In the main, historic Protestantism, particularly Reformed Protestantism. has categorically rejected the idea that baptism automatically regenerates. automatically places a person in the state of salvation. Arguing that people who are baptized may indeed. Not be saved.
And it's a big mistake to assume that simply because you're baptized, you're therefore. in the kingdom of God. Does baptism save us? This question gets at one of the central controversies of the Protestant Reformation. For the Protestant Reformers, the sacrament of baptism was a sign that pointed to the promise of salvation in Christ.
a sign to be received by faith. It's so good to have you with us on this Lord's Day for Renewing Your Mind. As we conclude our study of 1 Peter chapter 3 today, RC Sproll will help us to understand the differences between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant view of baptism. But you can continue your study of 1 and 2 Peter by receiving the hardcover edition of Dr. Sproul's commentary on these books.
Simply donate today at renewingyourmind.org and we'll send you this resource. Here's RC Sproll with today's message. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just. For the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, But made alive by the Spirit by whom also he went and preached. to the spirits in prison.
who formerly were disobedient, When once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, While the ark was being prepared, in which a few That is eight souls. We're saved. Through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us. Baptism Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven. And is at the right hand of God, angels, and authorities, and powers. having been made subject to him. First of all, the reference is to the days of Noah. where God was Being patient.
Along with his servant Noah, who is described elsewhere as a preacher of righteousness, During the lengthy period of time that it took to construct the ark. And yet after the ark was finished, And the rains came. and the flood inundated the whole world. There were eight People who were saved Through The instrumentation of the water. If you read between the lines, you will see that in all Likelihood there were many people?
Who knew Noah? who heard his preaching as he was known. As a preacher of righteousness, Who failed to heed his warning? of God's judgment that was going to come to pass. And we also can readily assume that some of those who perished in the flood.
were people who had actually Helped, Noah. In the construction of the vessel that carried Noah and his family to safety. Just in that historical reference, there is a lesson for us to hear. that we tend to cling to our folly and put off to some later day the necessary repentance to which God calls us. hoping that time Well Give us another opportunity.
These very people.
Some of whom helped Noah, others who mocked him. Perished In the flood. But Noah, we are told, was saved along with eight souls. Through water. Are the eight people?
Who were spared at the time of the flood were Noah and his wife. And their three sons. and their wives.
Some Commentators historically have seen Symbolism Included even in the number of people who were redeemed from the flood. being the number eight. as some indicate as the supreme number of perfection. But the idea that these eight souls were saved Through water It has become a very controversial concept. in historical theology.
Because of a couple of reasons. First of all, That the salvation That is described, it takes place. Through water. indicates that The water was the instrument of Noah and his family's salvation. Or to put it more technically.
The instrumental cause of their salvation. If you look at that story of Noah. You see that the water For those who perished was the cause of their destruction. and was the instrument of divine wrath Against a world that had gone over completely into godlessness. And yet at the same time Those very waters that destroyed the world were the waters that carried the vessel in which the family of Noah were housed, And those waters carried them To safety.
Now, notice that with reference to baptism, The people were not immersed in the water. The ones who were immersed in the water were the ones who perished. It was the ones who were carried above the water Yeah. were saved. But the water again Upon which the ark floated was the instrument by which they were saved.
Now, just a little. Excursion On that language. Found through church history, some of the language that has found its way into theology. Is language that was first articulated by the Greek philosopher. Aristotle Aristotle applied his scientific inquiry.
to the subject of causality. What is it that causes one thing? to influence another. And the whole study of causal relationships is critical. to the entire scientific Enterprise But Aristotle Notice that in Causal activities, there were several dimensions that were involved in his most famous illustration.
was in the creation of a statue out of a block of stone. And so he distinguished among many causes. And he said, in the first case, the material cause. For the statue Was the stone. If you don't have that stone to work with, you won't end up with a beautiful statue.
You can't just say like God can, let there be a statue and one will appear. You need something physical out of which to create the statue. And so Aristotle assigned material causality to the block of stone. And then he also distinguished what he called. The efficient cause.
