Baptism

  • Baptism and Salvation

    1 Peter 3:21

    Throughout history, God has entered into covenants with a visible covenant community, a community identified by its profession of faith. However, not everyone in the visible covenant community possesses faith. Only those who trust in Christ alone are a part ...Read More

  • Baptism and Salvation

    1 Peter 3:21–22

    Noah’s curse on his son Ham (Gen. 9:20–25) shows us that not all who were saved by identifying themselves visibly with Noah actually had true faith. Today many outwardly profess Christ and have been baptized, but because ...Read More

  • Circumcision and Baptism

    Colossians 2:8–15

    John Calvin writes that baptism does not “intimate that our ablution and salvation are perfected by water, or that [it] possesses in itself the virtue of purifying, regenerating, and renewing.” Neither is it “the cause of salvation, but only that ...Read More

  • Coming Home

    Acts 8:36-40

    Philip told the Ethiopian that he could be baptized if he believed with all his heart. Belief is more than intellectual assent; our hearts must be set aflame by the things our minds grasp. As you call unbelievers to faith ...Read More

  • Entrance by Cleansing

    Matthew 28:16-20

    Read Hebrews 9:13 and 10:22. Now find Numbers 19. Note the relationship between death and resurrection, unclean and clean, and old covenant baptism. What does this chapter teach you about your new covenant baptism? How many times do ...Read More

  • Faith and the Means of Grace

    Colossians 2:11-12

    Baptism may, at its administration, mysteriously “increase the grace of God in the heart, if present, but may also be instrumental in augmenting faith later on, when the significance of baptism is understood” (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 642). Believers ...Read More

  • Freedom Through Christ’s Blood

    Revelation 1:5b

    Baptism reminds us who believe that we are washed clean of our sin on account of the blood of Christ. His death atoned for our guilt, enabling God to forgive us without compromising His justice. When we see the water ...Read More

  • Holy Spirit Baptism

    Ephesians 1:13–14

    The New Testament speaks of baptism often because it recognizes the Lord’s presence in this sacrament in a way not found elsewhere. If we truly understand the importance of baptism, we will find our faith and confidence strengthened every ...Read More

  • Infant Baptism

    Acts 2:38-39

    Whether or not we baptize infants, 1 Corinthians 7:12–14 reveals that children of believers have a relationship to the Lord that the offspring of non-believers do not share. They are in the visible church where they enjoy hearing ...Read More

  • One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

    Ephesians 4:5-6

    Water baptism does not guarantee that the person baptized has true faith in the Messiah, but it is so closely tied to the baptism of the Spirit we receive at conversion that people should not be rebaptized even if they ...Read More

  • Our Unity in Christ Jesus

    Galatians 3:27–29

    How do we define ourselves? When other people ask us to tell them a little bit about ourselves, what do we say? If one of our friends or coworkers is asked to describe us, what do they say? If the ...Read More

  • Signs and Seals

    Romans 4:9–12

    We are creatures with both physical and spiritual components. We understand what happens to us physically when we are washed with water and when we eat, and the sacraments portray spiritual realities to us by way of analogies with our ...Read More

  • The Baptism of John

    Luke 3:1–22

    Jesus was baptized by John, not because He needed to repent, but in order to obey the new command God laid upon His people through the Baptist (Matt. 3:13–17). Unlike Jesus, we are not without sin, and so ...Read More

  • The Baptism of the Spirit

    Acts 11

    Orthodoxy does not deny that many people have had wonderful reviving experiences in their lives. What orthodoxy denies is that these reviving experiences are to be identified with the baptisms of the Spirit recorded in Acts. The Spirit baptizes every ...Read More

  • The Blood and the Spirit

    1 John 1:7

    “Just as the Word of God does not return to him void, neither does the exercise and administration of his sacrament return to him void” (R.C. Sproul, Truths We Confess, vol. 3, p. 89). The preaching of God’s ...Read More