Augustine's Theory.—St. Augustine is complimented by the same critics for formulating the first strict scientific theory of the nature and effects of baptism. He drew a sharp distinction between "the outward sign"—water baptism—and the inward change of heart resulting from the operation of the Holy Ghost. Yet even he is charged with laying too much stress upon the value of "the outward sign," which he held to be essential to salvation. Protestant theologians have been commended for keeping the "sign" in due subordination to "the thing signified," for justifying themselves by faith, and ignoring to a great extent outward ordinances.
But the Greek Christians, whatever their defects, were nearer right than St. Augustine, and St. Augustine was nearer right than the Protestant theologians who followed him. Baptism, as taught in the New Testament, is not the mere "outward sign of an inward grace." The action of the water and the action of the Spirit are not to be separated in any analysis of the nature and effects of baptism. Both are essential in the soul-cleansing, soul-enlightening process.
A Symbol of Creation.—Every baptism, every resurrection, implies a birth. No seed germinates until it dies, or appears to die, and is buried. The gardener plants that there may be a springing forth of new life from the germ of the old.[[16]] Coming into this world involves departure out of a previous world, and burial here implies birth hereafter. The sun sets upon the Eastern hemisphere to rise upon the Western, and sets upon the Western to rise upon the Eastern. The setting and rising of the sun; sleep followed by waking; winter with its icy fetters and snowy shroud, succeeded by spring in garments of green, with bright flowers, singing birds and laughing streams; all these suggest baptism, for they symbolize birth, burial and resurrection.
Begotten and Born of God.—We have a Father and a Mother in heaven, in whose image we were created, male and female. We were begotten and born in the spirit before we were begotten and born in the flesh; and we must be begotten and born again, in the similitude of those earlier begettings and births, or we cannot regain the presence of our eternal Father and Mother.
Babes in Christ.—Baptism signifies the creation of souls for the Kingdom of God. The one who baptizes is the spiritual progenitor of the one baptized. This is why the Apostles referred to those who received baptism at their hands as "children of my begetting," "babes in Christ," to be fed "the milk" before "the meat of the word."[[17]] To baptize is to perform spiritually the functions of fatherhood. Motherhood is symbolized by the baptismal font. Hence, baptism must be by divine authority, must have God's sanction upon it. Heavenly and earthly powers must join, must be wedded for the bringing forth of the redeemed soul; otherwise, the baptism will be unlawful, the birth illegitimate, the act of begetting a sin. Baptisms, like marriages, performed without divine authority, will have no effect "when men are dead."
Suggestive Symbolism.—The significance of baptism and the very form of the ceremony are suggested by the career of that Divine Being whose descent from heaven to earth, and whose ascent from earth to heaven, are the sum and substance of the Gospel Story. Descending below and rising above—such was his experience from the time he left his celestial throne to the time he returned to his glorious exaltation. It is not possible that the sacred ordinance of baptism was intended to symbolize that wonderful event—God's merciful condescension for the sake of fallen man? Was it not instituted in anticipation and as a memorial of that mighty Birth, with its mortal burial and its immortal resurrection?
A Watery World.—Moreover, in the symbolism of the Scriptures, this world is represented by water.[[18]] "All things are water," said the Greek Thales. At the very dawn of creation, Spirit and Water, the two elements used in baptism, were both present—the one creative, the other createable.[[19]] "Let the dry land appear!" The very words suggest baptism, birth, creation—the emergence of an infant planet from the womb of the waters. And when the Almighty was about to send the Flood, he said to Noah, concerning the wicked: "Behold, I will destroy them with the earth."[[20]] Did he mean the watery element which enters so largely into the composition of the earth?
A Double Doorway.—Water represents the temporal part of creation, including the body or mortal part of man. Baptism therefore, in its twofold character, suggests the passing out from this watery world into the spirit world, and thence by resurrection into eternal glory. It is only a suggestion, but it emphasizes for me the reason why the doorway to the Church and Kingdom of God is a double doorway, a dual birth, a baptism of Water and of the Spirit.
Footnotes
[1]. Matt. 3:16.