Why Is Baptism Important? - [] Perú - toda la información del país

What are 3 reasons why baptism is important to Christianity?

Why Be Baptized? – Why should you get baptized? Let me give you three reasons. My hope in laying out these reasons is that you will find them not only persuasive but also inviting and compelling. As we’ll see, Christ not only commands believers to get baptized, baptism is also a gift he graciously gives for our benefit and blessing.

What are the 10 importance of baptism?

Baptism Is a Great Way to Receive God’s Forgiveness – Baptism is a great way to receive God’s forgiveness. When we are baptized, we are cleansed of our sins and made new in Christ. This is a powerful and transformative experience that can change our lives forever.

What does a baptism symbolize?

Why do we have to be completely under the water when we are baptized? “Why do we have to be completely under the water when we are baptized?” New Era, July 2011, 32 You may have attended a baptism where the person being baptized had to have the ordinance performed twice because he or she was not completely immersed in the water the first time.

Because baptism is a saving ordinance, it is essential that it be performed exactly and correctly.
Baptism is a symbolic act.
It “symbolizes death, burial, and resurrection, and can only be done by immersion” (Bible Dictionary, “Baptism”).
Going under the water represents the death and burial of Jesus Christ, but it also represents the death of our natural selves (see ).

Being brought up again from the water is symbolic of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and represents being reborn as His covenant disciples. The two witnesses who stand beside the baptismal font watch to ensure that the person being baptized is completely immersed, symbolic of being completely born again.

When we are baptized, we follow the pattern set by the Savior, who was baptized by immersion in the river Jordan (see ). Heavenly Father desires for each of His children to be cleansed of their sins so that they may live with Him again. To be baptized by immersion, as Christ was, is an essential part of His divine plan.

: Why do we have to be completely under the water when we are baptized?

How does baptism impact a person’s life?

263. What are the effects of Baptism? – 1262-1274, 1279-1280 Baptism takes away original sin, all personal sins and all punishment due to sin. It makes the baptized person a participant in the divine life of the Trinity through sanctifying grace, the grace of justification which incorporates one into Christ and into his Church.

Why is baptism so powerful?

Water baptism is so powerful and important because it is a physical action that represents a spiritual reality. It’s a symbol of Christ’s burial and resurrection.

Can you go to heaven without being baptized?

Ask a Priest: Can my baby go to heaven if he died before baptism?

Short answer: yes! Long answer: It breaks my heart every time a mother or father asks that question upon the death of their infant or child. The untimely death is itself so heartbreaking. But coupled with that question filled with heart wrenching anguish begs the question who we think God is. The very reason that God creates us is to be with him in heaven for ever. We are not created with a 50/50 chance of getting to heaven. We have a God who not only loves us, but who is love! It is impossible for our heavenly Father to create us with the intention of abandoning us. In fact, the very reason our heavenly Father sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to earth was not to limit his grace, but rather to make it all the more accessible. The sacraments themselves were not given by our Lord to limit his grace, but to make his presence and love all the more available to flood the world with his loving presence, as St. Ignatius of Loyola put it: “to set the world on fire with His love, how I wish it were already burning.” While Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), he did not set baptism as a hindrance to salvation but just the opposite. We so often judge things by human standards, but God is not restrained by our standards. He wants to assure us that his standards supersede ours and that, of course, is a much better deal! Our Lord wants to break us from judging simply by human standards and rather judge by divine standards, to open the world to His Spirit: “what is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The early church grappled with this question when the faithful were amazed that many from the Christian community died excruciating deaths because of their faith in Jesus. Among these martyrs were those not yet baptized, yet they died because of their faith. St. Augustine beautifully taught that the blood of martyrs served as the waters of baptism. In these extreme cases, the Church teaches a Baptism of blood, and also Baptism of desire, referring to one who desires baptism, like a catechumen, but also desire on the part of parents, and the whole church. When I am at the side of a child who has died without baptism, there is nothing I desire more than that child’s baptism. The Catechism (CCC 1261) also reminds us that we entrust our children who have died without Baptism to the mercy of God. Indeed, we have funeral rites specifically for children. We are reminded that the great mercy of God desires that all men be saved. And of course the most consoling words of Jesus: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them” (Mark 10:14). As a priest, I am recommitting my life to consoling parents with these words. Many parents are so hard on themselves that they need to be continually supported with love and assurances of faith. They need to know their child has a place in heaven. When my heart is breaking while at the side of mourning parents with their child, I like to think what that child will look like in heaven. I like to think that this child is already having the beatific vision, seeing God face-to-face, and experiencing the glory prepared for us, which is so much greater than our pain and suffering. I imagine how that child will always pray for his or her parents and cheer them on to their reunion in heaven. I try repeating in my heart Jesus’ words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God: have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be” (John 14:1-3).

