CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY

Muck Which the Lord Uses MARCUS WAGNER

The Door No Man Can Shut E. J. FRIEDRICH

The New English Bible FREDERICK W. DANKER

Rudolf Bultmann and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism JOHN H. ELLIOTT

Homiletics

Theological Observer

Book Review

VOL. XXXII June 1961 No.6

ARCHIVE Rudolf Bultmann and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism

By JOHN H. ELLIOTT

N the fullness of time God sent forth Testament concept of Holy Baptism, we I His Son, a pre-existent divine Being, shall consider his own statement of the con­ who appears on earth as a man. He dies temporary problem regarding the Christian the death of a sinner on the cross and kerygma and the sacrament. Finally we makes atonement for the sins of men. His shall note four primary principles which resurrection marks the beginning of the summarize the bulk of criticism directed cosmic catastrophe .. all who belong to against Bultmann's method and con­ Christ's Church and are joined to the Lord clusions. by Baptism and the Eucharist are certain HOLY BAPTISM AND THE of resurrection to salvation. . . ." NEW TESTAMENT In these terms Rudolf Bultmann recon­ Rudolf Bultmann's investigation of the structs the credo of the Christian church significance and development of Holy Bap­ and documents it with no fewer than 16 tism within the New Testament period in­ Biblical references, only to pronounce the cludes five main areas: the Palestinian condemning verdict: the language of myth­ congregation, the Hellenistic church in ology, a perpetuation of Jewish apocalyp­ extra-Pauline material, the Hellenistic tic and Gnostic redemption myths which church in Pauline literature, the Hellen­ make the Christian kerygma incomprehen­ istic church in Johannine literature, and sible, incredible, and untenable for the the ancient church. modern man.1 Basic to an understanding of any sacra­ We do not want to ignore Bultmann's mental theology are the connotations of concern to make the Gospel relevant to the the words "church" and "sacrament." Ac­ people of our day. On the other hand we cordingly, Bultmann defines "church" as must question any approach, despite its the eschatological community: awesome erudition, which would divest When the salvation-occurrence [the life the church of those confessions which are and death of Jesus} is proclaimed, it be­ such an essential expression of her faith comes present reality to all who hear.... and life. This preached word calls and gathers men To this end we shall examine the Bap­ into the ecclesia, the Church, the Congre­ tismal theology of this contemporary in­ gation of those who are called and (who terpreter of Christianity. After reviewing are) saints. As the eschatological congre­ the fruits of his investigation of the New gation its existence belongs to the escha­ tological-salvation occurrence.... It ap­ pears as no new phenomenon of the 1 Rudolf Bultmann, Kerygma and Myth, ed. Hans-Werner Bartsch (London: SPCK, 1957), world but as belonging to a new aeon.... tr. Reginald H. Fuller, pp. 2 if. This eschatological congregation separates 348 RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM 349

