DAILY BAPTISM

Last Saturday I made a presentation to a group in Atlanta about “Means of Grace.” I shared how Christians down through the centuries have found ways to enliven and refresh a relationship with God. Means of grace are sacred moments where Christ is re-presented, or becomes present to us anew.

Sacraments are sacred moments that Jesus gave us by clear instruction and example. Most Christians recognize two basic sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Various Christians refer to the second sacrament by different names such as Holy Communion, the Eucharist (which means “grateful”), the Divine Liturgy, or the Mass.

The next day Cissy and I attended worship at St. George Episcopal George on Fort George Island in Florida. The guest minister, Christopher Martin, gave me some new understanding about these sacraments in his sermon.

He explained how the Old Testament event of the Exodus, when the children of Israel fled Egypt, contained “types” of baptism and Holy Communion to come in the New Testament.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

Clearly, from these words the Apostle Paul shows that sacraments like baptism and holy communion are not ends in themselves to save and win God’s merit, but are means of grace.

Reverend Martin shared in his message that he grew up in the Lutheran tradition and became an Episcopalian priest. As I sat listening to him, I appreciated how he was helping a former Baptist pastor who became a Methodist to hear a different perspective about these sacraments.
One statement he made caught my attention in particular. He said Martin Luther taught we should have a “daily baptism.” I had taught the previous day that the means of grace were ways to have a fresh awareness of God’s presence. Yet baptism to me was more of a “one time” event to remember.

Yesterday I did some research about what Dr. Luther said about “daily baptism.” I remember he ignited the Protestant Reformation. I also realize that at the same time the Anabaptist movement was gaining ground. The Anabaptists taught “believer’s baptism.” They held that even if a person had been baptized as an infant, when they came to faith in Christ, they need to be baptized again.

Luther was so strongly against the practice of re-baptism that he heartily endorsed the drowning of such followers with a “third baptism.” As a matter of fact hundreds of Anabaptists were persecuted and killed, some by drowning.

Nevertheless, while somewhat understanding the context of Luther’s comments, I find his beliefs about baptism most interesting. Below in reddish color are some excerpts of Martin Luther’s writing about baptism. I added the bold type to emphasize his terms for "daily baptism."

We must also know what Baptism signifies, and why God has ordained just such external sign and ceremony for the Sacrament by which we are first received into the Christian Church. But the act or ceremony is this, that we are sunk under the water, which passes over us, and afterwards are drawn out again. These two parts, to be sunk under the water and drawn out again, signify the power and operation of Baptism, which is nothing else than putting to death the old Adam, and after that the resurrection of the new man, both of which must take place in us all our lives, so that a truly Christian life is nothing else than a daily baptism, once begun and ever to be continued….

Therefore our Baptism abides forever; and even though some one should fall from it and sin, nevertheless we always have access thereto, that we may again subdue the old man. But we need not again be sprinkled with water; for though we were put under the water a hundred times, it would nevertheless be only one Baptism, although the operation and signification continue and remain. Repentance, therefore, is nothing else than a return and approach to Baptism, that we repeat and practise what we began before, but abandoned.

This I say lest we fall into the opinion in which we were for a long time, imagining that our Baptism is something past, which we can no longer use after we have fallen again into sin….

For this reason let every one esteem his Baptism as a daily dress in which he is to walk constantly, that he may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that he suppress the old man and grow up in the new. For if we would be Christians, we must practice the work whereby we are Christians. But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore we have once in Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck.

I am enriched by Luther’s words, written almost 500 years ago, even if I cannot accept or agree with all he wrote. I also read about his defense of infant baptism and why he thought it a folly for someone to be re-baptized after coming to faith as an adult.

The complete article on baptism from Luther’s Large Catechism:
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/catechism/web/cat-13.html

The article on infant baptism from Luther’s Large Catechism:

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/catechism/web/cat-13a.html