II. What gifts or benefits does Baptism confer?
It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and confers everlasting salvation on all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.
What are such words and promises of God?
Those which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke, as they are recorded in the last chapter of Mark, verse 16: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Baptism is God's means of receiving us into His covenant, and opening up to us all the treasures of Christ's redemption. Through this sacrament He adopts us as His children and receives us into membership in His Church. [Gal. 3:36, 27+] We are baptized in (into) the name of the Father (who sent His Son to save us), and of the Son (who died to redeem us), and of the Holy Ghost (who applies Christ's redemption to our souls). Therefore every baptized person may say, "God is my Father, Christ is my Redeemer, the Holy Ghost is my Sanctifier, and all the benefits of Christ's redemption are offered to me." Hence we declare of baptism, that
IT WORKS FORGIVENESS OF SINS, [Acts 2:38+, Acts 22:16, Eph. 5:25, 26] DELIVERS FROM DEATH AND THE DEVIL, AND CONFERS EVERLASTING SALVATION. These are the very benefits which Christ has acquired for me by His innocent sufferings and death (see Article II, of the Creed, Chapter XIX.). And since I have been "baptized into Christ's death," [Rom 6:3+] all these benefits belong to me if I only accept them by faith. [Mark 16:16] I am regarded by God as having already suffered the full penalty of my sins in Christ's death, and for His sake I am pardoned and saved.
ON ALL WHO BELIEVE. Faith is the hand with which we grasp and hold fast the treasures of God's grace offered in this sacrament. The benefits are offered to every one who is baptized, but they are accepted and possessed only by him who believes.
AS THE WORD AND PROMISE OF GOD DECLARE. The benefits belong to all who are baptized and believe, because God has said so. [Numb. 23:19] He has promised, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
WITHOUT FAITH baptism will not save any one. "He that believeth not shall be damned" even though he is baptized. For while such a person has been adopted as God's child, he is a disobedient and rebellious child, and therefore is disinherited, and loses the heavenly inheritance [Pet. 1:4] which would have been his, if he had remained faithful.
BAPTISM PERMANENT. Baptism, once properly administered, is not to be repeated. It is a permanent covenant between God and us. While men are often unfaithful to their covenant, God never is. [II Cor. 1:20, Rom. 3:3] He bestows the blessings of baptism on all who comply with its conditions. Having received us by baptism as His children, He ever afterwards remains our loving heavenly Father, to whom we may turn with fullest confidence. And if any who have fallen from grace repent and seek His mercy, they find Him standing with open arms to receive them. [Luke 15:11-24] Such persons need not be re-baptized; their old baptism stands. A rebellious son who repents needs not to be re-adopted, but needs only to be forgiven.
III. How can water produce such great effects?
It is not the water, indeed, that produces these effects, but the Word of God which accompanies and is connected with the water, and our faith which relies on the Word of God connected with the water. For the water without the Word of God is simply water, and no baptism. But when connected with the Word of God, it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost; as St. Paul says to Titus in the third chapter, verses 5-8: "According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying."
IT IS NOT THE WATER, INDEED, THAT PRODUCES THESE EFFECTS. Water alone cannot wash away sins. Yet the water of baptism is necessary, because Christ has commanded its use, and has connected the promise of salvation with it.
[Footnote 13: The story of Naaman the leper (II Kings 5:8-14) illustrates how water, the Word of God, and faith can produce great effects. It was not the water of the Jordan that cured Naaman; yet he could not have been cured without the water, because the promise of healing was connected with its use. When he believed the Word of promise and used the water as he was commanded, he was healed. So the water, the Word, and our faith, which trusts in the Word, cleanse us from the leprosy of sin.]
IT IS A GRACIOUS WATER OF LIFE, because the Word and promise of God, which are connected with it, give it power to bestow life and salvation on all who believe.
AND A "WASHING OF REGENERATION" in the Holy Ghost, because it is the means through which the Holy Ghost causes us to be "born again," as God's children.
QUESTIONS.—1. What does God do for us through baptism? 2. What may every baptized person say? 3. What benefits does baptism confer? 4. Who has acquired these benefits for you, and how? 5. Why do they become yours through baptism? 6. What has faith to do with the reception of these benefits? 7. How do we know that baptism confers all these benefits on all who believe? 8. What is to be said about those who are baptized but do not believe? 9. What is to be said about the permanence of baptism? 10. Why has baptism power to confer such great benefits? 11. Why is it a "gracious water of life," and a "washing of regeneration"?
SCRIPTURE VERSES.—Gal. 3:26, 27. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
Acts 2:38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Rom. 6:3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Numb. 23:19. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
READING.—Naaman, II Kings 5:1-14.
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