Baptism and faith

Here's Luther at his polemical best from the anti-Anabaptist treatise Concerning Rebaptism:

We are baptized not because we are certain of our faith but because it is the command and will of God. For even if I were never certain any more of faith, I still am certain of the command of God, that God has bidden to baptize, for this he has made known throughout the world. In this I cannot err, for God’s command cannot deceive. But of my faith he has never said anything to anyone, nor issued an order or command concerning it.

True, one should add faith to baptism. But we are not to base baptism on faith. There is quite a difference between having faith, on the one hand, and depending on one’s faith and making baptism depend on faith, on the other. Whoever allows himself to be baptized on the strength of his faith, is not only uncertain, but also an idolater who denies Christ. For he trusts in and builds on something of his own, namely, a gift which he has from God, and not on God’s Word alone. So another may build on and trust in his strength, wealth, power, wisdom, holiness, which are also gifts given him by God. But a baptism on the Word and command of God even when faith is not present is still a correct and certain baptism if it takes place as God commanded. Granted, it is not of benefit to the baptized one who is without faith, because of his lack of faith, but baptism is not thereby incorrect, uncertain, or of no meaning.

I had heard this quoted before, and am glad to be able to post it here. The Reformed Reader has a longer excerpt and some additional commentary and context. Luther's remarkably God-centered view of baptism articulated here is contra the majority view among evangelicals today, but I think he's on the right track. Especially to the extent he's arguing against making baptism contingent on the subjective experience of faith. Which, of course, rules out infant baptism.