Now we need to consider a few matters about the vanity of religion. First, religion has an outward name (2:17). Recently, I went to the barbershop for a haircut. The barber talked about attending Christmas Mass. I used the opportunity to ask him how many people would be there. He said, “You know, this is just a religious duty. Some people attend Mass only once a year at Christmas time.” Here we see an example of the vanity of religion: attending Mass once a year as a religious duty in order to keep the name of being a Catholic. What kind of believer is this? A believer with a mere outward name. If you are real in the spirit, meaning you are a genuine believer, that is wonderful. However, if you lack the reality and simply keep the outward name, it means nothing. It is vanity.
The second aspect of the vanity of religion is knowing God in outward knowledge (2:17-18). It is vain to know God merely in external knowledge, in outward letters. We need the inward knowledge of God, the knowledge in our spirit, the knowledge that spreads into our whole being. We need such an inward and subjective knowledge of God.
The third item of the vanity of religion is having the Scriptures outwardly (3:2). Both Jews and Christians have the Bible, but the Bible, for many of them, has become a superstitious book. They hold the Bible in a superstitious way. Some Christians have told me that they are afraid to sleep at night without having a Bible nearby. If they do not place the Bible beside their pillow or on their table, they have no peace to sleep at night, thinking the Holy Bible will keep the demons away from them. This is superstition. Other Christians use the Bible to find guidance in an extraordinary way. They open the Bible, point their finger to a certain place, and follow the leading given in whatever verse they locate. I once heard of a superstitious person who opened the Bible and placed his finger on the verse which said that Judas went out to hang himself (Matt. 27:5). I wonder what he did. It is terrible and absolutely superstitious to handle the Scriptures in this way. All of these vain practices must be torn down.
Of course, most orthodox Jews and genuine Christians do not handle the Bible in such a superstitious way, but they do not take the Scriptures in a real and living way. They care for the teachings in letters; they do not care for Christ, the living Person. In John 5:39-40 the Lord Jesus told the Jewish religionists that they search the Scriptures for knowledge, yet will not come to Him for life. Today many Christians are in the same category. Thus, the Bible does not mean much to them in life and reality.
Some religious people keep the outward form in letter (2:27-28). Take the example of baptism. Many dear Christians cling to their concepts about baptism by immersion in water. I myself am strongly in favor of baptism by immersion according to the Scriptures and I would never baptize people by sprinkling them. However, this matter of baptism has almost entirely become a mere outward form. We must avoid all outward forms. Paul told the Jews that if their circumcision is merely outward, it is unreal. The genuine circumcision is inward, in the heart and in the spirit. We may apply the same word to baptism, for, in a sense, baptism replaces circumcision. In the Old Testament was circumcision, and in the New Testament circumcision has been replaced by baptism. Since circumcision is unreal as long as it is practiced as a bare outward form, so baptism can never be real if it is simply outward. I am sorry to say that nearly all baptisms have degraded into an outward form.
I can illustrate from my own experience. First, I was sprinkled with a few drops of water by a pastor. Later I realized that this was wrong, that it was unscriptural. Then I was immersed in the sea by a Brethren teacher. After this, someone told me that it is wrong to be baptized in salt water instead of fresh water. According to them, people should follow the example of Jesus and be immersed in a river. Then, perhaps, a pastor will argue that it is still wrong because it is not in the river Jordan. Eventually I realized that even if people had been baptized in the river Jordan, someone else would tell them that it was still wrong because they had not been immersed in the precise spot where Jesus Himself had been baptized. The arguments are endless, and the criticisms are unfair and unreasonable.
People have argued and disputed about baptism for centuries because they cling to an outward form. Some, like the Quakers and Mrs. Penn-Lewis, have repudiated the outward, physical baptism. Although I do not agree with this, I caution you not to pay attention to a form which is correct according to your sight. You are not the Lord, neither am I. Whether you are baptized in hot water or cold water, salt water or plain water, in the river or in the ocean, one time or several times, the mere outward form means nothing. We need the inward reality. I do not encourage you to practice anything as a form. We should not be attached to any form, but pay our full attention to the reality.