American Lutheranism vindicated

by S. S. Schmucker

CHAPTER IX. BAPTISMAL REGENERATION.

In regard to this error, the author of the Plea, relieves us from the necessity of proving that it is contained in the Symbolical books, by himself not only acknowledging the fact, but also defending the doctrine. For ourselves we do not think it taught as clearly in the Augsburg Confession, as most of the other errors touched on in the Definite Platform. But although not inculcated as explicitly as the others, the substance of the doctrine runs through the entire symbolic system, and therefore is justly chargeable on it. The name is not often distinctly met with there, but the thing meets us on many occasions. This seems evident even from the following few citations.

_Proof that this doctrine was taught by the Lutheran Symbols and early Lutheran divines.

ART. II. - Augsburg Confession

"Our churches teach that this innate disease and original sin, is truly sin, and condemneth all those under the eternal wrath of God, who are not born again by Baptism and the Holy Spirit."

Apology to Augsburg Confession, p. 226.

"Our opponents also agree to the ninth article, in which we confess that Baptism is necessary to salvation, and that the baptism of infants is not fruitless, but necessary and salutary.

Luther's Smaller Catechism.

"What does Baptism confer or benefit?

"Ans.—It effects the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and confers everlasting salvation upon all who believe it, (not believe in Christ,) as the words and promise of God declare."

"How can water effect such great things?

"Ans.—Indeed it is not the water that has such effect, but the Word of God that is with and in the water, and the faith trusting such Word of God in the water. For without the Word of God the water is mere water, hence no baptism; but with the Word of God it constitutes a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life, and a washing of regeneration, in the Holy Ghost."—Symb. B., p. 421.

Luther's Larger Catechism.

"Every Christian, therefore, has enough to learn and practice in baptism during his life; for he must ever exert himself to maintain a firm faith in what it promises and brings him, namely, triumph over the devil and death, the remission of sins, the grace of God, Christ with all his works, and the Holy Ghost with all his gifts. In short, the blessings of baptism are so great, that if feeble nature could but comprehend them we might justly doubt their reality. For, imagine to yourself a physician, who possessed an art preventing persons from dying; or, even if they died, immediately restoring them to life so as to live eternally afterwards, how the world would rush and flock around him with money, while the poor, prevented by the rich, could not approach him! And yet, here in baptism, every one has such a treasure, and medicine gratuitously brought to his door-a medicine which abolishes death, and preserves all men to eternal life_."—P. 525.

Luther's Larger Catechism.

"It (baptism) is, therefore, very appropriately called food for the soul, which flourishes and strengthens the new man; for through baptism we are born anew; but beside this, the old vicious nature in the flesh and blood nevertheless adheres to man, in which there are so many impediments and obstacles, with which we are opposed as well by the devil as by the world, so that we often become weary and faint, and sometimes stumble."—Symb. B., p. 533.

In the Visitation Articles, published fourteen years after the other symbolical books for the purpose of explaining their true import, and then made symbolic in Saxony:

ART. III.—On Baptism.

SECT. II. "By baptism as the laver of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, God saves us, and works in us such righteousness and purification from sins, that whosoever perseveres in such covenant, and reliance, will not be lost, but have eternal life."

SECT. IV. "Baptism is the bath (laver) of regeneration, because in it we are regenerated, and sealed with the spirit of sonship and obtain pardon."-Mueller's Symb. Buecher, pp. 848, 849.

That the doctrine of baptismal regeneration was taught by Luther, and the prominent older divines of our church, is well known to those acquainted with their works.

1. Luther, indeed, sometimes expressed the most extravagant ideas of baptism, maintaining that the water in baptism, was pervaded by the divine majesty, and was a (durch goettertes Wasser,) water penetrated through and through with God! [Note 1] He compares the water in baptism to heated iron, in which, though you see nought but iron, fire also is contained, which represents the divine name and power pervading the water. But we will not enter any further into his extravagant illustrations of the power of baptism. The result at which he arrives is thus expressed: "Therefore, he (this omnipotent name or power of God,) must also in baptism, make pure and holy, heavenly and divine persons, as we shall hereafter further see." (Darum musz er auch in der Taufe reine und heilige und eitel himmlishe, goettliche Menschen machen, wie wir hernach sehen werden.") [Note 2]

