Matthew's Baptism
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
I cannot explain how and why a child dies for sins he or she has no knowledge of. I cannot explain how, exactly, the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart of a baby. But as a father I can take to heart God's promises of forgiveness and sanctification. I can rest knowing that God is doing that work-all he asks is that I follow his simple command. He assures me that my child is now His child through this saving gift using simple water and His Word. And that using this means, and His Word, He promises to remain with my child, even if my child should somehow wander away. For baptism isn't dependant upon what I do or my son does. God takes the burden upon himself to create and strengthen faith using His means. I am simply asked, as the father, to be faithful in the use of those means.
Epilogue
This is a photo of the editor baptizing his son (in the black robe). Rev. James Sonnemann, pastor of Salem, stands to the editor's left. The editor's wife stands to his right, holding Matthew (the short one). The other lady visible is the editor's sister.
A four generation picture. Matthew's great-grandmother holds him. Behind great-grandma stand grandpa (to the left) and father (to the right). The age span is 90 years and ranges in time from 1910 to 2000, from the presidency of William Howard Taft to William Jefferson Clinton.
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