: Ask a Priest: Can my baby go to heaven if he died before baptism?

What is the moral of baptism?

Question I: What are the implications of baptism for Christian moral life? 1. Jesus taught that the faith which saves is not just intellectual assent and an initial willingness to do the Father’s will, but a rocklike foundation (see Mt 7.24–27; Lk 6.47–49).

The Christian’s model is not the son who says “yes” to the father and then fails to do what is asked, but the one who executes the father’s will even after saying “no” (see Mt 21.28–31).
Jesus demands a faith which involves commitment (see Mt 10.37–39; Mk 8.34; Lk 14.25–27).
Faith has moral implications because it is the fundamental option by which one enters into the new covenant (23‑A).2. One is not justified and deified due to one’s works; salvation is by grace through faith (see Rom 3.21–22; DS 1532/801).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2.8–9).3. No sooner is the gift given, however, than one must begin to live the new life one has received, completing the acceptance of the gift by acknowledging its moral implications (see Eph 2.10).

To be sure, all that matters is that one is created anew (see Gal 6.15) by the gift of divine life received in baptism.
But precisely this re-creation includes a call to live as befits a member of God’s family (see Gal 5.13–6.10).
Being baptized, we are trained by grace to live according to the Spirit (see Ti 2.11–3.8).

Salvation is the work of grace, but this divine work includes as an essential part our own work: the living of a Christian life (see Rom 6.3–11).4. Salvation is an indivisible whole. One accepts its fullness or one has none of it. That is why Jesus teaches that not all those who receive the word are true disciples who will be saved, but only those who abide in it (see Mt 13.1–9; Mk 4.1–9; Lk 8.4–8; Jn 8.31–32).

More even than for her unique motherhood by which she bore the Word of God, Mary, together with all like her, deserves praise for having heard God’s word and kept it (see Lk 11.27–28). Keeping God’s word means living by it. No one who acts in an unholy way is a child of God (see 1 Jn 3.4–10). Because baptism does have moral implications—the requirement that one live a morally good life—the Church asks those about to be baptized whether they reject Satan, whether they reject sin so as to live as God’s children, and whether they reject the glamor of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin.24 Or again, the Church asks simply and bluntly: “Have you listened to Christ’s word and made up your mind to keep his commandments?” 25 In the case of the baptism of children, the Church explains to the parents what they are doing and asks for a commitment: “You have asked to have your children baptized.

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In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring them up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” 26 Trent definitively teaches that the person who receives the grace of baptism can and must keep the commandments, that the commandments to be kept include the Ten Commandments, and that Jesus is not only a trustworthy redeemer but also a lawgiver who must be obeyed (see DS 1536–39/804, 1568–71/828–31).5. Even the baptism of John the Baptist, which was only with water and was directed only at eliciting repentance for sin, required practical fruits appropriate to one who turns away from evil (see Mt 3.8; Lk 3.8–14).

