Baptismal Regeneration.
Different meanings are attached to the words baptismal regen- eration. It has been already stated, in a preceding chapter, that by regeneration is sometimes meant an external change, — transla- tion from the world, as the kingdom of darkness, into the Church, as the kingdom of light. In this sense it implies no subjective change. Sometimes it means the life-long process by which a soul is more and more transformed into the image of God. Sometimes it means the whole process which takes place in the consciousness when a sinner turns from sin through Christ unto God. It is then synonymous with conversion. In our day, in ordinary the- ological language, it means that supernatural change effected by the Spirit of God by which a soul is made spiritually alive. " You hath He quickened (c&ooiroMjo-e)," (see Eph. ii. 1, 5), says the Apostle to the Ephesians. In their former state they were dead in trespasses and sins. Their regeneration consisted! in their be- ing made spiritually alive ; or, in their having the principle of a new spiritual life imparted to them. Such being the diversity of meaning attached to the word in question, the phrase baptismal regeneration may be understood in very different senses. The sense in which it is to be here taken is that in which, as is be- lieved, it is generally understood. According to the faith of the Church universal, Greek, Latin, and Protestant, all men since the fall are born in a state of sin and condemnation — spiritually dead. It is a wide-spread belief that when baptism is administered to new-born infants, they are regenerated inwardly by the Holy Spirit ; they are so born again as to become the children of God and heirs of his kingdom. The word, however, includes more than simply the renewing of the soul. Prior to baptism, accord- ing to the Catechism of the Church of England, infants are in a state of sin and the children of wrath ; by baptism they are said to be made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, in baptism the blessings signified in that ordinance are conveyed to the soul of the infant. Those blessings are the cleansing from guilt by the blood of Christ, and purification from pollution by the renewing of the Holy Ghost.
The doctrine of baptismal regeneration, in this sense of the term, has been very extensively held in the Church. The pas- sages of Scripture relied upon for its support, are principally the following : John iii. 5, " Except a man be born of water and of
592 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Our Lord is understood in these words to teach the necessity of baptism to salvation. But none of the fallen family of man can be saved without " the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," and " sanc- tification of the Spirit ; " if baptism saves the soul, it must be by communicating to it those blessings; or, in other words, those blessings must attend its administration. The principal support of this interpretation is tradition. It has been handed down from age to age in the Church; until its authority seems firmly estab- lished. It may be remarked in reference to this passage, —
1. That if it be admitted that the words u born of water " are to be understood of baptism, the passage does not prove the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. It asserts the necessity of baptism to admission into the kingdom of God, just as our Lord insists on the necessity of the public confession of hij3 name. Confession is not a means of salvation. It does not convey the benefits of Christ's redemption. It is a duty which Christ imposes on all who desire to be confessed by Him in the last day. The Reformed acknowl- edge that baptism has this necessity of precept.
2. The phrase " kingdom of God " sometimes means heaven, the future state of blessedness ; sometimes the external or visible Church, as consisting of those who profess to acknowledge Christ as their king ; and sometimes the invisible Church, consisting of those in and over whom Christ actually reigns. At other times the phrase is used comprehensively as including, without discrimi- nating, these several ideas. In this last sense the conditions of ad- mission into the kingdom of God are the conditions of discipleship, and the conditions of discipleship are baptism and inward regen- eration ; precisely as under the old dispensation, for a man to be- come truly a Jew it was necessary that he should be circumcised and believe the true religion as then revealed. But this does not imply that circumcision of the flesh was circumcision of the heart ; or that the latter uniformly attended the former. Neither does our Lord's language in John iii. 5, even, if understood of baptism, imply that the inward grace uniformly attends the outward or- dinance. John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 11, 12) made a marked distinction, not only between his baptism and Christian baptism, but between baptism with water and baptism of the Holy Ghost. He could administer the former, Christ only could impart the latter. The two were not necessarily connected. A man might receive the one and not the other. Thousands did then, and do now, receive baptism with water who did not, and do not, expe- rience the renewing of the Holy Ghost.