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Truths We Can Touch: How Baptism and Communion Shape Our Lives
Tim Chester
Crossway (2020). 176 pp.
Why is it that when evangelicals talk about baptism and communion, they tend to talk more about what they do not mean than what they do mean? According to Tim Chester, one possible reason is because evangelicals are still fighting the debates of the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. This reason paired with modernity’s influence on evangelicalism has left us anything but certain about the sacraments. What is needed, then, is a constructive account of the meaning and value of these physical acts. In seeking to provide such an account, Chester offers six chapters, with introductory and concluding chapters.
Chester begins by showing how baptism and communion are God’s covenantal promises in physical forms. Thus, the sacraments have more than just subjective meaning. Utilizing Scripture, Chester seeks to demonstrate this by telling “the history of the world in twelve meals” (p. 55). For Chester, the final meal—the Last Supper—indicates that the believer’s future is a feast in resurrected physical bodies in the presence of Jesus, which means that the physicality of the sacraments is a “reminder of the physicality of salvation” (p. 67). This implies that the sacraments are more than mere reminders of God’s promises, but “genuine means of grace” (p. 72). For Chester, this indicates that God mediates his presence through the sacraments.
Yet, how should we understand this mediated presence? This is the question Chester moves to address by briefly surveying Catholicism, Luther, and Zwingli. Following this survey, Chester moves to discuss—and subsequently champion—Calvin’s view. Thus, while Christ may not be present in the sacraments physically, He is present spiritually (p. 97). As such, communion is a true “embrace of Christ” via the Holy Spirit (p. 105). And though Chester desires evangelicals to move beyond remembrance, he does not desire for them to move on from it, since remembering is an essential act of “covenant renewal” (p. 124).
Further, baptism and communion should shape our lives in significant ways (p. 125). Although baptism happens only once, each day believers ought to live into their changed identity. And by participating in communion regularly, believers should be shaped and formed in their character, attitudes, and service to the world. Finally, since baptism and communion are communal acts belonging to Christ’s body, both baptism and communion ought to be reserved for the faithful. Chester, then, concludes the work by suggesting that the sacraments in general—and communion in particular—presents the opportunity for “re-enchanting” our world. In his words, “God’s immanence in the world through the Spirit in Communion points us beyond this material world to the transcendence of God,” (p. 164).
Therefore, Chester’s book lays out a compelling vision for evangelicals to reconsider the significance of the sacraments. Chester’s use of Scripture is particularly robust, and his utilization of sources from various Reformed traditions makes it an even stronger work. It is also lucidly structured and clearly written. Nevertheless, as with most books, there are parts which elicit questions and points of dialogue and, for me, there are several. For example, Chester’s claim of speaking to and for evangelicals ought to be examined given his narrow use of dialogue partners. Though he converses with many of the great reformers such as Luther and Calvin, he fails to consult some of the major figures within what Donald Dayton has referred to as “classical evangelicalism,” which found its most distinctive expression in revivalist America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.* While some might not consider this a weakness of the work, it will dissatisfy others, particularly those within Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal denominations. Furthermore, I was left wondering why Chester opted for closed communion given his prior remarks on Jesus’ meals with tax collectors. For instance, though he states that communion “is one moment where we draw a line in the sand” and the occasion that reveals “there are people who are in Christ and people outside of Christ” (p. 158), he also says that “by eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus shows us in the most tangible way that God welcomes his enemies” (p. 63). Perhaps most perplexing is when he states: “In the house of Levi, Jesus ate with God’s enemies. And at every communion, Jesus welcomes us to the table” (p. 68). Therefore, further clarification on this point could have been valuable. Other minor quibbles could be mentioned, such as the use of the mechanistic metaphor “means of grace,” which suggests that grace is a kind of created substance, rather than a personal encounter with God.
Yet despite these considerations, I am positive about the book. I believe Chester’s voice is a needed one among the current chorus urging evangelicals towards a more sacramental understanding of baptism and communion. As such, pastor-theologians will benefit from Truth We Can Touch, as it may serve as a succinct primer on the sacraments. Given its readability, well-read lay people might also benefit from its contents.
*Donald W. Dayton, “The Limits of Evangelicalism,” in The Variety of American Evangelicalism, ed. Donald W. Dayton and Robert K. Johnston (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 48.
Andrew Williams is Lead Pastor of Church on the Hill in Fishersville, VA, and an adjunct professor at Life Pacific University. He has a PhD in theology from Bangor University and is the author of multiple books including Reconstructing Prayer: Beyond Deconstructing Your Faith. He is a member of the St. Basil Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
