I Am Baptized: What Does This Mean?

Rev. John T. Pless

Baptism is present tense. It is not simply that "I was baptized" but that "I am baptized." Baptism is no mere rite of initiation on the spectrum of sacramental acts, but the basis and content of Christians' lives that are brought to completion only in the resurrection of the body. In the Large Catechism, Luther expands upon the truth of Baptism confessed in the Small Catechism as he emphasizes the fact that Baptism is God's work, not the work of any human being. "To be baptized in God's name is to be baptized not by human beings but by God himself. Although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God's own act." (LC IV:10, Kolb/Wengert, 457) Luther never tires of stressing that Baptism is God's work. "Thus you see plainly that Baptism is not a work that we do but that it is a treasure that God gives us and faith grasps, just as the Lord Christ upon the cross is not a work but a treasure placed in the setting of the Word and received by faith." (LC IV: 37, Kolb/Wengert, 461) With a polemical edge that is lacking in the Small Catechism, Luther engages the "new spirits" who set Baptism aside, regarding it as empty. "Therefore it is sheer wickedness and devilish blasphemy that now, in order to blaspheme Baptism, our new spirits set aside God's Word and ordinance, consider nothing but the water drawn from the well, and then babble, 'How can a handful of water help the soul?'"(LC IV:15, Kolb/Wengert, 458) As in the Small Catechism, Luther focuses on the benefit or blessing of Baptism. "This is the simplest way to put it: the power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is that it saves. For no one is baptized in order to become a prince, but, as the words say, 'to be saved.' To be saved, as everyone knows, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil, to enter into Christ's kingdom, and to live with him forever." (LC IV:24, Kolb/Wengert, 459) Perhaps the most significant dimension of the Large Catechism's treatment of Baptism is the significance of Baptism for the daily life of the believer. Here Luther remarks, "In Baptism, therefore, every Christian has enough to study and practice all his or her life. Christians always have enough to do to believe firmly what Baptism promises and brings--victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sin, God's grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts. In short, the blessings of Baptism are so boundless that if our timid nature considers them, it may well doubt whether they could be all true" (LC IV:41, Kolb/Wengert, 461). For Luther, the significance of Baptism is found in the rhythm of the dying and rising that marks Christian existence: "Thus a Christian life is nothing else than a daily Baptism, begun once and continuing ever after. For we must keep at it without ceasing, always purging whatever pertains to the old Adam, so that whatever belongs to the new creature may come forth" (LC IV:65, Kolb/Wengert, 65). Baptism is not something that is confined to the moment of the liturgical rite, but rather embraces the life of the Christian from font to grave. Thus, there is, as Jonathan Trigg aptly describes it, a certain "circularity" to the baptismal life: The circularity of the Christian life for Luther is reflected in several aspects of his theology. Conversion itself becomes, not an event, but a state to be preserved in by the Christian who must be semper penitens. . . A Christian never progresses beyond the need for justification because of the nature of justification itself--he remains a sinner although righteousness is imputed to him as he lives by faith. . . . The life of faith is no complacent reflection on past victories but an armed struggle.1 So in the face of sin and death, temptation and struggle, Luther counsels the Christian to retreat to his or her Baptism and seize the consolation that it gives. "Thus, we must regard Baptism and put it to use in such a way that we may say: 'But I am baptized! And if I have been baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body'. . . . No greater jewel, therefore, can adorn our body and soul than Baptism, for through it we become completely holy and blessed, which no other kind of life and work on earth can acquire." (LC IV:44,46, Kolb/Wengert, 462) In summary, we confess with Luther: "Thus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God's own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new person and always endures and remains until we pass out of this misery into eternal glory. Therefore let all Christians regard their Baptism as the daily garment that they are to wear all the time. Every day they should be found in faith and with its fruits, suppressing the old creature and growing up in the new. If we want to be Christians, we must practice the work that makes us Christians, and let those who fall away return to it. As Christ, the mercy seat, does not withdraw from us or forbid us to return to him even though we sin, so all his treasures and gifts remain. As we have once obtained forgiveness of sins in Baptism, so forgiveness remains day by day as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old creature around our neck" (LC IV:83-86, Kolb/Wengert, 466-467). 1. Jonathan Trigg, Baptism in the Theology of Martin Luther (Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2001), 170. The Rev. John T. Pless is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Editor of For the Life of the World magazine.

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