Kimedoncius:

1) But as once Christ died and death has no more power over him: so we are once baptized into the death of Christ, by the laver of regeneration, and renewing of the Spirit and it is impossible for us, if we fall by it renewed again unto repentance. Jacob Kimedoncius, The Redemption of Mankind: Three Books: Wherein the Controversy of the Universality of the Redemption and Grace by Christ, and his Death for All Men, is Largely Handled, trans., by Hugh Ince, (London: Imprinted by Felix Kingston, 1598), 113-114.

2) Surely as for us, we have learned out of the divine Scriptures, and do constantly teach, that the use of sacred Baptism tends to this end and that principally, that it may seal and confirm unto us the promise of grace and eternal life. For take away the promise of grace from baptism, and thou shall take away the nature of a Sacrament, because according to the usual definitions of Augustine: “A sacrament is a visible form of invisible grace.” Hereupon are those promises: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved,” Mar 16” And in the words of Peter, Act. 2. “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Also, 1 Pet 3. “Baptism saves us.” And Tit. 3. “Of his mercy he saves us through the laver of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and such like, which are read in the Scriptures of the virtue of Baptism. Which things Basil in his exhortations to Baptism wittily seems to comprehend. “Baptism,” (says he) “is the releasing of captives and debt, the death of sin, the renewing of the mind, the shining garment, the way of heaven, the getting of the kingdom of heaven, and the grace of adoption. For holy Baptism is the seal of so many things to the faithful, as the Apostle speaks of Circumcision, that it was given to Abraham for a seal of the righteousness of faith, teaching that Circumcision was not given for righteousness, but for a seal of righteousness, which is by faith. And I say, (to the faithful) because neither the word nor Baptism promises anything or profits the ungodly and unbelievers. For it is a word of promise: “He that believes and his baptized, shall be saved: but he that believes not shall be damned,” whether baptized or not. And Ephes. 5. We read that the church is sanctified of Christ the bridegroom, and washed in the fountain of water in the word. Why in the word? Because even in the water the word cleanses and not the water itself, as Augustine Tract.80. upon John expounds. And the same man adds: “Whence comes so great force of water, that it touches the body and washes the heart, but by the word which does it? And that not because it is spoken, but because it is believed.” The same man upon the 77 Psalm, writes thus of the Jews: “Whereas the Sacraments were common to all, grace was not common, which is the virtue of the Sacraments. So now also the laver of regeneration is common to all that are baptized, but grace itself, whereby the members of Christ with their head are regenerated, is not common to all.” Again, lib. 5. cont. Donatist. cap. 24. he says that “Baptism may be without the Spirit: and that some of those that are baptized do put on Christ while they are receiving the Sacrament: others by continuing in holiness of life: That is common to good and eveil, but this is the proper to the good and godly…

Likewise David Chytreus, Tract. De bapt. printed at Wittenberg 1580, says, “That ministers do Baptize with water, pronounce the word, and give water, but Christ Baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and regenerates the believers.” Again, “many being washed in water, and not bringing to Baptism true faith, are Baptized not with the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but with water only, as Simon Magus. Jacob Kimedoncius, The Redemption of Mankind: Three Books: Wherein the Controversy of the Universality of the Redemption and Grace by Christ, and his Death for All Men, is Largely Handled, trans., by Hugh Ince, (London: Imprinted by Felix Kingston, 1598), 161-163, and 164.

Ursinus:

Q73: Why then does the Holy Ghost call Baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?

A73: God speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby that just as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token He may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.

Commentary:

There are three reasons which may be assigned why the Scriptures thus speak, interchanging the names of the signs, aid the things signified. The first is on account of the analogy which there is between the sign, and the thing signified. The thing signified is according to its own nature, such as the sign is according to its nature, the opposite of which is also true for as water which is the sign, washes away the filthiness of the body, so the blood and Spirit of Christ, which are the things signified, wash away the pollution of the soul: and as the minister applies the sign outwardly, so God by virtue of his Spirit applies inwardly the thing signified to all those who receive the sign with true faith. Secondly, the Holy Ghost thus speaks for the confirmation of our faith through the use of the signs: for the signs used in the sacraments testify the will of God to us on account of the promise annexed thereto: ‘He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.” But why does the Holy Ghost thus speak for the confirmation of our faith? Because in the proper use of the sacraments the exhibition and reception of the signs, and things signified, are inseparably connected. And hence the Holy Ghost interchanges the terms, attributing what belongs to the thing signified to the sign, and what belongs to the sign to the thing, to teach us what he gives, and to assure us that he does really give it. The third reason, therefore, why such language is employed is because the exhibition of the things signified, is inseparably connected with the signs used in the sacraments. Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, p 365.

Q74: Are infants also to be baptized?
Q74: Yes, for since they, as well as their parents, belong to the covenant and people of God, and through the blood of Christ both redemption from sin and the Holy Ghost, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to their parents, they are also by Baptism, as a sign of the covenant, to be ingrafted into the Christian Church, and distinguished from the children of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, in place of which in the New Testament Baptism is appointed.

Commentary:

2. The first end of baptism instituted by God is, that he might thereby declare and testify to us, that he cleanses those who are baptized by his blood and Spirit from all their sins, and therefore engrafts them into the body of Christ and makes them partakers of all his benefits. 2. That baptism might be a solemn reception or initiation of every one into the visible church, and a mark by which the church might be known from all other religions. 3. That it might be a public and solemn profession of our Faith in Christ, and of our obligation to faith and obedience to him. 4. That it might be an admonition of our burial in afflictions, and of our rising out of them and deliverance from them.

