Baptism and original sin
My question is about original sin and baptism: In looking over sections of the Book of Concord, I understand Lutherans oppose the Catholic Church’s teaching of concupiscence. As a lifelong Lutheran I have always believed that in Baptism all our sins have been forgiven and that in faith with a contrite heart we continuously live in our baptism dying daily to sin and we believe forgiveness of sin (reconciliation) is an extension of baptism. My curiosity got to me when I came across the concept of concupiscence as quoted in the Book of Concord so I had to look it up from a Catholic perspective. Reflecting on this, it brings up a question that sort of troubles me: why don’t we as Lutherans believe that original sin, like the sins of omission and commission, can be removed through the waters of baptism? Lutherans seem to use the term “sinful nature” interchangeably with “original sin” and I understand this can be seen as a loss of grace of original holiness which results in man being subject to the law of death as a result of Adam’s fall. From what I have always understood (and from the Lutheran perspective) in this life we who die in the Lord can never shed our old Adam, sinful nature, or original sin until we depart from this world. For me, thinking about baptism as a covenant, it feels like our confessions would then imply original sin (the devil who had a hand in this original curse) still clings to us through these waters and never gets fully washed off at the time we go through the waters which in turn leaves me unsettled feeling. From a confessional Lutheran standpoint, could you please explain? In particular, through the lens of what this means at the time of baptism?
The Roman Catholic Church errs in a couple of directions when it comes to its teaching of baptism. On the one hand, it teaches that baptism offers a limited forgiveness of sins in that it forgives only sins committed before baptism; sins committed after baptism are dealt with by means of some of their other sacraments, including penance. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism removes original sin to the degree that what remains (concupiscence) is not sinful.
Lutherans believe and teach that baptism forgives the guilt of original sin, but the sinful nature that remains is real sin. As you noted, the sinful nature is part of us throughout this earthly life and continually wars with the new self (Romans 7:7-25).
Baptism does free us from the power of the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15). Still, the devil seeks to attack us and rob us of our saving faith (1 Peter 5:8). Baptism is a daily reminder that we are God’s children (1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 3:26-27).
When it comes to the importance of baptism, Article II of the Augsburg Confession states: “Also they [our churches] teach that since the fall of Adam, all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with concupiscence; and that this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again through Baptism and the Holy Ghost.” This is what we believe and teach on the basis of Scripture.