In his sermon on Baptism, Luther thus describes the influence of this ordinance:—"The import of baptism is a blessed dying unto sin, and resurrection in the grace of God, that the old man that was conceived in sin, may arise and go forth a new man born of grace. Thus St. Paul in, Tit. iii. 5, terms baptism a bath of the new birth, that in this bath men may be born again and renewed. Thus also Christ, in John iii. 3, says: Unless ye are born again of water and the Spirit (of grace), ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven. For just as a child is born of its mother, and by this bodily birth is a sinful being and a child of wrath; thus also is man taken and born spiritually from the baptism, and by this birth he is a child of grace and a justified person. Thus are sins drowned in baptism, and thus does righteousness arise in the place of sin." [Note 3]

2. Melancthon, whilst he by no means indulges in the extravagant and unscriptural views of a change in the water employed in baptism, by the Deity's pervading it, &c., seems however in substance to have entertained views of the efficacy of this ordinance, amounting to baptismal regeneration.

"The real use of baptism," (says he,) "is taught by these two particulars, the outward sign and the promise, 'he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved;' also the words which are used in baptism, 'I baptise thee in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost:' that is, through this outward sign (baptism) I, in the place of God, testify that you are reconciled to God, and accepted of him, who is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Father receives you for the sake of the Son, and grants you the Holy Spirit, by which he will renew, make alive, comfort, and sanctify you." [Note 4]

And, again, when discussing the subject, of pedobaptism, he thus describes his view:—"In and by baptism the Holy Spirit is given to children, who operates in them according to their measure (masse) or capacity, as he operated in John in the womb of Elizabeth. And although there, is a difference between the old and the young, inasmuch as the old are attentive to the works, still the influences of the Holy Spirit are in both old and young a tendency toward God." [Note 5]

That this doctrine was also taught by the great majority of the most distinguished older theologians of our church, is a point which requires no proof to those acquainted with those authors. As their works are accessible to comparatively few of our readers, we will annex a quotation from several of them, at the same time abbreviating them as much as is consistent with perspicuity. Thus, Dr. Hunnius, professor at Wittenberg, and subsequently Superintendent at Luebeck, [Note 6] in his Epitome Credendorum, says:—"The sacrament of baptism is a spiritual action, instituted and ordained by Christ, by the performance of which a man is baptised with water, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost; and by means of which he receives forgiveness of sins, is received into God's covenant of mercy, and is made partaker of the merits of Christ, of adoption and of eternal salvation." [Note 7] Again, "Baptism is not a sign of regeneration, that is to take place some time after baptism had been administered to him. For as baptism causes regeneration, it cannot be said to signify the same," &c. [Note 8] And again, "Nevertheless, we have seen it to be the will of God, that they (children) should enter the kingdom of heaven, and it therefore becomes indispensably necessary for them to be regenerated. But this regeneration is brought about by no other means than by baptism, which we know to be the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost," &c. [Note 9] The celebrated Dr. Gerhard says, "The holy Trinity is present with his grace (in baptism). The Father receives the baptized person into favor; the Son bestows his righteousness upon him, and the Holy Spirit regenerates and renews him,—produces faith, regeneration and renovation, and seals the covenant of grace in the hearts of the baptized." [Note 10]

Again, "Baptism is the first gateway of grace, the sacrament of initiation: the Lord's Supper is the sacrament of confirmation; by baptism we are regenerated, by the Holy Supper we are nourished and strengthened to eternal life. As in nature so in grace, we are first born and then fed, first generated and then we increase, (ix. 67.) Dr. Buddeus, one of the most distinguished theologians of the School of Halle, in his "Theologia Dogmatica, [sic on punctuation] p. 1127, says, "The design of the baptism of infants is their regeneration; in the case of adults, the confirmation and sealing of that faith, which they should have before (the reception of the rite.")

Since therefore we have seen that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration was taught not only by the symbolical books, but also by Luther and Melancthon in their other writings, as well as by the leading divines of the first two centuries after the Reformation, who all received the symbolical books, and understood their import, we may regard the charge of the Platform as established beyond contradiction, that this tenet was a part of Symbolic Lutheranism.

Influence of this Doctrine on the Pulpit.

