Martin Luther on Immersion Baptism

Note: Throughout the month of October, leading up to the 500^th anniversary of the legendary date of the outbreak of the Reformation on October 31, 1517, Pray Tell is publishing writings of Martin Luther reflecting his beliefs on liturgy and sacraments at various points in his life.

Pray Tell reader Gordon Lathrop sent in this quotation in which Luther advocated for immersion baptism, using Augustine’s schema sign-significant-faith:

For baptism signifies . . . that the old creature and the sinful birth of flesh and blood are to be wholly drowned by the grace of God.  We should therefore do justice to its significance and make baptism a true and complete sign of the thing it signifies.

[The Holy and Blessed Sacrament of Baptism (1519), 1.]

Baptismal font, Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church), Lübeck, Germany