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The Water and the Blood: How the Sacraments Shape Christian Identity
This Thoughtful Book Explores How the Sacraments Shape Christian Identity in Christ Our culture today teaches us that we must look inside ourselves to discover our place and purpose in life―we can determine our own identities and express them however we want. This self-centered approach promises freedom and fulfillment, but it leads only to confusion and despair. In The Water and the Blood , Kevin P. Emmert combats this egocentric mindset with a sustainable solution through Jesus Christ. Emmert explores the depth of Christian identity, which our triune God makes visible through the sacraments of the gospel. This thoughtful, theologically driven book explains how God uses multisensory elements―water, bread, and wine―to communicate to his people and unite them to the life-giving body of Christ. Readers will be inspired to joyfully embrace the identity they have received in Christ as baptized and communing persons.
240 pages, Paperback
Published November 7, 2023
19 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 5, 2025
I got to know Kevin after Crossway assigned him to edit my Keller book. Sharp theologian.
June 16, 2025
2025
Everything I have said in my previous review holds true. But let me add that the conversation this book begins on sacramental piety is absolutely necessary for the modern church.
2024
This was not an incredibly long read, but it demanded my full attention while reading. If the claims Kevin Emmert makes in “The Water and the Blood” are true, then they carry paradigm shifting consequences by their very nature. The gravity of the work meant I really couldn’t read it alongside other things, as I typically do. After careful study, examination, and prayer, I think Dr. Emmert is absolutely right, and that the sacraments should be normative for the entirety of the Christian life.
At its heart, “The Water and the Blood” is an examination of how the sacraments unfold in the life of the believer and how they point to and facilitate union with God. The first two chapters lay the framework of the argument, the second two chapters look at baptism and the supper respectively as they play out in the life of the believer, and the final two chapters examine how this practically plays out in the believer's life.
“Okay, you state that the sacraments facilitate union with Christ and are normative for the entirety of the Christian life. What then does that mean for the believer?”
Well, to find out, you’re just going to have to read the work. But in short, while we profess one faith, one Lord, and one baptism, we don’t have to profess our one baptism only once. Our baptism should affect every aspect of our lives because it ultimately pulls us into the community of saints and brings us into union with God. I don’t think a single human on earth has lived a single day in which they wouldn’t have been better apart from this reality. And the Lord’s Supper isn’t just a weekly remembrance but an identity-changing event that shapes the entirety of our lives.
When I started this work, I knew the subject matter was going to be incredibly devotional; however, the content itself wasn’t. That is to say, it was an academic treatise on a devotional topic. Calvin said that orthodoxy was a prerequisite to orthopraxy, and here is living proof of it. However, that isn’t to say that the work isn’t devotional. You could meditate on every single chapter for hours on end, and be the better for it. It’s just not presented in a format that makes it easy to do so.
This work is an academic treatise; however, it wasn’t unattainable. Dr. Emmert takes the time to define almost every theological term he uses. And when quoting an obscure text, he tells you exactly how he came to the conclusion he did from the text. I felt like these features made the work accessible to anyone.
I loved this book! I will be meditating on it and rereading it in the very near future.
Until Christ returns, may we delight in union with him and experience him ever more clearly through our participation in his sacraments.
Everything I have said in my previous review holds true. But let me add that the conversation this book begins on sacramental piety is absolutely necessary for the modern church.
2024
This was not an incredibly long read, but it demanded my full attention while reading. If the claims Kevin Emmert makes in “The Water and the Blood” are true, then they carry paradigm shifting consequences by their very nature. The gravity of the work meant I really couldn’t read it alongside other things, as I typically do. After careful study, examination, and prayer, I think Dr. Emmert is absolutely right, and that the sacraments should be normative for the entirety of the Christian life.
At its heart, “The Water and the Blood” is an examination of how the sacraments unfold in the life of the believer and how they point to and facilitate union with God. The first two chapters lay the framework of the argument, the second two chapters look at baptism and the supper respectively as they play out in the life of the believer, and the final two chapters examine how this practically plays out in the believer's life.
“Okay, you state that the sacraments facilitate union with Christ and are normative for the entirety of the Christian life. What then does that mean for the believer?”
