OF HOLY BAPTISM

LORD'S DAY 26

69. How is it signified and sealed to you in Holy Baptism that you have part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross?

Thus: that Christ instituted this outward washing with water^[1] and joined to it this promise,^[2] that I am washed with His blood and Spirit from the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as certainly as I am washed outwardly with water, whereby commonly the filthiness of the body is taken away.^[3]

^[1]Mt. 28:19-20;  Acts 2:38.  ^[2]Mt. 3:11;   Mk. 16:16;  Rom. 6:3-4.  ^[3]Mk. 1:4.

70. What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?

It is to have the forgiveness of sins from God through grace, for the sake of Christ's blood, which He shed for us in His sacrifice on the cross;^[1] and also to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified to be members of Christ, so that we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblamable lives.^[2]

^[1]Heb. 12:24;   I Pet. 1:2;   Rev. 1:5;   Zech. 13:1;   Ezek. 36:25-27.   ^[2]Jn. 1:33; 3:3;  I Cor. 6:11; 12:13;   *Heb. 9:14. 

71. Where has Christ promised that we are as certainly washed with His blood and Spirit as with the water of Baptism?

In the institution of Baptism, which says: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.^[1] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”^[2]This promise is also repeated where Scripture calls Baptism the washing of regeneration^[3] and the washing away of sins.^[4]

^[1]Mt. 28:19.  ^[2]Mk. 16:16.  ^[3]Tit. 3:5. ^[4]Acts 22:16.