#83 The right baptism

From Meditations on the Epistles of John, by Samuel Froehlich

I John 3:1-2:

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

By nature no one is of God, for all are sinners, who come short of the glory of God and bear in them the poison of Adam’s sin and the likeness of the devil; and he who is not redeemed therefrom, in this time of grace, by faith in the Gospel of Christ dies eternally on that account. (Mark 9; John 8) And he who does not believe it makes God a liar. All, by nature, are in the power of the devil and the Son of God has come in the flesh to release us from him.

These words seem hard and wrong to men, but because they are themselves hard in unbelief, the Word of God, accordingly, is like a fire which consumes everything that is of an ungodly nature and like a hammer which breaks rocks: in the believer this takes place here; in the unbeliever, in eternity. In the former it accomplishes salvation and blessedness but in the latter, condemnation (for every sacrifice is salted with fire) and yonder it becomes a worm that does not die and a fire that does not quench.

In order that the spiritual death in Adam may not become eternal death, through Christ’s death on the cross it must be given an antidote and outlet; and for this the believers are baptized into the death of Christ and baptism then becomes the transition of the death of Christ upon us and, consequently, also of life, which however is not the case in the baptism of unknowing infants, for their baptism is neither the baptism of John (for the forgiveness of sin) nor the baptism of Christ (for the inner purification from sin), but it is nothing at all, for men in their subsequent life are still dead in sin and the foreskin of the flesh.

For the right baptism of Christ is herein differentiated from the baptism of John: in that it is not merely a baptism of water (as is infant baptism), but by virtue of the preceding faith of the Word, it, through the wondrous, hidden working of God, is a real planting together with Christ in the likeness of His death (in relation to sin) and of His life (in relation to righteousness), that, instead of the devil, the Son of God takes up a dwelling place in us. (John 1:14; Ephesians 5)

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The indwelling sin-poison, as a disease, must receive drainage by baptism in Christ, in a similar way that the morbid matter of smallpox receives it by vaccination. But if vaccination would not immunize one before the outbreak of the disease, it would be useless and would not answer the purpose; and so is infant baptism also useless because it does not answer the purpose and the divine intention of baptism, but rather permits men to remain in sin and deception throughout life. It neither closes up the source of sin nor opens the source of life.

But in him who by reason of his faith is baptized into the death of Christ, sin has been put to death and righteousness has been made alive. For that reason the people have really not been baptized. For the baptism of Christ is a baptism of the Spirit and of fire, for purification from indwelling sin and for restoration of the divine image; for even though natural man has a natural mind, the Word of God says,

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

But of what use is a lantern that has no light?