WATTS Baptism and the Hiddenness of God 269
The pastoral observation is simply expressed. When someone is bap-
tized as a believer it is apparent that something other than outer washing
takes place. Of course, they are making a witness to their faith, but it is
equally clear to a practising minister of the gospel that God actually does
something in baptism. This does not necessarily imply an ex opere operato
view of the sacramental efficacy of baptism, but it does steer us away from
any view of baptism as merely an act of testimony. So the question is
begged: what does God do? How can we construe the manner of divine
agency in believers' baptism in such a way as to maintain the free
response of the individual in the light of that action? It is this question
which stubbornly lies at the heart of a theology of the baptism of believers
and which we shall pursue here.
I
Few theologians have written so eloquently and fervently on the theme of
God's immanence in creation than Luther. God is the ever present life who
animates and penetrates all things; he creates, fashions and preserves
creation as the one who is simultaneously within and without, present and
beyond. God is 'an inscrutable being who exists at the same time in every
little seed, whole and entire, and yet also in all and above all and outside
all created things'} Similarly, Luther understands the sovereign power of
God to be operative in history such that the divine will effects the rise and
fall of nations. 'God destroys and puts down the mighty.'^3 So, in nature
and through the contingencies of history, God is sovereign and active. Yetthis simply raises a question concerning the manner of God's presence
with us. We see in nature not only great beauty and wonder, but death and
decay: the pages of history are littered with the cries of innocent victims.
Who is this God and in what ways can we describe his presence with us?
Luther's response is to speak of God's hiddenness: God is present to
and in creation in his hiddenness, his presence masked behind the face of
the tortured victim.^4 Stated so bluntly this might not offer an adequate
theodicy, but a significant point arises here which will concern us later.
For Luther, the concept of the hiddenness of God has nothing to do with- M. Luther, LW, XIX, p. 228.
- Luther in his exposition of the Magnificat, L W, XXI, p. 328.
- For example, the Heidelberg Disputation makes much of the contrasting
theologia gloriae and the theologia crucis alongside the concepts of God's hiddenness
and his being revealed. See LW, XXXI, pp. 37-70.