Q&A 69 How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on the cross is for you personally?

In this way:

Christ instituted this outward washing¹

and with it gave the promise that,

as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body,

so certainly his blood and his Spirit

wash away my soul's impurity,

in other words, all my sins.²

 

¹ Acts 2:38

² Matt. 3:11; Rom. 6:3-10; 1 Pet. 3:21

Q&A 70 What does it mean to be washed with Christ's blood and Spirit?

To be washed with Christ's blood means

that God, by grace, has forgiven my sins

because of Christ's blood

poured out for me in his sacrifice on the cross.¹

 

To be washed with Christ's Spirit means

that the Holy Spirit has renewed me

and set me apart to be a member of Christ

so that more and more I become dead to sin

and increasingly live a holy and blameless life.²

 

¹ Zech. 13:1; Eph. 1:7-8; Heb. 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:5

² Ezek. 36:25-27; John 3:5-8; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 6:11; Col. 2:11-12

Q&A 71 Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?

In the institution of baptism where he says:

 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit."¹

 

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,

but whoever does not believe will be condemned."²*

 

This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism

the washing of regeneration³ and

the washing away of sins.⁴

 

¹ Matt. 28:19

² Mark 16:16

³ Tit. 3:5

⁴ Acts 22:16

*Earlier and better manuscripts of Mark 16 omit the words "Whoever believes

and is baptized . . . condemned."

 

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