What is a rite?
A rite is an outward religious act — a form, a ceremony, something done with the body that stands for something else. Scripture contains rites given by God Himself, which raises the real questions: what is a rite for, and what can it never do?
Sign, Not Substance
Commentators define a rite by what it points to rather than by what it achieves. Writing on baptism, one puts the distinction bluntly:
F. B. HoleBaptism is however a rite, an outward sign. It accomplishes nothing vital, and alas, millions of baptised persons will find themselves in a lost eternity. It points however to that which is vital in the fullest sense, even the Cross.
Israel's Rites Touched the Flesh
The Old Testament system was full of rites, and Hebrews explains their limit. They dealt with the outside of a person, and they were never meant to last.
Samuel RidoutThese things were all external things — meats, drinks, and various washings... These could not make the conscience perfect, or give real peace; they were carnal, or fleshly, ordinances; having to do with the outward man, with a relationship to God which was purely external. A man might thus be a good Israelite, might be ceremonially clean, and yet be a complete stranger to peace with God or a sense of His love, or access into His holy presence.
Such rites were fitted to people as they naturally are, dealing with God through what can be seen and touched.
J. N. DarbyThe institutions of the law were adapted to man in the flesh. A magnificent temple, beautiful vestments, a God present to the senses upon earth, though man was not permitted to draw near to Him; trumpets, visible sacrifices — all these things were ordained that man in the flesh might be in relationship with God.
The Two Rites Christianity Keeps
Christianity did not abolish rites altogether. It reduced them to two, and both look back to the same event.
J. N. DarbyI learn that the Lord has left two rites, or ordinances, both signifying His death; one initiatory, the other of continual observance in the church of God — baptism and the Lord's supper.
Their simplicity is itself part of the lesson. One writer contrasts the Lord's supper with the elaborate ceremony people are drawn to:
A. J. PollockIt was not instituted in the gorgeous Temple with priests in flowing robes and swinging censers. Evidently the Spirit of God would not occupy the mind of the believer with the ritual of the occasion. Ritualism makes an appeal to the senses... to impress the outward senses, and produce a false feeling of sanctity on the mind of the flesh.
A Rite Emptied of Reality
Circumcision shows what happens when a God-given sign is kept up while its meaning drains away. The nation performed it carefully and understood it less and less.
Truth & TestimonyIt became just an outward rite carrying very little inward reality. Its effect on manner of life was non-existent. It was never God's intention that an outward rite should be observed without inward reality. This gives no pleasure to Him.
Ceremony Cannot Save
Because a rite is a sign, it cannot do the work of the thing it signifies. Trusting one is compared to painting a sinking ship:
C. StanleyBut are you trusting to outward forms and ceremonies of religion? Now what good will this outside paint do? The ship is sinking, and if you stay on it, you will go down with the very paint-brush in your hand. Oh my friend! all the baptisms, and sacraments, and ordinances that man can perform will never keep one ruined sinner from sinking into hell!
The same warning is aimed at those who count a person a Christian on the strength of ceremonies performed:
W. W. FeredayThere are not wanting those in Christendom today who, in their zeal for externals, are prepared to accept as Christians multitudes who have nothing to show but Baptism, Confirmation, and attendance at the Lord's Supper. However important the first and third of these may be as ordinances of the Lord (the second — Confirmation — being a human device pure and simple), they are worse than useless apart from a living faith in the Son of God.
Leaning on the Sign
Even the two rites Christ gave can be misused — not by neglect, but by being leaned on.
J. N. DarbyTo rest upon ordinances is to rest upon the flesh; there are none in heaven. When Christ, who is there, is everything, it cannot be done... But if, instead of using them with thanksgiving according to His will, we rest upon them, we have forsaken the fulness, the sufficiency, of Christ.
Reviving the old ceremonial system draws a sharper image still:
A. J. PollockNow if religious men revive the shadows, is that not a clear proof that they do not understand the Substance? If men light tiny tapers when strong sunlight is flooding hill and dale, would we not suppose they were mentally afflicted?
Summary
- Sign — A rite is an outward act that stands for something greater; it points, and by itself accomplishes nothing vital.
- Shadow — Israel's rites were external and temporary, cleansing the body but never the conscience, and were imposed only until the reality came.
- Substance — Christ left just two rites, baptism and the Lord's supper, and both signify His death, the very thing every earlier shadow pointed to.
- Reality — A rite kept without inward reality, as circumcision was, gives God no pleasure whatever its precision.
- Danger — The two errors are trusting a rite to save and resting on it once saved; both put weight on the sign instead of on Christ.