《比利时信条》第三十四条 论洗礼

《比利时信条》第三十四条 论洗礼

　　我们相信并承认，基督是律法的总结，藉着祂所流出的宝血，祂结束了一切人做出的和将要做的流血赎罪行为。祂废除了与血有关的割礼，并设立洗礼来取代割1。藉着洗礼，我们被接纳入基督的教会，并从不信之人和假宗教当中分别为圣，身上带着祂的印记和记号，完全将自己奉献与祂2。这是神向我们见证了祂永远是我们的神、恩慈的天父。

　　为此目的，祂吩咐一切属乎祂的人都要用清水受洗归入“圣父、圣子和圣灵的名”。藉此，祂向我们表明，正如水浇洒在我们身上就洗去污垢一样，当看到洗礼的水浇洒在受洗人的身上时，藉着圣灵，基督的血也浇洒在我们心里3。祂洗去了我们的罪，使我们的灵魂得以洁净4，并且圣灵重生我们，将我们从可怒之子变为神的儿女5。这一切不是洗礼之水本身所带来的功效6，而是靠神儿子的宝血成就的7，祂就是我们的红海8，我们必须穿过红海才能逃脱法老的追逼，即魔鬼的辖制，进入属灵的迦南美地。

　　因此，牧师为我们所施行的圣礼是人眼所能见的，但我们的主藉着圣礼所要表明是，无形的赏赐和恩典。祂洗净了我们灵魂的一切污秽和不义9，赐给我们新心并充满主的安慰，又使我们有对祂父亲般慈爱的确信，给我们披戴新人，脱去旧人及其一切的行为10。

　　所以，我们相信，任何渴求永生的人都应当只接受一次的洗礼11。洗礼不能重复领受，因为我们不能有两次重生。此外，洗礼不是仅在我们受洗的那一刻于我们有益，而是使我们终生受益。正因如此，我们弃绝重洗派的错谬，他们不满足于只接受一次的洗礼，他们也强烈反对信徒的孩子受洗。我们相信，信徒的孩子都应当受洗，领受圣约的印记，正如以色列人的婴孩曾经受割礼，我们的婴孩受洗是基于同样的应许12。的确，基督流血洗净成人的罪，也照样洗净信徒儿女的罪13。因此，他们应当领受这印记和基督为他们成就的圣礼，正如神在律法中吩咐，孩子在出生后不久，要为他们献上一只羊羔。这是预表基督受苦与受死所成就的圣礼。由于洗礼对我们儿女的意义等同于割礼对以色列百姓的意义，因而使徒保罗称洗礼为“基督的割礼”（西2：11）。

　　 1.西 2:11.
　　 2.出12:48; 彼前2:9.
　　 3.太3:11; 林前12:13.
　　 4.徒22:16; 来9:14; 1 约1:7; 启1:5.
　　 5.多3:5.
　　 6.彼前3:21.
　　 7.罗6:3; 彼前1:2; 彼前2:24.
　　 8.林前10:1-4.
　　 9.林前6:11; 弗5:26.
　　 10.罗6:4; 加3:27.
　　 11.太28:19; 弗4:5.
　　 12.创17:10-12; 太19:14; 徒2:39.
　　 13.林前7:14.
　　 14.利12:6.

英文对照：

　　We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has by His shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood that one could or would make as an expiation or satisfaction for sins. He has abolished circumcision, which involved blood, and has instituted in its place the sacrament of baptism. By baptism we are received into the Church of God and set apart from all other peoples and false religions, to be entirely committed to Him whose mark and emblem we bear. This serves as a testimony to us that He will be our God and gracious Father for ever.

　　For that reason He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with plain water, into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. By this He signifies to us that as water washes away the dirt of the body when poured on us, and as water is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled on him, so the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, does the same thing internally to the soul. It washes and cleanses our soul from sin and regenerates us from children of wrath into children of God. This is not brought about by the water as such but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, which is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

　　Thus the ministers on their part give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives us what is signified by the sacrament, namely, the invisible gifts and grace. He washes, purges, and cleanses our souls of all filth and unrighteousness, renews our hearts and fills them with all comfort, gives us true assurance of His fatherly goodness, clothes us with the new nature, and takes away the old nature with all its works.

　　We believe, therefore, that anyone who aspires to eternal life ought to be baptized only once. Baptism should never be repeated, for we cannot be born twice. Moreover, baptism benefits us not only when the water is on us and when we receive it, but throughout our whole life. For that reason we reject the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with a single baptism received only once, and who also condemn the baptism of the little children of believers. We believe that these children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as infants were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises which are now made to our children. Indeed, Christ shed His blood to wash the children of believers just as much as He shed it for adults. Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, as the Lord commanded in the law that a lamb was to be offered shortly after children were born. This was a sacrament of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Because baptism has the same meaning for our children as circumcision had for the people of Israel, Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.