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Luther and Baptism

© Dr. Martin Luther, Th.D., Reformer, sinner and child of God

Luther's order of baptism from 1523, which has what appears to me to be an exorcism aspect to it. ("Depart thou unclean spirit and give room to the Holy Spirit.") My guess is that the desire is to go back to some of the more ornate, liturgical forms. Although clearly symbolical, as may be seen from Luther's service, it does have some truth associated with it (one does go from being the devil's to being a child of God in baptism).

The Order of Baptism 1523

Translated by Paul Zeller Strodach Revised by Ulrich S. Leupold

Very soon after the publication of his Concerning the Order of Public Worship, 1523, Luther issued a German translation of the order for baptism. Here the need for a version in the vernacular was especially pressing, for his insistence on the intercession of the church as ground for the faith of the child called for prayers in which the parents and sponsors could intelligently participate.

This baptismal liturgy follows the traditional Roman rite, except that the exorcism has been abbreviated, the Creed moved from its place before the Lord's Prayer to the questions, and the collect "Deus patrum nostrorum" ("God of our Fathers") has been replaced by the so-called "flood prayer" (Sintflutgebet). The epilogue with Luther's comments on the meaning of the baptismal service was, in later editions, made into a preface to this order. The German text of the original Wittenberg print, Das tauff buchlin verdeutscht, is given in WA 12, 42-48; the following translation is a revision of P.Z. Strodach's translation P.E. 6, 197-201.

The Order of Baptism

The Esufflation:

The officiant shall blow three times under the child's eyes and shall say:

Depart thou unclean spirit and give room to the Holy Spirit.

The Sign of the Cross:

Then he shall sign him with a cross on his forehead and breast and shall say:

Receive the sign of the holy cross on both thy forehead and thy breast.

The Prayers:

Let us pray.

O Almighty eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, look upon this N., thy servant whom thou hast called to instruction in the faith, drive away from him all the blindness of his heart, break all the snares of the devil with which he is bound, open to him, Lord, the door of thy grace: So that marked with the sign of thy wisdom he may be free of the stench of all evil lusts and serve thee joyfully according to the sweet savor of thy commandments in thy church and grow daily and be made meet to come to the grace of thy baptism to receive the balm of life; through Christ our Lord. Amen.