Encore Post: You may have discovered that Christians value Baptism a lot. Yet there are few subjects that the various Christian traditions disagree about more. Catholics believe baptism is a means of grace that removes original sin and forgives all actual sins committed before baptism. It does not forgive sins committed after that — for that you need to go to confession, be absolved and do penance. For many Protestants, it is a work you do in obedience to God’s command, showing you’ve accepted Jesus as your personal savior. For others, it is just a meaningful symbol of salvation.
Lutherans believe that baptism is a means of grace, one of the ways, instituted by Jesus himself, God uses to save us. (Matthew 28:19) It combines the Gospel of Christ’s saving obedience, suffering, death and resurrection with water to wash away our sins. (Ephesians 5:25-27, Titus 3:4-7) It is God himself who does the baptizing, using human hands.
Like the other means of grace, Baptism creates faith in hearts where there is none and strengthens faith where it exists. Baptism also marks us with the name of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It makes us his children and heirs — heirs with Christ.
Finally, it is an undeniable declaration that we are saved. Why? Because we had nothing to do with it. In most cases, it is written in record books we can see and in all cases is written in the Book of Life. When Satan tries to cause us to doubt our salvation, we can tell him: “get lost! I am baptized.” Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And where he is, we will also be.
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I witnessed how baptism initiated faith in an adult who desired to be baptized but could not fully confess the Apostles Creed. He could not confess that Jesus is God. After his baptism, he could. It was a dramatic change. Lutherans tend not to grant baptism to anyone who cannot already confess. People who cannot confess are spiritually no different from infants. I think Lutherans withhold baptism improperly from people who are spiritual infants, but physical adults.
The church (not just Lutherans) has waited to baptize adult since the very beginning of the church. That being said, many Lutheran pastors will instruct in the basics of Salvation and the nature of Baptism and then baptize. We need to remember that God’s wordis also a means of grace.
Please explain: “The church (not just Lutherans) has waited to baptize adults since the very beginning of the church.”
Then why do you now baptize infants?
I’m puzzled as to where you find this quote. It is not in the current series of posts on baptism. As to the question why Lutherans baptize children, in short, is because in baptism, God creates and strengthens faith — the trust of God to keep his promises. It allows parents to raise their children as Christians rather that to become questions. We tend to wait to baptize adults because they already have faith in Christ and we want them to grow in that faith so they can receive both baptism and the Lord’s Supper at the same time.