Abstract

This research seeks to establish a biblical and historically grounded theology of baptism in which the sacrament is understood as the moment of divine action in the forgiveness of sins and the incorporation of believers into the visible church. Beginning with close exegesis of the relevant New Testament texts, the study proceeds to the views of Martin Luther and John Calvin, both of whom interpret baptism not merely as a symbol but as a divinely appointed sign through which God seals and applies the grace promised in the gospel. Special attention is given to Calvin’s principle that the sign accomplishes what it signifies, a principle rooted not in sacramental superstition but in the trustworthiness of God who binds Himself to the sign. The paper concludes with a comparison to the positions of Ulrich Zwingli and the Anabaptists, whose departure from the patristic and Reformation consensus reveals fundamentally different theological commitments regarding the nature of grace, the church, and the relationship between sign and reality.

1. Introduction

Few doctrines reveal as much about a church’s understanding of grace, faith, the Spirit, the church, and the work of Christ as its doctrine of baptism. In the New Testament baptism is not a peripheral practice but a central act of Christian initiation. The earliest Christian preaching bound baptism to the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, and incorporation into the body of Christ. The Reformers inherited this biblical and patristic witness and, for the most part, preserved its sacramental realism. Yet within the Reformation itself divergent voices such as Zwingli and the Anabaptists developed radically different interpretations of baptism that continue to shape ecclesial identity today.

This paper traces the theology of baptism through Scripture and the magisterial Reformers with a specific focus on how Luther and Calvin understood baptism as a moment in which God acts to apply the gospel. The goal is neither to reduce baptism to a mechanical rite nor to dissolve it into a merely symbolic gesture. Rather, the aim is to allow Scripture and the best of the Christian tradition to articulate baptism as the covenantal moment in which God seals forgiveness and joins the believer to Christ and His church.

2. Scriptural Foundations for a Sacramental Theology of Baptism

2.1 Acts 2:38 and the Forgiveness of Sins

The programmatic statement about baptism in Acts is Peter’s proclamation at Pentecost: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). The phrase εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν must be interpreted carefully. The preposition εἰς generally carries the sense of purpose or result. Peter is not describing two unrelated actions. The imperative “repent” and the imperative “be baptized” belong to the same movement into Christ. Baptism is portrayed as the divinely appointed moment in which the forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel is sealed upon the believer.

The phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ” indicates union with the crucified and risen Lord. Baptism is the moment in which the name of Christ is placed upon the convert, marking them as belonging to Him. Moreover, the promise that follows, “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” indicates that baptism is the entry point into Spirit endowed life. The early church did not treat baptism as optional but as the normative means of entering the community of the redeemed.

2.2 Acts 22:16 and the Washing Away of Sins

Ananias’ command to Saul underscores the immediacy of baptism in relation to forgiveness: “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” The verb ἀπόλουσαι is an aorist middle imperative that expresses decisive action. The cleansing is attributed not to the water but to the name invoked. Scripture consistently links baptism with cleansing imagery. The washing signifies what God accomplishes in the believer. The sign does not operate independently of faith. Yet neither is the sign optional or symbolic. The believer calls upon the name of the Lord in baptism, and the Lord cleanses through the sign He appointed.

2.3 Romans 6 and Participation in Christ’s Death and Resurrection

Romans 6 provides the most profound theological exposition of baptism in Paul’s letters. Paul asks, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Rom 6:3). The prepositional phrase εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ indicates incorporation into Christ’s death. Baptism is not a mere representation of a spiritual truth but a God given moment in which union with Christ is sealed.

Paul then argues that baptism is participation in Christ’s burial and resurrection. Believers are “buried with him through baptism into death” and raised to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Paul grounds the ethical imperative in the sacramental reality. The baptized are to live as dead to sin because in baptism God has united them to the death of Christ.

2.4 First Corinthians 12:13 and Incorporation into the Body

“In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit is the primary agent. Yet the sacrament is the means. Paul’s phrasing indicates that baptism is the Spirit empowered act by which believers are incorporated into the visible church. This visible incorporation matters because salvation is not merely an individual event but entrance into the covenant community.

2.5 Colossians 2:11–12 and the Circumcision of Christ

Paul describes baptism as “the circumcision of Christ” (Col 2:11). The imagery is covenantal. Just as circumcision marked entrance into the old covenant community, baptism marks entrance into the new covenant community. The participle συνταφέντες (“buried with him”) and the phrase “through faith in the working of God” (2:12) indicate that baptism is the moment in which God’s saving work becomes personally applied.

3. Baptism in the Early Church

The early Fathers inherited these exegetical commitments. Justin Martyr describes baptism as illumination and regeneration. Tertullian refers to baptism as the act in which sins are forgiven. Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of baptism as the moment the Spirit descends upon the believer. Augustine interprets baptism as the sacramental moment in which God applies the inward grace of forgiveness and incorporation.

The Fathers uniformly affirmed the realism of baptism. They rejected both magical views and merely symbolic interpretations. Baptism was a sacrament in the Augustinian sense: a visible sign of an invisible grace, a sign that truly conveys what it signifies because God Himself is at work.

