No doubt dozens of professional theologians have thought of this before. But it struck me just recently.
This post is written for certain churches that see baptism and communion as strictly symbolic as I used to do. These rituals may even be treated casually at these churches. But what if there is something more, something deeper and sacred?
Bread and grape juice and water are ordinary and common objects for eating and other purposes at home. But how do they become sacred, beyond the ordinary and common?
Imputation
Imputation is considered by many to be an unimportant doctrine, without much biblical support. True, the key Hebrew and Greek words do not occur as often as, say, righteousness and salvation do, or for that matter, as often as wrath or anger.
But it is an important theme that appears at key times in Israel’s history, in an individual’s life, and at important turning points in the NT.
The Hebrew verb ḥāšab and the Greek verb logizomai both have the basic meaning of “thinking” and “considering.” They denote mental activities, but they are verbs nonetheless.
Sometimes in this study, however, we look at the concept behind the verbs even though they do not appear in a passage of Scripture.
Another basic definition of the verbs is seen in a business context: credit, reckon, or calculate. However, the main uses are when people think or consider.
We will discover the two basic meanings (thinking and commercial crediting) as we go along.
Sources: TWOT 330; TDNT vol. 4, 284.
Theological Meanings
The OT and NT build theological meanings into the verbs.
I’m not of the Reformed tradition, but I can still learn from them. Reformed Theologian Charles Hodge writes about imputation:
In the juridical and theological sense of the word, to impute is to attribute anything to a person or persons, upon adequate grounds, as the judicial or meritorious reason of reward or punishment, i.e., of the bestowment of good or the infliction of evil. … To impute is to reckon to, or to lay to one’s account. So far as the meaning of the word is concerned, it makes no difference whether the thing imputed be sin or righteousness; whether it is our own personally, or the sin or righteousness of another. (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 2, 194, Logos Research Systems, orig. pub. 1871-73)
So according to Hodge God can lay or charge or reckon to our account either righteousness or sin. God’s thought makes it so. He is the ultimate arbiter of the universe, and he controls spiritual reality as well. So when he imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, for example, it belongs to us.
A more succinct definition (and I believe a better one), with two examples, is offered by Wayne Grudem.
To impute is:
To think of as belonging to someone, and therefore to cause it to belong to that person. God “thinks of” Adam’s sin as belonging to us, and it therefore belongs to us, and in justification he thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and so relates to us on this basis (Systematic Theology, 2nd ed., Zondervan 2020, p. 1511)
Therefore, what God thinks matters, as the biblical texts affirm (see below).
When God thinks or imputes something, then that matters in his sight (Rom. 2:13; 3:20; 4:17; 1 Cor. 1:29).
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts … 9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:8-9)
God thinks the communion elements and baptismal waters are sacred. But when do his thoughts change towards those ordinary elements?
In the next section we also consider verbs that say God calls something clean or makes them clean. Even the verb “be” is factored in when oil is sacred because instructs Moses to consider it holy.
Let’s find out.
Scripture
Holy things must treated as holy. But why? Based on which Scriptures?
I use the NIV here. If you would like to see other translations, go to biblegateway.com. All bold font has been added.
Let’s begin with the Old Testament.
Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 20:11
God declared the seventh day to be holy. Therefore it is holy for the people of God:
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, (Gen. 2:3)
Exodus 20:11, part of the Ten Commandments, affirms the sacred day:
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Ex. 20:11)
Exodus 30:22-33, 40:9-10
In this long passage, God instructs Moses to set apart oil and and consider it holy. God had already considered it holy, so should the ancient Israelites.
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, 23 “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 24 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. 25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. 26 Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law, 27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.
30 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. 31 Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. 32 Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. 33 Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people.’” (Exodus 30:22-33)
In v. 32 the NIV is being a little generous. I just checked the Hebrew, and it is the future tense of the verb hayah, “to be” or “to become.” God says the oil is holy; therefore it is holy to us. The important point is the oil is a common element, but now it is sacred. God says so. Therefore don’t treat it or consider it common any longer. It is sacred.
Exodus 40:9-10 confirms the longer passage:
9 “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. 10 Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy. (Exod. 40:9-10)
When we consecrate baptismal waters and the communion elements with prayer, I now believe they become holy. Yes, they are still H2O and whatever grape juice and bread are made of, but they are now sacred, spiritually. A spiritual thing happens to them and are added to them. I may not be able to explain the metaphysics of it, but God considers them to be holy, and so should we.
