"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).
Among the most well-known of pericopes is the "Great Commission," wherein we find our Lord's specific command to baptize. Baptism is a mark of the catholic church, yet that same church is divided as to the purpose of baptism.
Of the commands of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, all were given for our good, either to keep a right relationship with God (First Table of the Law) or to keep a right relationship with each other (Second Table of the Law). Therefore, when Jesus gave us the command to baptize, it must have been for one or both of these reasons. But if baptism is for our good, what good is it?
According to most synergistic theological systems, baptism is merely an external sign of membership in the external church. It is that, yet it is so much more. Jesus, Peter, and Paul, as well as many other apostles, placed great emphasis on the value and benefit of baptism, much more than would be due on a mere external sign with no true benefits, especially since the apostolic writings on baptism mainly focus on its benefits. "David Henkel, Answer to Mr. Joseph Moore, The Methodist, (New Market: S.G. Henkel, 1825), p. 7."
Much of the significance of baptism can be found in our Lord's choice of the material element used in the Sacrament, namely, water. This water is described as the vehicle of both the command of Christ and the Name of the Holy Trinity. As the water is placed upon the person, so is the command and the Name carried with it.
In order to properly understand this process, we must remember that "Baptism is not the work of men, but of Christ. A. Andrew Das, Baptized Into God's Family, (Milwaukee: Northwestern, 1991), p. 16." Paul always uses the passive voice in the verbs that denote baptism, and the power of baptism, as Paul shows, is the finished work of the risen Christ." Being unable to save ourselves, we must rely only on Christ to wash away our sin. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." (Isaiah 64:6, NASB). Thus we ask with Jesus, "Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me." (Mark 11:30, NASB). Even the Pharisees knew that it was from heaven. How much more would Christ's baptism be from heaven?
At the same time, we cannot ignore that baptism is an external sign, yet the significance must be found chiefly in the effects of the sign, both external and internal, as Luther said:
Baptism is an external sign or token, which so separates us from all men not baptized that we are thereby known as a people of Christ, our Leader, under whose banner of the holy cross we continually fight against sin. In this holy sacrament we must therefore pay attention to three things: the sign, the significance of it, and the faith."Martin Luther, Luther's Works, (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960), pp.29 30."
The benefits of baptism are found in all three of these things, as Luther summarizes in his Small Catechism, Article IV, paragraphs 5-6:
What gifts or benefits does Baptism bestow? Answer: It effects forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants eternal salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare."Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), pp. 348-349."
However, this list is incomplete, and to simply list the benefits
linearly would do injustice to the benefits and present an inaccurate
picture, for the benefits of baptism come through an instantaneous
process, not just a list of unrelated gifts, as seen in Figure 1.
In the context of faith, baptism grants the Holy Spirit by placing
the name of the crucified and risen Christ upon the recipient. The
Holy Spirit renews and regenerates the recipient, creating and
renewing faith. Through faith, we are justified, and faith and
justification bring sanctification, from whence comes the strength to
persevere until final salvation.
The recipient's status as a justified child of God makes him " a member of the catholic church, and he may look to his justification for comfort, as well as receiving comfort and strength from the church until final salvation."
Again, this process is instantaneous, yet lifelong, so that at the instant of baptism, the recipient attains salvation, yet at the same time experiences the process throughout his lifetime until final salvation.
Although the Holy Spirit is at the beginning of the process, he permeates all the subsequent benefits and is the source, both directly and indirectly, of the benefits of baptism.
In short, it is not what we do in Baptism, but what God does through Baptism, that gives it its efficacy, the water of Baptism being the earthly element by which the Holy Spirit communicates the heavenly grace."Rev. John E. Witteker, Baptism: A practical Treatise for Plain People, (Utica: The Young Lutheran Church Company, 1893), pp. 151 152."
Scripture provides us with an image of the presence of the Spirit in baptism in the prototypical baptism of Jesus. "And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, [and] coming upon Him," (Matthew 3:16, NASB).
Thus the baptized, crucified, and risen Jesus gave the same Spirit to us through our baptism. "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave [us] the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge." (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NASB).
By Christian Baptism our Church understands not mere water but the whole divine institution is a sign and testimony of the will of God toward us offering us his grace is one of the instruments whereby the Holy Ghost is given who excites and confirms faith, whereby we are justified before God "Charles P. Krauth, Baptism: The Doctrine Set Forth in and Taught in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Gettysburg: J.E. Eible, 1866), p. 62."