Well, to find out, you’re just going to have to read the work. But in short, while we profess one faith, one Lord, and one baptism, we don’t have to profess our one baptism only once. Our baptism should affect every aspect of our lives because it ultimately pulls us into the community of saints and brings us into union with God. I don’t think a single human on earth has lived a single day in which they wouldn’t have been better apart from this reality. And the Lord’s Supper isn’t just a weekly remembrance but an identity-changing event that shapes the entirety of our lives.
When I started this work, I knew the subject matter was going to be incredibly devotional; however, the content itself wasn’t. That is to say, it was an academic treatise on a devotional topic. Calvin said that orthodoxy was a prerequisite to orthopraxy, and here is living proof of it. However, that isn’t to say that the work isn’t devotional. You could meditate on every single chapter for hours on end, and be the better for it. It’s just not presented in a format that makes it easy to do so.
This work is an academic treatise; however, it wasn’t unattainable. Dr. Emmert takes the time to define almost every theological term he uses. And when quoting an obscure text, he tells you exactly how he came to the conclusion he did from the text. I felt like these features made the work accessible to anyone.
I loved this book! I will be meditating on it and rereading it in the very near future.
Until Christ returns, may we delight in union with him and experience him ever more clearly through our participation in his sacraments.
September 24, 2024
(4/5) Great content, but a little over my head. Fairly uninteresting writing as well. Great cover art though, so that counts for something 😊
November 29, 2023
This book is a wonderful exposition of what it means for the Christian to be in Christ and how the sacraments portray that reality. It is deeply confessional and theological and portrays well how the sacraments can and should help Christians find their identity in Christ.
February 24, 2024
It is hard to decide if I loved this book. It was absolutely influential and incredibly biblical. Emmert masterfully expounds the historical reformed confessional position on the sacraments. Primarily their implications for union with Christ and our identity.
The downside of this book is it is doing too much. This could have a series of three books on sacraments, Union, and identity. He throws in everything and the kitchen sink. It is almost more appropriately used as a reference work for the reformed tradition.
This does an amazing job at explaining identity, Union, and the mysteries of the sacraments. I am forever grateful for his work because of its depth and breadth.
The downside of this book is it is doing too much. This could have a series of three books on sacraments, Union, and identity. He throws in everything and the kitchen sink. It is almost more appropriately used as a reference work for the reformed tradition.
This does an amazing job at explaining identity, Union, and the mysteries of the sacraments. I am forever grateful for his work because of its depth and breadth.
December 3, 2024
Basically, it is a book about union with Christ expressed through the means of the sacraments. Which is why I loved it!
The sections on identity formation through baptism and the munus triplex of Christ (Prophet, Priest, and King) and our participation in it were fantastic.
Overall, solid book. Emmert doesn’t touch on the different modes and understandings of the operations of the sacraments, but he says from the jump that wasn’t his goal. 4/5 would recommend.
The sections on identity formation through baptism and the munus triplex of Christ (Prophet, Priest, and King) and our participation in it were fantastic.
Overall, solid book. Emmert doesn’t touch on the different modes and understandings of the operations of the sacraments, but he says from the jump that wasn’t his goal. 4/5 would recommend.
December 12, 2024
Theologically robust and deeply encouraging. One of my favourite books of the year.
May 12, 2024
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Every now and then I come across a book that leaves me as close to speechless as I get when it comes to time to blog about it—I just can't express things concisely about a book. Give me a couple of weeks to write and about 20-30 pages, and I might get somewhere. Although, that somewhere is pretty much just going to be an extended abstract of the book.
I think in the past, I've talked about wanting to just post the back-of-the-book blurb, say "GO READ IT," and call it a day.
Obviously, this is one of those books (or it'd be mighty insulting to start the post this way). I'm not going to allow myself to do the extended abstract, and I'm going to try to say a little more than the second option. But that's pretty attractive. And frankly, if you get into my first section and I'm not being clear enough for you, just click on one of the links above to read the description and then GO READ IT.
Let's see if I can do a little better than that, eh?
WHAT'S THE WATER AND THE BLOOD ABOUT?
This is a confessional and theological look at the sacraments and their role in teaching Christians about Christ and forming their character and lives in Him. Unlike almost every book I've ever read about the Sacraments (either considered individually or together), there's no polemics, no debate, nothing along those lines. It's just careful encouragement, instruction, and guidance.
