Baptism

The baptism Christ commanded

Soon after you come to faith, or start going to church, the gathering of people who belong to Jesus, someone will ask if you have been baptised. Baptism is the washing with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit that marks a person as Christ's. The risen Jesus gave it as he sent out his followers:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:19

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the one God. A disciple follows Jesus and learns from him; baptism is the door into that life. At Pentecost, when the Spirit first came upon the church, Peter told the crowd, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38). To repent is to turn from sin towards God. About three thousand were baptised that day (Acts 2:41). Paul, an apostle sent out by Jesus, explains what baptism means:

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4

Baptism joins us to Christ, so that his death and his rising become ours. "All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27), and there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). The Nicene Creed of the fourth century says ‘We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins’. So baptism is given once, and most churches accept one another's baptism with water in that threefold name.

The Didache, a church manual from around AD 100, says to baptise in running water, or else in other water, and failing both to pour water on the head three times in the same name Didache 7.3. Fourth-century lectures handed down under the name of Cyril of Jerusalem tell the newly baptised that in going down three times into the water and rising they had died and been born at once Catechetical Lectures.

A sign and seal of the covenant of grace

The Reformed churches grew from the sixteenth-century Reformation, a movement to renew the church by Scripture, in the line of teachers such as John Calvin. Presbyterians are the best known; the Reformed churches of continental Europe are another branch, and among Baptists the Reformed Baptists confess the same faith. Two of their confessions, written statements of what a church believes, are the Westminster Confession (1646) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), a catechism that teaches by question and answer. Both call baptism and the Lord's Supper, the meal of bread and cup, sacraments: holy rites Christ gave, whose visible signs show us the promise of the gospel, the good news. Westminster calls the sacraments "holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace" 27.1, and Heidelberg "visible, holy signs and seals" Q. 66.

A covenant is the bond God makes with his people when he promises to be their God. The covenant of grace is his promise, in Christ, of forgiveness and life to sinners who have earned neither. A sign points to something; a seal, like a stamp on a document, confirms that it is true. So Westminster teaches that baptism is a sign and seal of being grafted into Christ, as a branch into a tree; of regeneration, the new birth the Spirit gives; of forgiveness; and of giving ourselves up to God "to walk in newness of life" 28.1.

Does the water itself wash away sin? Heidelberg answers:

No; for only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 72

Scripture still calls baptism "the washing of new birth" (Titus 3:5) because by this pledge God assures us that Christ's blood and Spirit wash our souls from sin as surely as water washes the body Q. 69, 73. Westminster adds that to neglect baptism is a great sin, yet grace and salvation are not so bound to it that no one can be saved without it 28.5, and that its power is not tied to the moment it is given, for the Spirit gives the promised grace in God's own time 28.6.

Whom, and how

Christians differ over whom to baptise and how, and so do the Reformed among themselves. The Westminster Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession (1561) teach that the infants of believing parents are to be baptised, as well as those who profess faith Westminster Confession 28.4. They read God's covenant as embracing parents and children together. God promised Abraham "to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7), and gave as its sign circumcision, a mark given to Israel's baby boys. Peter said, "This promise belongs to you and your children" (Acts 2:39); Paul sets circumcision and baptism side by side (Colossians 2:11-12); and whole households were baptised (Acts 16:15, Acts 16:33). So Heidelberg teaches that infants "belong to the covenant and people of God" as their parents do and are to receive baptism, its sign, in place of circumcision Q. 74; the Belgic Confession agrees Article 34. Westminster adds that dipping is not necessary: pouring or sprinkling is true baptism 28.3.

The Reformed Baptists' Second London Baptist Confession (1689) follows Westminster closely but differs here. It calls baptism an ordinance, a rite the Lord appointed:

Those who do actually professe repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience, to our Lord Jesus, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.

Second London Baptist Confession 29.2

It adds that immersion is necessary 29.4. Reformed Baptists note that in the New Testament those baptised had believed, like the Ethiopian official: "both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him" (Acts 8:38). Both views are Reformed, held by Christians who read the same Bible and confess the same gospel. The Reformed course teaches infant baptism at length in The sign of the covenant.

The Catholic Church, the Orthodox churches of the East and the Lutheran churches, who follow Martin Luther, teach that God gives new birth in baptism, and so read Jesus' words "unless he is born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5). Luther's Small Catechism says baptism "works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this" Small Catechism, Baptism. The Catholic Church teaches that baptism washes away all sin and makes us children of God Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Orthodox baptise infants too, immersing them three times. Baptists, many evangelical churches, which stress Scripture and telling the gospel, and Pentecostal churches, which stress the gifts of the Spirit, baptise those who profess faith, usually by immersion: for them baptism is obedience to Christ's command and a public confession of faith. The doctrine course's Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and What are baptism and the Lord's Supper? compare these views.

This week

Read Romans 6:1-11. Read slowly what dying and rising with Christ means. Paul ends: "So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11).

Ask your pastor about baptism. If you have not been baptised, ask whether your church has a baptism class, a time to learn the faith before baptism. If you were baptised as a child and have now come to believe, ask how your church would have you profess your faith. Churches do this in different ways, confirmation among them, and a church that baptises only those who profess faith may invite you to be baptised. Follow your church's way. Baptism is not a graduation but a beginning, the mark that you belong to Christ and his people. The next lesson is on the Lord's Supper.

Practice