In baptism, the Spirit comes instantaneously, yet He continues to come throughout the life of the recipient, working in him throughout his life until final salvation. "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" (John 3:5-8, NASB).
The coming of the Holy Spirit is a constantly new divine coming and working. The same is true of every baptized person. Even though the Spirit has been poured out on him through Baptism, he must depend on the Spirit's coming. Once the Spirit comes, He creates and renews faith."Schlink, p. 63."
This faith is a new creation just as the recipient has been made new through the process of regeneration. "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit," (Titus 3:5, NASB).
Luther notes the dichotomy of the birth imagery of baptism and the death imagery of the Lord's Supper. Thus Luther expressed, "We have, therefore, two principal (sic) sacraments in the church, baptism and the bread. Baptism leads us into a new life on earth; the bread guides us through death into eternal life."Luther, p. 67.">
Yet at the same time, we cannot be born anew without dying to sin through the same regeneration.
We are not only dead, we are buried by Baptism into death -- dead and buried ! Just as the burial is the proof of the natural death; so also, Baptism, to every child of God, is the witness of his death unto sin "Witteker, p. 145."
Still, regeneration is a vague term at best, and it doesn't clarify to any great extent the process, yet it must be understood as the first benefit from whence all others come, prerequisite to the rest. "One cannot be cleansed from sin without regeneration, for they are inseparable. Both cleansing and regeneration are promised to the believer in the baptismal covenant.""Royal F. Peterson, Baptized into Christ, (Rock Island: Augustana Press, 1959), p. 20."
The first effect of regeneration to which has already been alluded, is renewed faith. "Though a response of faith may antedate Baptism and lead someone to request it, Baptism is largely a prelude to faith, standing, as it does, at the inception of the life of Christ.""Eugene L. Brand, Baptism: A Pastoral Perspective, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1975), p. 38." Normally, especially with those older than infancy, faith precedes baptism, as baptism, though valid, would be inappropriately applied to one who rejects the Name into which he is baptized. "faith is our capacity to receive what God offers us in Christ and in Baptism.""Brand, p. 35."
As with all of baptism's gifts, not only is regeneration, and subsequently faith, instantaneous at the moment of baptism, but also are lifelong until final salvation. " The spiritual birth and the increase of grace and righteousness -- even though it begins in baptism, lasts until death, indeed, until the Last Day.""Luther, p. 31."
Through this faith, we are justified. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;" (Ephesians 2:8, NASB). However, it must be stressed that this justification is not independent of the regeneration by the Holy Spirit. "And Peter [said] to them, 'Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" (Acts 2:38, NASB).
Christian Baptism takes place through the Spirit; the Spirit works through Christian Baptism. At no place is a distinction made between "Water Baptism" and "Spirit Baptism," or also between forgiveness of sins and the Spirit's activity, as two different acts."Schlink, pp. 59 60."
Baptism does indeed wash away our sins ("'And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'" (Acts 22:16, NASB).), and though the meaning and effect of this washing is the subject of debate by some, it must at least include justification ("And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11, NASB). ) God accomplishes this process by placing upon the recipient his own Diving Name, thus implicitly the name of Jesus Christ . " The entire saving activity of God as it has concretely taken place in history is for believers brought to a focus in that name in which they are baptized.""Richard Jungkuntz, The Gospel of Baptism, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968), p. 72."
From justification comes the instantaneous righteousness of sanctification. "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4, NASB).
For just as a child is drawn out of his mother's womb and is born, and through this fleshly birth is a sinful person and a child of wrath [Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:3, NASB).], so one is drawn out of baptism and is born spiritually. Through the spiritual birth, he is a justified person. Therefore sins are drowned in baptism, and in place of sin, righteousness comes faith."Luther, p. 30."
This righteousness, the imputed righteousness of Christ, enables us to see God as our loving Father and enables us to walk in God's ways and live in an actively positive relationship with God.
Christian baptism is the starting point of a life lived in relationship with God through Christ. It is the beginning of a life tapped into the greatest resource available to the world. In baptism your child's life is plugged into the source of God's love and power. Your child is adopted into a large and wonderful family and is promised a rich inheritance."Richard A. Melheim, Welcome to the Family!, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989), p. 11."