Leviticus 16:22
On the day of atonement, Aaron (or the later high priest) is to keep one goat alive, lay hands on it, confess all the sins of Israel, put their sins on it, and send it into the wilderness under the supervision of someone appointed to the task. Since the goat was leaving or “escaping” from the people, it was called the scapegoat.
22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place. (Lev. 16:22)
The verb “carry” (nāśā’) in Hebrew is not the typical verb for “impute,” but the concept is the same in this context. The goat did not commit the sins of the people. It was not a moral sinner by inner transformation. How could it be? Yet God thinks of the goat as carrying their sins, and therefore it does. Thus, the sins belong to the goat by imputation or reckoning, from God’s point of view.
See my post:
The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 from a NT Perspective
This “carrying” or “bearing” is exactly what Jesus did. The same verb nāśā’ is in italics and bold font:
4 Surely he took up our infirmities … (Is. 53:4)
12 For he bore the sin of many … (Is. 53:12; 1 Peter 2:24)
Jesus did not actually commit our sins, and he did not actually have our infirmities. He had none at all. He was not a moral sinner by inner transformation or by being infused with a sin nature. While on the cross, he did not get the flu or cancer. Yet he carries and takes up our sin and infirmity. How? Because God thinks of Jesus, who became the once-and-for-all sacrifice, as carrying and taking them up them and therefore he does in God’s sight or opinion. Thus Jesus carries or bears them only by imputation or reckoning. He carried our sins and diseases vicariously or representatively.
Application: God considers the baptismal waters and communion elements as holy. Therefore they are, by his imputation and reckoning. There is a mystery happening here–a sacred mystery.
Leviticus 11:44ab-45
44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. […] 45 I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Ex. 11:44ab-45)
When we consecrate ourselves to God, we become holy. As I will show below, from Scriptures about the communion elements and baptismal waters, they too become holy when we consecrate them to God.
Numbers 18:20, 25-27, 31
The priests and Levites were not to have the share of the land; that is, they were not farmers (Num. 18:20). They were not to sow the crops or plant the vineyards; they were not to harvest the grain or pick the grapes from the vine. They were not to thresh the grains or press the grapes into wine. Instead, their sustenance was to come from the offerings that the Israelites gave them.
However, when the crops were offered to the priests and Levites, the people were to give a tenth as the Lord’s offering. That tenth was then to be given as the Lord’s offering. Then this offering was credited or counted or reckoned to the priests and Levites as grains from the threshing floor and juice from the winepress.
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. … 30 “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.” (Num. 18:25-27, 30)
Thus, this context is a business calculation. The priests and Levites get credit for the grain and juice. This reckoning or imputation does not come from any practical act that the priests and Levites did. They did not actually thresh the grains or press the grapes into juice. But the fruit of the land is counted or imputed as theirs, “as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.”
But let’s not overlook the basic meaning of thinking, either. In God’s mind the work it took to get the finished product and the product itself (threshed grain and pressed juice) are considered as belonging to the priests and Levites, and therefore the labor and finished product do belong to them. They present it as an offering to God. But this physical example should not be taken too far.
The baptismal waters and the communion elements, after we pray over them, belong to God and the new priests–God’s New Covenant people, his Son’s church (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).
Psalm 32:1-2
David had a sense of sin, but he said it was blessed when anyone was forgiven.
1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him. (Ps. 32:1-2)
The sin and transgression are not counted or imputed or charged against the person; therefore, forgiveness belongs to him. God thinks of us as forgiven as well. He imputes forgiveness to us through Christ, and therefore it belongs to us. But David kept on sinning in his life, and so do we. But he was forgiven, and so are we.
Now let’s move to the New Testament
Romans 2:26
This verse is conditional (if).
26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? (Rom. 2:26)
Hypothetically, if someone could keep the law, then he would be regarded or considered or thought of as circumcised in God’s thoughts and sight, and circumcision would belong to the person. But now it is those who are circumcised in the heart who belong to God, Paul goes on to say (vv. 28-29; cf. Deut. 10:16; 30:6). This is spiritual circumcision, and it carries within it the same and better results as physical circumcision. The interaction between the physical and spiritual is a mystery (to me at least), but maybe it can be explained in God thinking and considering and declaring the physical to be spiritual and sacred.