Jesus, however, baptizes not merely with water but with fire and the Holy Spirit—in other words, by his redemptive act and by the adoption as divine children which is effected for all those who enter into it (see Mt 3.11; Mk 1.8; Lk 3.16; Jn 1.12–13; 3.5–8; Acts 1.5; 11.16).
How much more, then, does his baptism require the keeping of all his commandments (see Mt 28.20; see S.t., 3, q.69, aa.4–5)! 6. Baptism with the Spirit not only requires us to fulfill the commandments but makes it possible for us to do so.

Freed from the law, Christians are able to live according to the Spirit. There is no longer any excuse for sin (see Rom 8.9–13). In a beautiful passage concerning his own baptism, St. Cyprian of Carthage indicates how the new life is experienced. Before baptism, he had been wedded to sin as if it were part of himself: “But afterwards, when the stain of my past life had been washed away by means of the water of re-birth, a light from above poured itself upon my chastened and now pure heart; afterwards through the Spirit which is breathed from heaven, a second birth made of me a new man.

And then in a marvelous manner, doubts immediately clarified themselves, the closed opened, the darkness became illuminated, what before had seemed difficult offered a way of accomplishment, and what had been thought impossible was able to be done. Thus it had to be acknowledged that what was of the earth and was born of the flesh and had lived submissive to sins, had now begun to be of God, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit was animating it” (FEF 548).

Although the person baptized in infancy can be spared the reign of sin, the Christian child as well as the adult convert should enjoy the same experience of illumination and the power to attain goodness. Enriched as much as possible with sacred Scripture, even elementary catechesis should aim at cultivating a prayerful acceptance of the Word of God.

Among the truths of faith, three especially need to be inculcated and accepted as real: first, that heaven exists although it is invisible; second, that God has generously forgiven all our sins, and wills and enables us to be perfect; third, that one lives as a Christian not in isolation but in the midst of the Church, in real community with Jesus, Mary, and the saints from the beginning of salvation history until its end.

A lively sense of these truths will protect one through one’s whole Christian life against worldliness, pelagianism, moral indifference, and historicist relativism. These are the most dangerous current threats to faith.24. See The Rites of the Catholic Church, trans.

What does Jesus say about baptism?

Matthew 28:19-20 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Are you saved by baptism?

Read the Passage – 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Can you be baptized twice?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rebaptism in Christianity is the baptism of a person who has previously been baptized, usually in association with a denomination that does not recognize the validity of the previous baptism. When a denomination rebaptizes members of another denomination, it is a sign of significant differences in theology,

Anabaptism, from Greek ἀνα- (re-) and βαπτίζω (I baptize) Denominations that require believer’s baptism, such as the Baptist Churches Mormonism Oneness Pentecostal churches

Why is water baptism necessary?

3. THAT YOU FOLLOW HIM – Water Baptism is your first act of obedience after putting your trust in Him. When you are baptized with water, you are obeying the words and command of Jesus Christ. Water Baptism symbolizes that you are willing to follow Jesus, and have your life match His will for you.

What does baptism protect you from?

Baptism and the Holy Ghost “Baptism and the Holy Ghost,” The Gospel of Jesus Christ (2005) “Baptism and the Holy Ghost,” The Gospel John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. Faith in Jesus Christ and repentance prepare you for baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ taught that everyone must be baptized of water and of the Spirit (the Holy Ghost) for the remission, or forgiveness, of sins.

Through baptism by one who holds priesthood authority and through receiving the Holy Ghost, you will be spiritually reborn.
Jesus Christ set the example for us by being baptized to “fulfil all righteousness” ().
When you are baptized, you receive a remission of your sins (see ).
You make a covenant, or promise, with God: you promise to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, to follow Him, and to keep His commandments.

If you do your part, your Heavenly Father promises to forgive your sins. When you are baptized by proper authority, your sins are washed away. Baptism involves a brief immersion in water. This is how Jesus Christ was baptized. Baptism by immersion is a sacred symbol of the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; it represents the end of your old life and the beginning of a new life as a follower of Jesus Christ. two men with hands on head of seated man The Holy Ghost is given by the laying on of hands. While baptism washes you of your sins, the Holy Ghost sanctifies, or purifies, you. If you remain faithful to your baptismal covenants, you can have the Holy Ghost with you always.

