A LUTHERAN POSITION ON BAPTISM
From Original Sources
“The first thing in baptism to be considered
is the
divine promise, which says: ‘He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved’… The
second part of baptism is the sign, or sacrament, which is that
immersion into
water from this also it derives its name.
For the
Greek baptizo means ‘I immerse,’ and baptisma means ‘immersion.’” (From “The
Babylonian Captivity of the Church” by Martin Luther, 1520.)
“The act or rite [of baptism] consists in
being placed
into the water, which flows over us, and being drawn from it again.
These two
things, the placing in the water and emerging from it signify the power
and
efficacy of baptism; which is simply the mortifying of the old Adam in
us and
the resurrection of the new man, both of which operations continue in
us as
long as we live on the earth.” (Martin Luther, Large Catechism, 1529,
Dr. J. N.
Lenker’s translation, pages 168-169.)
NOTE: The following statements
are taken from the 1521 edition of the book, “LOCI COMMUNES” [i.e.
Common
Topics] by Philip Melanchthon. Luther had
only the
highest praise for that book. However, it is sometimes wrongly confused
with a
book by the same name that Melanchthon published two decades later –
which
contained certain controversial and divisive statements.
“I have
said that the
gospel is the promise of grace. Moreover next to promises is the place
of
signs. For in the Scripture signs are added to the promises for a mark.
These
signs remind us of the promises and are sure testimonies of the divine
will
toward us. They also bear witness that of a certainty we will receive
what God
has promised unto us. Gross errors are made in the use of signs. For
when the
schools dispute about the difference between the sacraments of the Old
and the
New Testaments they deny that the sacraments of the Old Testament had
any power
to justify. They attribute to the New Testament sacraments (though by a
manifest error) the power to justify. For faith alone justifies.”
“Moreover, what is the nature of
signs can be most easily understood from Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
In the
fourth chapter the following discussion of circumcision is contained.
According
to Paul, Abraham was not, justified by circumcision, but before it and
without
its merit. He did however later receive circumcision as a sign, by
which God
would witness that Abraham was just, and by which Abraham himself
would be conscious of the fact that he was just in the sight of God,
lest
fluctuating in a doubtful conscience he might give himself over to
despair. If
you understand this function, what can come about more joyfully than
signs? It
is not enough for signs to remind one of the promises; it is a matter’
of great
importance though that ‘they are a sure testimony of the divine will
toward us.
“Thus Moses (Gen. 14:11) calls
circumcision a sign: ‘That it may be unto you for a sign of the
covenant
between me and you.’ Because circumcision is a sign it reminds Abraham
of the
divine promise, and not, only him alone but all who were circumcised.
Because
circumcision is a sign of the covenant, that is, because it signifies
that the
covenant will be ratified, it confirms the conscience of Abraham. Hence
it
results that he doubts nothing but that it will come to pass just what
has been
promised. Doubting nothing, I say, but that God will fulfill just what
he has
promised. But what did God promise to Abraham? Was it not that he would
be a
God to Abraham, that is, did he not promise to embrace Abraham, to save
and
justify him? So Abraham doubted not but that these things were sure,
having
been confirmed by circumcision as it were a mark.
“Run through the whole of
Scripture if you will and seek out the nature of signs from the sacred
histories, but not from the impious Sophists. The Lord extends
Hezekiah’s life
because of Isaiah’s prayer. Now that the king may know for a certainty
that
this promise will be kept, God confirms it by the addition of a sign:
the
shadow of the horologe should be turned back ten degrees (II Kings 20).
Lest
Gideon should doubt that
“Signs do not justify, as Paul
says in I Corinthians 7:19: ‘Circumcision is nothing,’ and so baptism
and
participation in the Lord’s table are
nothing but
witnesses of the divine will toward you. And your conscience, if at all
in
doubt, is rendered certain by them of the grace and benevolence of God
toward
it. As Hezekiah could not doubt the fact that he would recover when he
had both
heard the promise and had seen. it confirmed by a sign; as Gideon could
not
doubt the fact that he would be a victor, when he was confirmed by so
many
signs; just so, ought you not doubt the fact that you have attained
mercy, when
you have heard the gospel preached and received its baptism, and the
body and
blood of the Lord. But if you will, Hezekiah could have been restored
to his
health even without a sign had he been willing only to believe the bare
promise. Likewise Gideon would have been victorious without a sign, if
he had
believed. So you can be justified without a sign provided you believe.
“Indeed signs do not justify,
but the faith of Hezekiah and that of Gideon likewise had to be
supported,
strengthened, and confirmed by such signs. In such manner is our
weakness
strengthened by signs lest amid so many insults of sin, it may despair
of God’s
mercy. Just as you would consider it a sign of divine favor were God to
talk
face to face with you, or show you some peculiar pledge of mercy such
as a
miracle, so in like manner it behooves you to perceive concerning these
signs
that you believe that God has commiserated you when you receive baptism
or
participate in the Lord’s table just as certainly as you would seem to
believe,
if God talked face to face with you or showed you some other miracle
that
pertains particularly to yourself. For signs were instituted for the
purpose of
— exciting faith. Now however, both faith and the use of signs have
been
extinguished, by those who extract gain, from them. The knowledge of
signs is
most salubrious, and I by no means know anything else that so consoles
the
conscience and more efficaciously confirms it than the use of signs.
