The Westminster Confession of Faith:
Chapter 28
Chapter 28. Of Baptism.
1. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament,
ordained by Jesus Christ,a not only for the solemn admission
of the party baptized into the visible Church,b but also to
be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace,c of his
ingrafting into Christ,d of regeneration,e of
remission of sins,f and of his giving up unto God, through
Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life:g which sacrament
is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the
end of the world.h
a. Mat 28:19. •
b. 1 Cor 12:13. • c. Rom 4:11 with Col 2:11-12. • d.
Rom 6:5; Gal 3:27. • e. Titus 3:5. • f. Mark 1:4. • g.
Rom 6:3-4. • h. Mat 28:19-20.
2. The outward element to be used in this sacrament is
water, wherewith the party is to be baptized in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by a minister of the gospel
lawfully called thereunto.a
a. Mat 3:11;
28:19-20; John 1:33.
3. Dipping of the person into the water is not
necessary; but baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling
water upon the person.a
a. Mark 7:4; Acts
2:41; 16:33; Heb 9:10, 19-22.
4. Not only those that do actually profess faith in and
obedience unto Christ,a but also the infants of one or both
believing parents are to be baptized.b
a. Mark 16:15-16;
Acts 8:37-38. • b. Gen 17:7, 9 with Gal 3:9, 14 and
Col 2:11-12 and Acts 2:38-39 and Rom 4:11-12; Mat 28:19;
Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15; 1 Cor 7:14.
5. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect
this ordinance,a yet grace and salvation are not so
inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or
saved without it,b or that all that are baptized are
undoubtedly regenerated.c
a. Luke 7:30
with Exod 4:24-26. • b. Acts 10:2, 4, 22, 31, 45, 47; Rom
4:11. • c. Acts 8:13, 23.
6. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment
of time wherein it is administered;a yet, notwithstanding, by
the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is not only offered,
but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether
of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the
counsel of God's own will, in his appointed time.b
a. John 3:5, 8. •
b. Acts 2:38, 41; Gal 3:27; Eph 5:25-26; Titus 3:5.
7. The sacrament of baptism is but once to be
administered to any person.a
a. Titus 3:5.
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