Читать книгу Luther's Small Catechism Explained in Questions and Answers - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup - Страница 10

How can water do such great things?

It is not water indeed that does it, but the Word of God, which is in and with the water, and faith which trusts this Word of God in the water.

For without the Word of God, the water is water alone, and no Baptism. But with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost; as Paul says in the third chapter of the epistle to Titus:

"According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."