LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

14 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW IX
and its strengthening in himself through the influence of the Redeemer (§86-
172).
This twofold character of Schleiermacher’s theology may be seen and
used profitably in examining his doctrine of Baptism. Schleiermacher
divides his discussion of the topic of Baptism into three propositions,
dealing with its nature (§136), its effect (§137), and the special topic of
infant Baptism (§138). We will examine the doctrine of Baptism in each of
the three propositions under the two poles of his thought delineated above;
i.e., Baptism in the sphere of the individual’s relationship to the Church, and
Baptism in the sphere of the individual’s relationship to God.
THE ESSENCE OF BAPTISM
Concerning the essence of Baptism, Schleiermacher defines it first of
all as “the act of will whereby the Church receives the individual into its
fellowship”. 4 Two things are operative in this sphere of the essence of
Baptism.
First, Baptism is the church’s act of will. Because it is the act of will of
the church, Baptism and the regeneration that for Schleiermacher it
symbolises will never be tied together absolutely. As he says:
it is undeniably in the nature of the case that the inclination of the Church
to baptise will sometimes run ahead of the inward workings of the Spirit
for regeneration and sometimes lag behind them, according as those
whose office it is to baptise lean to one estimate or the other of the
catechumen’s inward state. 5
Implied here is something that we will examine later, that for
Schleiermacher the normal candidate for Baptism was not the infant, but the
adult. Schleiermacher then notes the view of Zwingli, who started with the
premise that Baptism and regeneration were not always one hundred percent
simultaneous and drew from this the conclusion that any coinciding of the
two is purely accidental. Schleiermacher rightly castigates Zwingli because
Zwingli’s view ignores the working of the Spirit in the activity of the
church. But he claims that there is some good in Zwingli’s view, as Zwingli
was seeking to exalt regeneration over against Baptism. Schleiermacher then
examines the opposite point of view, which says that since regeneration and
entrance into the fellowship of believers are bound up and reciprocally
conditioned, then “the most natural and most original statement of this is to
say that one and the same series of Church actions terminates in both
4 Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith 619.
5 Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith 623.