Therefore we always teach that the Sacraments and all external things which God ordains and institutes should not be regarded according to the coarse,external mask,as we regard the shell of a nut,but as the Word of God is included therein.For thus we also speak of the parental estate and of civil government.If we propose to regard them in as far as they have noses,eyes,skin,and hair flesh and bones,they look like Turks and heathen,and some one might start up and say:Why should I esteem them more than others?But because the commandment is added:
Honor thy father and thy mother,I behold a different man,adorned and clothed with the majesty and glory of God.The commandment (I say)is the chain of gold about his neck,yea,the crown upon his head which shows to me how and why one must honor this flesh and blood.
Thus,and much more even,you must honor Baptism and esteem it glorious on account of the Word,since He Himself has honored it both by words and deeds;moreover,confirmed it with miracles from heaven.
For do you think it was a jest that,when Christ was baptized,the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended visibly,and everything was divine glory and majesty?
Therefore I exhort again that these two the water and the Word,by no means be separated from one another and parted.For if the Word is separated from it,the water is the same as that with which the servant cooks,and may indeed be called a bath-keeper's baptism.But when it is added,as God has ordained,it is a Sacrament,and is called Christ-baptism.Let this be the first part regarding the essence and dignity of the holy Sacrament.
In the second place,since we know now what Baptism is,and how it is to be regarded,we must also learn why and for what purpose it is instituted;that is,what it profits,gives and works.And this also we cannot discern better than from the words of Christ above quoted:He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.Therefore state it most simply thus,that the power,work,profit,fruit,and end of Baptism is this,namely,to save.For no one is baptized in order that he may become a prince,but,as the words declare,that he be saved.But to be saved.we know.is nothing else than to be delivered from sin,death,and the devil,and to enter into the kingdom of Christ,and to live with Him forever.
Here you see again how highly and precious we should esteem Baptism,because in it we obtain such an unspeakable treasure,which also indicates sufficiently that it cannot be ordinary mere water.For mere water could not do such a thing,but the Word does it,and (as said above)the fact that the name of God is comprehended therein.But where the name of God is,there must be also life and salvation,that it may indeed be called a divine,blessed,fruitful,and gracious water;for by the Word such power is imparted to Baptism that it is a laver of regeneration,as St.Paul also calls it,Titus 3,5.
But as our would-be wise,new spirits assert that faith alone saves,and that works and external things avail nothing,we answer:It is true,indeed,that nothing in us is of any avail but faith,as we shall hear still further.But these blind guides are unwilling to see this,namely,that faith must have something which it believes,that is,of which it takes hold,and upon which it stands and rests.Thus faith clings to the water,and believes that it is Baptism,in which there is pure salvation and life;not through the water (as we have sufficiently stated),but through the fact that it is embodied in the Word and institution of God,and the name of God inheres in it.Now,if Ibelieve this,what else is it than believing in God as in Him who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance,and proposes to us this external thing wherein we may apprehend such a treasure?
Now,they are so mad as to separate faith and that to which faith clings and is bound though it be something external.Yea,it shall and must be something external,that it may be apprehended by the senses,and understood and thereby be brought into the heart,as indeed the entire Gospel is an external,verbal preaching.In short,what God does and works in us He proposes to work through such external ordinances.
Wherever,therefore,He speaks,yea,in whichever direction or by whatever means He speaks,thither faith must look,and to that it must hold.Now here we have the words:He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.To what else do they refer than to Baptism,that is,to the water comprehended in God's ordinance?Hence it follows that whoever rejects Baptism rejects the Word of God,faith,and Christ,who directs us thither and binds us to Baptism.
