Good question. Baptism is a public vow, a New Covenant profession of the name of Jesus. Since the biblical pattern is rule in heaven (Head) followed by rule on earth (Body),* I believe repentance and faith puts one into the Head (enthroned with Christ), and baptism puts one into the Body, with authority on earth to represent Christ in heaven. Another way to put it is the knighthood analogy: the baptizand submits to the sword from heaven that he/she might bear that sword on earth as a Covenant mediator, a witness, a prophet. If the vow is broken, he/she is put back under the Gospel sword in Church discipline and called to repent. If the baptizand does not repent, there is no chastisement from the heavenly Father, and their profession is false. The Church’s discernment of spiritual fruit through love and discipline is to make the earthly role resemble the heavenly one. Infant baptism merely attempts to sanctify an earthly “stoicheian” relationship. See the previous post linked above: Exposed to the Elements.

*Obviously this refers to Christ’s ascension and the following apostolic witness, expanded in the Firstfruits Church’s ascension and the subsequent witness of the Church since then. My favourite prefiguring of this is the “ascension” of the Ark of the Testimony (taken like Enoch and Elijah as Firstfruits, and later seen in heaven in the Revelation) and the rule of the Body begun by the “Pentecostal” Lampstand in Babylon (Daniel 5:5).

A. Aspergerits are genius BMers
B. I don’t get BM
C. THEREFORE I do not have aspergers