Lutheranism on Baptism

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Hello, I am interested in knowing the Lutheran view of Baptism.

Does Baptism wash away original sin?
Which modes of Baptism are acceptable?
Must you be Baptised?
How does your tradition view Salvation in relation to being Baptised?
Is salvation before or after Baptism?
Baptismal regeneration?

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ViaCrucis

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Hello, I am interested in knowing the Lutheran view of Baptism.

Does Baptism wash away original sin?

Yes, Baptism cleanses us of our sin, because we are baptized into Christ and His death.

"Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." - Acts 2:38

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too we might walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:3-4

Which modes of Baptism are acceptable?

All of the historic modes of baptism are acceptable. The ancient practice of the Church was three-fold immersion, but where there was insufficient water to be found pouring was used; pouring or affusion became normative in the Western Church during the middle ages, as well as aspersion or sprinkling. Single immersion was not unheard of in antiquity, but it is more popular today among Credobaptists. The mode doesn't matter, what makes the Sacrament isn't the mode but the Word of God connected to and comprehended under the water as instituted and given to us by Christ.

you be Baptised?

Yes. Baptism is the ordinary means by which we are born again (John 3:5, Titus 3:5) and made members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Therefore baptism is necessry, but it is not absolutely necessary; that is, baptism is not set before us as an obstacle to be overcome for salvation but as the ordinary means.

Indeed we speak of the Means of Grace as Word and Sacrament. The person who has heard the Gospel and has faith is, indeed, saved; because Word and Sacrament are not two things, they are one thing. It is not Word or Sacrament, it is Word and Sacrament. That doesn't mean Baptism is not needed, Baptism is still there by Christ's Word.

The necessary point to communicate is this: Salvation is not a game by which God has set up various obstacles to be overcome, and if we are successful, or if we pass the exam, or any such thing we get the prize at the end. Salvation is God entering the world to redeem and rescue it, which He has done by Jesus Christ: His life, death, and resurrection. The Church has been commanded by Christ to preach the Gospel and to baptize, not as though these are put in the way as an obstacle, but rather as the instruments, the means by which God acts in the world to appropriate to us the all-sufficient and saving work of Jesus Christ. We confess in the Large Catechism:

"For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the Gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Ghost to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us." - The Large Catechism, Section II, Article 3, 38

God uses Means to accomplish His purposes, Word and Sacrament are the ordinary means by which God creates faith and brings home to us Christ, His work, and His righteousness.

There may be many extraordinary circumstances, indeed extraordinary means, by which God acts in extraordinary ways to accomplish His good purpose of saving us--myriad ways which are not revealed to us. But we cannot speak of the unrevealed and extraordinary, but only the revealed and ordinary.

How does your tradition view Salvation in relation to being Baptised?

I suspect I've probably answered this in the above statements.

Is salvation before or after Baptism?

Yes. Salvation isn't exactly a "once and done" sort of thing. Well it is in one sense, in that Christ once and for all died and rose again, by which Christ has freely justified the whole world (Romans 5:18) and that through the Means of Grace this is appropriated to us by the Holy Spirit by which we are freely justified by grace alone through faith. Scripture speaks of our having been saved and our being saved, and indeed that we will be saved. Because salvation covers a lot of ground. But since faith is given to us by the Word, from outside of ourselves as pure gift (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:17) and therefore there will be those who hear and believe before baptism and those who are baptized and by which they are made believers trying to ask if salvation happens before or after baptism is perhaps not the right way to think of it. Which is why I've answered "Yes" here. It's not either-or, it's both-and.

Speaking personally, I was not baptized until I was 17 years old, the churches I grew up in practiced Credobaptism, and I was in my 20's when I found myself a Lutheran. But if you ask me when did I become a believer, well I've been a believer my entire life--because my parents told me about the love and kindness of God in Jesus since I was in the womb. There was never a time in my memory that I didn't believe. Do I believe I was saved for those first 17 years before I was baptized? Of course I do. Because the Gospel is efficacious in creating faith and I had faith, and it was not something I did or gave myself, but is from God.

So does that mean salvation happens before baptism? Yes.

But then take those who are baptized as infants or small children, or who become Christians later in life. Does salvation happen at/after baptism? Yes.

Our personal experiences don't determine our salvation. What Christ has done for us does, God's grace does. Our salvation is not about us, it's about Jesus.

Baptismal regeneration?

Yes, see Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 5:26.

-CryptoLutheran

I appreciate the feed back

Many blessings
Complete in Thee
 
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