Baptists and the Communion of Saints

A Theology of Covenanted Disciples

Paul S. Fiddes, Brian Haymes, Richard Kidd

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781481302777
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This book fuses the Church's traditional doctrine of the Communion of Saints and Baptists' theology of salvation and discipleship--charting how Baptists can speak of a communion of saints here and now. Paul Fiddes and his coauthors emphasize that this communion is only possible within the fellowship of the triune God who covenants with and for believers.

Reframing communion within a theology of covenant enables the affirmation of the practice of prayer and mutual support with all faithful disciples, both alive and dead. Such a covenantal understanding of communion avoids an unhealthy obsession with communication with those who have died. Baptists and the Communion of Saints thus makes a significant and practical difference in the way Baptists understand the nature of the church, prepare their worship, care for the dying and the bereaved, go on spiritual journeys, and celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper.

1

WHY TALK ABOUT THE SAINTS?

Brian Haymes

Abook on the Communion of Saints by Baptists may occasion some surprise, not least among Baptists. The saints, as they have come to be popularly conceived, do not figure much if at all in Baptist services of worship, prayers, architecture, or doctrinal reflections. Unlike others, Baptists do not usually dedicate buildings to named saints.¹ They celebrate local church anniversaries but not in the form of patronal festivals. They usually keep no calendar of saints,² nor list of martyrs. There are few statues in their places of worship, or paintings. Rarely in their various collections of hymns do they take up the theme of the Communion of Saints. There are no prayers to the saints in the resource books compiled to help those leading prayer and worship, and very few commemorating particular named saints. In sum, the saints, including Mary, are noticeable by their visible absence. All of which might suggest that the doctrine of the Communion of Saints and all that it expresses is at least marginal to the life and faith of the Baptists.

Such a judgment might be fair but possibly superficial. For example, none of us really knows what goes on in the personal prayers and devotions of individual Baptists, some of whom have been known to use a rosary as an aid to prayer. Many a local pastor is aware of church members whose relationship to those who have died remains strong and features in their understanding of the Lord’s Supper. Such theological responses may be imperfectly formed, but they are real enough in personal spiritualities. And, of course, much depends on what is meant by the word “saints” and how such persons are to be identified.

One aspect of what we are exploring in this book concerns the situations that have arisen as the church has moved through its history, proclaiming the gospel of God but not without the kinds of theological challenges and changes in which Baptists, among others, have been caught up. We are all heirs to magnificent insights into the ways of God as well as those human limitations that attend all reflections on the divine. Baptists are children of the Reformation, which means they may see some things very clearly but other matters through blurred lenses. Could it be again the case that we who are Baptists are right in what we affirm but not so correct in what we choose to deny or ignore? Might the doctrine and the attendant practices relating to the Communion of Saints be a case in point?

Saints in the New Testament

The New Testament uses the word “saint” in an open and direct way. It is Paul’s chosen word for the church members he addresses in his letters (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil 1:2). The saints (“holy ones,” hagioi) are those baptized into Christ, born of the Spirit, sharing the new creation of which the risen Christ is in all senses the head. Their calling had ethical implications, and there is evidence in the text to show how carefully such matters were taken. However, the early Christians were saints not because of their moral achievements, or even martyrdom, but because they were “in Christ.” They waited the coming day of resurrection in hopeful confidence. Even in such a disarranged church as in Corinth, the apostle called church members “saints.” What is particularly striking is the corporate nature of this being in Christ, in affirmation of which Paul uses the metaphor of the one body. Against an individualistic, atomistic approach, which is often taken to these matters in not a little contemporary popular theology, the New Testament has a strong corporate emphasis. The saints, those living and dead, are one in Christ, sharing the life of God’s new creation. Of the sixty-four times the word “saint” appears in the New Testament, it is always in the plural. Through Christ and in Christ, the saints share the life of God in Trinity. They live in the covenant of saving grace, the work of God, awaiting the end of all things.

In the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer explores the meaning of faith by recalling those who, from creation, exhibited faithfulness to God and God’s purposes, in their living, even if their moral qualities admittedly were not always godly. These remarkable women and men are commended for their active faithful trust in God. The writer pictures them as a great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1), which could mean that they serve as examples of faithfulness and its price and so have become a kind of biblical roll of honor. Or might it be that the writer pictures them as those living in God who now look upon us, we whose time for discipleship and witness has come? These surround the living as a continuing presence, inseparably related in Christ. Separated from us the living, says the writer, they cannot be made perfect (Heb 11:40).

But two factors immediately required further thought in the New Testament era. First was the fact that some saints were dying before the expected end. What was their destiny? Paul’s pastoral response was to argue that those who had “fallen asleep” were asleep in Christ, still waiting with the living for Christ’s coming reign, at which point all, both the living and the dead, in Christ would be changed (1 Cor 15:51-57). “Being in Christ,” who was the first to be raised from the dead, described the state of Christians both “asleep” and still living. In that sense, all were held together in Christ, in the covenant of communion that death could not destroy. It is as if the New Testament recognizes a boundary in death but that the boundary is not absolutely separating, because of the resurrection of the crucified Jesus. In the book of Revelation, the imagery is developed so that we are given pictures of the saints at worship and prayer. Sleep is not an encompassing enough metaphor, for here the saints are active, sharing the purposes of God in prayer and celebrating their joy in praise (Rev 7:9-17; 21:3-4).

