The
church as instrument of the baptizing God
In the New Testament baptismal
texts it is noteworthy at the same time that there is very little if any
interest in the person of the baptizer. Although the accounts in Acts
repeatedly mention the name of the baptizer, it is clear that neither his
person nor his status in the church has any significance for the validity and
effect of Baptism (apart from the special problems connected with the account
in Acts 8:12-17). In the frequent references of the epistles to Baptism as
antecedent for exhortation, the person of the baptizer plays no role whatsoever.
When various factions developed in Corinth and appealed to those who had
baptized them, Paul condemned this attitude in the strongest terms. “ . . .
each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I
belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ If Christ divided? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I am thankful that
I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius; lest any one should say that
you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.
Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)” (1 Cor. 1:12-16).
So little did Paul think of Baptism as being determined by the person or office
of the baptizer that he added, “for Christ did not send me to baptize but to
preach the Gospel” (v. 17). This sentence does not justify the conclusion
that Paul disparaged Baptism or was ignorant of a tradition of the baptismal
command, but it does suggest that he usually left the baptizing to the
congregation. The name of the baptizer is immaterial, the name of Christ means
everything. The baptizer is only an instrument.
If the church is spoken of as the
baptizing church, “the mother of the faithful,” then she must also be spoken of
as only an instrument. Like every individual baptized by her, the church
herself was created by the Spirit of God. Not only her members, but the
baptizing church herself has been baptized, as Eph. 5:25-32 uniquely states. By
giving Himself up for the church Christ did it “that He might sanctify her,
having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might
present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” The church’s holiness and
glory are those of the Christ who is active and gives Himself to her. Only as
the one baptized by Christ is the church the organ of His baptizing, His
cleansing, sanctifying, glorifying. Only because of the Head is the church the
body of Christ growing in all dimensions—growing toward Christ, growing in the
fellowship of her members with each other, growing in the advance of the
message into the world and through the addition of those who stand afar off. As
the one baptized, the church by her baptizing is the growing body of Christ
whose fullness permeates all things and is the new all in all. (Edmund Schlink,
The Doctrine of Baptism [trans. Herbert J. A. Bouman; Sant Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1972], 116-17, emphasis added)