The book starts by talking about the dependence of the Sacraments on the Word, then moves to a look at the nature of the Sacraments and how they function generally to form Christians. The next two chapters look at each Sacrament specifically—what they tell us about those "who have been immersed into Christ and who commune with Him." The last two chapters apply all this, how the Sacraments form and inform Christian morality and then how they equip and guide believers into the work of ministry in a variety of settings.
IN-CHRIST PERSONS
From the beginning, Emmert's clear that his book isn't just about the Sacraments shaping Christian Identity, it's about Union with Christ. The Sacraments are an important and essential part of reinforcing that unity, in causing us to meditate on it, in shaping us more and more into the image of Christ—and are effectual and beneficial to us only because of this union (as is the case with all blessings enjoyed by Christians).
To help emphasize that union, Emmert frequently refers to believers as "in-Christ persons." This is both a nice phrase and a reminder that this is the core, the source of all our benefits—it's our primary identity. This was the core of John Calvin's teaching (no matter what you might have heard), drawing on the work of theologians and teachers before him, and is his major contribution to those that follow. Emmert is standing on Calvin's shoulders here, and the book is better for it.
From that Union, he can then proceed to consider the sacraments.
BROADLY PROTESTANT
Anytime you see a book citing The Three Forms of Unity, The Thirty-nine Articles of Anglicanism, the Westminster Standards, and the London Baptist Confession of 1689 (and other confessional statements) in a way that those statements support each other—and not to show weaknesses with the latter—you know you're looking at something of a unicorn in theological books. This is one of the emphases of this book, however. Emmert says in the preface that he's not interested (in this book) in polemics about proper administration, proper recipients, etc., but about what the sacraments mean in the lives and identity of those in-Christ.
But it's not just about being Protestant—Emmert's also looking at what Christians have said since the beginning about these ideas, showing that Protestantism stands in the same continuity as the Early Church and beyond.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE WATER AND THE BLOOD?
I was going to quote a passage from the Conclusion to start this section of the post, but I couldn't pick a portion that satisfied me—it was either all four pages or nothing. So I opted for nothing. But it's that kind of a book—you can't just quote a little bit, you want to keep going. Incidentally, all the quotations above are from the Introduction. If I let myself cite from particular chapters...well, see what I said in the opening paragraph.
It sort of feels like I've been waiting for decades for someone to write this book—I don't know that Emmert breaks a lot of new ground here—in fact, he probably hopes he doesn't. But I think the way he combines statements and positions from a variety of Protestant Confessions and traditions and weaves them together is fantastic. He excels at reminding us of what we all agree on, and what (to be true to our own tradition) we should be saying/thinking/teaching about the Sacraments and our Identity in Christ.
Particularly in the last century and a half (give or take), American Protestants have shied away from talking about Baptism and The Lord's Supper as anything but rites and rituals—things that talk about our faith and remembering events from Redemptive History. But that's largely due to anti-supernaturalism, the impact of the (so-called) Second Great Awakening, and a fear of looking/sounding like Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.* This is a deviation from historic Protestantism, and we need to recover the language and points of view of our predecessors. Not because we like history and want to be consistent with that history—but because the early Protestants held to these things because they're Biblical, and Christians have been speaking in these/similar ways since the First Century.
* That's awfully reductionistic, and not as nuanced and detailed—or extensive—as it should be. I'm aware of that, I'm also not writing a detailed work on the idea here, so that's as good as you're going to get.
Emmert has done us all a service in reminding us of this heritage, calling us to dust off our understanding of it, and to start acting in line of it. Even better is the way that he ties in our identity in Christ—the doctrine of Union with Christ—and how the sacraments shape us into better living out that identity.
A few weeks ago, a few of us were supposed to skim this for a chat about the book as kind of an overview before we dove in. I could not skim it. I just couldn't, because I wasn't even halfway through the ten-page introduction before I could tell that this was one of those books I had to marinate in, skimming was not an option.
