For me, the most significant aspect of the Reformed view of baptism is that it's not part of an all-encompassing plan of salvation that is wrought with technicalities and such as it is in the UPCI; what you read and see is, essentially, what you get. In other words, baptism is once administered to every person, and it is not a PATH to salvation, but it marks that we are part of Christ's church, similar to communion. And while a Christian would be foolish to ignore this sacrament, their salvation is not forfeited for lack of it.
So, without further ado, here is the Heidelberg Catechism on Baptism (of course the entire catechism, as always, can be found here).
Lord’s Day 26
- 69. How is it signified and sealed to you in Holy Baptism that you have part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross?
- Thus: that Christ instituted this outward washing with water 1 and joined to it this promise, that I am washed with His blood and Spirit from the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as certainly as I am washed outwardly with water, whereby commonly the filthiness of the body is taken away.2
1 Mt 28:19-20; Acts 2:38; 2 Mt 3:11; Mk 1:4; Jn 1:33; Acts 2:38; Rom 6:3-4; 1 Pt 3:21
- 70. What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?
- It is to have the forgiveness of sins from God through grace, for the sake of Christ’s blood, which He shed for us in His sacrifice on the cross;1 and also to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified to be members of Christ, so that we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblamable lives.2
1 Ezek 36:25-27; Zech 13:1; Eph 1:7; Heb 12:24; 1 Pt 1:2; Rev 1:5, 7:14; 2 Jn 1:33, 3:5-8; Rom 6:4; 1 Cor 6:11, 12:13; Col 2:11-12; Heb 9:14
- 71. Where has Christ promised that we are as certainly washed with His blood and Spirit as with the water of Baptism?
- In the institution of Baptism, which says: “Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.1 He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.”2 This promise is also repeated where Scripture calls Baptism the washing of regeneration3 and the washing away of sins.4
1 Mt 28:19; 2 Mk 16:16; 3 Tit 3:5; 4 Acts 22:16
Lord’s Day 27
- 72. Is, then, the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins?
- No,1 for only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.2
1 Eph 5:26; 1 Pt 3:21; 2 Mt 3:11; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Pt 3:21; 1 Jn 1:7
- 73. Why then does the Holy Spirit call Baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?
- God speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby that just as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ;1 but much more, that by this divine pledge and token He may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.2
1 1 Cor 6:11; Rev 1:5, 7:14; 2 Acts 2:38; Rom 6:3-4; Gal 3:27
- 74. Are infants also to be baptized?
- Yes, for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God,1 and through the blood of Christ2 both redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to their parents,3 they are also by Baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be ingrafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers,4 as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision,5 in place of which in the New Testament Baptism is appointed.6
1 Gen 17:7; 2 Mt 19:14; 3 Ps 22:10; Isa 44:1-3; Lk 1:14-15; Acts 2:38-39, 16:31; 4 Acts 10:47; 1 Cor 7:14; 5 Gen 17:9-14; 6 Col 2:11-13
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