问题45：洗礼本身能洗净罪吗？
答：不，只有基督的血和圣灵的更新才能洗净我们的罪。
儿童版：不能，只有基督的血才能洗净我们的罪。

Question 45: Is Baptism with Water the Washing Away of Sin Itself?
Answer: No, only the blood of Christ and the renewal of the Holy Spirit can cleanse us from sin.
For Kids: No, only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from sin.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《路加福音》3 章16 节：

　　约翰说：「我是用水给你们施洗，但有一位能力比我更大的要来，我就是给祂解鞋带也不配。祂要用圣灵与火给你们施洗。

注解

约翰·加尔文

　　「祂要用圣灵与火给你们施洗」。有人问，约翰为什么没说基督独自用祂的血就可以洗净灵魂？这是因为，使灵魂得洁净是圣灵大能的工作，约翰认为仅用「圣灵」这一个词就足以表达洗礼的全部果效。这句话的意思很清楚，就是一切恩典都是从基督那里来的，外在的洗礼形象地表明了这一点，因为是祂用自己的血「洒去我们心中天良的亏欠」（参见来10:22）。也是祂克制我们的老我，赐下使人重生的灵。「火」是修饰「圣灵」的，因为祂除去我们的罪污，就像火炼净金子一样。

默想

肯特·修斯

　　《哥林多前书》12 章13 节是一段为信而受洗、归入基督所发出的伟大颂赞和宣告：「我们不拘是犹太人，是希腊人，是为奴的，是自主的，都从一位圣灵受洗，成了一个身体，饮于一位圣灵。」这是讲到圣灵如何动工，将我们带到基督的身体里。这件事发生在我身上时我只是个十二岁的男孩。那时我从来没听说过圣灵的洗，但我的确是被圣灵所洗的。如今，随着岁月的流逝，快60 年了，这个客观事实在我生命中成了主观经历过的实际。

　　我被圣灵施洗的时候就是我重生，或者说获得新生的时候。我从圣灵而生，正如《约翰福音》3 章所说的一样。这是幅美丽的画面，我必须得说，重生就好像一次神圣的生产，我从黑暗中被带出，进入光明之中，使我开始有了属灵的看见。

　　我重生了，圣灵内住在我里面。耶稣在《约翰福音》14章说圣灵会「与你们同在」，也要「住在你们里面」。我在孩童时就失去了我的父亲，自此一直感觉自己在世上像是孤单一人。当圣灵内住我里面时，我有了拥有父亲的感觉，我被收纳成为了天父的儿女。我也知道，我被圣灵标上记号，盖上印记了，就像《以弗所书》1 章13 节至14 节所说：「……也信了基督，既然信祂，就受了所应许的圣灵为印记，这圣灵是我们得基业的凭据……」这让我有了一种受保护的感觉，也品尝到这一事实：当我被圣灵施洗时，我也在永恒中受了圣灵的印记。

　　当圣灵给我施洗时，圣灵也为我祷告。《罗马书》8 章26节至27 节说：「况且我们的软弱有圣灵帮助，我们本不晓得当怎样祷告……」所以，圣灵开始为我祷告，亲自用说不出来的叹息替你我祷告，这一切从我们受圣灵的洗开始。因为祂知道我们的心。

　　同时，我也蒙了光照。我还记得我小时候参加营会，回到自己的小屋后，我拿出圣经，在经文下面划线。这经文对我来说变得活生生，并且在我生命中始终是鲜活的。当施洗约翰指出，「我是用水给你们施洗……祂要用圣灵与火给你们施洗」时（路3:16），祂是在说耶稣施洗的超越性。水只能够洗净外表，但圣灵和火更新并洗净内在。所以被圣灵与火施洗，是如此伟大恒久的真实与喜乐，圣灵使这一切被更新了，并不断地塑造我们成为基督的样式。

祷告

　　神的羔羊，洗礼表明我们得救是因为祢的义，这义并非出于我们自己。求主不要让我们把洗礼作为信心的对象，而是让我们仰望美好洗礼背后祢洁净罪的工作。阿们。

Scripture

LUKE 3:16

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Commentary

JOHN CALVIN

“He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” It is asked, why did not John equally say, that it is Christ alone who washes souls with his blood? The reason is, that this very washing is performed by the power of the Spirit, and John reckoned it enough to express the whole effect of baptism by the single word Spirit. The meaning is clear, that Christ alone bestows all the grace which is figuratively represented by outward baptism, because it is he who “sprinkles the conscience” with his blood. It is he also who mortifies the old man, and bestows the Spirit of regeneration. The word fire is added as an epithet, and is applied to the Spirit, because he takes away our pollutions, as fire purifies gold.

Devotional

R. KENT HUGHES

The great classic text that celebrates and announces the believer’s baptism into Christ is 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” That speaks of the Spirit’s initiating us into the body of Christ, and that happened to me when I was just twelve years old. I’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I was indeed baptized by the Holy Spirit. And now as the years have gone by, what was an objective fact has become a subjective reality in my life.

When I was baptized by the Spirit, I was regenerated, born again. I was born of the Spirit, John 3 says. What a beautiful picture. The metaphor of being born again describes a divine obstetrics because I was taken out of darkness and I was brought into light, and I began to see things.

At the same time I was regenerated, I was indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 14 that the Spirit “will live with you” and “will be in you.” I lost my father when I was a little boy and had a sense of being alone in this world. When I became indwelt, a sense of paternity overtook my soul, of being adopted. I didn’t know that I’d been tagged by the Holy Spirit or sealed by the Holy Spirit. As it says in Ephesians 1:13–14: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” That further gave me a sense of protection and reality, that I was tagged for eternity by the Holy Spirit when I was baptized by the Spirit.

When I was baptized in the Spirit, I was also prayed for. Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” The Holy Spirit prays with groanings that cannot be uttered because he knows our hearts (Rom. 8:26).

And then, at the same time, I was enlightened. I can remember as a boy at a camp going back to my cabin, getting out my Bible, underlining in it, and having the Word come alive to me, as it has continued to come alive in my life. Now when John the Baptist pointedly said, “I baptize you with water, but [Christ] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” he was talking about the superiority of Jesus’s baptism. Water can wash only the outside, but the Spirit and fire regenerate and cleanse the inside. And so that is the great abiding reality and joy of being baptized with the Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit is making all things new and constantly conforming us to the image of Christ.

Prayer

Lamb of God, our baptism is a sign that we are saved not by our own righteousness, but because we have been given the righteous- ness of Christ. Let us not make baptism the object of our trust, but look instead to the cleansing work of Jesus, beautifully depicted in baptism. Amen.