The book is geared to scholars, preachers, and leaders—theoretically, at least. But this isn't a message just for them—it's for everyone in the Church and should be read that way. Sure, leaders and teachers will be able to do more with it, than the rest of us—but that's true of every theologically-inclined book. Laity shouldn't feel like this isn't a book for us.
In case I haven't been clear so far The Water and the Blood is one of the more helpful and educational books I've read in ages. I strongly recommend it to you.
---
Every now and then I come across a book that leaves me as close to speechless as I get when it comes to time to blog about it—I just can't express things concisely about a book. Give me a couple of weeks to write and about 20-30 pages, and I might get somewhere. Although, that somewhere is pretty much just going to be an extended abstract of the book.
I think in the past, I've talked about wanting to just post the back-of-the-book blurb, say "GO READ IT," and call it a day.
Obviously, this is one of those books (or it'd be mighty insulting to start the post this way). I'm not going to allow myself to do the extended abstract, and I'm going to try to say a little more than the second option. But that's pretty attractive. And frankly, if you get into my first section and I'm not being clear enough for you, just click on one of the links above to read the description and then GO READ IT.
Let's see if I can do a little better than that, eh?
If our morality and sense of identity—which mutually reinforce one another—are shaped so profoundly by aesthetics, then Christians need to not just participate more frequently in the sacraments but also reflect more deeply on their nature, meaning, and power. When rightly understood, rightly administered, and received with faith, baptism and Communion have the power to shape our self-understanding and moral vision. This is because they connect us to the greatest and most powerful story of all time—the gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover, the sacraments exhibit the historic church’s core beliefs and practices in an attractive and appealing, though certainly ordinary, manner. In baptism and Communion, we find a direct connection between beauty, orthodoxy, and orthopraxy that catechizes the people of God with a greater understanding of the gospel and how they fit into that larger reality as persons in Christ.
WHAT'S THE WATER AND THE BLOOD ABOUT?
This is a confessional and theological look at the sacraments and their role in teaching Christians about Christ and forming their character and lives in Him. Unlike almost every book I've ever read about the Sacraments (either considered individually or together), there's no polemics, no debate, nothing along those lines. It's just careful encouragement, instruction, and guidance.
The book starts by talking about the dependence of the Sacraments on the Word, then moves to a look at the nature of the Sacraments and how they function generally to form Christians. The next two chapters look at each Sacrament specifically—what they tell us about those "who have been immersed into Christ and who commune with Him." The last two chapters apply all this, how the Sacraments form and inform Christian morality and then how they equip and guide believers into the work of ministry in a variety of settings.
IN-CHRIST PERSONS
At the core of the statement that the Christian’s identity is in Christ is the biblical truth that our very existence as Christians is constituted in and determined by the living, active, and present Christ. The Christian self is a self in Christ. Put differently, being in Christ is our primary identity as Christians.
From the beginning, Emmert's clear that his book isn't just about the Sacraments shaping Christian Identity, it's about Union with Christ. The Sacraments are an important and essential part of reinforcing that unity, in causing us to meditate on it, in shaping us more and more into the image of Christ—and are effectual and beneficial to us only because of this union (as is the case with all blessings enjoyed by Christians).
To help emphasize that union, Emmert frequently refers to believers as "in-Christ persons." This is both a nice phrase and a reminder that this is the core, the source of all our benefits—it's our primary identity. This was the core of John Calvin's teaching (no matter what you might have heard), drawing on the work of theologians and teachers before him, and is his major contribution to those that follow. Emmert is standing on Calvin's shoulders here, and the book is better for it.
From that Union, he can then proceed to consider the sacraments.
As visible and tangible confirmations of God's work in Christ, the sacraments therefore give flesh and bones to the statement that the Christian's identity is in Christ... Stated differently, baptism and Communion are identity-forming rituals that teach us in touchable and accessible ways what it means to be persons in Christ.
BROADLY PROTESTANT
Anytime you see a book citing The Three Forms of Unity, The Thirty-nine Articles of Anglicanism, the Westminster Standards, and the London Baptist Confession of 1689 (and other confessional statements) in a way that those statements support each other—and not to show weaknesses with the latter—you know you're looking at something of a unicorn in theological books. This is one of the emphases of this book, however. Emmert says in the preface that he's not interested (in this book) in polemics about proper administration, proper recipients, etc., but about what the sacraments mean in the lives and identity of those in-Christ.
