Baptism is God’s act of incorporation: binding us as many members into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). Thus, baptism calls us to value the diverse gifts and functions of others in the church, because each contributes to the well-being and growth of the whole body (1 Corinthians 12:14–31).

The queen once dropped off her son at a birthday party, and thereupon reminded him: “Remember, prince: royal sons have royal manners.”

It is incumbent upon us as Christians to live up to our name as those who belong to the royal priesthood, as citizens of the holy nation of the heavenly King (1 Peter 2:9). Baptism can be seen as a kind of “new birth certificate,” serving as solid testimony that we are sealed with the very name of the triune God (Matt. 28:19).

The Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “How is baptism to be improved by us?” (Q&A 167). To be clear, the name granted to us in our baptism needs no improvement whatsoever, for it is the perfect and all-sufficient name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the believer’s appreciation for and appropriation of the saving power of this divine name can and must grow throughout one’s life.

How, then, are we to improve our baptism?

1. We remember the gift that baptism is.

Baptism is a sign and seal of grace bestowed from the risen Lord to His church. Baptism very much marks a “watershed moment” for those who receive it. In this way, it is parallel to the experience of Israel crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground upon her Exodus from Egypt (see 1 Cor. 10:1–2). For the covenant people to forget a deliverance from such deadly peril should be unthinkable. Similarly, to recall our baptism is to grasp its significance: by faith, we are identified with Christ in His death and in His resurrection (Rom. 6:1–4). To remember one’s baptism, then, is one way to be stirred by the assurance:

I am not my own,
but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
(Heidelberg Catechism 1)

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