One Baptism

One Baptism

We have now come to the closing statements of the Nicene Creed, which address baptism, the resurrection, and eternal life. Concerning baptism, “we acknowledge (or confess) one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”

We confess one baptism because, “there is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6). Our one baptism belongs to the unity of the Spirit and the body of Christ, and the unity of our hope and faith in one God and one Lord. For this reason, if you have been baptized into the one body of Christ, you don’t need to be 're-baptized' when you join a new local church or when you’ve left the church for a time and returned. We acknowledge one baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Does this mean the rite of baptism itself forgives our sins? No. The creed is citing Peter’s response to those who heard and believed the Gospel in Acts 2:37-38: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.”

Paul explains the relationship between baptism, faith, and the forgiveness of sins. First, he writes in Romans 4:11: “[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” Circumcision was a sign and seal of the righteousness Abraham had by faith. 

Paul elaborates in Colossians 2:11-14, where he writes that just as circumcision was a sign and seal of righteousness by faith, so now, in the new covenant, baptism is a sign and seal of righteousness by faith:

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

This is why we confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, because baptism is a sign and seal that when we were dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh, God made us alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses. For this reason – because God made us alive together with Christ – Paul exhorts us,

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:11-14)