That is the cause that actually brought about the change from the raw block of stone to a beautiful statue. And the efficient cause. Was the activity of the sculptor. Who did his artistic work to shape and form. That block of stone Into a Beautiful.
Stature. He also inquired as to what he called the formal cause, which he defined as the idea that was in the mind of the sculpture. The sculptor didn't just attack the stone aimlessly, chipping here and there, but he had some idea, maybe even a sketch on a piece of paper, of what he wanted the finished product to look like, what form it would take. And that he called the formal cause. The final cause he.
Distinguished as that purpose for which the statue was made. Maybe it was Created to beautify some patrician's house or mausoleum or even for a church somewhere, and that would be called The final cause.
Well, in the midst of all of those causes that Aristotle distinguished. He also spoke of the instrumental cause. And here we touch on something that strikes at the very heart. Of Christian theology. In the simple case, Of the Making of a statue The instrumental cause was That instrument that the sculptor used to change the surface of the stone.
and produced the beautiful statuary. And in this case, the instrument was the chisel. As well as The hammer. These were the tools that were used To create the beautiful product.
Well, how does that have anything to do with the Christian faith?
Well, in the 16th century, In the Protestant Reformation. That focused on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Central to that debate. was the theological question What is The instrumental cause Avarica. Justification.
The Roman Catholic Church had declared. That the instrumental cause of our salvation. is the sacrament of baptism. Because it is through baptism. That saving grace is administered.
whereby the person is cleansed from original sin. And brought into a state of justification, which justification could subsequently be lost through mortal sin, but nevertheless. The means by which God saves sinners. is in the first instance through The instrumentality of the sacrament of baptism. In fact, the Protestant revolt was a revolt against an entire system.
of theology. that is called sacerdotalism. namely that salvation comes principally Through The church. and by the sacraments administered By the church. The Protestant Reformation insisted that the instrumental cause of justification Is not baptism?
But faith When the New Testament says that we are justified by faith, that word by or sometimes translated through is the instrumental dative. that indicates this is the means By which a person is linked to Christ.
Now it's important. They didn't see Faith as the meritorious cause, and some people forget this, they think that Protestants teach that if you have faith That gives you all the merit you need to be justified. No, no, no, no. Even faith is merely the instrument. By which you are linked to Christ.
and receive all the benefits of his work.
So here you see an important text historically. Why the Roman Catholic Church came to the conclusion That people are saved through the instrumental power of baptism because the text says here. That Noah and his family We're saved. Throw Water. And clearly.
The Water, as we've already said, was the medium. through which Noah and his family We're saved. And then Peter goes on to say. But there is an anti-type. which now saves us Baptism So, just as water was the instrument God used to save Noah and his family, so now.
Baptism is that instrument which God uses To save us. And so you can see. How important this text has been to the whole debate. Of whether we are saved by sacraments or whether we are saved. Bye.
Face.
Now the plot thickens dramatically. In the third century. One of the most important early church fathers was a man by the name. of Cyprian. Cyprian wrote a book on the unity of the church and He's known for making two statements that have Lasted through the ages.
One statement maybe you've heard is this: He who does not have the church. As his mother does not have God as his father. But far more important is the formula That Cyprian Express, which down three ages, has simply been known as. The Cyprianic formula. Which formula in the Latin goes something like this?
Extra. Acclesium. Nolos Salus. Which being translated means literally Outside the church, outside the ecclesiom. There is no salvation.
And the way Cyprian articulated it. Was he speaking in terms not of the invisible church of which Augustine would write later. but rather the visible church. And the thesis was this. That if you are a member of the visible church and only If you are a member of the visible church, can you be saved?
Being a member, Of the visible church, which in that case was the Roman Catholic Church. Was a necessary condition for salvation. And When Cyprian spelled this out, He said that it is just as necessary to be inside The visible Roman Catholic Church. To be saved. As it was For those people in Noah's day, To be inside.
The Ark in order Be saved.
Now, as I say, this idea Of the necessity of being inside the church, the visible church. Is one that has persisted for hundreds and hundreds of years. But not without some significant modifications. along the way. When the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century articulated its doctrine of baptism, Reaffirmed the teaching of Cyprian to the effect that baptism is necessary for salvation.
