We believe that baptism is a gift from God. It is something God gives to us. St. Peter says that it is the mark of a good conscience toward God—that we are saved through the resurrection of Jesus. So when we are unsure, when we feel far from God and our conscience is a wreck, we can remember our baptism in Christ and what He promised through our faith in Him.

Baptism isn’t something we do for God, but something God has given to us as an assurance that we are marked as His through baptism.

God saves.

The water doesn’t save—but God does.

It is not the water, indeed, that does these things,

but the Word of God that is in and with the water,

and faith which trusts such Word of God in the water.

For without the Word of God, the water is simple water and no baptism.

But with the Word of God, it is a baptism—

that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost.

As Saint Paul says in Titus, chapter 3:

“By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,

which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;

that, being justified by His grace,

we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

This is a faithful saying.