Since many of those who hear the good news of
salvation by grace through faith are not familiar with Biblical
terminology, they fail to understand what is being said. In fact, they
are not even sure what “grace” or faith is. Therefore, let me begin by
pointing out that the Bible explains what “grace” is by telling us in
one place that we are saved by “grace,” and in another that we are
saved by God’s “mercy” (Ephesians 2:8, Titus 3:5). In other words, the
grace by which we are saved consists of mercy! Other passages reveal
God’s grace to be an expression of His kindness, love, pity,
compassion, and forgiveness. In short, God’s grace is an expression of
His undeserved favor. [Ephesians 2:7, Ephesians 1:7, Isaiah 63:9,
Matthew 18:33, John 3:16, Psalm 13:5, Luke 1:77.]
If you are wondering why you need God’s grace, the
Bible also answers that question by telling us that we have all
transgressed God’s law, and, therefore, deserve his wrath and
punishment (Romans 3:10-23). There are no exceptions (1John 1:8). If
you have trouble seeing your sins, that is only because the heart “is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).
You may look at all of the rules you keep, and all of the temptations
you resist, but God sees the many times you desired to break those
rules, and the yearning of your flesh for that which is evil. In fact,
that is why there is nothing that we can ever do to earn God’s grace
(Romans 11:6). Our puny efforts at righteousness fall so far short of
what God requires that those efforts are as repulsive as filthy rags in
the sight of God [like used toilet paper] (Isaiah 64:6).
The Good News is that even though we were all
condemned by the law to spend eternity in hell, Christ took our
punishment upon Himself and died in our place, so that we might have
forgiveness (1Peter 3:18, Colossians 2:13-15). In other words, He made
the sacrifice necessary to secure our pardon, and all who trust in that
sacrifice have access to God’s mercy and forgiveness [i.e. grace]
(Romans 5:2 and 6:23). Furthermore, because we have access to God’s
grace through personal faith in Christ, our own efforts at keeping the
law play no part in our salvation. That is why the Bible says, “By
grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians
2:8-9).
In understanding faith, the important thing to keep
in mind is that Christ is the object of our faith. Our faith consists
of relying on the fact that He took our sins upon Himself and died in
our place to get us into heaven. However, because we would not even
know that we have forgiveness in Christ if the Bible did not say so,
our faith also consists of believing the promises of forgiveness in
Christ that God has given us in His Word (Galatians 3:6-22). In fact,
those promises are the means by which God brings us to faith, and,
thus, the means by which He gives us His grace (Romans 10:22).
I might also add, that because those promises were
given to point us to Christ, they are only effective if they are
understood in such a way that believing them is believing in Christ.
For example: In the third chapter of Galatians, the Apostle Paul
reminds us that Abraham believed God’s promise “and it was accounted to
him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). He then specifically points out
that that promise was referring Christ (Galatians 3:16). In other
words, if Abraham had not known that that promise was referring to
Christ, his faith in that promise would not have been counted as
righteousness, for it is faith in Christ, not faith in and of itself,
which saves (Romans 3:28, John 3:16).
Likewise, because the words, “Whosoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” promise us
forgiveness in Christ, all who believe those words are trusting in
Christ (John 3:16). At the same time, they are only trusting in Christ
if they believe that those words are referring to Christ. The same
holds true for all other promises of forgiveness in Christ, such as,
“We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
[Note: As we compare what the Bible says in one place with what it says
elsewhere, we learn that our faith in Christ is our trust (2Corinthians
3:4), confidence (Psalm 118:8-9), and reliance upon Him (compare
2Chronicles 16:8 with 2Samuel 22:31 and Psalm 18:30).]
As I pointed out earlier, we would not even know
that we have forgiveness in Christ if the Bible did not say so.
Therefore, just as the grace of God does not come to us without faith,
faith does not come to us apart from God’s promises. In fact, those
promises are the “power of God unto salvation,” because God uses them
to assure us of forgiveness in Christ, thus bringing us to faith
(Romans 1:16). On the other hand, without those promises our heart is
so dark that “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord” (1Corinthians
12:3, Romans 10:17).
