realise how Paul answers this question. Does he take anything away from the gift of baptism? Does he add a condition, to assure that God's gift is not misused? No. He goes the exact opposite direction!! He explains, to those who want to misuse the good gift of God, how much they have received!! He doesn't take anything away from the gift. He doesn't introduce a condition to protect the gift of God. Instead, he highlights and deepens the understanding of how much we receive in baptism! He reveals to all how much baptism is Gospel, that it is all God's work and gift of Grace to us. How can we still carry on sinning whilst God has given us such a mighty and wonderful gift! If people are misusing the gifts of God, they need to be led into the deeper understanding of the Gospel and they need to hear that remaining in sin is killing them! The pure Gospel in it's beautiful giftedness and the Law in it's radical crushing- the- old- Adam work together for our salvation in Christ. So, if people are saying, "the only thing important is that you must have a good relationship with Jesus" - notice how this is an imperative, a requirement- more Law than Gospel. In other words the onus squarely falls back onto sinful man to work at his relationship with Jesus, which is nothing else than work-righteousness. But, as Jesus baptises us into His Body, being His gift to us, it is pure Gospel, not Law. He does it for us! And based on this Gospel, in the frame of Grace, a relationship with Jesus is established by HIM!! It is a gift, a gifted fact. He is our Saviour and head and we are His disciples and members! It is done! Paul says: Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive in Jesus! Based on this we gladly hear and learn from Jesus, consider ourselves how God sees us and follow in Jesus' footsteps. And, this means, when we fail in our relationship with Jesus, He still continues to hold us. He remains trustworthy and calls us back to Himself. In this way He even facilitates our ongoing repentance and receiving His Word of forgiveness. This is indeed very good news for the weakest Christian!

"Do this in memory of me." These words of His, found in the gospels, couldn't be clearer. When to do it? As in the early Church, since apostolic times, Christians go and do it at least 52 times a year. And yet these days, each Sunday they instead flock religiously, in through the doors of the fitness center (temple).

Hello Anna – There is no Biblical requirement that you have to be baptised before celebrating the Lord's supper. The order doesn't matter. Everyone is welcome to share in the Lord's supper, if they wish to remember Jesus. It reminds us that salvation is not only available to the members of a particular church. Jesus came to destroy that kind of thinking. Grace and peace – Eliezer Gonzalez

But if someone want to celebrate Lord’s Supper must be baptized at first? Or the order doesn’t matter?