It's just water

Caleb was baptized on Sunday, and we were reminded once again of the awesome responsibility we have in raising God's covenant children. Because aside from being a little wetter than he was before he was sprinkled, Caleb's baptism changed nothing of his standing before God. It was merely an outward sign that should serve as a reminder to repent and believe later in life. He will, one day, have to understand for himself what it means to be totally sinful and in desperate need of a Savior. Our responsibility--our heavenly charge--is to pray in anticipation and faith that God will indeed change our children's hearts and bring them to a saving knowledge of Himself. Christian parenting is not for the faint of heart.We praise God that our children's futures do not depend on us.

How appropriate that our church chose to sing this hymn on Sunday...

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

--Robert Lowry

----------

The Heidelberg Catechism offers a great Scriptural explanation of the purpose and promise of infant baptism:

How art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism, that the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to thee?

Thus: That Christ appointed this external washing with water, adding thereto this promise, that I am as certainly washed by his blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, form all my sins, as I am washed externally with water, by which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away.

What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?

It is to receive of God the remission of sins, freely, for the sake of Christ's blood, which he shed for us by his sacrifice upon the cross; and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost, and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more and more die unto sin, and lead holy and unblamable lives.

Where has Christ promised us, that he will as certainly wash us by his blood and Spirit, as we are washed with the water of baptism?

In the institution of baptism, which is thus expressed: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ," "he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." This promise is also repeated, where the scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration, and the washing away of sins.

Is then the external baptism with water the washing away of sin itself?

Not at all: for the blood of Jesus Christ only, and the Holy Ghost cleanse us from all sin.

Why then doth the Holy Ghost call baptism "the washing of regeneration," and "the washing away of sins"?

God speaks thus not without great cause, to-wit, not only thereby to teach us, that as the filth of the body is purged away by water, so our sins are removed by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ; but especially that by this divine pledge and sign he may assure us, that we are spiritually cleansed from our sins as really, as we are externally washed with water.

Are infants also to be baptized?

Yes: for since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and church of God; and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them no less than to the adult; they must therefore by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the christian church; and be distinguished from the children of unbelievers as was done in the old covenant or testament by circumcision, instead of which baptism is instituted in the new covenant.