Now the influence of this doctrine on the ministrations of the pulpit, is of the most deleterious nature. The word of God represents all mankind as by nature dead in trespasses and sins. Paul tells us that "there is none righteous, no not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God:" and affirms that the carnal mind is enmity against God. The faithful ambassador of Christ must therefore announce the command of God, "that all men every where should repent: and that unless they do repent, they shall all likewise perish. He must divide his congregation into two classes, the friends and the enemies of God, those who are for the Saviour and those who are against him: and he must insist upon judging not by their profession, "Lord, Lord, but by the question, whether they do the will of our Father in heaven." Thus when the faithful servant of Christ represents all as unconverted, and exposed to the curse of the divine law, who do not give evidence of regeneration in their walk and conversation; careless sinners become alarmed and feel the necessity of fleeing from the wrath to come, by repenting and turning to God, by seeking pardon and a new heart, and consecrating all their powers of mind and body to the service of God.

But all this the believer in baptismal regeneration cannot consistenly [sic] do. Because 1. If we believe all our hearers regenerated, (for they are generally all baptised) even those whose life presents not the least evidence of piety, and many proofs to the contrary; we still must believe them in some sense the children of God, as they are born again! We cannot tell them that they are in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity; because we profess to believe them regenerated— therefore children of God in some sense.

2. We cannot exhort the impenitent baptised, though apparently dead in trespasses and sins, to pray for a new heart and a new spirit; for these, as regenerated persons, they have obtained.

3. The minister who believes in baptismal regeneration, cannot with Paul proclaim, "If any man be in Christ Jesus and is a new creature, old limits are passed away, behold all things have become new;" for his ungodly baptised hearers are all new creatures by baptism, and yet their old sinful habits have not passed away, and all things have not become new to them.

4. He cannot consistently preach, that those who have put on the new man (Ephes. iv. 24,) are created in righteousness and true holiness; for the majority of those said to be regenerated, or to have put on the new man by baptism, continue in sin and are destitute of righteousness and trim holiness.

5. He cannot, with the blessed Master, preach, "by their fruits ye shall know them; for here, on his theory, are regenerate souls bringing forth the fruits of death, good (regenerate) trees bringing forth rotten fruits," which is as incredible as thorns producing grapes, and thistles yielding figs.

6. The believer in baptismal regeneration cannot consistently preach, that "not every one who saith, "Lord, Lord," shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who also do the will of our heavenly Father; for here are regenerate men who have the germ of eternal life in them (by baptism) who do not the will of God. Now as these on his theory are regenerate men, the bible promises them salvation. But according to the Saviour they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The apostle James Inquires, [sic] "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Will his (dead) faith save, him?" Or we may add, can his dead baptismal regeneration do it? As the apostle of the Gentiles declares, that circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God: so as baptism occupies the place of circumcision, baptism is nothing and the want of it nothing, unless accompanied with a sincere, universal and irrevocable purpose to keep the commandments of God.

If any one responds, we do not mean regeneration in its proper sense, when we ascribe it to the influence of baptism; then do not deceive yourselves and others by employing the name, when you do not mean the thing. The Saviour uses it for an entire, and radical change, and we have no right to use it for anything else.

Or does any one say, by baptismal regeneration, we understand an inferior kind or degree of regeneration, the beginning of the change. If so, then do not mistake the beginning for the completion of this great spiritual renovation; nor ascribe to the one, the precious promises and spiritual benefits which belong only to the other.

In short, if the word regeneration, in connexion with baptism, be employed to signify anything resembling its proper meaning, its influence on the preached gospel must be baneful; and just in proportion as we use it in a sense approximating to its legitimate import, does it obscure, confuse and derange the ideas of men as to the great and glorious plan of salvation in the gospel, which represent all men as either for or against Christ, and appeals to their works as decisive of their actual, spiritual character, as friends or as enemies of the Redeemer.

Such being the deleterious influence of this doctrine, it is important to show, that it finds no sanction from a just interpretation of the Word of God.

By baptismal regeneration is properly meant the doctrine that baptism is necessarily and invariably attended by spiritual regeneration; and that such water baptism is essential to salvation.

In the case of all adults, the Scriptures represent faith in Christ as the necessary prerequisite to baptism, and baptism as a rite by which those who had already consecrated themselves to Christ, or been converted, made a public profession of the fact, received a pledge of the divine favor, or of forgiveness of sins, and were admitted to membership in the visible church. The same inspired records also teach, that if men are destitute of this faith, if they believe not, they shall be damned, notwithstanding their baptism. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not, shall be damned," Matt. xvi. 16. And Philip said to the eunuch, "If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest be baptized," Acts viii. 37. "Repent and be baptized," Acts ii. 38; viii. 62; xviii. 8. Hence if baptism required previous faith and repentance, or conversion in adults, and if, when they were destitute of this faith or conversion, they were damned, notwithstanding their baptism; it follows that baptism was not, and is not, a converting ordinance in adults, and does not necessarily effect or secure their regeneration.