That is why the preaching of God’s Word is so
important. God uses preaching, just as He uses baptism and the Lord’s
Supper, to give us His promise of forgiveness in Christ. Furthermore,
even though the Bible makes several references to forgiveness in
connection with baptism and the Lord’s Supper, whenever those
statements are interpreted to contradict what the Bible says about
faith in Christ, the truth of the gospel is obscured. Therefore, it is
important to understand that it is the promise of forgiveness in Christ
connected with the rite, not the rite itself, that brings forgiveness.
Moreover, because any offer of forgiveness connected with baptism or
the Lord’s Supper is a promise of forgiveness in Christ, it is only
through personal faith in Christ that we receive what is promised
(Romans 5:2, Galatians 3:22). Therefore, “Properly speaking, there is
but one means of grace, namely, the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16 ff.).
(Lutheran Cyclopedia, Page 424)
Those who fail to understand the relationship of
God’s promises to faith in Christ, either assume that the ceremony is
too mechanical to convey forgiveness, or assume that the ceremony (of
baptism or the Lord’s Supper) conveys forgiveness automatically. In
both cases, what they fail to understand is that while the ceremony
gives us the promise of forgiveness in Christ, only those who actually
believe that they have forgiveness in Christ receive what is promised.
Or, as Martin Luther put it, “By allowing the water to be poured upon
you, you have not yet received baptism in a way that benefits you at
all… the heart must believe it” (Large Catechism, IV, 36)
Luther also said, “The first thing in baptism to be
considered is the divine promise, which says: ‘He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved.’ This promise must be set far above all the
glitter of works, vows, religious orders, and whatever man has added to
it. For on it all our salvation depends… The second part of baptism is
the sign… signs are added to the divine promises to represent that
which the words signify” (From "The Babylonian Captivity of the
Church".)
Because the promises connected with baptism or the
Lord’s Supper are promises of forgiveness in Christ, believing them is
no different than believing any of the promises of forgiveness in
Christ that are given to us through the preaching of God’s Word.
Attaching the promise to a ceremony does not change the promise! “Just
as Scripture does not teach (as the simplest Christian knows) that the
mere outward act of hearing the Word saves any one, just as little does
it teach that the Sacraments save thus. The mere symbol, placed before
men’s eyes, does not produce the salutary effect, but indicates what
the Word proclaims. (C.F.W. Walther, Law and Gospel, page 357).
Therefore, when Christ said, “Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,”
He was not telling Nicodemus that baptism would save him simply by
performing the act [ex opere operato] (John 3:5). Instead, He was
telling him that he needed to be born again through repentance and
faith. The word “water” is a reference to repentance (the baptism of
repentance), and the word “Spirit” is a reference to faith (which is a
gift of the Holy Spirit). [Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, Acts 2:38, Ephesians
2:8-9, 1Corinthians 12:3.]
Likewise, when Peter said “baptism doth also now
save us,” he was not saying that baptism saves simply by performing the
act (1Peter 3:21). On the contrary, because the Bible defines Baptism
as a “baptism of repentance,” Peter’s definition of baptism was broad
enough to include both repentance and faith in Christ (Acts 2:38).
Therefore, Peter was not referring to “the performance of the ritual
itself,” but to conversion, of which baptism is only the outward
evidence.
The same holds true for the words, “Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”
(Titus 3:5). Because the Bible defines Baptism as a “baptism of
repentance,” if the word “washing” is a reference to baptism, it is
also a reference to repentance. Likewise, because faith is a gift of
the Holy Ghost (and because we are renewed through faith in Christ) the
reference to the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” is a reference to faith
in Christ. Therefore, just as with John 3:5, when this passage is
interpreted in the light of what the Bible says elsewhere, we can see
that it is saying that we are saved through repentance and faith in
Christ.
That being the case, the relationship of baptism to
repentance and faith in Christ is just this. When someone comes to
baptism believing that there is forgiveness in Christ, he departs
believing that when he came to Christ his sins were forgiven, and that
God now accepts him for Christ’s sake. That is the role that God
intended for Baptism to play, and that is why Dr. Walter A. Maier said:
While our faith is in itself a gift of God’s grace,
the Holy Spirit does not impart that faith to us directly, but instead
works through His Word, both to bring us to faith and to keep us in
faith. Therefore, you might say that the promises of the gospel are our
spiritual food, for each time we are reminded of our sins and take
comfort anew in God’s promise of mercy in Christ Jesus, our faith is
strengthened and refreshed.