Romans 14:14
Now we come closer to the elements of bread and grape juice and water.
In the context of food, Paul writes:
14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. (Rom 14:14)
This is a clear verse about logizomai and imputing. This quality of uncleanness belongs to the food in an imputed sense according to the point of view of the person who imputes. But food is actually morally neutral in its physical makeup: “No food is unclean in itself” (food is a pile of chemicals and cells). But the opposite can be true,. Unclean or common food can be declared uncommon or holy, as seen next.
Acts 10:9-23
The best example of how food is not clean or unclean is seen in Acts 10:9-23. Peter believed (a mental term) that the animals on the gigantic sheet coming from heaven were unclean or unkosher, and this belief was based on Leviticus, but God now called them clean.
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)
Rendering unclean food clean was a decree flowing from God’s thoughts. God declares them to be holy because he thought them to be such. They are now considered clean by God. Indeed, he has made them clean. God’s thoughts are just that powerful for humans who seek and follow him.
The same is true of the baptismal waters and communion elements after we consecrate them to God with our prayers over them. Before their consecration, they are common and ordinary. After their consecration, they become holy and extraordinary. Don’t treat them as unholy and profane.
Questions and Replies
1. Do you mean to tell us that the Jordan River where John baptized and Jesus’s disciples also baptized was sacred?
Yes, but only when it was consecrated for this sacred purpose; then it became sacred. When John or the disciples were not baptizing, then it was just the ordinary river water.
2. Do you mean the water in the specific location, like a watery circle around John and the disciples, was sacred? How far was the circumference surrounding the baptizers and the baptized?
I can’t give you a lesson in geometry. All I know is that the water that touched Jesus and the multitudes was sacred to God because it was consecrated for a special purpose, even if the Bible does not say John or the disciples prayed over it.
3. Do you mean the bread, grape juice, and water can save people?
Catholics and some Protestants believe this. My answer is much narrower than that question. My point in this post is that the elements become sacred when they are used for a sacred purpose and after we consecrate them with prayer. God thinks them to be sacred and declares them to be such I believe certain churches where I have attended over the years have treated the elements too casually (myself included). No. They are sacred and holy when they are set apart as the Scriptures instruct us.
The Sacredness of the Elements
Let’s provide Scriptures that support the notion that the bread and wine and baptismal waters become sacred in the right, biblical context.
Bread and Wine
Let’s go back to the Old Testament. This verse talks about the bread of Presence.
7 “Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes and bowls, and the jars for drink offerings; the bread that is continually there is to remain on it (Num. 4:7)
Bread is a small but important theme throughout Scripture. In the above verse, the bread of presence was consecrated for the temple. God thought of it as sacred, so the Israelites were commanded to treat it in that way too.
Back to the New Testament:
Jesus consecrated the bread and wine:
19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you (Luke 22:19-20)
He declared the bread and wine to be sacred and therefore those common things became sacred. Now we too must follow his example and present the bread and grape juice (or wine) as holy before the people during our communion services. We should pray over them, in front of the people.
John 6:51, 53-56, 62, about bread, is even more mysterious:
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” […] 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. […] 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
Somehow, mysteriously (to me at least), the body and blood of Jesus can be partaken of, for the words describe two physical things, yet the become spiritual also. They empower his disciples to remain in him and he in them. This teaches me that the bread and grape juice have effectiveness in them that enhances our discipleship and moves us forward in eternal life. They enhance our sanctification (process of making us holy).
The only way that I can resolve the mystery in the connection between physical things and the Spirit in John 3 and John 6 is through imputation. God considers and thinks of and reckons and credits the physical things with a spiritual quality and virtue; therefore they are spiritual and virtuous. Jesus himself consecrated them for a holy purpose; therefore God imputes holiness to them. Therefore they become holy. Therefore we should consecrate them too.
This participation with the physical items of bread and grape juice is expressed here:
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. (1 Cor. 10:16-17)
The NIV translates the Greek noun koinōnia as “participation.” That’s a good translation. But what does it mean, when we drink the grape juice and eat the broken bread? How do we participate in the body and blood of Jesus? Something mystical and mysterious is going on. Jesus’s blood and body are sacred, and our participation with them, through the means of the bread and grape juice, is also sacred.