All good people can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, but only those who are baptized and who receive the Holy Ghost have the right to His constant companionship throughout life. The Holy Ghost helps you recognize and understand truth. He provides spiritual strength and inspiration. He comforts you in difficult times and guides you in making decisions.

You can feel God’s love and influence in your daily life through the Holy Ghost. Your ability to enjoy this divine gift depends on your obedience to God’s commandments. The Holy Ghost cannot remain with those who do not live according to God’s teachings.

They lose the privilege of His guidance and inspiration.
Always strive to be worthy of the companionship and direction of the Holy Ghost.
You receive the Holy Ghost after baptism.
In an ordinance called confirmation, one or more authorized priesthood holders lay their hands on your head.
They confirm you a member of the Church and bless you to receive the Holy Ghost.

This ordinance normally takes place in a church service soon after baptism. When you are baptized and confirmed, you become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints. woman taking the sacrament The sacrament helps us remember Jesus Christ. After you are baptized, you can renew your baptismal covenants each week by partaking of the sacrament. During the sacrament service, bread and water are blessed and passed to the congregation as a reminder of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

What are the 5 effects of baptism for a believer?

Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, and it has powerful and long-lasting effects. It changes the spiritual character of a person forever, and the mark of transformation is so permanent that it is indelible; it can never be erased. What follows is a concise list of nine of the most important effects and benefits of the sacrament of baptism.

The gateway sacrament.
Baptism is the first of the sacraments.
It is the beginning and the foundation of the Christian life of faith, and it provides access to the other sacraments.
Sacramental grace.
The grace of baptism is a rebirth in Christ, opens a channel of blessing from God to the believer, grants a share of God’s divine life, delivers spiritual energy and power, provides nourishment and enables growth in virtue and holiness.

The gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to a person through baptism. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing indwelling presence of God, which makes the person a temple of the Holy Spirit and assures the constant companionship of God for the entire duration of the journey of life.

The Holy Spirit offers inspiration, enlightenment and guidance, as well as the courage, strength and motivation to live according to God’s ways. A child of God. Baptism makes a person an adopted son or daughter of God. Baptism consecrates a person to God. God owns the baptized person, and the person belongs to God.

With this realization there is an ever-growing deep longing to know, love, obey and serve God. Church membership, Baptism grants admission into the body of Christ, the Church, the army of light, a spiritual family in which the other members become one’s brothers and sisters in Christ.

It establishes a bond of fellowship with the community of believers and full partnership with the communion of saints of the living.
The pilgrimage to God is not to be walked alone, but with the help and companionship of other disciples.
Spiritual status.
The baptized person is elevated as priest, prophet and king: a person who prays alone and worships with the Church, praying both for one’s self and on behalf of others; lives a good and holy life and calls others to greater holiness; and enjoys royal status before God, and who honors God as supreme, submits to God’s authority and obeys God’s law and will.

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Forgiveness. Baptism is a spiritual cleansing. All sins, both original sin and personal sin, are washed away and forgiven, and purified. The person is in the state of grace. Liberation from sin gives the freedom and fosters the desire to conform one’s life to Jesus and his gospel.

Apostolic zeal.
Baptism makes a person a laborer in Christ’s vineyard and a minister of the Church, one who proclaims the gospel to others in deed and word; gives strong and bold witness; assists in liturgical roles; teaches and shares the faith; serves one’s neighbors, particularly the poor and disadvantaged; is a good steward of time, talent and treasure; seeks, speaks and defends the truth; works for justice and peace; and upholds the common good.

Salvation. Baptism clothes a person with immortality, gives a person a share in the redemption that Christ won on the Cross, and makes salvation, eternal life and everlasting glory with God in heaven possible. It unites a person to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

St. Paul explained that those who are baptized in Christ are baptized into his death (Rom 6:3), and that, “If we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection” (Rom 6:5).
Father Van Sloun is pastor of St.
Bartholomew in Wayzata.
This is the fourth column in a series on baptism.

Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish.com,

Does baptism create faith?

Baptism creating faith We will not find a passage in the Bible that states specifically and succinctly: “Baptism creates faith.” We know that baptism is a faith-working act on God’s part by looking at several Bible passages and seeing how they relate to baptism.

The Bible explains that people enjoy the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ his Son (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:28). The Bible states that baptism gives people those very blessings of life and forgiveness (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5-7; 1 Peter 3:21).

Baptism gives those blessings because of the powerful word of God that is attached to the water. Since the Bible teaches that we enjoy salvation only through faith in Christ, and since the Bible teaches that baptism saves us and washes away our sins, we can rightfully say that baptism creates the faith that connects us to Jesus and brings into our lives all the blessings he won by his holy life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

What is the most important effect of baptism?

By Baptism all sins are forgiven, Original Sin and all personal sins, and temporal punishment due to sin is removed. After one has been reborn in Christ, there is nothing to prevent one’s entry into God’s Kingdom. However, though all sins are removed, there remains, as an effect of Original Sin, the inclination to sin that is called concupiscence,

This inclination to sin shows itself in what is sometimes referred to as a dark- ening of the mind and a weakening of the will, that is, the inability to know clearly the right or wrong of an action and/or the lack of strength to resist temptation and always to do the right thing no matter how hard this is.

The effects of Original Sin need not harm us so long as we seek strength to resist them through the Sacrament of Penance, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, prayer, a deepening spirituality, growth in virtue, and a wholehearted dependence on God.

Why is baptism a blessing?

RELIGION: Christ’s blessings given us in baptism “Ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” Colossians 2:11-14 Why would anyone want to insist that it is necessary for a Christian to be circumcised and follow all the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament to be saved when believers are complete in Jesus and are blessed with all that they need through their baptism into Christ Jesus? Old Testament circumcision (Genesis 17) was a cutting away of the flesh, performed by human hands, which indicated that one had entered into God’s covenant with man in which God promised to send a Messiah and Savior of the descendants of Abraham to redeem fallen mankind.

It signified that a man could not stand before God in the power of his own flesh, but through the promised Seed of Abraham – Jesus Christ. Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Matt.28:19; cf. Acts 2:38-39) has replaced and superseded circumcision as the sign and means of becoming a recipient of God’s covenant with man.

But baptism is so much more. Circumcision was performed by human hands. Baptism, though administered by the hand of a minister (or, in the case of emergency, a believer), is a work of the Triune God and administered in His name. It is God’s work. Baptism is called “the circumcision of Christ” because the one who is baptized into Christ is joined to Christ in His death and in His resurrection.

The sins and fallen nature of man (the sinful flesh) are buried with Christ in baptism; for Christ Jesus, on the cross, paid in full for the sins of the entire world. He died our death for us and took the just condemnation of God’s law in our place. He blotted out “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” Though God’s holy law condemned us all, Jesus suffered our punishment that we might be forgiven and acquitted through faith in Christ Jesus.

Not only is the Christian joined with Christ in His death through baptism, having all his sins blotted out and washed away through Jesus’ sacrifice; he is also joined to Christ in His resurrection, so that as God raised up Jesus from the dead on the third day, after He had made atonement for the sins of all, so also He through the “operation of” the Holy Spirit raises up to faith and new life those joined to Christ.As Paul writes, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”In his letter to Titus, Paul writes by inspiration of God’s Spirit: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but 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” (Titus 3:4-7).

Thus, we see that through Baptism God washes away sins and grants His life-giving Spirit, who creates and strengthens faith in Christ Jesus. Through baptism, God offers and gives to us all the blessings which Jesus won for us upon the cross and makes them our own.