itself from the rest of the world to con­ 6. Baptism provided the church with a fess its faith m Christ as Lord in cultic point of departure for the development of gathering.2 a cult of her own. (Pp.37-57) Defining the term "sacrament" Bultmann In discussing the development from states (p. 112) : primitive to Hellenistic Christianity, Bult­ (It is) an act which by natural means puts mann notes that whereas the former ceased supra natural powers into effect, usually by to be dominated by the eschatological ex­ the use of spoken words which accompany pectation and the philosophy of life which the act and release those powers by the that implied, in the latter there developed mere utterance of their prescribed word­ a new pattern of culture and piety centered ing. . . . The concept "sacrament" rests in the cultus. Gnostic categories begin to upon the assumption that under certain be used to describe the church, the sacra­ conditions supranatural powers can be ments, and our Lord. bound to natural objects of the world and 1. Extra-Pauline literature states that to spoken words as their vehicles and through Baptism an individual enters the mediators. congregation and thus enters into a rela­ 1. Bultmann's first observation is that tionship with Christ. Here the original very early these twO phenomena became bath of purification and rite of initiation mutually dependent. Initiation into this becomes a means for participation in eschatological community was accomplished salvation. through the rite of Baptism. This was the 2. Indicative of the theological develop­ first purpose of the act. ment of Baptism within the Hellenistic 2. Nor was this Baptism different from church, Bultmann observes, are numerous John the Baptizer'S. Both were "baths of items concerning the rite and performance purification (closely connected with re­ of the sacrament. pentance for the coming reign of God)." A. Baptism is normally consummated as 3. Though both were similar to Jewish a bath in which the one receiving Baptism proselyte baptism, their difference lay in is completely submerged, in "living" (run­ the fact that whereas proselyte baptism ning) water, if possible. freed man from ritual defilement, Chris­ B. In case of emergency, water is poured tian Baptism, like that of John, promised on the head three times. purity from sin and made a person a mem­ C. The one baptizing names over the ber of the eschatological community. one being baptized the name of "the Lord 4. The phrase "for forgiveness of sin" Jesus Christ," later expanded into the name was likely true of Christian Baptism from of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. the very beginning, as was its sacramental D. The one being baptized, on his part, character. either just before or just after the bath of 5. The belief in the exorcistic effect Baptism, speaks the confession "Jesus of Baptism is probably of very early origin. Christ is Lord." Thereby he belongs to "those who call upon the name of the 2 Rudolf Bultmann, Theology 0/ the New Lord." Bultmann (pp.153 ff.) is favorably Testament, tr. Kendrick Grabel, I (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), 307 fl. disposed toward Oscar Cullmann's con- 350 RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM struction of the questioning and answering Including St. Paul's additions to Hellen­ previous to Baptism as practiced in the istic Christianity's doctrine of Holy Bap­ primitive rites: "What is to prevent (this tism, we note the further development one from being baptized)?" ... "It is per­ (pp.135-140): mitted" (nothing prohibits). 1. The first effect of Baptism is the pu­ E. Though in the earliest period Bap­ rification from one's sins. tism immediately followed conversion, in 2. From the "naming of the name" this later time some instruction preceded comes the result that "by it the candidate the rite. is stamped as the property of the K yrios F. The act of the laying on of hands is and placed under His protection. This a moot question. It was probably a regular sphragis or seal has two effects. Nega­ component of the bath from the very tively, it drives out the evil spirits (re­ beginning. garded as the cause of sin) by its exorcistic G. Only adults were baptized. power. Positively, it puts the baptized H. The agents of the sacrament had no under the protection of the K yrios for the priestly quality. future and secures them against demonic Considering the Hellenistic church in influences. Pauline literature, Bultmann (p. 144) sees 3. Through the laying on of hands the the apostle introducing, from Gnostic Holy Spirit is bestoweu. Any Baptism sources, two additional and extremely sig­ which does not bestow the Spirit is not nificant concepts to the church's under­ considered a proper sacrament. standing of Holy Baptism. 4. Through Baptism the recipient par­ 1. Baptism is not only the means by ticipates in the death and resurrection of which an individual enters the church and Christ. the realm of salvation, but it actually ef­ fects an involvement in the very body of 5. This mystery interpretation of Bap­ Christ. tism can thus have as its result a "rebirth." 2. This sacrament is an act whereby the 6. Through this sacrament the baptized baptized is involved in the very death and is brought into the body of Christ, into resurrection of Christ. Bultmann sees in eschatological existence. this tendency of St. Paul both a danger Interpreting the evidence at this point, and a benefit. Negatively, Christian ex­ Bultmann (p. 312) draws the conclusion istence might be understood to "rest upon that Hellenistic sacramental magic entirely in­ Baptism is an objective occurrence which stead of being understood as eschatological happens to the baptized, not simply a sym­ existence." Positively, Paul also presents bol for a subjective process within him. As the possibility of interpreting Christianity an objective event, baptism certifies to as an "existence determined by Christ's him participation in the salvation-occur­ death and resurrection, and hence of under­ rence present for him just as the proclaim­ standing the sacrament as an actualization, ing word does ... only this time with here and now, of the occurrence of sal­ special reference to him, the one being vation." baptized, as valid f01' him. RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM 351

