John Calvin, the great Reformer of Geneva and Strasbourg, developed an extensive catechism in the mid-16th century for use in training the children and untaught citizens of Geneva in the Christian faith. This Genevan Catechism was written a century before the Westminster Confession and Catechisms and roughly two decades before the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism. Calvin expounds Faith, the Law, Prayer, and the Sacraments in four main sections and 373 questions and answers. You can read a brief introduction to the Genevan Catechism here (or download it as an ebook or read it online).
The following is an excerpt of the Genevan Catechism’s questions on baptism that may be of help and interest in thinking through a Reformed understanding of the significance and efficacy of the sacrament of initiation. --JME
310. What is a Sacrament?
An outward attestation of the grace of God which, by a visible sign, represents spiritual things to imprint the promises of God more firmly in our hearts, and to make us more sure of them.
311. What? Does a visible and natural sign have this power to assure the conscience?
No, not of itself, but in so far as it is ordained of God for this end.
312. Seeing it is the proper office of the Holy Spirit to seal the promises of God in our hearts, how do you attribute this to the Sacraments?
There is a great difference between the one and the other. The Spirit of God in very truth is the only One who can touch and move our hearts, enlighten our minds, and assure our consciences; so that all this ought to be judged as His own work, that praise may be ascribed to Him alone. Nevertheless, the Lord Himself makes use of the Sacraments as inferior instruments according as it seems good to Him, without in any way detracting from the power of the Holy Spirit.
313. You think, then, that the efficacy of the Sacraments does not consist in the outward element, but proceeds entirely from the Spirit of God?
Yes; for the Lord is pleased to work by these instruments which He has instituted: without detracting from His own power.
314. And what moves God to do that?
For the alleviation of our weaknesses. If we were spiritual by nature, like the angels, we could behold God and His graces. But as we are bound up with our bodies, it is needful for us that God should make use of figures to represent to us spiritual and heavenly things, for otherwise we could not comprehend them. At the same time, it is expedient for us to have all our senses exercised in His Holy promises, in order to confirm us in them.
315. Since God has introduced the Sacraments to meet our need, it would be arrogance and presumption to think that we could dispense with them.
Certainly: hence he who voluntarily abstains from using them thinks that he has no need of them, condemns Jesus Christ, rejects His grace, and quenches His Holy Spirit.
316. But what assurance of grace can the Sacraments give, seeing that good and bad both receive them?
Although the unbelievers and the wicked make of none effect the grace offered them through the Sacraments, yet it does not follow that the proper nature of the Sacraments is also made of non effect.
317. How, then, and when do the Sacraments produce this effect?
When we receive them in faith, seeking Jesus Christ alone and His grace in them.
318. Why do you say that we must seek Jesus Christ in them?
I mean that we are not to be taken up with the earthly sign so as to seek our salvation in it, nor are we to imagine that it has a peculiar power enclosed within it. On the contrary, we are to employ the sign as a help, to lead us directly to the Lord Jesus, that we may find in Him our salvation and all our well-being.
319. Seeing that faith is required, why do you say that they are given to confirm us in faith, to assure us of the promises of God?
It is not sufficient for faith once to be generated in us. It must be nourished and sustained, that it may grow day by day and be increased within us. To nourish, strengthen, and increase it, God gives us the Sacraments. This is what Paul indicates when he says that they are used to seal the promises of God in our hearts (Rom. 4:11).
320. But is it not a sign of unbelief when the promises of God are not firm enough for us, without support?
It is a sign of the smallness and weakness of faith, and such is indeed the faith of the children of God, who do not, however, cease to be faithful, although their faith is still imperfect. As long as we live in this world some elements of unfaithfulness remain in our flesh, and therefore we must always advance and grow in faith.
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324. That the meaning may be more clear to us, let us treat of them separately. First, what is the meaning of Baptism?
It consists of two parts. The Lord represents to us in it, first, the forgiveness of our sins (Eph. 5:26, 27) and, secondly, our regeneration or spiritual renewal (Rom. 6:4).
325. What resemblance has water with these things in order to represent them?
The forgiveness of sins is a kind of washing, by which our souls are cleansed from their defilements, just as the stains of the body are washed away by water.
326. What about the other part?
The beginning of our regeneration and its end is our becoming new creatures, through the Spirit of God. Therefore the water is poured on the head as a sign of death, but in such a way that our resurrection is also represented, for instead of being drowned in water, what happens to us is only for a moment.
327. You do not mean that the water is a washing of the soul.
By no means, for that pertains to the blood of Christ alone, which was shed in order to wipe away all our stains and render us pure and unpolluted before God (I John 1:7; I Peter 1:19). This is fulfilled in us when our consciences are sprinkled by the Holy Spirit. But by the Sacrament that is sealed to us.
328. Do you think that the water is only a figure to us?
It is such a figure that the reality is conjoined with it, for God does not promise us anything in vain. Accordingly it is certain that in Baptism the forgiveness of sins is offered to us and we receive it.
329. Is this grace fulfilled indiscriminately in all?
No, for some make it of no effect by their perversity. Nevertheless, the Sacrament loses nothing of its nature, although none but believers feel its efficacy.
330. From what does regeneration get its power?
From the death and resurrection of Christ. His death has had this effect, that through it our old Adam is crucified, and our evil nature is, as it were, buried, so that it no longer has the strength to rule over us. And the renewal of our life, in obedience to the righteousness of God, derives from the resurrection of Christ.
331. How is this grace applied to us in Baptism?
In it we are clothed with Jesus Christ, and receive His Spirit, provided that we do not make ourselves unworthy of the promises given to us in it.
332. What is the proper use of Baptism on our part?
It consists in faith and in repentance. That is, assurance that we have our spiritual purity in Christ, and in feeling within us, and declaring to our neighbours by our works, that His Spirit dwells in us to mortify our natural desires and bring us to follow the Will of God.
333. If this is required, how is it that we baptize infants?
It is not said that faith and repentance should always precede the reception of the Sacrament, but they are only required from those who are capable of them. It is sufficient, then, if infants produce and manifest the fruit of their Baptism after they come to the age of discretion.
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Related Links -- Calvin's Institutes: On Baptism (Feb. 2021)
