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| Q: | Thank you so much for the answers to my previous questions. They have been a lot of help. I hope I have not been a nuisance but I am leaving my current church (the only one I've ever belonged to) because of doctrinal errors. As I have grown in Christ and studied the Bible these errors have become very obvious. While I do believe that there are many true Christians at the church I am at, I don't feel comfortable inviting people to go to church there because of the doctrinal errors. I want to be at a church that is doctrinally sound. One of the main things that keeps me from joining a Lutheran church is the belief that infants automatically receive the gift of faith through baptism. I agree that infants should be baptized and that baptism is a means of grace, but I have trouble understanding how baptism automatically gives an infant faith. The reason I have trouble understanding this is because the Bible clearly states that only God's elect (by faith in Christ) will be saved. Baptismal regeneration and election don't seem to mix. Is the Lutheran position that while God does not predestine anyone to hell, He creates faith in the elect, and also some others, but only protects the faith of the elect? This seems to be the only thing that makes sense. If you say that all of the elect will be saved and that people can lose their salvation, you must be saying that God gives faith to some besides the elect, and while He did not predestine them to hell, He does not show the same grace to them as He did the elect because they turn away (by their own choice). Am I understanding this right? Also, I read in Luther's Large Catechism in the section about infant baptism, "We bring the child in the conviction and hope that it believes, and we pray that God may grant it faith; but we do not baptize it upon that, but solely upon the command of God." Luther hear appears to be saying that infants do NOT automatically receive faith in baptism. Am I reading this right? Thank you so much for your help in my search for truth! | ||||||
| A: | Our primary reason for emphasizing and administering baptism, as the Large Catechism states, is the clear word and command of God (Matthew 28:19). Intimately connected with the command, moreover, are the promises of God that identify baptism as a means of grace, an instrument through which the Holy Spirit works to give or strengthen saving faith, forgiveness of sins, and new life (John 3:5-6, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-4, Titus 3:4-5). Because of these promises we baptize people, including infants and small children, with confidence. We believe the Holy Spirit is doing his saving work according to his gracious will. It may even be said that we assume this work despite an absence of immediate, verifiable evidence. St. Paul, as in Galatians 3:27, speaks the same way, that the believers may continue in their assurance of God's saving work. We believe this approach to baptism is fully biblical and precisely what God wants us to do. It should, however, be said that baptizing in confidence and assuming the Spirit's work is somewhat different than saying baptism "automatically" gives an infant (or an adult) instant faith. We believe that kind of language is foreign to Scripture, may lead one to think of an irresistible grace, and is suggestive of some mechanical process. By baptizing a child, earnestly praying that God grant the child faith, and then expressing confidence in the Lord's work, we are ultimately doing what God has commanded us to do leaving the rest in his hands. Some in the history of the church have made statements that an infant "resists the Holy Spirit less" than an adult might, but this idea is insupportable from Scripture and unacceptable. We seek to limit ourselves to what the Bible says, and we thus express confidence without concerning ourselves about matters not revealed to us. Since we are similarly unable accurately to discern who the elect are, we also leave that issue in God's hands as we administer Word and Sacraments. We offer the gospel to one and all, again in confidence and with an eye to God's promises (Isaiah 55:10-11) even though we know full well that some will despise God's saving will for themselves. Finally, there is nothing in the Bible that speaks against what you propose as a pattern in some cases, namely, that baptismal regeneration may take place but the faith may be later rejected and the person ultimately revealed as non-elect. | ||||||
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