Though Bultmann makes an unhappy equa­ not so much in its reference to the future tion of the proclaimed Word with Holy as in its present possession of institutions Baptism as the God-given means for en­ which are already mediating transcendent trance into the eschatological community, powers in the present: sacramental cultus and finally a priestly office. nevertheless, Baptism is given some sig­ nificance. As Bultmann (p.312) explains In the church, after St. Paul and St. John, the act, however, the reader realizes that Bultmann holds (pp. 112 ft.), the mean­ this significance is less than minimal. ing of the sacraments, as the meaning of Baptism obviously plays a subordinate role the Christian's new way of life, came to be to the word .... The appropriation on his understood as involving not so much the part [the baptized} is the same as the ap­ new eschatological existence as rather a propriation of the salvation-occurrence present guarantee of future salvation. In when it comes through the preached word. this emergent institutionalism the church . . . Baptism is an act of faith confessing is seen as the dispenser of salvation and itself. the guarantor of the efficacy of the sac­ In Professor Bultmann's opinion, in place raments. of a means of grace, we now have in Bap­ 1. The emphasis upon legalism reduced tisfn nothing more than human response! the significance of Christ's act1v1ty to The critic, in discussing Bultmann's con­ merely being present in the sacraments. clusions drawn from his investigation of (P.202) Johannine material, could cover everything 2. The emphasis upon moralism and well with one statement: there is little, if ethical perfection resulted in a corruption any, sacramental theology explicated in of the understanding of grace and, with this corpus. All traditionally accepted sac­ it, a loss of the sense of the lasting efficacy ramental allusions he dismisses as "later of Holy Baptism. (P.236) ecclesiastical redactions and interpola­ 3. Accordingly, penance as an act is tions." He concludes: raised by the church to sacramental level 1. The only reference to rebirth is not to complete the character of Holy Bap­ through Holy Baptism but through Jesus' tism. (Pp. 218, 236) Word. The sacraments are superfluous.3 2. The only avenue for the Holy Spirit HOLY BAPTISM AND THE is the avenue of proclamation.4 CONTEMPORARY SITUATION Treating the ancient church, Bultmann As soon as one leaves the pages of Bult­ states (p. 112) : mann's Theology of the New Testament In consequence of the delay of the ex­ with its extensive survey of the early pected parousia, the transcendent character church's theology of Baptism, one locates of the Church gradually comes to be seen further references to Baptism by Bultmann

3 Rudolf Bultmann, Das Et,angelium des Jo­ only with great difficulty. In his other hannes: Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar uber works and periodical articles his references das Neue Testament ( Giittingen: Vandenhoeck to Holy Baptism are limited explanations & Ruprecht, 1952), p. 357. of his material in Theology of the New 4 Bultmann, Theology of the New Testa­ ment, II, 90. Testament. These appear to be quite re- 352 RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM

dundant and in no way applied to con­ A Christian approach toward the sacra­ temporary Christianity.5 His attitude to­ ment of Holy Baptism would begin with ward the sacraments might well be this act's relation to the life and death of summarized in his classic statement of the our Blessed Lord. To this concern Bult­ task of demythology: mann certainly speaks (p. 36): Modern man is confronted by a curious The cross becomes present reality in the dilemma. He may regard himself as pure sacraments. In baptism men and women nature or as pure spirit.... In either case, are baptized into Christ's death and cruci­ however, man is essentially a unity. He fied with him. . . . bears the sole responsibility for his own feeling, thinking, and willing. He is not, An apparent agreement, however, is quickly as the NT regards him, the victim of a dissolved into a wide gulf when Bultmann strange dichotomy which exposes him to (pp. 36 ff.) proceeds to explain the his­ the interference of powers outside him­ torical character of the cross and the self .... Thus he finds what the NT has resurrection: to say about "Spirit" and the sacraments By giving up Jesus to be crucified, God utterly strange and incomprehensible. Bio­ has set up the cross for us. To believe in logical man cannot see how a supernatural the cross of Christ does not mean to con­ entity like the pneltma can penetrate cern ourselves with a mythical process within the close texture of his natural wrought outside of us and our world, or powers and set to work within him. . . . with an objective event turned by God to Conscious as he is of his own moral re­ our advantage, but rather to make the sponsibility, he cannot conceive how bap­ cross of Christ our own, to undergo cruci­ tism in water can convey a mysterious fixion with him. . . . In its redemptive something which is henceforth the agent of all his decisions and actions. . . . He aspect the cross of Christ is no mere cannot conceive how anyone can be bap­ mythical event, but a permanent historical tized for the dead. 6 fact originating in the past historical event which is the crucifixion of Jesus. The abid­ Criticism, however, is no substitute for ing significance of the cross is that it is explication. And in Bultmann's writings the judgement of the world, the judge­ explanations of his position on the sacra­ ment and the deliverance of man.... ment of Baptism are lacking. Conclusions regarding Bultmann's position over against In this passage it becomes clear that the Holy Baptism can only be drawn, there­ death with which Baptism involves an fore, from a combination of a few clear individual is not the once-for-all death of sources and a number of vague allusions. Christ on Calvary but "his cross." Logically this means that Baptism incorporates a 5 Rudolf Bultmann, Essays, Philosophical man into his own death. There is no ir­ and Theological. tt. James C. G. Greig (New ruption of the transcendent into his world York: The Macmillan Co., 1955), p.144. -- "Humanism and Christianity," The and life. There is no bestowal of forgive­ Journal of Religion, 32 (April 1952), 77-86, ness, of grace and power, from the God p.85. above and beyond and within him but -- The Presence of Eternity (New York: Harper & Bros., 1957), pp. 51-55. merely a further motion on the part of 6 Bultmann, Kerygma and Myth, p.6. man to manifest his "making the decision." RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM 353