Water
John 3:5-6 connects water and the Spirit:
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:5-6)
Commentaries are divided over what the water means, but I interpret it as baptismal waters. I cannot sort out how the Spirit and water are connected in the details, but they are connected, and spiritually connected … somehow.
Peter writes that at the very least baptismal water is sacred enough to enhance salvation:
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 2:21)
I cannot absolutely affirm that the water causes salvation, but the water is sacred because it is dedicated by prayer for a sacred purpose, namely, baptism of believers. The consecrated water participates in our salvation by helping us conform to Christ. It enhances our sanctification, and sanctification comes under the big umbrella called salvation. God considers the water itself as sacred. So should we. I for one can no longer treat it or consider it as common. I now think of the water as holy, set apart for a holy purpose. Surely a holy thing does something holy in the believer.
In the next verse Peter connects repentance, water baptism, the name of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins and receiving the Holy Spirit.
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
To sum up this section, the bread and wine and baptismal waters are no longer ordinary, common, or profane, but extraordinary, uncommon, and sacred when they are used for a sacred purpose. God revealed this to us two thousand years ago. We had better follow his lead, or we run the risk of bringing judgment on us, which may manifest in sickness and even premature death (1 Cor. 11:27-32).
Conclusion
The verbs in Hebrew and Greek meaning “thinking,” “considering,” “reckoning” and even “carrying” are typically used for God counting us righteous through our faith in Christ. But in this post I see a connection between God thinking and reckoning and considering on the one side and objects like sacrificial animals or grain or oil or water and bread and grape juice, on the other.
God imputes sacredness to these ordinary elements, but when?
We must follow his instructions about the elements in communion and baptism. When we consecrate them with prayer, we follow God’s command. His command comes first, and our consecrating prayers over the bread and grape juice and water come second.
As usual, everything starts with God, and we follow him. I may not be able to explain the metaphysics of this imputation, but Scripture affirms it; therefore so do I. I follow him.
I can’t go as far as Roman Catholicism or High Church Protestantism (e.g. Anglican or Lutheranism and so on) in their theology on communion or water baptism. I’m not sure I can go as far as the Reformed tradition, either, though I see its point. I respect all of them because they treat the elements as sacred and holy. I cannot contradict their belief that the elements are sacred. Nor do I wish to quarrel about them, either.
I now believe in an open communion table at our churches for everyone of any church background, only provided that they are born again and declare from their heart and with their mouths that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead. They surrender daily to his Lordship, as all of his disciples must do. Then they can join us in the Lord’s table and baptism.
I now believe that plain Memorialism is insufficient in itself for communion and baptism. Baptismal waters and the communion elements not holding a sacred quality is a deficient belief. But I won’t quarrel with those who hold to this belief.
Roman Catholicism and high church Protestantism goes towards excess. Plain Memorialism goes towards deficiency. As usual with me, I prefer the middle of the road between the two extremes, the via media.
What I now believe is that the waters of baptism and the elements of communion are sacred and holy to God Almighty himself, because in the NT he commanded us to treat them as holy and sacred. We must pray over them and consecrate them to him, before the ;people. When this is done, they are no longer ordinary or common or profane, but extraordinary, uncommon, and sacred. Recall the warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 about bringing judgement on ourselves if we partake unworthily. To avoid it, let’s consider the elements as God does.
God’s commanding an imputation of holiness and sacredness to the physical things explains why we too must consider them holy and sacred and never treat them commonly or as run-of-the-mill.
By analogy, when we consecrate our lives and our bodies to God, he considers and calls them holy. He imputes holiness to them. We too should consider them (us) to be holy. “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 20:7).
Holy things are to be treated as holy.
Just to be clear and in closing ….
Bottom line: Let’s pray over the baptismal waters before we go in, and let’s pray over the communion elements before we partake. Let’s consecrate them to God in front of the people and proclaim them before the church that the water and bread and wine are holy in his sight and therefore should be holy in our sight too. He thinks of them as holy, and so should we. They are no longer ordinary things. Something spiritual and wonderful and miraculous will happen to us when we enter and go under the waters, and when we eat the consecrated bread and drink the consecrated grape juice. Expect it!
RELATED
The Lord’s Supper in Synoptic Gospels + Church Traditions
Basics about the Lord’s Supper
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 