But it's not just about being Protestant—Emmert's also looking at what Christians have said since the beginning about these ideas, showing that Protestantism stands in the same continuity as the Early Church and beyond.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE WATER AND THE BLOOD?
I was going to quote a passage from the Conclusion to start this section of the post, but I couldn't pick a portion that satisfied me—it was either all four pages or nothing. So I opted for nothing. But it's that kind of a book—you can't just quote a little bit, you want to keep going. Incidentally, all the quotations above are from the Introduction. If I let myself cite from particular chapters...well, see what I said in the opening paragraph.
It sort of feels like I've been waiting for decades for someone to write this book—I don't know that Emmert breaks a lot of new ground here—in fact, he probably hopes he doesn't. But I think the way he combines statements and positions from a variety of Protestant Confessions and traditions and weaves them together is fantastic. He excels at reminding us of what we all agree on, and what (to be true to our own tradition) we should be saying/thinking/teaching about the Sacraments and our Identity in Christ.
Particularly in the last century and a half (give or take), American Protestants have shied away from talking about Baptism and The Lord's Supper as anything but rites and rituals—things that talk about our faith and remembering events from Redemptive History. But that's largely due to anti-supernaturalism, the impact of the (so-called) Second Great Awakening, and a fear of looking/sounding like Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.* This is a deviation from historic Protestantism, and we need to recover the language and points of view of our predecessors. Not because we like history and want to be consistent with that history—but because the early Protestants held to these things because they're Biblical, and Christians have been speaking in these/similar ways since the First Century.
* That's awfully reductionistic, and not as nuanced and detailed—or extensive—as it should be. I'm aware of that, I'm also not writing a detailed work on the idea here, so that's as good as you're going to get.
Emmert has done us all a service in reminding us of this heritage, calling us to dust off our understanding of it, and to start acting in line of it. Even better is the way that he ties in our identity in Christ—the doctrine of Union with Christ—and how the sacraments shape us into better living out that identity.
A few weeks ago, a few of us were supposed to skim this for a chat about the book as kind of an overview before we dove in. I could not skim it. I just couldn't, because I wasn't even halfway through the ten-page introduction before I could tell that this was one of those books I had to marinate in, skimming was not an option.
The book is geared to scholars, preachers, and leaders—theoretically, at least. But this isn't a message just for them—it's for everyone in the Church and should be read that way. Sure, leaders and teachers will be able to do more with it, than the rest of us—but that's true of every theologically-inclined book. Laity shouldn't feel like this isn't a book for us.
In case I haven't been clear so far The Water and the Blood is one of the more helpful and educational books I've read in ages. I strongly recommend it to you.
September 26, 2024
Amazing book that helps Christians understand our identities in a biblical way through the sacraments. Pushes against modern individualism in a beautiful way. We are always conforming to something. Non-conformists always sound the same and end up forming groups, ironically. We should conform to Christ.
4 stars because there’s some chapters where it feels like the same things are said a few times over and could be much more concise.
4 stars because there’s some chapters where it feels like the same things are said a few times over and could be much more concise.
May 21, 2024
What a great book to remind us of who we are in Christ and what he has done for us! And to challenge us to take our unity with Christ more seriously through the Sacraments!
The author, Kevin P, Emmert, is a close friend of a Prof I had in college. Every chapter I read made me feel as if I was back in Dr. Clark’s class learning from him!
The point of this book is not to prove real presence or memorial or whatever view of the sacraments someone might have. The point is to show the as we partake/witness the sacraments we are partaking in something that intrinsically speaks to our identity in Christ. Emmert takes us on a journey to see just what it means to be in-Christ persons and how not only do the sacraments immerse, encourage, remind, etc us of our identities in Christ but they also challenge us to live into our identities of being in/one w/Christ.
I could not stop underlining this book! Here’s a few quotes that I loved:
“God has added the sacraments to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what God enables us to understand by the Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us.”
“Baptism confronts us with Jesus Christ and the reality of what he has done for us, that he himself was baptized not only with the baptism of water in the Jordan but also the baptism of death at Golgotha so that we might die to sin and be raised to new life in him.”