“Some call them sacraments; but
I call them signs, or If you so will, sacramental signs. For Paul calls
Christ
himself a sacrament. (
“In
the gospel moreover, Christ has instituted two signs, to wit, baptism
and the
Table of the Lord. For I judge sacramental signs to be those that have
been
divinely given as tokens of God’s grace. For we
men
cannot institute a sign of the divine will toward us, nor refer those
signs as
signifying the divine will, which Scripture has referred to another. I
wonder
the more, what has entered the minds of the Sophists, especially since
they
would attribute our justification to signs, to cause them to reckon
among signs
those things of which the Scripture does not mention even one word. For
whence
has the priestly order been invented? And too, God never instituted
marriage to
be a proper sign of grace. The rite of unction is older than the sign
of grace.
Luther has copiously treated this matter in his ‘Babylonian Captivity.’
From it
you may seek a more exact discussion of this subject. But this is the
sum of
the matter: grace is not signified with certainty and indeed properly,
except
by those signs which have been divinely transmitted. Thus only those
which have
been added to the divine promises can be rightly called sacramental
signs. The
ancients were accustomed to say here that sacraments consist of things
and
words. The thing is the sign, the words the promise of grace.” [The quotes from, “Loci Communes” end here.]
NOTE: The following quotations from the Tappert edition of the, “BOOK OF CONCORD,” or
from Lenker’s translation of the “LARGE
CATECHISM”.
“Paul teaches that we are justified not by
the law but
by the promise, which is received by faith only. … Therefore we must
first take
hold of the promise by faith, that for Christ’s sake the Father is
reconciled
and forgiving.” (Book of
“If we define the
sacraments as
rites ‘which have the command of God and to which the promise of grace
has been
added.’ (Melanchthon’s
definition, from Loci 1521) … When we are
baptized, when we
eat the Lord’s body, when we are absolved, our hearts should firmly
believe
that God really forgives us for Christ’s sake.” (Book of
“The Word and the rite have the same effect,
as
Augustine said so well when he called the sacrament ‘the visible Word,’
for the
rite is received by the eyes and is sort of a picture of the Word,
signifying
the same thing as the Word.” (Book of
“It is sheer Judaism to believe that we are
justified
by a ceremony without a good disposition in our heart, that is, without
faith
[in Christ]. … A promise is useless unless faith accepts it. The
sacraments are
signs of the promises. When they are used, therefore, there must be
faith.” (Book
of
“Here we are talking about personal faith,
which
accepts the promise as a present reality and believes that the
forgiveness of sins
is actually being offered, not about a faith which believes in a
general way
that God exists. … Words cannot describe the abuses which this
fanatical
notion, about the sacraments ex opere operato without a good disposition in the one
using them,
has spawned in the church. (Book of
“Faith [in Christ] alone makes one worthy to
profitably receive this saving, divine water” // Without
faith baptism avails nothing” (Large Catechism, Tappert,
page 440, Lenker, page 129)
“The sacraments
are not only signs among men,
but signs of God’s will toward us; so it is correct to define the New
Testament
sacraments as signs of grace. There are two parts to a sacrament, the
sign and
the Word. In the New Testament, the Word is the added promise of grace.
The
promise of the New Testament is the promise of the forgiveness of sins,
as the
text says, ‘this is my body, which is given for you’; ‘this is the cup
of the new testament with my blood, which
is poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins.’ (Luke 22:19, Matt. 26:28) Therefore the
Word
offers forgiveness of sins, while the ceremony is a sort of picture or
‘seal,’
as Paul calls it (Rom.
Scripture
expressly points out that only such adults are to be baptized as have
previously come to faith in Christ. Of those baptized on the First
Pentecost we
read: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized” (Acts
Infant Baptism
Although Martin Luther was convinced that
infant
baptism had come from the Apostles, he “freely
admitted that infant baptism is neither explicitly
commanded
or explicitly mentioned in Scripture”. (“The Theology of
Martin
Luther,” by Paul Althaus, page 361)
“Luther once remarked that he, too, would
omit infant
baptism if he felt constrained to hold that children could not
themselves
believe” (St. L. XI:490). Nevertheless, he did not believe that lack of
faith
made baptism invalid but instead held that,
“When faith comes, baptism is complete”. (‘LUTHERAN
QUARTERLY’
Volume XIII, 1999.)
Faith in Christ is Indispensable
“The Word of
God is not rightly divided when men are taught that the Sacraments
produce
salutary effects ex opere operato,
that is, by the mere outward performance of a sacramental act.
“The grave error which is scored by this
thesis is
held by the papists, who teach men that they will derive some benefit
by merely
submitting to the act of being baptized, despite the fact that they are
still
unbelievers, provided they are not actually living in mortal sins… The
truth is
that Baptism and Holy Communion place any person under condemnation who
does
not approach them with faith in his heart. They are means of grace only
for the
reason that a divine promise has been attached to an external symbol….
It is of
paramount importance that I believe, that I regard, not the water in
Baptism,
but the promise which Christ has attached to the water. It is this
promise [of
forgiveness in Christ] that requires the water… Grace does not operate
in a
chemical or in a mechanical manner, but only by the Word, by virtue of
God’s
saying continually: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” To this word I must
cling by
faith. If I do that, I can confidently meet God on the Last Day.” (LAW
AND
GOSPEL, by C.F.W. Walther, pages 345-347.)
Conclusion
Rightly understood, Lutheran teaching holds
Baptism is
a visible sign to which God has attached His promise of forgiveness in
Christ.
Just as the faith of Abraham, “was accounted to him for righteousness,”
when he
believed God’s promise of forgiveness in Christ, so likewise our faith
is
accounted to us as righteousness when we believe God’s promise of
forgiveness
in Christ (Galatians 3:6, Romans 3:28). Baptism is just one way in
which God
gives us that promise.
Properly speaking, there is but one means of
grace,
namely, the Gospel of Christ (Rom.
Gary Ray Branscome