Washed and Fed · Stop 2
Why did Luther say Baptism is for every day?
You're baptized once. Luther said you use it every morning. When he felt low, he reminded himself: “I am baptized.” Today you'll find out why an old promise can be new every day.
Start this stopEvery day
Paul wrote that in Baptism we are buried with Christ and raised with him, so we can walk in a new life. Luther took that picture and made it daily.
He said the “old Adam” in us, the part that turns away from God, gets drowned every day when we turn back to God. And every day a new person comes up out of the water. Turning back is called repentance. It isn't a punishment. It's a fresh start.
So Baptism isn't a certificate in a drawer. It's the ground you stand on. When you mess up, you don't have to be baptized again. You return to the promise you already have.
One simple way to remember: make the sign of the cross in the morning. Luther suggested it in the Small Catechism. It's a way of saying, before the day starts, “I belong to God.”
Read it in your Bible
- Romans 6:3–4. Paul reminds the church that everyone baptized into Christ was baptized into his death. We were buried with him, so that just as Christ was raised, we can live a new life.
- Acts 2:38–39. Peter tells the crowd to turn back to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins. The promise is for them, for their children, and for people far away.
Holy Baptism, from Luther's Small Catechism
How can water do such great things? It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water.
What does such baptizing with water signify? It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
Words to know
- Daily. How often Luther said the old self is drowned and a new self rises. Baptism happens once. Living in it happens every day.
- Repent. To turn around and come back to God. It's a U-turn, not a punishment. God is already waiting on the other side.
- Cross. The sign Luther said to make each morning and evening to remember your baptism. It's the same sign traced on you at Baptism. You can make it anywhere.
- Rise. What a new person does each day out of the waters of Baptism, as Luther put it. Every morning can be a fresh start. That's good news on a bad day.