Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

Baptismal regeneration is the false belief that baptism by itself will save a person simply because the act of baptism has been performed. At times in the past, the Catholic Church seemed to teach something very close to this, but today both Catholic and Protestant teaching agree that the key element of baptism is faith. The Church father Gregory of Nyssa emphasized that if a person is baptized but does not combine it with genuine repentance then, “in these cases the water is but water, for the gift of the Holy Ghost in no way appears in him who is thus baptismally born.”

B. Those who define baptism as an ordinance see it as a symbol by which a person declares their identification with Christ and his Church. Baptism is important for incorporation into the Church.

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1. Scriptural support for baptism as an ordinance or symbol:

a. Acts 10.47

b. 1 Cor. 1.14-17

2. The key motivation for baptism is obedience.

The Holman Bible Dictionary , which represents the Baptist tradition, says: “Baptism is not a requirement of salvation, but it is a requirement of obedience. Baptism is a first step of discipleship. Although all meanings of baptism are significant, the one that most often comes to mind is water baptism as a picture of having come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. Baptism is never the event but, rather, the picture of the event. So the pattern of obedience is to come to Christ in trust and then to picture that through the symbol of baptism.”

~ Trent C. Butler, Gen. ed. Holman Bible Dictionary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1991.