Ian Henderson, in evaluating Bultmann's He meets us in the Word of preaching thesis, points out that Bultrnann can arrive and nowhere else." S at these conclusions because he has postu­ Thus, in a comparison of Bultmann's lated certain differentiations among the system with traditional Christian formula­ words "mythological" (expressions ex­ tion, Baptism is relegated to a position plaining the otherworldly in terms of this as inferior to the preached Word, an act world), "historical" (historisch, a past merely confirming a decision previously event), and "eschatological" (geschichtlich, made as a reaction to this preached Word. a reality present and decisive for all his­ Secondly, Baptism cannot be understood in tory). In the terminology of Bultmann, the catholic sense as a channel of divine he explains, "the mythological is there to power. Thirdly, the existential moment is show that the historical is also eschatolog­ encountered only when man consciously ical." 7 When the mythological is no responds to God's call with an obedience, longer effective in doing this, it can be a decision. Hence infant Baptism is point­ omitted. less, for there can be no conscious decision. Bultmann follows this process in treat­ Fourthly, all other attempts to describe this sacrament in traditional terminology ing the crucifixion and resurrection of involve an employment of mythological Christ Jesus. The resurrection was never elements which the modern mind cannot historisch but has been comained as a part possibly accept. of the Christian kerygma to point to the eschatological character of the cross. Thus BULTMANN AND HIS CRITICS the resurrection is a mythological element. Any critique of Rudolf Bultmann, it Hence, where for the church Holy Baptism would seem, should acknowledge his con­ joins man with the very death and resur­ tributions to exegetical and historical the­ rection of the Son of God, with an event ology, his insights into New Testament by which he, no matter how many millen­ language and thought, and his sincere de­ nia removed from the Palestinian occur­ sire to share the event of salvation with rence, was infused with the very power a hostile and unattentive generation. On of the forgiving and rising God, Bultmann the other hand, it is evident that he has would nOw dismiss such a mythology in approached the portals of the Holy with favor of a more rational explanation of a different key. The question for the critic the God-sinner relationship. In place of to ask is not: "Do we dare use the key?" Holy Baptism as the means by which sin­ but "Does the key work?" ful man is initially incorporated into the Those who would question the effective­ "grace-event" Bultmann would insert the ness of the Bultmann key are many. Their act of preaching. There is only one way criticisms might be summarized under four that man comes to believe in the saving presuppositions with which Bultmann op­ efiicacy of the cross: Christ "meets us in erates: the preaching as one crucified and risen. 1. The harmful and dispensable char­ acter of myth. 7 Ian Henderson, Myth in the New Testa­ ment (London: SCM Press, 1952), p.18. 8 Bultmann, Kerygma and Myth, p.41. 354 RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM

2. The requirement of an existential tianity. Cullmann analyzes his position eXegeSiS. regarding history to be such that 3. The insignificance of history. Any other martyrdom could, in principle, 4. The sovereign transcendency of God. have exactly the same effect, when there is an encounter between it and ourselves. Geraint Vaughan Jones feels that Bult- Any historical objectified death outside of mann has failed to draw "a clear distinction ourselves is mythological. between myth, symbol, and metaphor." 9 In reality, however, Julius Schniewind, Ernst Lohmeyer, and the historical and temporal element dis­ Helmut Thielicke, however, would con­ tinguishes Judaism and Christianity from tend that, when referring to the divine­ all other religions and, consequently, one human encounter, these are the only cate­ may not eliminate it without attacking the gories in which one can speak.10 very substance of either.13 Considering Bultmann's employment of Cullmann, in his useful monograph, "existential" exegesis, John Carroll Futrell Baptism in the N e1U Testament, points refers to Barth's criticism that "with exis­ out how essential a proper appreciation tential categories he is confined with a of history is for th" understanding of Holy priori limits as an exegete," 11 "Decision," Baptism: observes Gustaf Wingren, is the word which best summarizes Bultmann's escha­ The essence of Baptism is anchored in the tology. This existentialist keyword, he historical work of Christ. . . . The grace of Baptism ... is a once-for-aU event en­ feels, preconditions many of Bultmann's tirely dependent on Golgotha and also a conclusions.12 It is this emphasis upon new and special manifestation of the same faith as "decision" which Oscar Cullmann gratia praeveniens. The divine act of sal­ points out as the basis of his interpreta­ vation advances into the time of the tion of the New Testament picture of Bap­ Church .... He who sits now at God's tism, limiting it to adults and thus dis­ right hand permits the person being bap­ regarding the significance of gratia prae­ tized at this particular place, within His venie1zs inherent in the sacred act. Church, to participate in what was done Among many others Wingren, Hender­ ephapax on Good Friday and Easter.14 son, Schniewind, Thielicke, and Cullmann Bultmann's excessive emphasis upon the all feel that Bultmann is hardly doing jus­ sovereign transcendency of God possibly tice to the historical character of Chris- provides the reason for his disregard of the sacraments, according to the Roman 9 Geraint Vaughan Jones, Christology and Myth in the New Testament (New York: Catholic scholar Leopold Malevez. At great Harper and Brothers, 1956). length he discusses Bultmann's rejection of 10 Kerygma and Myth, pp.45-101. 11 John Carroll Futrell, "Myth and Mes­ 13 Oscar Cullmann, "Bultmann's Concept of sage," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, XXI Myth and the New Testament," CONCORDIA (1959),283-315. THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY, XXVII, 1 (Jan. 12 Gustaf Wingren, Theology in Conflict, 1956), 13-24. tr. Eric H. Wahlstrom (Philadelphia: Muhlen­ 14 Cullmann, Bapti.rm in the New Testament berg Press, 1958), p. 139. (London: SCM Press, 1956), pp.33£. RUDOLF BULTMANN AND THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM 355 the idea of a possible "irruption of the CONCLUSION divine into the human sphere." Bultmann's The Christian church knows only one theory that "the divine action takes place God, the God who acts, the God who has only within the existential encounter of moved within history while yet always faith - that there is no materialization of above it. Bultmann's rejection of this his­ the divine in 'things,'" manifests a high torical event-symbol in favor of the idea­ sense of transcendence and "hostility to all symbol and his exchange of a primitive ideas of a 'divine condescension.''' 15 cosmology for an existential anthropology Malevez concludes (p. 155) : result in the eventual error of extrem­ the Christianity of Bultmann suffers from ism - docetism, deism, and the pillaging this cruel poverty. It is reduced to preach­ of the Holy Place of those means of grace ing; there is no worship; no real sacra­ through which the Eternal I Am continues ment. . . . It is confined to giving us a to come to us. certain self-knowledge of our present con­ Is this the only course for the theologian dition without any firm prospects for the who would "get through" to those who future. have ears but hear not? Has not Bult­ Criticizing this emphasis of Bultmann mann thrown out the baby with the bath? upon divine transcendence in terms of a Certainly the church is intent upon com­ "closed world-order" and the necessary municating existentially to the human sit­ nexus of science and faith, Herman Rid­ uation. But is she communicating the derbos, professor of New Testament studies Christian message if she would sacrifice at Kampen, Netherlands, would concur the means of grace for the sake of a "demythologized, reasonable gospel"? Our that in his concern to preserve the scandal lord's demand for faith, decision, and obe­ of the cross Bultmann is in great peril of dience is not an imperative without an denying the scandal of the Incarnation.16 indicative. Through His sacred means of grace that indicative is always before us, 15 Leopold Malevez, The Christian Message and Myth, te. Olive Wyon (London: SCM and any attempt to relegate or eliminate Press, 1958), pp. 142,151. the significance of any of these blessed 16 Length prohibits a more extensive critique sacraments can only be viewed as a danger and survey. For an excellent dismssion the reader is referred to Malevez, just mentioned, to the church's catholicity, a loss in the and Herman Ridderbos, Bultmann, trans. David uniqueness of the message, and a distortion H. Freeman, International Library of Philos­ of the activity of the Spirit who has pre­ ophy and Theology, Modern Thinkers Series served it. (Grand Rapids: The Baker Book House, 1960), pp.28ff. Miinster, Germany.