Views During The Time of the Reformation (67): Views on the Sacraments: Baptism (The Protestant View)

We have already called attention to a three-fold distinction between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant conception of the sacrament of baptism. First, Rome maintains that the water in baptism is essential unto salvation, speaks of that water as the water of regeneration in that literal-natural sense of the word; the Protestant view emphasizes the symbolic significance of the sacrament and refuses to ascribe any magical power to the water of the sacrament itself. Secondly, Rome rejects the...