The Benefits Of Martin Luther's Baptism

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Martin Luther extols the benefits of baptism in his Large Catechism, “In baptism every Christian has enough to study and to practice all his life. He always has enough to do to believe firmly what Baptism promises and brings – victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts. In short the blessings of Baptism are so boundless that if timid nature considers them, it may well doubt whether they could all be true.” Here one can see the significance of baptism extending far beyond the momentary act that is the baptismal rite. Baptism is an act of birth; it gives an immediate and direct connection with Christ’s resurrection, and it lays the foundation for fellowship, which …show more content…

It presupposes our finitude and it opens up a futurist perspective of a situation, which is on the other side of the finite boundaries that now prevail in this world. Therefore the act of baptism points back to a death which happened once for all in the work Jesus Christ, that took place down in the depths of destruction; at the same time it points forward toward the baptized person’s coming death, which we perceive to be a misfortune but which in reality cannot hurt us. Both in the pointing backward and in the pointing forward baptism speaks the same reality – eternal life. “We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” And even though the baptized have been born anew destructive forces still remain and continue their devastations, even though Jesus as Savior has fulfilled his work. This is why we live in hope. I believe that my vocation as grounded in baptism is to hold fast to the promise of enteral life in Christ that is available here and now. The place where family and friends, many classmates and community members (and even myself) function is in this world, and the boundaries for its activity is death and destruction. I have experienced this in my own life in

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