Note: the following is very useful at showing that baptismal regeneration is not a work that obligates God to reward us (something condemned in Romans 4, for e.g., ) and other like-arguments. The author shies away from the term “baptismal regeneration” for the belief that God, through the instrumentality of water baptism, remits our sins and justifies and regenerates us. However, this seems to be based on the belief that the term “baptismal regeneration” means one is simply baptized and, ipso facto, is regenerated. This is not even what Roman Catholicism, with its doctrine of ex opere operato teaches in light of the distinction between the material and formal reception of the grace of a sacrament.
PRINCIPLE NUMBER EIGHT: BAPTISM IS
FUNDAMENTALLY A WORK OF GOD, NOT A WORK OF MAN.
The working of salvation that occurs
in baptism includes two distinct acts. One is justification or forgiveness, in
which the guilt and punishment for sin are canceled. The other is regeneration or
new birth, in which the sinfulness that has invaded the soul begins to be
healed. The point of this eighth principle is that GOD ALONE is the cause of both
of these saving acts. Only God can bestow forgiveness (by the power of
the blood of Christ) and heal our sinful nature (by the power of the Holy
Spirit). See Colossians 2:12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which
you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God,
who raised Him from the dead.” Note the emphasis on “the working of God.” We
believe that God is working in baptism to raise us form spiritual death, just
as surely as He raised Jesus from physical death.
Most Christians believe that God
performs these works of salvation. The main question we disagree on is: WHEN
does God do this? Colossians 2:12 says specifically, “in baptism.” (And let’s not
forget that Ephesians 4:5 says there is only ONE baptism.) It was God’s
sovereign choice to specify that baptism is the time when the saving works are
accomplished.
We must emphasize that the saving
activity that occurs in baptism is not accomplished by the water, nor by the
act itself, nor by the baptizer. It is accomplished only by God. This means
that there is no such thing as “baptismal regeneration.” This would be true
only if there were some power inherent in baptism itself that accomplishes its
saving purpose. But this is not the case. The fact that regeneration takes
place IN baptism (as Colossians 2:12 says) does not mean that it takes place BY
MEAN OF baptism. IT takes place through the working of God. (Jack Cottrell, One
Baptism Into Christ [The Collected Works of Jack Cottrell 5; Mason, Ohio: The
Christian Restoration Association, 2018], 15, emphasis in original)
First we will ask the question: is
baptism a work? Of course it is, in the sense of “something you do.” But
John 6:28-29 shows that a work in this generic sense of “something you do” is
quite consistent with grace. And so are repentance and confession “things we
do.” But the alleged contradiction between grace and baptism is based solely on
the writings of Paul, and we have seen that Paul is not using this generic definition
of works. Just because baptism is a work in the sense of “something we do” does
not disqualify it from being a condition for salvation. (This shows that we are
not limited to Luther’s response to this unfounded Zwinglian objection to
baptism as a saving event.)
Second, we will ask whether baptism is
an external, overt work? Again, of course it is, but Romans 10:9-10
shows that even an external work (confession) may be parallel to faith and thus
quite consistent with salvation by grace. This shows that such a definition of “works”
(cf. Geisler) is arbitrary and has no basis in Scripture.
This leads to the crucial question: is
baptism a “work of law,” i.e., a work in the Pauline sense? Only if this
were the case would the Zwinglian objection stand as valid. But the answer to
this question is a solid NO. We must remember the difference between the
Creator’s law commands to us as creatures, not as sinners, to show us
how to live holy lives, and the Redeemer’s grace commands given to us as
sinners to show us how to receive salvation. How does the New Testament depict
baptism? An honest analysis will show that everything it says about Christian
baptism falls into the latter category, i.e., not works of law but obedience to
the gospel. This is especially true of Paul. While Paul excludes works of law
from the salvation event, he speaks consistency of baptism in salvation terms.
Never in the New Testament is baptism an imperative
given to Christians or to those already saved. It is consistently spoken of as something
done by a sinner in order to receive salvation. This is true from the very beginning
of the New Covenant and establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost. It
is appropriate to cite Acts 2:38 as summing up the whole meaning of baptism
from that point on. After Peter completed the preaching of the very first gospel
sermon (Acts 2:14-36), the audience of serious Jews came under strong
conviction of their sins (“they were pierced to the heart,” v. 370 and cried
out to the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (v. 37). Peter’s inspired instructions
to them were not addressed to people who were already Christians, telling them
how to live their Christian lives. Rather, he addressed them as sinners who
needed and wanted to know how to be saved from their sins! And he gave them
gospel commands: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit” (v. 38). From that point on in the New Testament, every reference
to Christian baptism is consistent with Peter’s presentation of it as a gospel command,
and has none of the marks of a law command.
The separation of baptism from the
category of law commands is supported by Jesus’s own words in the Great Commission,
which he specifically mentions the requirement to baptize sinners as something
distinct from “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matthew
28:19-20).
We must conclude, then, that baptism
is part of “obedience to the gospel,” which is required for salvation. Baptism
thus is NOT “the first act of obedience” done by a Christian; it is rather the
LAST act of “obedience to the gospel” done by an unsaved sinner as a condition
for the initial reception of saving grace. (Ibid., 59-61, emphasis in original)
We in the Restoration Movement take
care not to represent faith, repentance, confession, and baptism as human works
in the Pauline sense (e.g., as in Romans 3:28 or Ephesians 2:8-10), lest we
give Calvinists grounds for accusing us of being synergists. Fatih itself is
indeed a “work” in the simple senses that it is “something we do” (see John 6:28-29),
but this is not the connotation of “works” in the context of discussing how
grace is received. The works which Paul excludes from salvation (“works of law”)
are our creaturely obedience to the laws of the Creator that govern our everyday
morality, piety, and worship. As Romans 3:28 and Ephesians 2:8-10 (e.g. ) show,
such works are not conditions for salvation. But faith, repentance, confession,
and salvation are not works in this sense, i.e., they are not “works of
law.” Rather, they are “obedience to the gospel” (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians
1:8), i.e., the sinner’s response to the Redeemer’s instructions on how to
receive the gift of grace.
It is especially important to understand
and to explain that baptism is not a work in the sense that it is a
saving act of man. Baptism saves (1 Peter 3:21), but not because of any saving
power on the part of man. The only saving work being done in baptism is the
working of God (Colossians 2:12). Calvinists and other Zwinglians seriously err
when they think that baptism is simply an “act of obedience” comparable to all
the other acts of obedience we do as Christians. See Matthew 28:19-29, where
Jesus separates baptism (God’s work) from obeying the commandments of our law
code (i.e., works of law). (Jack Cottrell, The Bible Versus Calvinism
[The Collected Works of Jack Cottrell 4; Mason, Ohio: The Christian Restoration
Association, 2018], 157)