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"Therefore, the righteousness of the law, or of our own works, is not given to us in baptism, but Christ Himself is our garment...To be dressed with Christ...is [to be dressed] with REMISSION OF SINS, righteousness, peace, consolation, joy of spirit, SALVATION, LIFE, and Christ Himself.
"...a NEW BIRTH, which is wrought in baptism. ...you are clothed
with a new garment: the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, baptism is
a thing of GREAT FORCE AND EFFICACY."
It is perfectly clear from these words that Luther did NOT (unlike today's Evangelicals) believe that sins were remitted and entrance to Christ was gained by faith alone apart from baptism. |
#301 - "When Jesus Christ directed his apostles to go and instruct and baptize all nations [Matt 28:19], he did not mean that children should be excluded. The apostles were to baptize all the Gentiles, young or old, great or small. The baptism of children is distinctly required in Mark 10:14, 'The kingdom of God is of little children.'"
#304 - "When, in a difficult birth, the arm or leg of the baby
alone comes out, we must not baptize that limb, under the idea that thereby
the infant can receive baptism. Still less can it be pretended that you
baptize a child not yet come into the world, by pouring water on the mother.
...John clearly shows that such practises are prohibited by Scripture:
'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'. We must
not, therefore, baptize a child until it has actually come into the world,
whole and entire. ...If an infant...is so extremely weak and feeble that
there is clear danger of its dying before it can be carried to the church,
then the women present should baptize it themselves, in the usual way.
...baptism has in this way been administered to the child, 'from necessity'.
Like the AnteNicene Fathers and Augustine, but unlike Calvin, Luther also defined Jesus' "born of water" in John 3:5 to be a reference to baptism. |
#306 - In 1541, Menius asked Luther, in what way a Jew should
be baptized? Luther replied, "You must fill a large tub with water and,
having removed his clothes, cover him with a white garment. He must then
sit down in the tub, and you must baptize him quite under the water..."
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