The "Seal" Explained in Layman's Terms

[Ryan&Amber2013]

You guys have been a great help so far in broadening my Theological understanding; thank you. So I know this question has been addressed already, but I really need more help understanding this in a simple way because we are having our first baby soon, and I need the most clarity I can get.

According to the confession, what exactly is the "seal" doing in baptism? I'm hung up on how to view it because it seems to be guaranteeing regeneration, which we know the confession teaches against. I've got a pretty simple mind so if you can, please explain this in the least complicated way possible. Thank you in advance for the time and patience.


"To be unto him a seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in the newness of life. Which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in His Church until the end of the world."

 

[timfost]

The way I've explained it to my young children is that the sign is something that we see, the seal is the assurance that we feel-- the unspoken communication that the Spirit imparts which assures us of His certain promises.

See Heidelberg 69.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

You seem to be "objectivizing" the concept. That's not quite the Reformed and Presbyterian confessional position.

To be unto him a seal of the covenant

Baptism is a sign and seal unto faith.

God alone knows the moment he seals his elect person by the gift of Holy Spirit's regeneration. None but the elect are ever sealed of God. When a believer considers his visible baptism, when he believes what God says about the meaning and efficacy of baptism for believers, he obtains (efficaciously) what (invisible reality) was prepared for him to grasp.

Simply put, we don't teach that the church's baptism seals, then and there. A believer can look back, and say, "I was baptized of water by the church (then and there), a testament to me (who is here and now believing) that God did seal me--the peculiar historic moment is less of consequence. There is a principial tie between the work of God, and its witness in the world. That is enough.

How can an unbeliever, or a false-believer, have a seal that does not belong to him? If he thinks his visible baptism guarantees regeneration to him, while he hopes in a false Christ, or in no Christ at all, he's deluded.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Reverend Bruce, is baptism only a seal for the elect? If it is only a seal for the elect, I think that makes complete sense. I think this is what I've been hung up on for a while: how someone can be sealed with regeneration and forgiveness of sins if they are a child of the devil. But if baptism only becomes a seal for those who are saved by the Lord, I can surely see it being justified. I hope I am on the right track. Thank you so much.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Faith doesn't instantiate the divine seal. From all eternity, "the Lord knows them that are his," and his seal is set to his elect when "the Spirit blows as he wills." If he willed it, he could set seal at the time of water baptism. When exactly, is his business.

But by faith, in the act of believing to the saving of one's soul, is the real divine seal rendered efficacious (without the faith, what would it be?). Like a diploma reminds a graduate that he really did that work, and really graduated--baptism is there as a witness-sign to the believer that God really does save.

Signs and seals that we actually see minister to our human weakness. They are things for us to grab onto; because sometimes that contact is more important than words alone (as vital as they are) can be.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

So the seal in baptism is only really applied to the elect? Thank you.

 

[timfost]

So the seal in baptism is only really applied to the elect? Thank you.

I think it would be fair to say that if the elements conferred the seal we would be Roman Catholic.

 

[MW]

So the seal in baptism is only really applied to the elect?

The benefits represented by baptism are only really applied to the elect, and that in God's own time. The seal is given to certify the veracity, immutability, and fidelity of the promise of God, and appeals to the recipient to believe in what God has promised. Nothing is sealed which does not really exist. The seal presupposes the existence of and title to the benefits.

It might help to think of a seal on a title deed (merely as an illustration, not that it adequately shows us every way a seal functions). The seal is showing the authenticity and authority of the deed, but it is the deed which shows the title to the benefits. Or perhaps think of the oath which God gave to Abraham as described in Hebrews 6, which served to confirm the immutability of the promise. A sacrament is like a visible oath.

 

[PaulMc]

John Owen's 'Greater Catechism' has some questions and answers helpful to this discussion, and ties in with Matthew's response above.

Chap. XXII
Q1. What are the seals of the New Testament?
A. Sacraments are instituted of Christ to be visible seals and pledges, whereby God in him confirmeth the promises of the covenant to all believers, re-stipulating of them growth in faith and obedience.

Q2. How doth God by these sacraments bestow grace on us?
A. Not by any real essential conveying of spiritual grace by corporeal means, but by the way of promise, obsignation, and covenant, confirming the grace wrought in us by the Word and Spirit.

Chap. XXIII
Q3. To whom doth this sacrament [baptism] belong?
A. Unto all to whom the promise of the covenant is made; that is, to believers, and to their seed.

Q4. How can baptism seal the pardon of all sins to us, all our personal sins following it?
A. Inasmuch as it is a seal of that promise which gives pardon of all to believers.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Thank you, guys. That really helps clarify the seal.