Thoroughly Consistent

"Another matter which should be equally clear from this study is that the position of the Reformers in regard to infant baptism was an integral part of their whole theology. It is not as though baptizing very young children was a strange inconsistency which was perpetuated out of habit.  It is not as though here was a place where the Reformers strangely neglected to apply their usual principles of reform...The baptism of infants was a logical corollary of sola gratia, for it clearly demonstrated prevenient grace...Far from being a failure to carry through their reforming principles to their logical conclusions, the Reformers' position on infant baptism was thoroughly consistent with their whole program of reform" (Shaping the Reformed Baptismal Rite, Hughes Oliphant Old, p. 143-144)

The Primacy of Grace

"At the very heart of the Protestant Reformation was the revival of Augustinian theology with its strong emphasis on the primacy of grace.  The Reformers believed that God took the initiative for humankind's salvation. In light of such a strong doctrine of grace the baptism of infants was quite understandable.  In fact,  the baptism of infants demonstrated very powerfully that our salvation rests not on any knowledge or work or experience or decision of our own, but entirely on the grace of God." (Hughes Old, Reformed Baptismal Rite, p. 139)

Bucer on the Old Testament Sacraments

"One notices with great interest that Bucer has a very high understanding of the spiritual value of the Old Testament sacraments. They are not merely outward forms or ceremonies. They were ordained of God as signs of an inward and spiritual reality.  Bucer did not reject the Old Testament ceremonies on the same principle that he rejected many of the medieval ceremonies of the Church.  He did not consider them empty, meaningless ceremonies of merely human invention. The sacraments of the Old Testament were truly sacraments because they were divinely given.  For Bucer, the problem with the medieval ceremonies was that they were not commanded by God." (Hughes Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16th Century, p. 127-128

Trading One Pope for Another

Hubmaier [Another Anabaptist leader] "concludes by promising a sort of infallibility to the pious Christian who read with a clear conscience: 'Then judge in your own conscience and understanding according to the simple Word of God...and you can be well assured you will not err.' This short sentence is a clear statement of Hubmaier's understanding of how Scripture is to be interpreted. Hubmaier rejects both medieval Scholastic exegesis with its great respect for tradition and the classical Protestant method of exegesis. In its place he puts a very private sort of personal illumination." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16^th Century, p. 97)

A Church Free from Sin

"For the circle of Conrad Grebel [An Anabaptist leader], as for Muntzer, believer's baptism was the one key reform for the Church. If only those who gave evidence of a firm and mature faith were baptized, then the Church would be free from all kinds of impurities. Believer's baptism would be the effective sword used to separate the true Christian from Christendom." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16^th Century, p. 91)

Whose Work Is It?

For Conrad Grebel, another leading Anabaptist, "one notices that [baptism] is not a sign of what God will do in the life of the baptized, as Zwingli had understood it, but rather a sign of what the baptized has done already and will do in the future. It would appear that for Grebel baptism is not so much an act of God as an act of the one baptized.  It is his or her confession of faith." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16th Century, p. 91)

Justification by Imitation

"Above all we should notice this fact: this call for a the radical reform of the rite of baptism [by Thomas Muntzer, a leading Anabaptist PJ] is found in a work which looks for the reform of the Church not in the direction of justification by faith, nor in a rediscovery of the authority of Scripture, nor in a renewed appreciation of the sovereignty of grace, but rather in a book which sees the reform of the Church in terms of medieval German mysticism. For Muntzer salvation is not through faith, but through the imitation of Christ." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16^th Century, p. 83)

A Church for the Elite and Fast Movers

In the quotes below Hughes Oliphant Old is discussing Anabaptism in the 16th century.

"At issue in this question of believers' baptism was an attempt to found a new church for the spiritually elite." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite, p. 77)


"In Zurich, too, there was a circle of proto-Anabaptists. As in Wittenberg and Strasbourg, the circle was made up of those who were impatient with the slowness and the caution of those who were leading the Reformation...They wanted to move out and form a new church made up of those who were fully committed Christians." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite, p. 87)

Whose Work Is It?

"The baptismal rite of Basel makes one thing clear above all: baptism is in the end a work of God. The minister, as the apostles before him, administers the sign of washing, but it is God who through his Holy Spirit cleanses the heart. One might say that the service underlines the epicletic nature of baptism.  Having begun the service with the affirmation that our salvation is in the power of God alone, "Our help is in the name of the Lord," the minister calls the church to prayer.  We are reminded that our part is to pray for the salvation of the child.  It is God's part to give the child faith and by the inner baptism of the Holy Spirit to regenerate him. The power to save remains with God, who works when and where and how he pleases.  The power is not in our hands.  It resides not in the proper performing of liturigical rites.  This was one of the essential insights of Reformed theologians.  Our part is to administer obediently the sign God has given, to proclaim the rich promises of grace, to call on God to fulfill these promises, and to trust that he will fufill them...If it is true that God's Spirit works when and where and how he pleases, it is equally true that God works where he has promised to work.  That was the heart of the theology of the covenant." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite, p. 72-73)

Not Magic, But a Sign

"We have taught that those baptized in the Lord Jesus are made one body with him in his death, and through baptism they die with him and are buried with him and in his Resurrection they rise to new life.  Therefore, the true use or observance of baptism is that we regularly die to the old Adam and this kind of dying we must do as long as life shall last." (Wolfgang Capito, A reformer who worked alongside Martin Bucer in Strasbourg)

"Capito makes a point here which is essential to understanding the further development of the Reformed rite of baptism.  Baptism is not a ritual which saves one as if by magic at a particular time or occasion. It is not as though before one is baptized one is lost and after baptism one is saved. Baptism is far more a sign under which the Christian lives out the whole of life. It is a sign of continual washing from sins and a continual renewal in new life. It is not so much the ritual of a once-and-for-all crisis experience as it is a prophetic promise of what is and always will be the character of the Christian life." (Hughes Oliphant Old, commenting on the above quote in The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite, p. 52)

Baptism Belongs at the Beginning

"In the fourth century one had to prove one's faith before being baptized.  One had to undergo a long and often rigorous scrutiny.  Few people were baptized at the beginning of their Christian life.  That was very different from the practice of the New Testament Church." (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century, p. 31)