“A core part of participating in Communion is identifying with our crucified and risen Lord: allowing our life stories—our very identities—to be conformed to his and anticipating the world to come which informs who we are and how we live now. This commemorative meal this ratifies and shapes in profound ways our identity as in-Christ persons, reminding us that the structures and patterns of our lives are to conform to his.”
The author, Kevin P, Emmert, is a close friend of a Prof I had in college. Every chapter I read made me feel as if I was back in Dr. Clark’s class learning from him!
The point of this book is not to prove real presence or memorial or whatever view of the sacraments someone might have. The point is to show the as we partake/witness the sacraments we are partaking in something that intrinsically speaks to our identity in Christ. Emmert takes us on a journey to see just what it means to be in-Christ persons and how not only do the sacraments immerse, encourage, remind, etc us of our identities in Christ but they also challenge us to live into our identities of being in/one w/Christ.
I could not stop underlining this book! Here’s a few quotes that I loved:
“God has added the sacraments to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what God enables us to understand by the Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us.”
“Baptism confronts us with Jesus Christ and the reality of what he has done for us, that he himself was baptized not only with the baptism of water in the Jordan but also the baptism of death at Golgotha so that we might die to sin and be raised to new life in him.”
“A core part of participating in Communion is identifying with our crucified and risen Lord: allowing our life stories—our very identities—to be conformed to his and anticipating the world to come which informs who we are and how we live now. This commemorative meal this ratifies and shapes in profound ways our identity as in-Christ persons, reminding us that the structures and patterns of our lives are to conform to his.”
December 31, 2024
Phenomenally helpful & wonderfully encouraging!
A must read for anyone in seeking to understand the significance that baptism & communion have on shaping our identity. I’ll let these lengthy quotes speak for themselves
Regarding baptism:
“Our primary identity as in-Christ persons is God given, and so to be our true, authentic self, all we need to do is embody the identity we have received through baptism into Christ, who is the true authentic human. To be truly authentic, therefore, is not to express who we perceive we are intrinsically but to express and become increasingly like the one who is extrinsic from us yet also within us. Put differently, we become our truest self when we become more like Christ.”
Regarding the Lord’s Supper:
“Modern secular culture presupposes that in order to live meaningful, purposeful, and satisfying lives, we simply need to look within our self-sufficient selves and live in whatever way most ‘authentically' expresses our innermost feelings. The truth is that the resources we need to live as we ought and to live truly fruitful, effective, and fulfilling lives lie not within, but without. But the fact that such resources are outside us does not mean that they are distant from us. This truth is punctuated forcefully and tastefully in the sacrament of Communion. When we receive the bread and wine, we are reminded that all we need is in Christ, with whom we are united and who lives within us by the Spirit.”
A must read for anyone in seeking to understand the significance that baptism & communion have on shaping our identity. I’ll let these lengthy quotes speak for themselves
Regarding baptism:
“Our primary identity as in-Christ persons is God given, and so to be our true, authentic self, all we need to do is embody the identity we have received through baptism into Christ, who is the true authentic human. To be truly authentic, therefore, is not to express who we perceive we are intrinsically but to express and become increasingly like the one who is extrinsic from us yet also within us. Put differently, we become our truest self when we become more like Christ.”
Regarding the Lord’s Supper:
“Modern secular culture presupposes that in order to live meaningful, purposeful, and satisfying lives, we simply need to look within our self-sufficient selves and live in whatever way most ‘authentically' expresses our innermost feelings. The truth is that the resources we need to live as we ought and to live truly fruitful, effective, and fulfilling lives lie not within, but without. But the fact that such resources are outside us does not mean that they are distant from us. This truth is punctuated forcefully and tastefully in the sacrament of Communion. When we receive the bread and wine, we are reminded that all we need is in Christ, with whom we are united and who lives within us by the Spirit.”
November 23, 2023
I'll always appreciate a book that takes the sacraments seriously. This one certainly does. But the author uses a ton of words to say not all that much. I struggled again and again to understand the point (the obvious points were, well, obvious, but I kept expecting something more based on the verbiage involved; quest denied).
What is interesting to me is that this Anglican writer takes a basically Reformed perspective on the sacraments. Which meant he was citing excellent confessions and catechisms throughout (and the Anglican tradition is notoriously weak in this documentary regard anyway). So the bones here are good, but all in all one could read Tim Chester or Keith Matheson or John Murray to better effect.
What is interesting to me is that this Anglican writer takes a basically Reformed perspective on the sacraments. Which meant he was citing excellent confessions and catechisms throughout (and the Anglican tradition is notoriously weak in this documentary regard anyway). So the bones here are good, but all in all one could read Tim Chester or Keith Matheson or John Murray to better effect.
June 18, 2024
This book is more of a 3.5 than a 4 but, 3 felt too harsh. And I do not wish to be harsh with my rating of this book.
Emmert does a good job of proving his thesis. The thesis that the sacraments shape Christian identity.
He doesn’t argue for a specific mode of baptism or theological view of Christ’s presence in the Supper. But, I found myself wanting him to. Some of his theological arguments almost demand it.
The biggest issue for me was that I found the book hard to read. Not difficult to comprehend. Just hard to continue reading through. But that may say more about me than the book.
Emmert does a good job of proving his thesis. The thesis that the sacraments shape Christian identity.
He doesn’t argue for a specific mode of baptism or theological view of Christ’s presence in the Supper. But, I found myself wanting him to. Some of his theological arguments almost demand it.
The biggest issue for me was that I found the book hard to read. Not difficult to comprehend. Just hard to continue reading through. But that may say more about me than the book.
November 3, 2023
An exquisite meditation on what it means to be a Christian, and by extension, the church. This book will confront readers with depths of meaning and relevance to Baptism and the Lord's Supper that they've perhaps never considered. Scripture, church history, and Christian anthropology are all called upon to show how the sacraments not only commemorate the gospel, but make it come alive in the every day consciousness of those united to Jesus by faith. Very highly recommended.
January 1, 2025
A wonderful book! The author provides accessible and engaging reflections on how the sacraments inform Christian identity. And he does so without a denominational divisiveness that could so easily accompany the discussion. Additionally, the connection with the doctrine of union with Christ gave the overall discussion a depth that made his points more profound and powerful. I am deeply appreciative for this book!
January 10, 2024
I really wanted to like this book. There were times when it was a profound meditation on the meaning of the sacraments. At other points the “meditation” became an overly repetitive “kitchen sink” theology where everything loosely related to identity got thrown in stretching the connections way too thin. If an editor cut out about 40% it would be much more valuable.
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January 31, 2024An in depth (and somewhat repetitive) examination of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Emmert does a good job explaining the connection between each sacrament and the Christian identity. I enjoyed and appreciated the book overall (copious endnotes!), but it did feel a bit laborious to get through.
January 4, 2024
A straightforward defense of the traditional Protestant sacraments, from a Reformed perspective. Thoughtful, but nothing particularly surprising or provocative.
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/lTXoerXzlGU
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/lTXoerXzlGU
September 3, 2024
Great book that shows the extreme importance of baptism and communion. This book dives deep into how the two ordinances of the Christian faith profoundly shape who we are as Christians. I recommend this book for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of baptism and communion.
December 28, 2023
Beautiful. Readable. Rich. Probably one of the best books I read this year.
April 15, 2025
Excellent book on the sacraments that pairs well with Trueman’s stuff in “Rise and Triumph”/“Strange New World.” Very well balanced in the Protestant tradition despite his Anglican background.
September 24, 2025
I have nothing bad to say about this book but I also wouldn’t recommend it either. Somehow 250 pages later I didn’t walk away with much.
August 20, 2025
The Water and the Blood shows how baptism and Communion shape Christian identity in Christ. Kevin P. Emmert explains how God uses water, bread, and wine to reveal His grace, unite believers to Christ, and root our lives in His promises. A thoughtful resource for pastors, students, and anyone seeking to rediscover the joy of life in Christ.
June 28, 2024
(Audiobook)
Mostly basic stuff. Could serve as a good overview on the topic with a few fun moments. Overall not quite what I was looking for, but I did listen to it very sporadically which did not help.
Mostly basic stuff. Could serve as a good overview on the topic with a few fun moments. Overall not quite what I was looking for, but I did listen to it very sporadically which did not help.
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March 28, 2025“Whereby”
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