Ordinances
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Baptism regenerates (baptismal regeneration) |
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The
following Churches teach that baptism regenerates man. |
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Roman
Catholic Church. This sacrament is also called "the washing of
regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and
actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one
"can enter the |
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Orthodox
Churches: ‘Sacraments ... are not simply symbols of divine grace, but sure
agents and means of its transmission. ... [through baptism one] becomes a
member of the church of Christ, being liberated from the controlling power of
sin, and being reborn in the new creation in Christ" (International
Eastern Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Dialogue Commission, 1985);
"Baptism is a new birth. It is being born to the life made new by our
Lord Jesus Christ. It means to be alive in Christ... Through Holy Baptism all
become Christ's. We become Christians and have the opportunity to inherit
God's Kingdom... Why in the world would any parents who claim to be
Christians want to put off making their offspring Christians as soon as
possible? Don't they want their infants to share in the |
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Anglican
Church: ‘Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference,
whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christenes, but
it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth, whereby, as by an instrument,
they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church: the promises
of forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy
Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed …’ (The 39 Articles of Religion of the
Anglican Church of Canada from the Book of Common Prayer, 1959, XXVII) |
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The
Church of Christ (bear in mind that, unlike the above mentioned Churches, the
Church of Christ rejects infant baptism): ‘Jesus informed Nicodemas that one
does not enter the kingdom of God except by the new birth process (Jn. 3:5),
which involves “water,” i.e., baptism. Not many would deny that the new birth
and “regeneration” are equivalents. Hence, there is a solid connection
between regeneration and the birth that involves water’
(http://www.christiancourier.com/) |
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I
want to say another thing: evangelist Billy Graham, who is a Baptist, accepts
not only infant baptism but also baptismal regeneration. Here are his eloquent
words: ‘"I have some difficulty in accepting the indiscriminate baptism
of infants without a careful regard as to whether the parents have any
intention of fulfilling the promise they make. But I DO BELIEVE THAT
SOMETHING HAPPENS AT THE BAPTISM OF AN INFANT, particularly if the parents
are Christians and teach their children Christian Truths from childhood. We
cannot fully understand the miracles of God, but I BELIEVE THAT A MIRACLE CAN
HAPPEN IN THESE CHILDREN SO THAT THEY ARE REGENERATED, THAT IS, MADE
CHRISTIAN, THROUGH INFANT BAPTISM. If you want to call that baptismal
regeneration, that’s all right with me" (Graham, interview with Wilfred
Bockelman, associate editor of the Lutheran Standard, American Lutheran
Church, Lutheran Standard, October 10, 1961). Therefore, if during one of his
crusades a Roman Catholic or a Lutheran or an Orthodox accepts Jesus Christ
as His personal Saviour and Lord he does not exhort him to come out of his
Church and join an Evangelical Church which rejects infant baptism and
baptismal regeneration (where he must be baptized by immersion), for he
thinks that baptism is not his concern nor his business. Instead, what
happens if during one of his crusades a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu turns
to Christ? Well, he lets him choose his own church, whether it is Catholic or
Protestant or Orthodox or whatever it is. Listen to what he said in 1999: ‘Baptism
is very important because Jesus taught that we are to believe and to be
baptized. But that is up to the individual and the church that they feel led
to go to. The churches have different teachings on that. I know that in the
Lutheran or the Episcopal or Catholic Church it is a very strong point, and
in the Baptist church. But there are some churches that would not insist on baptism.
So, I give them the freedom to teach what they want. I am not a professor. I
am not a theologian. I'm a simple proclaimer. I'm announcing the news that
God loves you and that you can be forgiven of your sins. And you can go to
heaven. My job from God is not to do all these other things. I am not a
pastor of a church. That's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to
preach the Gospel to everyone and let them choose their own church, whether
it is Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox or whatever it is" (Billy
Graham, interview with Patricia Rice, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 10,
1999). |
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Confutation |
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We
have been born again through the Word of God |
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The
Scripture says: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of
imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter |
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Therefore
one is regenerated through the Word of God and not through water baptism –
whether baptism consists in immersing the candidate or in pouring some water
upon his head. Let me explain to you when and how the Word of God regenerates
a man. When a person hears the Gospel of the grace of God, that is, the Word
of God, and the Holy Spirit convicts him of sin, he feels sorry about his
sins and he repents of them, and he puts his faith in the Word of God. When
he puts his faith in the Word of God, the Word of God regenerates him and he
becomes a new creature, that is, a son of God washed in the blood of the
Lamb. This spiritual regeneration is called new birth. |
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John
3:5 and Titus 3:5 |
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Those
who hold the doctrine called ‘baptismal regeneration’, in order to confirm
their doctrine through the Holy Scriptures, quote the following words spoken
by Jesus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), and also
the following words written by Paul: “Not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration ….” (Titus 3:5). According to them, the water Jesus spoke of and
the washing of regeneration refer to water baptism. However, their
interpretation is wrong. |
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The
water Jesus spoke of is the Word of God, for the Scripture compares the Word
of God to the water which comes down from heaven, as it is written: “For as
the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but
water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My
mouth; it shall not return to Me void. But it shall accomplish what I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11 –
NKJV). Therefore, as the natural water which comes down from heaven is able
to make the earth produce its fruit, so the Word of God is able to regenerate
all those who believe it. To be born again of water means, therefore, to be
born again of the Word of God. |
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The
washing of regeneration is the cleansing performed by the Word of God in all
those who have believed in Jesus Christ. For Paul wrote to the Ephesians that
Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. |
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Conclusion |
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To
conclude, therefore, I say this. We have become sons of God not through water
baptism but through our faith in the Word of God. When we believed in the
Word of God – which says that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and
rose again for our justification – we were made alive and became sons of God
by the power of the Word of God. The Scripture clearly teaches that a man
becomes a son of God by faith; John says: “He came to His own, and His own
did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right
to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God” (John |