Sanctification is a lifelong process. Until final salvation, we continually combat sin through the aid of the Spirit, and being Simil Justus et Peccator , we sometimes fail nonetheless. Paraphrasing Saint Augustine, Luther remarks:
Sin remains in our flesh even until death and works without ceasing. But so long as we do not give our consent to it or desire to remain in it, sin is so overruled by our baptism that it does not condemn us and is not harmful to us. Rather, it is daily being more and more destroyed in us until our death."Luther p 669"
So when we are baptized, we are both justified and sanctified, completely freed from sin, yet until we leave this world of sin, or until God renews the world as he has renewed us and on the same day renews us "more completely," we are and will continue to "be subject to both the effects and the temptation of sin. " So you understand how in baptism a person becomes guiltless, pure, and sinless, while at the same time continuing full of evil inclinations.
As justified children of God, God makes us members of his family, the church.
The new relationship with God and his people can be expressed in several ways: citizenship in his kingdom; being his adopted child; being a member of Christ's body, the church; being forgiven, i.e. released from the bondage of sin.
The Spirit brings us into the church, and at the same time, through the church we receive the Spirit.
First, the Spirit brings the recipient into the church, completely by grace. "Just as the church did not come into being because men joined together and founded the church, so it is at no time within man's power to become a member of the church." Not only is entry outside man's power, but also outside man's circumstances. It comes purely from the Spirit of God through the saving work of Christ.
the New Testament is quite clear that no one is a member of God's kingdom by right of birth. Both the polemics against Abrahamic guarantees and the apostolic pitting "being born of the Spirit" against "being born of the flesh" are cases in point.
Thus, being born of the Spirit, the church has this in common. "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13, NASB). "In Baptism, Christians share a common birth and receive in common the Holy Spirit. That is the basis both of our intimate relationship with God and our familial unity." This is the key to the union of the church, the most diverse organization on earth. Christians come from around the world, having nothing necessarily in common save our baptism into the name of Christ. Baptism brings together the Body of Christ to support and uphold each other in the presence of trouble and to further the Kingdom of God. "As the sacrament of salvation, Baptism identifies people with the locus of the kingdom between the times -- the church."
The benefits of membership in the catholic church are numerous enough to be the subject of a paper larger than this one are well beyond the scope of this piece, but some notable benefits relate directly or indirectly to the baptismal command. "Another aspect of the church's mediatorial role as priesthood, is the obligation of intercessory prayer." The church comes before God on behalf of the baptized, as well as loving him, caring for his needs -- both spiritual and physical, teaching him of God's love, and thus, comforting him with the saving message of the Gospel and the constant reminder of his baptism. In Luther's Large Catechism, Part IV, Paragraph 44, he remarks:
To appreciate and use Baptism aright, we must draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and we must retort, "But I am baptized! And if I am baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body.
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." (Ezekiel 36:25-27, NASB). Another great benefit of baptism is sanctification by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Just as "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6, NASB), so the descent from Adam is matched and trumped with the descent of the Spirit.
You give yourself up to the sacrament and what it signifies. That is, you desire to die, together with your sins, and to be made new at the Last Day From that hour, he begins to make you a new person. He pours into you His grace and Holy Spirit, who begins to slay nature and sin, and to prepare you for death and the resurrection at the Last Day.
Again, sanctification is a direct gift of the Holy Spirit, mediated through baptism through the process of regeneration. "Repentance, faith, and sanctification, which belong to this new life, have their basis in the grace of baptism. Therefore baptism is spoken of as a 'Washing of regeneration.'"
St. Paul discusses the process in detail in 1 Corinthians 6, discussing our baptism into Christ's death and our response. "You were washed, he says; you were sanctified; how can you act as if this were not the case?"
Still, although sanctification comes instantaneously at baptism, yet it still continues to work in us until final salvation.
Thus we see what a great and excellent thing baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes God our own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new man, always remains until we pass from this present misery to eternal glory.
Although free from sin and death, we still are fallen creatures in a fallen world, subject to both the effects and the temptation of sin, yet our baptism enables us to successfully combat such an overwhelming enemy. "Even after baptism, we must still kill our sinful nature until death or the Last Day," (ML 32) Our baptism serves as our weapon against our sinful nature. "Luther himself was a great practitioner of this, telling his demons to go to the devil because he belonged to God -- he had been baptized."
Also, sanctification is a process in which God has offered us the honor of cooperation. Sanctification itself is totally God's Work through his Spirit, yet we are able to deny evil and choose good through this empowerment, yet we are still able, because of our sinful nature, to choose evil.
What benefit is a valid Baptism if no Christian life results? While affirming the validity of all proper Baptisms, the question of results cannot be ignored. The same Luther who wrote, "Baptism does not become invalid even if it is wrongly received or used, for it is bound not to our faith but to the Word," also wrote. "Just by allowing water to be poured over you, you do not receive Baptism in a manner that does any good."
