Why are we so quick to deny that God chooses to manifest His power through ordinary means? Why are we so quick to reject the notion that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd through Whom we have been created, and Who knows every frailty within our frame? Is it really any wonder that the One who created us in flesh and blood, with five senses to discern the things around us, and a brain to compute the data our senses feed to it; that He should choose to bestow His gifts of grace through those very means?
No Lutheran or any other person holding to the doctrine of baptism that we do, believe that somehow that water holds a magical power to bring the dead to life. But rather the Words of Christ, given by Him to us and attached to a tangible and ordinary means, is that which holds the true power. Water without the Word of Christ is simply useful to drink or wash in. But when His Word instructs us that through the act of baptism, He shall with us all that He has promised, then who are we to argue to the contrary?
It is Christ who ordained the ordinary means of baptism to be attached to His promise of eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins. Not Lutherans.
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15–16 (ESV)
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
The same promise was spoken by the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, and those listening responded in faith.
Acts 2:38–41 (ESV)
38 And Peter said to them, “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. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
And if you're someone who believes that the writings of the apostle Paul found in the Bible are truly God's Word, then it was he who shows to us how the ordinary means is fitted with the underlying promise of Christ that truly holds the power to save us.
Romans 6:3–11 (ESV)
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 2:8–14 (ESV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
I for one cannot discern if I have died with Christ, in order that I may live with Him. I cannot discern if my spiritual flesh has been circumcised or not. I never remember feeling that I had been baptized in fire, that could not be explained away with some other emotional reasoning. In short, I know that my redemption was won on the Cross of Calvary, and is found in Christ alone. However I am utterly unable to connect myself to either by my own means.
How can we say we believe and trust in Him for our salvation, which is what saving faith actually is, then why do we reject the ordinary means He has given us in His great mercy, in order that in them we may attach our faith to His promises? Seems a little reminiscent of this Old Testament passage to me:
2 Kings 5:10–14 (ESV)
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