The other factor for the early church to reckon with was martyrdom. We are not long into reading the story as Luke tells it when we encounter the first martyr death. Stephen is killed as he bears witness, reflecting in his dying the way of Christ (Acts 7:54–8:3). It becomes clear that to be baptized into Christ is to be a member of a martyr church. Indeed, it was not long before some Christians spoke of two baptisms: the first of water, the second of blood.³ Thus, the New Testament affirms saints both visible and invisible, but all are saints because of their being in Christ by the gracious work of God. It is important to note that the object of Stephen’s petition is the glorified Jesus, the one whom the martyrs worship. Stephen’s martyr death is set forth not as an act of witness that has seriously and unfortunately gone wrong, but as the paradigm of Christian life and witness, following Christ of the cross. Following Jesus is very different from following a philosophical lead, such as that supplied by Socrates. Christians are called to follow a person whose authority is constituted by the resurrection. It means that sharing the body of Christ involves more than obeying a formal ethic. It is participation in the body of the living Christ. In this sense the New Testament assumes that the virtues for martyrdom are no different from those of faithful Christian living. Martyrdom is not the calling of the select few but an aspect of the commitment of the whole church, the martyr church.

Early Baptists understood saints in this manner, as a title for all members of the witnessing church. They used the word “saint” in their confessions but, in good Reformation discipline, always with reference to the living church members, following the pattern of the New Testament epistles, using the term to refer to church members, all those called to the new humanity in and through Christ. The (Particular Baptist) London Confession of 1644, citing in the margin many of the texts we have referred to above along with others, asserts in paragraph 33:

That Christ hath here on earth a spirituall Kingdome, which is the Church, which he has purchased and redeemed to himselfe, as a peculiar inheritance: which Church, as it is visible to us, is a company of visible Saints, called and separated from the world, by the word and Spirit of God, to the visible profession of the faith of the Gospel, being baptized into that faith, and joined to the Lord, and each other, by mutuall agreement, in the practical injoyment of the Ordinances, commanded by Christ their head and King.⁴

The saints in this communion blest are the living members of the church. The Second (Particular Baptist) London Confession of 1677, in chapter 27 entitled “On the Communion of Saints,” likewise keeps the emphasis on the visible church that includes the whole household of God, all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.⁵ The later sections in the confession, on life after death and the last judgment, again only use the word “saint” with reference to living members of the church on earth. The (General Baptist) Orthodox Creed of 1679 similarly has an article entitled “Of Communion of Saints,” which refers to “one mystical body of Christ” made up of all baptized Christians, in which there should be “fellowship and communion in each other’s sufferings or afflictions” and where members “partake of each other’s gifts.”⁶ This clearly has living saints in mind, going on to urge giving to the poor among them.

But it was understood, both in the New Testament and among early Baptists, that those who had died in Christ had not left the fellowship of the church. Being baptized into Christ, they shared his resurrection life and his eschatological future. The distinction is not between the dead and the living, for all the saints are alive in Christ. The church is this Communion of Saints, on earth and in heaven, united in Christ, participating in the life of God by the Spirit. Because of our understanding of baptism, Baptists might well be placed to recover the significance of this dynamic relationship, which is the Communion of Saints, being that whole community of those graced by the Spirit of God who participate in the holiness of God.

Thus, the church on earth is one with those who now are a great cloud of living witnesses (Heb 12:1). To recall some other New Testament affirmations, the boundary between heaven and earth is blurred in the expanded fellowship of the saints, as the martyred servants of God cry out, “How long?” (Rev 6:9-11). These saints are not inactive, for their prayers rise up to God (Rev 8:3-5), and as together they sing a new song (Rev 14:1-5), their prayers are caught up into the eternal intercession of our one High Priest. So there emerges a picture of a continuous congregation, one holy communion in prayer and praise. By grace, all are raised into Christ’s eschatological future. And those who have died are not the saints at inactive rest but rather those who offer praise to God and presumably continue to share God’s longing for the complete coming of the kingdom on earth, the new creation. This Communion of Saints then is a reality in which the church on earth participates by prayers, in the Eucharist, in faithful service, waiting for the fulfillment of all things in Christ. We shall return to this theme later, after following the historical development of the doctrine a little further.

The Cult of the Saints

The rise of the more Catholic understanding of the saints, often called the cult of the saints, is well documented.⁷ It almost certainly had its initial impetus in increased martyrdoms and the memory of the martyrs of the early centuries. Early expressions of the cult included the recording of the stories and the gathering of relics. Early Christianity was a countercultural force at odds with prevailing religious and political assumptions. Since the context was that of the Roman Empire, with its own tests of loyalty to Caesar and the gods, any other form of religious loyalty had dangerous political implications. Christians became objects of discontent from both the official powers and the populace who might blame them for various disasters. Some early Christians attempted defenses of fellow disciples by arguing that their behavior was no threat to the common good and did not make them bad citizens. The Apologies of Justin Martyr are an illustration of this reporting and argument.⁸

Another form of literary record developed in the second century as the stories of the martyrs and their deaths were recorded. The telling of these stories by one local church community was a means of keeping the memory of their witness alive for other communities of the faith. Examples of these texts would include the Martyrdom of Polycarp, written to help those under instruction grow into full discipleship, and the moving record of the martyrdoms of the women Perpetua and Felicitas.⁹ These full texts described the suffering, the passion, of the martyrs. Martyrdom was a public spectacle and in that sense political. In the arena a struggle of intense cosmic proportions was being fought out between the “powers” in their death throes and Christ in his body. So Origen could encourage those who have been brought to the place of testing:

A great multitude is assembled to watch you when you combat and are called to martyrdom. It is as if we said that thousands upon thousands gather to watch a contest in which the contestants of outstanding reputation are engaged. When you will be engaged in the conflict you can say with Paul: We are made a spectacle to the whole world and to angels and to men. The whole world, therefore, all the angels on the right and on the left, all men, both those on the side of God and the others—all will hear us fighting the fight for Christianity.¹⁰

In this context, martyrdom was thought of as a gift and calling. To seek it was morally wrong. The “suicide martyr” has no place in Christian thinking. Given the prospect of glory, the temptation was strong to do the right thing for the wrong reason.¹¹ But the church is called to bear the cross of Christ and inevitably becomes a martyr church. Martyrs do not die for reasons, as if their death had some explanation other than Christ. They die in and for and with Christ. The martyrs are remembered by the church as followers of Jesus. Their being remembered is a guard against any self-deception by contemporary and future Christians as to the meaning of discipleship. The calling of Christ is to walk the path of the cross. Thus, it has been argued that the developing disciplines, in the early church, of prayer, Scripture readings, alms giving, acts of penitence, and attendance at the Eucharist were ways by which Christians grew in strength and were prepared for the possibility that they would be called to make the act of final witness. Not all were faithful unto death. Such was the case of Quintus the Phrygian who saw the beasts, was afraid, and recanted, offering incense and taking the oath at the entreaty of the Roman Proconsul.¹² More than personal shame would result from the disciples who withdrew and recanted in the public arena. To be ashamed of Christ was no light matter (Mark 8:38).

Martyrdom was therefore a feature of the church of the early centuries, certainly in the pre-Constantinian period. Recognition of genuine martyrs and saints was largely a local matter, as some lives were received as being especially significant in their witness to Christ, there being no central authority of the church. From early days, however, the memory of the saints and martyrs was a feature of church life. Shrines were developed at the place of martyrdom, which became places of pilgrimage, and relics were collected, an illustration of which is given recalling the martyrdom of Polycarp:

So [following his death and burning] we afterwards took up his bones, more valuable than precious stones and finer than gold, and laid them where it was fitting. There the Lord will permit us, as shall be possible to us, to assemble ourselves together in joy and gladness, and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom, alike in memory of them that have fought before and for the training and preparation of them that are to fight hereafter.¹³

Thus, some saints were remembered on the day of their death or martyrdom or birth, days of commemoration. Eucharist would be celebrated, expressing the understanding that in the saints there was a drawing near of God as their lives and martyrdom had a special power of disclosure. The celebration of the Eucharist also underlined the connection between the martyr’s life and death and the cross of Christ, which led in turn to the thought that the saints, living in Christ, would intercede for the living and the dead.

After Constantine’s decision to embrace rather than persecute the church, there was a decline in the numbers of martyrs. However, during the middle ages, the cult of the saints developed. The veneration of relics increasingly became an important feature of common religious life, one consequence of which was economic. A trade in relics resulted, allied with monetary gains relating to places of pilgrimage. Issues of authorization and formal canonization became more urgent. Much popular expression of faith focused on the shrines of the local saints, who often had a nationalistic or group identity. The cult of the saints became a major feature of Christian devotion in days when the use of Latin, with a priest operating behind a rood screen, only made general participation in worship more demanding and exclusive.

The processes of canonization themselves were an expression of the power of religious authorities. The lists of those canonized in the Western churches were dominated by popes, bishops and other priests, kings, princes, and benefactors. There were very few women, and married women with children hardly appear at all.¹⁴ The gracious work of God seemed to be very socially and economically focused. It is possible that the whole idea of the intercession of the saints came to reflect the hierarchical form of society. In such days it was necessary to have a friend in court if the ear of the king or prince were to be caught. Might the saints be understood as those who especially had the ear of God? If that was the understanding, here was a situation ripe for theological development....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Introduction
• 1 Why Talk about the Saints?
• 2 Memory and Communion
• 3 Hope, Strangeness, and Interconnections
• 4 Praying with Mary and All the Saints
• 5 The Fellowship of Faces
• 6 Communion and Covenant
• 7 The Difference the Doctrine Makes
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Author Biographies
• Credits
• Index