All of these gifts, the entire process, culminate in final salvation, the ultimate goal of baptism.
Because Jesus died for the world on the cross, the forgiveness of sins is imparted together with the assignment to Him The forgiveness which is imparted through Baptism is determined by the fact that the baptized is assigned to the Crucified as to the living, present, and active Lord. Therefore in this forgiveness it is not simply a matter of removing a purely cultic impurity, nor of pardoning isolated transgressions of divine precepts, nor of the cancellation of a specific individual guilt. Beyond all of this the forgiveness which is imparted through Baptism is a change of dominion. through Baptism a man is removed from the dominion of sin and placed under the rule of Christ.
In baptism, we are saved already. The Holy Spirit places the name of Triune God upon us, and we are members of the kingdom. However, at the same time, we continue to sin and die. "Though the baptized are still moving toward death in this world, they have been snatched out of the judgment of death."
Knowing that we have salvation comes as a great comfort. As our justification comforts us until Final salvation, so our salvation strengthens us now.
Through baptism God says to the baptized person, "Thou are my child. Thy sins are forgiven. My salvation is yours." This promise stretches throughout life and into eternity. Man can always return to that promise in penitence and faith. Man may turn away from God, but God's covenant, made in baptism, abides forever. God never changes and when man falls away the door is always open for him to enter in again through the covenant of grace once entered into the baptism.
Within the salvation event at baptism, we find the dichotomy of birth and death. The old Adam dies, and a new man is born in us, and by dying with Christ, we gain life.
Only after Good Friday's burial and Easter morn's opened tomb did Jesus issue his great commission because the One who authorizes and gives Holy Baptism to the church is no other than the One who Himself went through death, who lay in the grave but is now risen again.
Even salvation, like the other benefits of baptism, through instantaneous, is lifelong. Actually, baptism extends beyond life, both past and future.
If Baptism is the sacrament of salvation, i.e., if participation in Jesus' death and resurrection links people with what God accomplished in Christ, we must ask about the implications of salvation. Salvation is both a past and a future event; it affects life in the present. Christ saved us by his death and resurrection. Christ shall save us when he comes in Glory.
But in discussion of salvation, the origin must and does lead back to Christ and our justification, for without the cross, our baptism loses meaning and power. "When we teach that we are saved by baptism, we understand nothing else, than that Christ saves us; for he has instituted it, and it is the means in his own hands, to effect our regeneration."
But the point of our baptism, the culmination of our salvation, is our resurrection on the last day. "having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." (Colossians 2:12, NASB).
Luther summarizes this point in paragraphs twenty-four and twenty-five of his teaching on baptism in his Large Catechism:
To put is most simply, the power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is to save To be saved, we know, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil and to enter into the Kingdom of Christ and live with Him forever.
For now, until we see our Lord face to face, perhaps the greatest benefits of baptism are outside our consciousness, but the conscious benefit is that we can look to it and know that we will enjoy the full benefits in the life to come.
In short, the blessings of Baptism are so boundless that if timid nature considers them, it may well doubt whether they could all be true here in Baptism, there is brought free to every man's door just such a priceless medicine which swallows up death [He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25:8, NASB)] and saves the lives of all men.
Brand, Eugene L. Baptism: A Pastoral Perspective . Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1975.
Das, A. Andrew. Baptized Into God's Family . Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1991.
Henkel, David. Answer to Mr. Joseph Moore, The Methodist . New Market: S. G. Henkel, 1825.
Jungkuntz, Richard. The Gospel of Baptism . St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968.
Krauth, Charles P. Baptism: The Doctrine Set Forth in and Taught in the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Gettysburg: J.E. Eible, 1866.
Luther, Martin. "The Holy and Blessed Sacrament of Baptism, 1519." Luther's Works . Trans. Charles M. Jacobs. 35. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960.
Mattson, A,D. The Meaning of Baptism for a Lutheran . Rock Island: Augustana Book Concern, 1945.
Melheim, Richard A. Welcome to the Family! St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1989.
Peterson, Royal, F. Baptized into Christ . Rock Island: Augustana Press, 1959.
Schlink, Edmund. The Doctrine of Baptism . St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972.
Tappert, Theodore G. Ed. The Book of Concord . Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959.
Witteker, Rev. John E. Baptism: A Practical Treatise For Plain People . Utica: The Young Lutheran Church Company, 1893.
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