Does God do anything in the act of baptism? If so, what is he up to?
When we ask the question from the human angle — “What are we doing in the act of baptism?” — most Christians would share similar answers. In baptism, we obey the command of the Lord Jesus for new disciples (Matthew 28:19). In baptism, we display outwardly the inward work of faith in our hearts (Colossians 2:11–12). In baptism, we profess allegiance to Jesus and, with him, his people (Acts 2:38–41).
But does God work in and through our baptism?
This question matters for Baptists. While emphasizing that baptism is for believers — an act of profession and obedience from faith in Christ — we do not want to miss the beauty of what the Bible says about God’s work in baptism. And for those considering a move away from Baptist circles because they want a more “God-centered” view of the ordinances, Baptists not only have an answer to this question, but we lean on the answer the New Testament, not speculation, provides.
God’s Work in Baptism
For good reason, we take care when we describe God’s activity in baptism. As we discern how God uses baptism for our good, we also identify what God is not doing in baptism.
First, while baptism is a sign of the new covenant, like circumcision was of the old (Romans 4:11), God does not bring his people into the new covenant through baptism — he does that through faith alone (Jeremiah 31:31–34). Second, while being “born of water” relates to new birth (John 3:5), God does not regenerate his people through baptism. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the agent of new life (John 3:8), with baptism serving as confirmation of his decisive work. Third, while baptism pictures union with Christ in his death and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4), God does not unite his people to Jesus through baptism. Those receiving the sign are already dead to sin and alive to God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).
While it might be simpler to avoid the above misconceptions by spiritualizing any reference to baptism in the New Testament or by taking God out of the equation completely, let’s not miss the real grace from God in baptism. Baptism is not necessary or sufficient for salvation, but God gives us baptism as a specially ordained means of bringing us to completion in Christ.
As Hercules Collins (1646–1702) explained, the sacraments “are sacred Signes, and Seals, set before our Eyes, and ordained of God for this cause, that he may declare and seal by them the Promise of his Gospel unto us” (An Orthodox Catechism, 25). Collins doesn’t claim that God uses baptism to seal the new covenant unto us. Along with other Particular Baptists in his era, he prioritizes “the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13), not baptism, as the seal of the new covenant (Second London Baptist Confession, appendix). Instead, the “seal” of baptism relates to the “Promise of his Gospel.”
The grace of God in baptism, then, seals two realities for us: (1) an enjoyment of our clean conscience by faith and (2) a confirmation that we are God’s children.
God Comforts the Conscience
The apostle Peter writes, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism does not save in the washing itself, but it does save in some sense — namely, as an appeal to Christ for a clean conscience.
When we are baptized as an expression of and from faith, Christ seals our testimony and thus assures us of the new life offered through his death and resurrection. Christ uses baptism as a means of his confirming to our conscience that our sins have been forgiven.
In some sense, just as Paul preaches, baptism washes away our sins as we call on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). As Andrew Fuller writes, “Sin is washed away in baptism in the same sense as Christ’s flesh is eaten, and his blood drank, in the Lord’s supper: the sign, when rightly used, leads [our souls] to the thing signified” (Complete Works, 3:341). Faith is like conception, and baptism is like your birth. You were alive from the moment you believed in Jesus for the salvation of your sins, but you are publicly sealed through your baptism — and that sealing of your testimony gives an even deeper enjoyment of your new life.
God Confirms We Are His
When reminding the Galatians that they are children of God, Paul writes, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26–27). Paul singles out faith as the instrument for sonship, and this sonship is then confirmed in and through the memorable event of baptism. Baptism confirms we are his children through a living picture of being dead to sin and alive in Christ.
Jesus’s own baptism emphasizes this point. Because we are in Christ by faith and the work of the Spirit, the words the Father speaks of Christ prove true of us as well: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). As we approach baptism as new believers (and each time we witness a baptism in the future), we can remind one another of this deep truth: We are God’s beloved children, and our baptism serves as a God-appointed help to assure us of this reality.
Christ uses baptism to help remedy the shame of our sin and to bring us into a state of honor by assuring us of our adoption into God’s family. This is why we baptize in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 10:48; 19:5) — that is, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Like a wife taking on the name of her husband in marriage, believers publicly take on the name of Christ, and the triune God, at baptism.
For Assurance of Faith
These realities — spiritual comfort and public confirmation of a believer’s sonship — work together for an objective assurance of salvation. When done in faith, baptism serves as a sign and seal of Christ’s work for us on the cross and in his resurrection. Baptism is not regenerative, but it is powerfully confirmatory.
In other words, we now have visible assurance of invisible realities. That is a true grace from God, mediated through his body, the church, which has affirmed our faith by applying the sign and seal of baptism to us. Faith is like a prince’s ascension to the throne when his father dies, but baptism is like his coronation day, a public sealing and celebration of the reality that he is the new king.
This assurance, while not always subjectively felt by the believer in the ups and downs of life, provides us with an objective pledge from Christ that our sins have been forgiven and that we are children of God. When trials come, or when we give into sin, we can remind one another of both the inward work of God’s Spirit by faith and the outward confirmation of our baptism to strengthen assurance: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Of course, baptism should not provide assurance for those who presume on God’s grace, as Paul warns (1 Corinthians 10:1–6). But it should for those who are seeking to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Therefore, as we ourselves come up from the waters of baptism, or as we witness baptisms in the future, we can look to each other and say, “Just like this person, I have taken on the name Christian by faith in the Lord Jesus and obedience to his command for baptism. Through union with Christ, God sees me as a beloved child.” And we pray that this objective assurance then leads to the joy of subjective assurance.
Called to Obey
Not only does baptism remind us of our gracious standing with God, but Paul leads the way in applying baptism to obedience. Should Christians continue in sin? “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2). And what does Paul point to as proof that we have died to sin? Baptism: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3).
Again, baptism itself does not bring us into union with Christ’s death. Paul says that believers, who were once slaves of sin, “have become obedient from the heart” (Romans 6:17). Yet Paul points to baptism as objective evidence of this death, evidence that motivates ongoing obedience to God.
So, as we look to the waters of baptism for the first time, or as we look yet again at a new believer passing through the waters, we can give thanks to God that we are his — washed clean of sins and declared his children — and we can look to him for fresh grace to follow Jesus as Lord.
Desiring God