One of the debates that the Church has had about this ordinance (and there have been many) is the debate over whether this is a converting ordinance. And the debate itself reveals the problem we have in formulating out theological opinions when it comes to the matter of saving grace. We want a tame God. We want an obedient God, who always does the same thing every time. But He will not. He does not cooperate with this.
Our Lord taught us that the Holy Spirit of God is like a wind that blows. When He moves, we cannot tell where He came from or where He is going. We cannot package Him, and then open the package up whenever we want someone to get saved.
So is it a converting ordinance? Well, it is when someone is converted. Why would someone receive baptism, grow up in the Church, and then, one day, it just makes sense? The same thing happens when a man has heard a thousand sermons, and yes, I know, I’ve heard it before, and then, one day, the lights come on. It suddenly turns into good, glorious sense.
But we are not supposed to take the sacraments of God and try to use them as though they were techniques of ours. These have no handles on them, we cannot manipulate them. Whenever we try, all we get are vain superstitions.
Salvation is declared to the world. How many different ways can that salvation arrive? When the water’s of Noah’s flood covered the earth, in how many different ways did the water arrive? It filled some gullies, carved great canyons and filled them, it covered mountain ranges, it rushed through great forests, washing the trees away. It was not an event to be marketed. It is the same here.
God’s grace comes to the world. We preach Christ crucified every time we are privileged to sit here. And that proclamation is what God uses, together with all His other means of grace, to bring salvation.