In and through baptism, God offers and gives forgiveness of sins and life eternal in His Son, Jesus Christ! Baptism is so much more than an outward profession of faith in Jesus. Rather, it is the means through which God graciously works to make all of the blessings won for us by Jesus our own! Therefore, if one has been baptized into Christ and has God’s forgiveness, His life-giving Spirit and the certainty of life everlasting for Jesus’ sake, why would he want to go back to Old Testament circumcision and the old covenant which pointed ahead to Christ and the salvation he has provided for all? In Baptism, Christians are joined to Jesus and are complete in Him! Thank You, gracious Father, for working through our baptism to wash away our sins for Jesus’ sake and to raise us up to new life in fellowship with You through the gracious working of the Holy Spirit.

Keep us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting for Jesus’ sake. Amen. : RELIGION: Christ’s blessings given us in baptism

Do I need to be Baptised?

Does everyone need to be baptized? Yes. Jesus made it clear that being born of water and of the Spirit is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven (see John 3:1–13). Jesus Himself was baptized—even though He was perfect—to set an example for us.

Does the Bible say you must be baptized?

We Must Be Baptized for the Remission of Our Sins – When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, repent, and are baptized, our sins are forgiven through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. From the scriptures we learn that John the Baptist “did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” ( Mark 1:4 ).

When should you get baptized?

Since the purpose of baptism is to publicly identify as a believer in Christ, we encourage children to wait until they are mature enough to understand and articulate the significance of the spiritual commitment they are making. Although each child is unique, this typically happens around 4th grade.

What are the three blessings of baptism?

S uppose for a moment that there was a doctor who had such incredible talent that he could prevent people from dying, and bring those who had died back to life, never to die again. Just imagine how people would do whatever they could to be treated by this doctor! Now consider that in Holy Baptism, God actually does give us the gift of eternal life! Let’s learn more about this marvelous blessing.

What is Baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word.1 What’s so special about a handful of simple water? Nothing, until God connects His Word to it! In Baptism, that is exactly what God is doing.
He combines His life-creating and life-giving Word with the waters of Holy Baptism, and thereby we are born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:5).

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What is that Word of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt.28:19). Our Lord commands Baptism. It is not optional, nor is it simply a nice “extra.” God’s Word takes on many forms, according to His good and gracious will.

The Word is preached, taught,and proclaimed.
It is read, studied and meditated on.
It is shared by Christians, with non-Christian and fellow believer, alike.
And it is that Word of God, His promise, that makes Baptism what it is.
God Himself is present as His name is joined to the water, with all His power and all His blessings of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Christ consecrates the water of Baptism with His Word, so as we in Baptism stand with Christ in the water, the Father calls us His beloved children, the Holy Spirit is given to us, and heaven is opened to us. Those who receive Baptism after they have been brought to faith by the preaching or teaching of the Word also receive all the blessings God has attached to Baptism.

What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.
Which are these words and promises of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).

In and through Baptism, God cleanses us from all of our sins, snatches us from the power of Satan, and gives us everlasting life. It is all God’s doing as He gives us His blessing. It is His promise. In Baptism, our Triune God imparts to each of us personally the gifts the Lord Jesus Christ won for the world through His life, suffering, death, and resurrection.

Please see especially Gal.3:27;Col.1:13–14; 1 Peter 3:21;Titus 3:5–7 and 1 Cor.6:11.
How can water do such great things? Certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water.
For without God’s Word the water is plain water and no Baptism.

But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St.Paul says in Titus, chapter three: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

This is a trustworthy saying” (Titus 3:5–8). Of course, simple water can’t do such great things, but the water of Baptism is not simple water! Baptism is one very special way God delivers to us the blessings Christ won for us. Baptism is not something we do, but something God does. Therefore, it is far more than a symbol.

It is a sacred act in which God Himself is at work forgiving sins, giving new life in Christ and bestowing on us the Holy Spirit with all of His gifts. Baptism gives us the faith through which we receive these gifts. God the Holy Spirit works faith in the promises attached to Baptism.

