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Baptism is made by word and water, Luther says. But the word is not the word of the minister that blesses the water, but the authorizing word of Jesus:
"God's word beside and with the water, which is not something we have invented or dreamed up, but is rather the Word of Christ, who said 'Go into all the world and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' When these words are added to the water, then it is no longer simply water like other water, but a holy, divine, blessed water. For when the word of God, by which he created heaven and earth and all things, is present, there God himself is present with his power and might." In short, as Luther's Large Catechism says, baptism is not mere water because "God himself stakes his honor, his power, and his might on it."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, September 21, 2006 at 01:23 PM
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