If you haven't already, read this and the comments on that post.

If you read the comments, you notice that near the end, people were disagree on what baptism is and does. So, here is my view on that matter.

What is Baptism?

1. First of all, Baptism is a sign. It is a sign of the washing away of your sins, through Christ. It is a sign of God's eternal covenant of grace with us in Christ.

2. Baptism is a gift of God's grace.

3. Baptism is a call to repentance, to faithfulness to God, and to dicipleship.

This post is in reponse to one of Lysha's posts.

Infant Baptism

See some sites about it, here, here, and here. You don't have to read these of course, they are for interest only.

Points I want to make:

1. The main argument against infant baptism, is Mark 16:16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." The opposition claims that this is a command to first believe, and then be baptized. However, this verse is not in cronological order. Any person who was baptized as an infant can say "I believe, and I have been baptized," and they would be entirely correct. Also, if you do the same this with Matt. 28:19-20: "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, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” If you take this verse in cronological order, then you could say the teaching should follow baptism. But it is not intended to be taken this way.

2. Infants are not baptized because they believe, but because of God's grace, not for their faith. On this issue, Martin Luther writes, "For my faith does not constitute Baptism but receives it" (Tappert: Book of Concord, [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959] pp. 442-3).

3. To say that a person needs to be a certain age before they can believe, and then be baptized, is to claim that a person is able to cooperate with the grace of God. Concerning this, Martin Luther writes:

"My friend, what good does reason do when faith and God's Word are concerned? Is it not a fact that reason most violently resists faith and the Word of God so that because of it, no one can come to faith or put up with God's Word unless reason is blinded and put to shame? A man must die to reason and become a fool, so to speak, yes, and must become more unreasoning and irrational than any child if he is to come to faith and accept God's grace. (Plass: What Luther Says, [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959], Vol. 1, p. 51)

Faith is a miraculous gift of God, worked in the heart by the Holy Spirit without human cooperation. If we could make the choice, we never would, and therefore there is no set time when we can recieve baptism because of our own choice, for the only way we can be saved is through the grace of God, and not through our own choice.