Baptism in the CRC

The 1959 CRC Psalter Hymnal's rite for infant baptism includes an abbreviated version of Luther's great flood prayer, and ends with this thanksgiving:

"Almighty God and merciful Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou hast forgiven us and our children all our sins, through the blood of Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, and received us through Thy Holy Spirit as members of Thine only begotten Son, and so adopted us to by Thy children, and sealed and confirmed the same unto us by holy baptism. . . .

"We beseech Thee also, through Him, Thy beloved Son, that Thou wilt always govern these children by Thy Holy Spirit, that they may be nurtured in the Christian faith and in godliness, and grow and increase in the Lord Jesus Christ, in order that they may acknowledge Thy fatherly goodness and mercy, which Thou has shown to them and to us all, and live in all righteousness under our only Teacher, King, and High Priest, Jesus Christ, and manfully fight against and overcome sin, the devil, and his whole dominion, to the end that they may eternally praise and magnify Thee, and Thy Son Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Spirit, the one only true God. Amen."

Several noteworthy things about this prayer:

1) It gives praise to God that He has forgiven us and our children. One of the benefits of inclusion in the covenant is that our Father forgives all His children, adult and infant.

2) It affirms that we and our children are adopted as members of Jesus Christ by the work of the Spirit. Again, one of the benefits of inclusion in the covenant is union with Christ.

3) Baptism is not described here as the instrument of this forgiveness or this union, but as the "seal and confirmation" that of these blessings. The prayer apparently assumes that our children are already in covenant with the Father before baptism, and that baptism is a public, visible sign of the pre-existing covenant relation. It seems accurate to put it this way: The prayer says that the Spirit unites our children to the Son apart from baptism, but our assurance that this has taken place is the public fact of baptism.

4) Baptism is seen as an enlistment into the church militant. The baptized are called to fight sin and Satan "and his whole dominion." And to do it "manfully." I doubt that the "manful" part is still there in the newer CRC Psalter Hymnal.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 08:10 AM

Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.