Of the sacrament of baptism
Christ paid our debt by dying for it. By that He washed us, cleansed us of our sins. Baptism is an invisible washing, and inward washing. The sign of water baptism is a visible reminder and a seal that reassures us that we are saved. The seal is the picture and promise. The sign of water baptism does not cleanse of sin. Jesus cleanses us from sin by His Spirit. Baptism is commanded Mat 28:19 . Mode is debated. The important thing is water. The picture of the cleansing. (Water cleanses). The sign is not immersion. Baptism is a transliterated word. Baptism was a washing. Physical cleansing to represent spiritual cleansing.. John 3:25. Baptism didn’t begin at Pentecost. It was going on already. They associated it with something the messiah would do. That’s why they asked are you the Christ? The Jews understood this. Paul didn’t emphasize baptism but rather the gospel. Hebrews 6:2 speaks to the teachings of baptism. Referring to the ceremonial washing. 2 Kings 5 -baptism. Eph 5:25-26, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21 – Jesus cleanses us inwardly those who believe
John 3:25-27 (NKJV) 25 Then there arose a dispute between [some] of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified–behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” 27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”
I Corinthians 1:17 NKJV
“I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.””
Mark 1:8 NKJV
“So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.””
II Kings 5:8-10 NKJV
“There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
I Peter 3:21 NKJV
We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has made an end, by the shedding of His blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin; and that He, having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, has instituted the sacrament of baptism instead thereof; by which we are received into the Church of God, and separated from all other people and strange religions, that we may wholly belong to Him whose mark and ensign we bear; and which serves as a testimony to us that He will forever be our gracious God and Father.
Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptised with pure water, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptised when sprinkled upon him, so does the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external water, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God; who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and to enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.
The ministers, therefore, on their part administer the sacrament and that which is visible, but our Lord gives that which is signified by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace; washing, cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving unto us a true assurance of His fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off the old man with all his deeds.
We believe, therefore, that every man who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal ought to be baptised but once with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same, since we cannot be born twice. Neither does this baptism avail us only at the time when the water is poured upon us and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life.
Therefore we detest the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with the one only baptism they have once received, and moreover condemn the baptism of the infants of believers, who we believe ought to be baptised and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same promises which are made unto our children. And indeed Christ shed His blood no less for the washing of the children of believers than for adult persons; and therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of that which Christ has done for them; as the Lord commanded in the law that they should be made partakers of the sacrament of Christ’s suffering and death shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which was a sacrament of Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, baptism is to our children. And for this reason St. Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.
Genesis 17:11,12; Leviticus 12:6; Matthew 3:11; Matthew 19:14; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 1:29; John 19:34; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3; Romans 10:4; 1 Corinthians 3:5,7; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 7:14; 1 Corinthians 10:2; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:5,22-24; Ephesians 5:26; Colossians 2:11,12; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 6:2; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:6.