WCF 28.3
Westminster Confession of Faith
28.3. Of Baptism
Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.
Proof texts
- Heb. 9:10, 19, 20, 21, 22 — [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. [19] For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, [20] saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” [21] And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. [22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
- Acts 2:41 — [41] So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
- Acts 16:33 — [33] And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
- Mark 7:4 — [4] and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. )
For discussion
- The Assembly cited Heb. 9:10, 19, 20, 21, 22 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
- 4 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
- WSC Q94 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
- WSC Q95 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
Read alongside
WSC Q94 · WSC Q95 · WLC Q165 · WLC Q166 · WLC Q149 · WSC Q88 · BC 8.1 · BC 8.2 · BC 8.3 · HC Q65 · 1689 28.1 · SD 28.1 · IAR 7.1 · SC60 6.1 · SC60 6.2 · SC60 6.3 · SC60 6.4 · SC60 6.5 · SHC 6.1 · SHC 6.2 · IAR 8.1 · SC60 7.1 · SC60 7.2 · SC60 7.3 · SHC 7.1 · SHC 7.2 · SHC 7.3
Leader's notes
A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): These Sections teach — 476 CONFESSION OF FAirH. 1st. That grace and salvation are not so inseparably united to baptism that only the baptized are saved, or that all the baptized are saved. 2d. That, nevertheless, it is a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, for that its observance is commanded, and, in the right use of it, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost to such (whether of age or infants) as the grace belongeth unto. 3d. That the efficacy of baptism, even in cases in which the grace signified is really conveyed, is not tied down to the moment of time wherein the sacrament is administered, but…
An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): This section relates to the mode of administering baptism. This is a subject which has occasioned much controversy among Christians, and the dispute is still carried on with unabated zeal. A large and respectable body of Christians strenuously contend that baptism can only be valid when performed by immersion, or by dipping the whole body under water. Our Confession does not deny that baptism may be lawfully performed by immersion ; but maintains that it is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water on the person. No conclusion can be drawn from the word baptize, or from the original term; for it has been most satisfactorily proved that it signifies to wash with water in any way. Several instances of…