What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Where is this written? St.Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were there- fore buried with Him through Baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom.6:4).

In Baptism we are buried with Christ, and in Baptism we are raised with Christ. His death and resurrection are made our own, and because of that fact, through our entire life, we are able to say, “I am baptized!” Having been buried with Christ into His death we do not have to be afraid of the tomb in which we will rest one day.

Christ has already been there. In Holy Baptism we have passed through His grave into His resurrection. As Luther says in his Large Catechism, “If I am baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body.No greater jewel can adorn our body and soul than Baptism.Baptism is a treasure which God gives us and faith grasps, just as the Lord Christ upon the cross is not a human work, but a treasure comprehended and offered to us in the Word and received by faith.” What does Baptism have to do with our daily life? Everything! Our entire life is a life lived trusting in the promises of God, given to us in and through Holy Baptism.

We are constantly returning to Baptism. In moments of temptation and suffering in our lives, when all seems to be crashing down on us, and in particular in those moments when our sin and the guilt of those sins haunt us, we are able, as Luther says, to “Pull out our Baptism and wave it under the devil’s nose and say, ‘I am baptized.I have God’s bath.

It is Christ’s own blood.’ It is a bath blessed and mixed with the blood of Christ.”2 We can’t return to the cross of Christ, nor should we attempt to imagine ourselves back there.
No, we turn instead to the “here and now” reality of God’s work in our lives.
We return to our Baptism.
For it was there and then that God buried us with Christ and raised us with Him to a new life.

In his Large Catechism, Luther says, “Every Christian has enough to study and to practice all his life. He always has enough to do to believe firmly what Baptism promises and brings— victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with His gifts.

“And: “If you live in repentance, therefore, you are walking in Baptism, which not only announces this new life, but also produces, begins and promotes it. In Baptism we are given the grace, Spirit and power to suppress the old man, so that the new man may come forth and grow strong. Therefore, Baptism remains forever.Repentance, therefore, is nothing else than a return and approach to Baptism.” Why are infants and young children baptized? They are baptized for the same reason adults are baptized— because of the command and promise of God.

What is promised in Baptism is given to all who receive it; therefore, Infants and young children also have the promise of God. They, too, are made children of God. They, too, are included in the words “all nations”(Matt.28:19). Jesus specifically invites little children to come to Him (Luke 18:15– 17).But most important, as sinners, infants need what Baptism gives.

By His word, God created all that is seen and unseen.
By His word, our Lord Christ called a dead man from the tomb (John 11:43–44).The unborn child, John the Baptist, leaped in his mother’s womb when he heard the word of God (Luke 1:41–44).Why is there any doubt that in and through the Word and the promise of Baptism, God works a similar gift of faith in the infant? If we misunderstand Baptism to be our work, then we will always cast doubt on it.

When we recognize that it is not our work, but God’s gracious promise and work, we realize that infants are to be baptized and receive the treasures offered in and through Baptism. Sadly, there are individuals and church bodies that deny Baptism to young children and infants.

They do not believe that these little ones need what Holy Baptism gives.
They do not believe what the Bible teaches so clearly, namely, that God saves us through Baptism.
As a result of these false teachings, they deny both to themselves and to others the power, blessing and comfort of Holy Baptism.
That is tragic, for it is a most serious offense against God to deny what He plainly declares in His Word: “The promise is for you and your children”(Acts 2:39) and “Baptism now saves you”(1 Peter 3:21).

Conclusion “We see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes God our own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new man. It always remains until we pass from this present misery to eternal glory” (Large Catechism).

The meaning, power and promise of Holy Baptism rest entirely on the One who lived perfectly in our place and who suffered and died as the sacrificial ransom for the sins of the world.
He rose victorious over death and the grave.
In Holy Baptism, we receive all the blessings of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

Thank God for His gift of Holy Baptism! 1.The words in italics are from Luther’s Small Catechism.2. WA 47:651,10-19,32-36. — Dr.A.L.Barry President The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod