• πρὸς αὐτούς Μετανοήσατε · — SBLGNT
• πρὸς αὐτούς· Μετανοήσατε — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles
• πρὸς αὐτούς Μετανοήσατε φησίν — Reader's GNT (NA27)
• ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς Μετανοήσατε — Robinson-Pierpont

• ἐπὶ — SBLGNT
• ἐπὶ — Reader's GNT (NA27), Robinson-Pierpont
• ἐν — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles

• τῶν — SBLGNT
• τῶν — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)

• ὑμῶν — SBLGNT
• ὑμῶν — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)

§1226From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."26 The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who be…

§1262The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.64 For the forgiveness of sins . . .

§1287This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people.93 On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit,94 a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost.95 Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," a…

It is taught among us that baptism is necessary for salvation, that the grace of God is offered through baptism, and that children should be baptized, for being offered to God through baptism they are received into his grace.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Here, in the third article, the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier. Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe in Him and have Him for our Lord, unless these were offered to us and bestowed on our heart…

We have now finished the three chief parts of the common Christian doctrine. Besides these we have yet to speak of our two Sacraments instituted by Christ, of which also every Christian ought to have at least an ordinary, brief instruction, because without them there can be no Christian; although, alas, hitherto no instruction concerning them has been given. In the first place,…

If anyone denies that infants, newly born from their mothers' wombs, even though they be sprung from baptized parents, need to be baptized, or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins but that they derive nothing of original sin from Adam which has need of being expiated by the laver of regeneration for the obtaining of life everlasting — let him be anathema…

If anyone saith that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous; and that without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain of God through faith alone the grace of justification, though all the sacraments are not indeed necessary for every individual — let him be anathema.

Repentance is the change of life which follows upon the knowledge of God's goodness and our own wretchedness. When the Gospel is truly preached and heard, men see their sinfulness and flee to God for mercy. This is the true repentance — not outward penance, not satisfaction rendered to a priest, but the turning of the whole heart to God.

Q. How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on the cross is for you personally? A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it gave the promise that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul's impurity, in other words, all my sins.

Q. Should infants, too, be baptized? A. Yes. Infants as well as adults are in God's covenant and are his people. They, no less than adults, are promised the forgiveness of sins through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit who produces faith. Therefore, by baptism, the mark of the covenant, infants should be received into the Christian church and should be distinguished from the c…

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, Christ established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God's church and set ap…

God added sacraments to the Word of his Gospel, to confirm the promises of the Gospel. For as he once by the rainbow gave assurance to Noah and his posterity that the world would not be destroyed by the flood, so by the sacraments he assures his people that the salvation which he has spoken of is truly present. We acknowledge two sacraments which God has instituted in his Word:…

Baptism was instituted and consecrated by God. The first that baptized was John, who dipped Christ in the water of Jordan. From him it came to the apostles, who also baptized with water. The Lord expressly commanded them to preach the Gospel and to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." And Peter said to the Jews who inquired what they shou…

We believe that there are in the Church Evangelical Mysteries [i.e. Sacraments], and that they are seven. For a less or greater number of the Mysteries we have not in the Church; since any number of the Mysteries other than seven hath no foundation in Scripture, or in the Doctors and Councils of the Church. And these seven are as follows: Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation), th…

We believe Holy Baptism, which was instituted by the Lord, who said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), to be necessary for salvation. For without it none is able to be saved. Baptism confers the remission of original and actual sin. Infants also, since they too are under original sin, and without Baptism are n…

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.

True repentance has two parts: contrition (terrified conscience recognizing sin under God's Law) and faith (which trusts the promise of forgiveness for Christ's sake). Melanchthon rejects the Roman teaching that repentance consists of contrition, confession, and satisfaction, arguing that satisfaction by human works obscures the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. The fruits of …

Sacraments are signs and testimonies of God's will toward us, instituted to awaken and confirm faith. There are properly three sacraments: Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Absolution (though the latter lacks a visible sign). The sacraments are effective not by the mere performance of the rite (ex opere operato) but when received in faith. God uses external signs to offer and con…

The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself — Baptism and the Supper of the Lord — ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.