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Part One:From Paulto Luther

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H i s t o r yO F

T H E

B A P T I S MBY JACK COTTRELL

“Fifty million Frenchmen can’t bewrong.”

Some may use this adage seriously,but to others it is a sarcastic way of say-ing that truth cannot be decided bymajority vote—a point driven home byPaul in Romans 3:4, “Let God be foundtrue, though every man be found a liar”(New American Standard Bible).

Historically, those associated with theconservative branches of theRestoration Movement have enthusias-tically accepted Paul’s admonition,being content to hold on to certain the-ological convictions, even if they per-ceived themselves to be in the minority.This is no doubt still true for many.However, many among us recently seemto have adopted a very different attitudewith respect to baptism:

“Fifty million evangelicals can’t bewrong.”

The thinking is that, if practically theentire evangelical world thinks Godbestows saving grace as soon as the sin-ner believes and repents, then theremust be some truth there. If evangelicalsagree that baptism is simply the newChristian’s obedient expression of orwitness to his new status as a member ofthe body of Christ, then there must be

something wrong with the “minority”view that baptism is the point of timewhen God gives salvation. Surely, 50million evangelicals can’t be wrong!

Yes, they can; and I believe they are.Long ago I decided to accept the Biblealone as my only norm for faith andpractice. And long ago I became con-vinced that everything the NewTestament says about the meaning ofbaptism can be summed up thus: waterbaptism is the God-appointed timewhen he first gives saving grace to thebelieving, repentant sinner.

Should we then just ignore the stan-dard evangelical approach to baptism?

Not at all. We need to understand whatevangelicals are saying, and why they aresaying it. All our doctrinal convictions,while grounded ultimately upon theBible alone, should be developed in fullview of past and present Christianthinking. A knowledge of the historicaldevelopment of any doctrine is extreme-ly valuable; it can enrich our under-standing as well as help us avoid seriousdoctrinal errors.

This is especially true of baptism. Too

often, our historical perspective on thisdoctrine is much too limited. We tendto see ourselves within the context of thelast 200 years. We know that the earlyRestorationists rejected the prevailingdenominational (e.g., Presbyterian,Baptist, Methodist) views of baptism,and came to see baptism as having a keyrole in the reception of salvation. Now,two centuries later, some are wonderingif they went too far. After all, was it nota bit presumptuous of the Campbells,Walter Scott, John Smith, et al., to rejectthe traditional consensus view of bap-tism and come up with a new and oppo-site view? Why should we stick withthese innovators, rather than just blendin with the “50 million evangelicals”

THE MODERN EVANGELICALVIEW OF BAPTISM IS

ACTUALLY THE NEW VIEW.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

▲

Jack Cottrell is professor of theological studies atCincinnati (Ohio) Bible College and Seminary.

This article first appeared in CHRISTIAN STANDARD® on June 20, 2004. CHRISTIAN STANDARD® grants permission to reproduce, for free distribution, up to 1,000 copies of its articles for ministry or educational purposes.

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who are continuing the traditional view?What I will say now may surprise

some, but the truth is this: the modernevangelical view of baptism is actuallythe new view, an interpretation of bap-tism that was invented only in the early1520s. It was created by the Swissreformer HuldreichZwingli (1484-1531), developedfurther by JohnCalvin, and accept-ed throughoutmost of theProtestant world.Until Zwingli, theentire Christianworld for the first1,500 years of itshistory was in agree-ment: water bap-tism is the God-appointed time whenhe first gives saving grace to sinners.Exceptions to this belief were extremelyrare, limited mostly to medieval dualistsects that rejected all physical forms ofworship.

My plea here is that in developing ourown convictions concerning baptismtoday, we will not limit our historicalperspective to contemporary evangeli-calism, or even to the last 200 years.Rather, let us be aware of the entirescope of Christian history. Let us under-stand what the original and true con-sensus view was, and who the real inno-vators are.

In the rest of this article I will surveythe history of the meaning of baptismup to and including Martin Luther—a1,500-year biblical consensus. In thenext article I will explain how Zwinglichanged everything.

EARLY WRITERSThe pre-Augustinian writers were

practically unanimous in their teachingthat baptism is the point of time whensalvation is given. Justin Martyr (A.D.110-165) said that new converts “arebrought by us where there is water, andare regenerated. . . . For . . . they then

receive the washing with water,” as inJohn 3:5. “We have learned from theapostles this reason” for baptism: “inorder that we . . . may obtain in thewater the remission of sins” (“FirstApology,” 61).1 Tertullian (A.D. 145-220) said, “Happy is our sacrament of

water, in that, by washing away the sinsof our early blindness, we are set freeand admitted into eternal life” (“OnBaptism,” iii). Also, “The act of baptism. . . is carnal, in that we are plunged inwater, but the effect is spiritual, in thatwe are freed from sins” (ibid., vii). Cyrilof Jerusalem (A.D. 315-386) said,“When going down . . . into the water,think not of the bare element, but lookfor salvation by the power of the HolyGhost” (“Catechetical Lectures,” III:4).Many more examples could be cited.

AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS AQUINASAugustine (354-430) introduced a lot

of new ideas into Christian thinking,but the saving significance of baptismwas not one of them. Here he was sim-ply continuing to teach what thosebefore him had taught. Baptism, hesaid, is nothing else than salvation itself(“A Treatise on the Merits andForgiveness of Sins,” I:34); it “bringssalvation” (Letter 98, “To Boniface,” 1).We are “saved by baptism”; “the salva-tion of man is effected in baptism”(“Against Two Letters of the Pelagians,”III:5). We are “joined to Christ by bap-tism”; indeed, a person “is baptized forthe express purpose of being with

Christ” (“A Treatise on the Merits andForgiveness of Sins,” I:55). The “apos-tolic tradition” teaches the “inherentprinciple, that without baptism . . . it isimpossible for any man to attain to sal-vation and everlasting life” (ibid., I:34).

Thomas Aquinas represents medievalCatholic thinking.He declared that“no one can obtainsalvation butthrough Christ. . . .But for this end isbaptism conferredon a man, thatbeing regeneratedthereby, he may beincorporated inChrist. . . .Consequently it ismanifest that all are

bound to be baptized: and that withoutBaptism there is no salvation for men”(Summa Theologica, 68:1).

MARTIN LUTHERMany have assumed that because

Martin Luther opposed the Catholicdoctrine of the sacraments and champi-oned the Protestant doctrine of justifi-cation by faith, he must have been theone who rejected baptism as a salvationevent. Nothing could be further fromthe truth. Luther’s view of the meaningof baptism stands in direct continuitywith the New Testament, the earlychurch fathers, and the Catholic schol-ars who preceded him. He regardedbaptism as a mighty work of God inwhich the Father, Son, and Holy Spiritpour out the full blessings of salvationupon penitent believers.

Specifically, Luther asserted that for-giveness of sins is initially bestowed inbaptism. In his “Small Catechism”(IV:6), in answer to the question “Whatgifts or benefits does baptism bestow?”,he says first of all, “It effects forgivenessof sins.” This is part of the work of bap-tism; in it “the forgiveness takes placethrough God’s covenant” (“The Holyand Blessed Sacrament of Baptism,”

From the time of the apostle Paul (left), through Augustine (center) and Martin Luther (right), there was a1,500-year consensus on the meaning of baptism.

This article first appeared in CHRISTIAN STANDARD® on June 20, 2004. CHRISTIAN STANDARD® grants permission to reproduce, for free distribution, up to 1,000 copies of its articles for ministry or educational purposes.

15). Forgiveness takes place in baptismbecause that is where the blood ofChrist is applied to the sinner:“Through Baptism he is bathed in theblood of Christ and is cleansed fromsins” (E. Plass, editor, What Luther Says,I:46).

According to Luther baptism bringsnot only forgiveness of sins but also anew birth, a change in the inner manthat actually eradicates sin. For “it isone thing to forgive sins, and anotherthing to put them away or drive themout. . . . But both the forgiveness andthe driving out of sins are the work ofbaptism” (“The Holy and BlessedSacrament of Baptism,” 15). Thus it isappropriate to speak of baptism as thetime when “a person is born again andmade new” (ibid., 3).

In short, Luther clearly proclaimed

that baptism is for salvation: “Throughbaptism man is saved” (ibid., 6). Inanswer to the question of the purpose ofbaptism, i.e., “what benefits, gifts andeffects it brings,” he gave this answer:“To put it most simply, the power,effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of

Baptism is to save” (“The LargeCatechism,” IV:23, 24). One is bap-tized so that he “may receive in thewater the promised salvation” (ibid.,IV:36).

I refer to the view of baptismdescribed here as the “biblical consen-

sus.” It is the view that baptism is prin-cipally the time when God himself isbestowing upon the penitent, believingsinner the benefits of the redeemingwork of Christ. This is the NewTestament’s own doctrine of baptism,and it was affirmed to be such by 15centuries of Christian writers.

If this view sounds strange to themajority of modern Protestants, it isbecause this biblical consensus hasbeen replaced in most denominationswith the alien interpretation of bap-tism that originated in the 1520s in themind of Huldreich Zwingli. How thishappened will be described in the nextarticle.________

1All the quotations given here—and more—can befound and documented in chapters 1 and 2 of Baptismand the Remission of Sins, edited by David Fletcher(Joplin: College Press, 1990).

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LUTHER CLEARLYPROCLAIMED THAT BAPTISM

IS FOR SALVATION.

This article first appeared in CHRISTIAN STANDARD® on June 20, 2004. CHRISTIAN STANDARD® grants permission to reproduce, for free distribution, up to 1,000 copies of its articles for ministry or educational purposes.