Or And I quote. The desire for it.
Now that little tiny Qualification there at the Council of Trent. Has been the foundation for further elaborations of allowing for people to be saved who are outside. the confines of the visible Roman Church. Out of that distinction in the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent. came the doctrine called the desire of baptism.
or more technically, the votum baptisma. The desire to be baptized. Let's take, for example, The Thief on the Cross He embraces Jesus. He believes in Jesus. But he dies.
before he ever had the opportunity to be baptized. But in that special case He still goes to heaven. Because he had an explicit desire To do what was required. But was providentially hindered from it. Take a Protestant who takes instruction in the Roman Catholic Church and.
agrees to be baptized into the Roman fellowship and On the way to the church on Sunday morning is hit by a bus. and is killed.
Well, he's considered to have been baptized because he had The desire for baptism, which they called the Votum baptisma. Explicitum an explicit desire. The Roman Catholic Church continues to teach that the Sacrament of baptism works ex opera operato, that is to the very working of the work. And works regeneration in the souls of those who receive the sacrament, or what is. known as baptismal regeneration.
Which doctrine has been held in other degrees by other Protestant bodies? But in the main, historic Protestantism, particularly Reformed Protestantism. has categorically rejected the idea that baptism automatically regenerates. automatically places a person in the state of salvation. Arguing that people who are baptized may indeed.
Not be saved. And it's a big mistake to assume that simply because you're baptized, you're therefore. In the kingdom of God. This was the mistake Israel made with their sign. Of circumcision.
They thought that just because they were circumcised and had the sign of God's promise of salvation. Therefore they had the reality toward which this sign or symbol pointed. We believe in our communion. That baptism is the sign of God's promise. For all who believe.
and that the promise is not realized. Unless We embraced Christ By faith. And when we do that, all of the things that baptism symbolize. become ours. It symbolizes many things that Our participation in Christ's burial.
In his resurrection. It symbolizes the cleansing of our sin. It does symbolize our regeneration, but doesn't automatically Convey it. It symbolizes our sanctification, our being anointed by the Holy Spirit. It signifies our adoption into the family of God.
All of which things occur the second. We Have Face. We are told that baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities have to be made subject to him. In a word, Without Christ.
Well not his deaths. Without his resurrection. Without the imputation of his righteousness to us. And the imputation of our guilt to him on the cross? Without those things, baptism would be utterly worthless.
If I thought for one second that baptism ex opera operato put people in a state. Of justification I would stand on the corner with a fire hose and baptize as many people as I could. But I don't think that's the point. It is being made here. The water that saved Noah and his family.
Save them because they put their trust in the promises of God. And those who did not. That same water. What's the occasion? of their utter Destruction.
So we need to learn that as important as baptism is, I don't want to demean its importance because it is a sacrament. And it does communicate. The promise of God to all who believe, and we do not despise His word. Which makes these promises verbally, nor do we despise the sacrament that confirms it non-verbally. as authentic signs and seals.
Of the promises. of God. The power of the sacrament. Lies. in the integrity of God, not in the priest or the pastor who administers it.
not in the virtue of those who receive it. But in the power of the God whose word. is confirmed. in this seal. of our redemption.
There's nothing magical about the baptismal waters. Baptism doesn't do anything by itself. Rather, the power is in the promise that baptism signifies. The promise of redemption in Christ. It's been a pleasure to have you join us for this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind.
I know I've enjoyed this study in First Peter, and I hope you have as well.
Next week, though, we'll be starting a new series with doctor Sprall in the Gospel of Luke. But you can continue your study of 1st and 2 Peter by receiving Dr. Sproul's hardcover commentary on these books. We'll send you this resource today when you give at renewingyourmind.org. Three stories about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.
That's how Jesus responded to the Pharisees when they criticized him for associating with sinful people. I hope you'll join us next Sunday as we begin a new study in the Gospel of Luke with R. C. Sprohl. Here on Renewing Your Mind.
