In the first part we quickly introduced the basic (and erroneous) doctrine of covenant nomism—namely that God has established a system whereby sinners are admitted to the covenant by grace, but they stay in, retain that status, or retain the benefits received by their faith and works, faithfulness, or by grace and cooperation with grace. We demonstrated that this is essentially the medieval and Roman view. Some who otherwise identify with the Reformation today nevertheless construe “getting in” and “staying in,” ending up with a pre-Reformation doctrine of salvation.
Federal Visionists, Lutherans, and Baptists
Some groups teach that a person is admitted to the covenant through baptism. This is the doctrine of the Federal Visionists. Lutheran orthodoxy also teaches that God confers salvation through baptism. Article 9 of the Augsburg Confession (1530) teaches that baptism “is necessary to salvation” and that the baptized “are received into God’s favor.” More pointedly, Martin Luther (1483–1546) argued at length in his Large Catechism (1529) that though it is true we are justified by faith alone, the water of baptism, having been joined with the Word of the gospel, becomes a sacrament, so “faith clings to the water, and believes that it is Baptism, in which there is pure salvation and life.” Later in the catechism, he says that “without faith it [baptism] profits nothing.” For Luther, baptism, as a gospel sacrament, has the same power as the gospel to effect new life. It is God’s work, not ours. Whatever ambiguity there might have been in Luther’s doctrine of baptism was largely removed by the orthodox Lutherans, who interpreted Luther (and the Augsburg Confession) to teach that baptism is a “means of justification.” Further, it “works forgiveness of sins…washes away sin…sanctifies and cleanses…regenerates and saves.” Though orthodox Lutheranism confesses a doctrine of unconditional election, it also denies the Reformed doctrine of reprobation and perseverance of the saints. According to Lutherans, at the moment of the administration of baptism, faith is kindled, and a person is not only admitted visibly into the church but is made alive and will remain so unless and until he resists the grace of the Spirit. Not surprisingly, because of this view, the orthodox Lutheran theologians were and remain highly critical of the Reformed Canons of Dort.
Though like the Anabaptists (See Belgic Confession, art. 34) in their rejection of infant baptism (paedobaptism) as contrary to the new covenant, modern Baptists are descended from the congregational and Presbyterian churches. The Baptists reject paedobaptism on two principles:
- Infant baptism is not taught in the New Testament.
- Infant baptism is contrary to the spiritual nature of the new covenant.
In the confessional Baptist understanding, only those who believe are members of the new covenant. Therefore, the London Baptist Confession (1689) teaches that those “who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance” (29.2). In the Baptist view, baptism is not merely a sign and seal of what is true of those who believe but is a categorical statement of what is true of the person at the time of baptism (21.1). In the Baptist confession, baptism is not about promises made by God and realized by faith, but is only about present realities. If a person hasn’t already experienced the reality symbolized by baptism, he is not eligible for the ordinance. To Reformed folk, Baptists seem impatient. They expect too much of the heavenly reality in this life, and they confuse the substance of the covenant (possession of new life, faith, and justification) with its outward administration.
In their own ways, the Federal Vision, Roman, Lutheran, and Baptist views of baptism all identify the sign (baptism) too closely with the thing signified (the benefits of Christ). Only the Reformed view of baptism confessed in the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards (1647–48) avoids either confusing baptism with covenant and election or stripping from it the promises of God that make it a sacrament and a means of grace.1
Next time: Why is nomism so attractive?
Notes
- Much of this post is taken from the pamphlet Baptism, Election, and the Covenant of Grace.
©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on the Heidelblog in 2012 and appears here with minimal edits.
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R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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