Now that baptism cannot accomplish more in infants than in adults, is self-evident; hence if it is not a converting ordinance in adults, it cannot be in infants.

The effects of baptism on infants are nowhere specified in Scripture; hence we must suppose them to be same as in adults, so far as children are naturally capable of them. Of regeneration, in the proper sense of the term, infants are incapable; for it consists in a radical change in our religious views of the divine character, law, &c.; a change in our religious feelings, and in our religions purposes and habits of action; of none of which are children capable.

Again, as regeneration does not destroy but merely restrains the natural depravity, or innate, sinful dispositions of the Christian, (for these still remain in him after conversion,) it must consist mainly in a change, of that _increased predisposition to sin arising from action, of that preponderance of sinful habits formed by voluntary indulgence of our natural depravity, after we have reached years of moral agency. But infants have no such increased predisposition, no habits of sin prior to moral agency, consequently there can be no change of them, no regeneration in this meaning of the term. Hence, if baptism even did effect regeneration in adults, which we have proved not to be the case; still it could have no such influence on infants, as they are naturally incapable of the mental exercises involved in it. The child, on its first attainment of moral agency, has merely natural depravity, until by voluntary indulgence in sin, it contracts personal guilt, and forms habits of sinful action. If the child, by the grace of God and proper religious instruction, continues to resist the solicitations of its depraved nature, its continued obedience will form holy habits, and this preponderance of holy habits, when established, constitutes its regeneration. If the growing child, as its powers of moral agency are developed, for any reason indulges its innate sinful propensities, it becomes a confirmed sinner, and its subsequent regeneration, if it take place, will be the more striking, as its change of habits must be greater.

Baptism in adults, is a means of making a public profession, of previous faith, or of being received into the visible church, as well as a pledge and condition of obtaining those blessings purchased by Christ, and offered to all who repent, believe in him, and profess his name by baptism.

Baptism in infants, is the pledge of the bestowment of those blessings purchased by Christ for all. " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." And "The promise is to you and your children," Acts ii. 39. These blessings are forgiveness of sins, or exemption from the penal consequences of natural depravity, (which would at least be exclusion from heaven on account of moral disqualification for admission,) reception into the visible church of Christ, grace to help in every time of need, and special provision for the nurture and admonition in the Lord, to which parents pledge themselves.

The language of the Saviour to Nicodemus, John iii. 6, "Unless a man be born of water and the spirit" doubtless refers also to baptism, which had been known to the Jews, and practiced by John the Baptist, before the ministry of Christ, as a mode of public reception of proselytes, who were then said to be new born. Its import is to inform Nicodemus, that he must publicly profess the religion of Jesus by baptism, and also be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, if he desired to enter the kingdom of heaven. Thus, also, the words, Acts xxii. 16, "Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins," were addressed to Paul after he had surrendered himself to Christ, and signifies: "Arise, and publicly profess Christ by baptism, and thus complete your dedication of yourself to his cause, the condition, on the sincere performance of which, God will for Christ's sake, pardon your sins."

Baptismal regeneration, either in infants or adults, is therefore a doctrine not taught in the Word of God, and fraught with much injury to the souls of men, although inculcated in the former symbolical books. At the same time, whilst the doctrine of baptismal regeneration certainly did prevail in our European churches, and is taught in the former symbolical books, it is proper to remark, that the greater part of the passages in the symbols relating to this subject, are explained by many in the present day, to signify no more than we above inculcate, and therefore a not teaching baptismal regeneration.

Note 1. Luther's Works, Vol. xii., p. 339.

Note 2. Ibid.

Note 3. Ibid. Vol. xxii., p. 139.

Note 4. Melanchthon's [sic] Works, Koethe's edit., Vol. iv., p. 234.

Note 5. Ibid. pp. 251, 242.

Note 6. Died in 1643.

Note 7. Gottheil's Translation, p. 187.

Note 8. Ibid. p. 188.

Note 9. Ibid. p. 193.

Note 10. Loc. Com. Vol. iv., p. 260.