A New Vision

In the later years of the Roman Empire, a group of pagans was being Baptized by immersion, in a river. They had expressed a desire to be Christians, but they had a problem: the men in the group had been trained as warriors and they wanted to be ready to move into action at a moment’s notice. So they agreed to be Baptized, but only if they could raise their right arms, with their swords in hand, out of the water. It must have been a strange sight to see all of those men being Baptized under water, and all those arms and swords sticking out above the water.

Later, a famous essay was written about this event. It was entitled, “Baptize That Right Arm!”

That is good advice — for all of us. After all, we’re all sinners, which means, of course, that there always is some portion of our lives that is not yet fully attached to Christ — a “right arm,” so…