4. Martin Luther: Baptism as Divine Promise and Forgiveness

4.1 Baptism and the Word of God

Luther’s theology of baptism is grounded in his theology of the Word. Baptism is “the visible Word of God.” For Luther the sacraments are promises clothed in signs. God binds Himself to the promise. Baptism is efficacious because God acts. “It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation” (Large Catechism IV). Luther appeals directly to Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16 to support this claim.

4.2 Infant Baptism and Faith

Luther defends infant baptism on the grounds that it is God who acts, not the infant. The child is passive, just as the believer is passive in justification. Faith receives what baptism gives, but the power lies in the divine promise. Luther’s sacramental theology is thus deeply pastoral. Baptism is the anchor for the believer’s assurance. To doubt baptism is to doubt the promise of God.

4.3 Baptism and the Church

Luther also emphasizes that baptism is incorporation into the church. “Through baptism we are first received into the Christian church” (Large Catechism IV). Baptism is ecclesial. It joins the believer not only to Christ but to His people.

5. John Calvin: Baptism as Sign and Seal

5.1 Baptism and Forgiveness

Calvin’s treatment of baptism is more systematic than Luther’s but no less sacramental. Calvin writes, “We put on Christ in baptism and we receive the forgiveness of sins” (Institutes 4.15.5). He quotes Acts 22:16 as evidence that baptism is the moment in which God applies the cleansing of Christ to the believer.

For Calvin baptism is a sign and seal. The sign does not exist apart from the grace. The grace is not automatically conveyed, yet God promises to act through the sign.

5.2 The Principle That the Sign Accomplishes What It Signifies

Calvin’s key principle is that God accomplishes inwardly what He signifies outwardly. This does not make baptism a mechanical ritual. It makes it a divine instrument. The sacrament is an act of God for the church. God binds Himself to His sign. Therefore baptism does not merely picture forgiveness. God seals forgiveness in baptism.

5.3 Baptism and Union with the Church

Calvin follows Paul in treating baptism as the entrance into the visible church. “By baptism we are admitted into the society of the church” (Institutes 4.15.1). This incorporation is both spiritual and visible. The church is the community of the baptized.

6. Zwingli and the Anabaptists: A Contrast in Sacramental Theology

6.1 Zwingli’s Symbolic View

Ulrich Zwingli departed from the traditional and Reformational consensus by interpreting baptism as a symbolic pledge of allegiance. For Zwingli the sacrament is a human act of dedication rather than a divine act of grace. Baptism does not forgive sins. It does not seal union with Christ. It is a badge of membership but not an instrument of incorporation.

Zwingli’s view arises from a distinct theological method. He sharply distinguishes sign from reality. For him the sacrament signifies but never accomplishes. This is a different sacramental ontology than Luther or Calvin.

6.2 The Anabaptist Rejection of Infant Baptism

The Anabaptists went further. They rejected infant baptism entirely, insisting that baptism requires conscious faith. They interpret baptism as a public testimony, an outward sign of inward faith. The sacrament is an expression of obedience rather than an instrument of grace.

This view rests on several assumptions:

Grace operates only inwardly. Baptism is secondary to conversion. The church is a community of professing believers only.

The Anabaptists therefore separate baptism from forgiveness, regeneration, and incorporation. Baptism follows salvation rather than applying or sealing it.

6.3 The Reformed Response

Calvin responded vigorously to both Zwingli and the Anabaptists. He argued that their views reduced God’s work to human decision. If baptism is a pledge of allegiance, then the sacrament depends on human commitment rather than divine promise. For Calvin this undermined the very meaning of grace.

In the Reformed and Lutheran view the sacrament does not replace faith but serves faith. Baptism is the divine promise made visible. The sign and the reality belong together because God binds them together. The Anabaptists unbind what Scripture binds.

7. Synthesis

Taken together, Scripture, the early church, Luther, and Calvin present a unified theology of baptism:

Baptism is the God appointed moment in which forgiveness is sealed Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, and Colossians 2 support this. Baptism incorporates believers into the visible church First Corinthians 12:13 is decisive. The sign accomplishes what it pictures Not because of the water but because of God’s promise. The Reformation consensus was sacramentally realist Luther and Calvin stand with the Fathers. Zwingli and the Anabaptists depart from this consensus. Baptism is not an empty ritual nor a mere declaration It is the sacramental entry into the Christian life.

8. Conclusion

The theology of baptism is not a minor issue. It touches the heart of Christian identity. Scripture presents baptism as the moment in which God applies forgiveness, grants union with Christ, and incorporates believers into the church. Luther and Calvin preserved this sacramental realism, grounding it in the Word of God and the faithfulness of divine promise. The divergent views of Zwingli and the Anabaptists reveal alternative theologies of grace and the church that rightly require careful critique.

A biblical and historically grounded theology must affirm that baptism is God’s work. God acts. God seals. God grafts. The baptized belong to Christ because Christ has claimed them in the water and Word of the sacrament.