Baptism - God's Gracious Act

Rev. Richard A. Bolland

(as published in the Pagosa Springs Sun Newspaper, Feb. 5, 2004)

           Baptism is one of the areas of theological divergence among the community of Christian denominations.  It’s one of the areas of attention, (along with the Lord’s Supper) that divides “Sacramental” churches from “non-Sacramental ones.  From the perspective of non-Sacramental churches baptism is simply a symbolic act of man in which one publicly dedicates him/herself to the Lord, keeping an ordinance, but for Sacramental churches baptism is understood to be of far more importance. 

             Baptism in Sacramental churches is understood not to be an act of man at all, but rather a gracious act of God Himself, carrying with it the Scriptural promises connected to it in Holy Scripture.  What promises? 

         In Acts 2:38-39, Luke writes, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”  Again in Acts 22:16 we read, “Get up and be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”  In I Peter 3:21, Peter says, “…baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.  It [baptism] save you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”  In Galatians 3:26-27, St. Paul writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  In Ephesians 5:25-26 the apostle Paul uses baptism to describe how Christ cleanses the Church, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  This same thought is given again by Paul in Titus 3:5-7, “…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

             From these verses and many others we learn some important lessons about baptism.  First, it is always God who acts to call people to faith, not people who call to God to be given faith.  It is always God who alone does the saving.  Indeed were it not so, salvation is not of grace but would find its origin in man.  Holy Scripture is more than clear that it is only God who calls, gathers and enlightens people with the free gift of faith in the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  God washes away our sins through baptism.  He forgives them completely with no hint that this refers only to a partial forgiveness of sins.  He bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit simultaneously with baptism so that faith is then present in the one who is baptized whether or not they are adults or children.  Remember, it is God who saves and calls to faith regardless of age. 

            In the Apostles’ Creed, Christians throughout the world confess their common faith in, “…the holy Christian church, the communion of saints…”  In the original Greek of that phrase of the Creed, the term used to describe the “communion of saints” is koinonia.  The meaning of this term is most literally translated, “The participation of those holding in common the holy things.”   This is clearly Sacramental language referring to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. 

            What is the significance of baptism then?  First baptism is never disconnected with the power of God’s Word but is always intimately connected with this divinely inspired revelation of God to men.  Then, connected with that Word, baptism is God’s act of bestowing the forgiveness of sins, won by Christ Himself on Golgotha’s terrible cross.  Baptism is also the event at which God bestows the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and the presence of God fully indicates that the baptized person is God’s person.  It is, in fact, the very moment of being born again by water and the Spirit.  This means that those baptized in Christ have the sure and certain knowledge that they are among the redeemed of Christ!  It provides the knowledge that God has done it by His grace! 

            Be warned, however, that baptism is not a blessing that cannot be walked away from!  The blessings of baptism can be abandoned through spiritual “starvation.”  By that I mean that when a baptized child or adult despises the Word of God and will not hear it and walks away from the blessings bestowed through that Word and the Lord’s Supper, (violating the Third Commandment:  “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”, then faith can do nothing but become weaker.  Rather, to retain the blessing of baptism requires the continuing exposure to God’s precious means of grace -  God’s Word and the Sacraments of God.   

            The Great Reformer, Dr. Martin Luther wrote of life in baptismal grace:  “It [baptism] indicates that the Old Adam [the natural sinful self] in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”  That daily “drowning” of the Old Adam happens through its connection to our baptism.  Let us thank God that baptism is a means through which we may know with utter certainty that God calls us His own and places on us the very name of God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit!