{"id":23681,"date":"2014-01-14T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=23681"},"modified":"2015-03-19T16:56:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T23:56:26","slug":"baptism-matters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2014\/01\/14\/baptism-matters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism Matters: Part 2 (Forgiveness of sin)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday<\/a> I began to look at the question of infant baptism. We saw how, although we don’t have explicit<\/em> references to infant baptism in the New Testament, that there are passages which strongly suggest that infants and children were baptized. Today I would like to continue looking at this issue, but from a slightly different angle…<\/p>\n

\"NicoGiovanni<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What does it all mean<\/em>?<\/h2>\n

A question which is tied up with the issue of infant baptism is this: what does Baptism\u00a0do<\/span>?<\/em>\u00a0There are some Protestant denominations which say that it\u00a0does<\/em> absolutely\u00a0nothing. <\/em>They would say\u00a0that baptism is simply a formal, public declaration of faith in Christ.\u00a0They would assert that the person being baptized ultimately\u00a0remains unchanged.<\/p>\n

It’s clear to see that, if this is the all that Baptism means, then delaying baptism isn’t a big deal…<\/p>\n

Washing of body or soul?<\/h2>\n

However, this understanding of Baptism is not the understanding of Christian antiquity. Throughout the early centuries of Christianity, Christians believed that baptism actually did<\/em> something to the person being baptized.<\/p>\n

Historically, when Christians spoke about being\u00a0“born again…of water and the Spirit”<\/em><\/span> (John 3:5<\/a>), they were speaking about baptism.\u00a0As well as joining that person to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13<\/a>), they believed that through Baptism sins were washed away, forgiven. In fact, such was their belief in the efficacy and power of the Sacrament, that some converts in the early centuries chose to delay baptism until their deathbed so as to meet God completely unsullied by sin!<\/p>\n

Forgiveness of sins in Scripture<\/h2>\n

We find this belief in the power of baptism in the New Testament itself. When St. Paul preached in Jerusalem he recounted his conversion:<\/p>\n

…Ananias…came to me, and…said to me, “Brother Saul, …you will be a witness for [God] to all men… And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins<\/span>, calling on [the Lord’s] name.”<\/em> –\u00a0Acts 22:12-16<\/span><\/p>\n

In his first epistle, St. Peter spoke of salvation in terms of baptism:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Baptism…now saves you<\/span>, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience<\/span>, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ<\/em> – 1 Peter 3:21<\/span><\/p>\n

He also preached the same thing years earlier on the day of Pentecost:<\/p>\n

And Peter said to them, \u201cRepent, and be baptized every one of you…for the forgiveness of your sins<\/span>; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…”<\/em> – Acts 2:38<\/span><\/p>\n

Forgiveness For All<\/h2>\n

At Pentecost, Peter not only testified to the power of baptism, he also appears to indicate that children are also eligible:<\/p>\n

“…For the promise is to you and to your children<\/span> and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.\u201d<\/em> – Acts 9:39<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter said that this gift of God is for all! Children were not to be denied!<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the children<\/span> [‘infants<\/span>‘, in Greek, ‘brepha’] come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven<\/span>.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 – Matthew 19:14<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gift of Grace<\/h2>\n

I hope I have therefore demonstrated that baptism actually achieves something in the soul of the one being baptized. If this is the case, then delaying baptism is to deny your child the greatest of gifts. And\u00a0Baptism is, indeed, a gift. Infant baptism is the strongest, loudest, clearest testimony that we are saved by\u00a0grace alone<\/em>. What can a little baby possibly\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0for God? Absolutely nothing. It’s all God…it’s all grace.<\/p>\n

…He saved us, not because of deeds<\/span> done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy<\/span>, by the washing of regeneration<\/span> and renewal in the Holy Spirit…so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life<\/em> – Titus 3:4-7<\/span><\/p>\n

We’ll pick this up again on Thursday when we’ll examine the relationship between baptism and circumcision…<\/p>\n

Part 1<\/a>\u00a0| Part 2 | Part 3<\/a> | Part 4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I began to look at the question of infant baptism. We saw how, although we don’t have explicit references to infant baptism in the New Testament, that there are passages which strongly suggest that infants and children were baptized. Today I would like to continue looking at this issue, but from a slightly different angle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,17],"tags":[187,2464,2460,2969,389,2454,136,2036],"class_list":["post-23681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-faith","tag-baptism","tag-baptism-matters","tag-born-again","tag-featured","tag-forgiveness","tag-infant-baptism","tag-scripture","tag-sins"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23681"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51689,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23681\/revisions\/51689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}