3. Baptism has the power to declare or seal according to the command of God, and the promise which Christ has joined to it in its lawful use; for Christ baptizes us by the hand of his ministers, just as he speaks through them.

4. There is, therefore, in baptism a double water; the one external and visible, which is elementary; the other internal, invisible and heavenly, which is the blood and Spirit of Christ. There is, also, a double washing in baptism; the one external, visible, and signifying, viz: the sprinkling and pouring of water, which is perceptible by the members and senses of the body; the other is internal, invisible, and signified, viz: the remission of sins on account of the blood of Christ shed for us, and our regeneration by the Holy Spirit and engrafting into his body, which is spiritual, and perceived only by faith and the Spirit. Lastly, there is a double dispenser of baptism: the one an external dispenser of the external, which is the minister of the church, baptizing us by his hand with water; the other an internal dispenser of the internal, which is Christ himself, baptizing us with his blood and Spirit.

5. Yet the water is not changed into the Flood or Spirit of Christ, nor is the blood of Christ present in the water, or in the same place with the mater. Nor are the bodies of those who are baptized washed with this visibly; nor is the Holy Spirit, by his substance or virtue, more in this water than elsewhere; but he works in the hearts of those who are baptized in the lawful use of baptism, and sprinkles and washes them spiritually by the blood of Christ, whilst he uses this external symbol as a means, and as a visible word or promise to stir up and confirm the faith of those who are baptized.

6. When baptism is, therefore, said to be the laver or washing of regeneration, to save us, or to wash away sins, it is meant that the external baptism is a sign of the internal, that is, of regeneration, salvation and of spiritual absolution; and this internal baptism is said to be joined with that which is external, in the right and proper use of it.

7. Yet sin is so washed away in baptism, that we are delivered from exposure to divine wrath and from the condemnation of everlasting punishment, whilst the Holy Ghost commences in us the work of regeneration and conformity wit11 God. Remissions of sins, however, continue to the end of life.

8. All, and only those who are renewed or being renewed, receive baptism lawfully, being baptized for those ends for which Christ instituted this sacrament. Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, pp., 372-373.

Polanus:

Thus far concerning the of the minister administering baptism: now concerning the action of a faithful man that is baptized.

The faithful that is baptized receives the outward baptism of water, that thee may be signified and sealed up unto him, that he is as assuredly washed from his sins, by the blood and Spirit of Christ, as his body is certainly sprinkled & washed with water. Reve. 7:14. Ezech. 36:25.

To be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ, is to be made partakers of the benefits of the covenant of grace, that is to say, to be reconciled, justified, regenerated, adopted by God, to be his son, to be endued with the freedom of the sons of God, and so forth.

The outward man feels the force of the water: but the inward man feels the powerful working of the blood and Spirit of Christ.

Even infidels are washed with water: but believers only with the blood and the Spirit of Christ.

Therefore not all that are baptized receive remission of sins and regeneration, but the believers only.

To the receiving of baptism, there must be adjoined thanksgiving, which is presently performed by him that is baptized, if he be an adult, or of the years of discretion, or by the witness of his stead, if he be an infant: who yet notwithstanding afterwards when he shall come to years of discretion ought all his life be thankful to God for this benefit.

The peculiar ends of Baptism are.
1. That it may be a seal unto us, of our receiving into the covenant of grace, and fellowship with Christ and the Church, Act. 2:29. Gal. 3:27. 1 Cor 12:13. Therefore Augustine calls baptism, the kingly character or mark, also the character or badge of Christ our Emperor: because that by baptism, as it were by a certain note, Christians are discerned from the other sects, and drawn to acknowledge Christ for their king and Emperor.

2. That by the outward washing, it might represent and confirm unto us the inward cleansing of our souls, which stand in the justification and regeneration, Ephes. 5.26. wherefore baptism does confirm unto every one of us, but that all our sins, original and actual, are forgiven us, for the death of Christ, Act. 2:38. and 22:26. Rom. 6:3. and also that we are clothed with his righteousness, Gal. 3:27. and that we are regenerated by the Holy Ghost, Tit. 3:5. And in the same sense is it said, that baptism saves us, 1 Pet. 3:21. because it seals unto us eternal salvation.

3. To put us in mind of repentance, and of changing our life to the better, Matt. 3:11.

4. That thereby we might be sealed to the certain hope of the resurrection, and of blessed and eternal life.

Now not only those that are of years of discretion, and profess the faith in Christ are to be baptized: but also infants of Christians.

1. Because the very infants are comprehended in the covenant of the grace of God. 1 Cor. 7:14. And therefore both the faith of the parents themselves, and of the Church is confirmed by this sign, that God will be the God and Saviour, as of the faithful parents themselves, so of their seed and children: which promise of his, he at his good time performs in the elect. Rom. 8:29, 30. Tit. 3:5.
2. Because to them also belongs the promise of forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ.
3. Because they belong to the Church of God.
4. Because they are redeemed by the blood of Christ.
5. Because to them is promised the Holy Spirit.
6. Because they are to be discerned from the children of infidels.
7. Because in the Old Testament infants were to be circumcised.

Therefore every of the faithful one should be but once baptized, as the Israelites were but once circumcised, because we are but once only born. And as circumcision was the nativity or first beginning of Judaism, so baptism is the first beginning of Christianity.

And though we but once baptized, yet is baptism unto us a perpetual sacrament, of the washing from sin, and of our regeneration, that is to say, as baptism does not only evacuate and wash away original sin, but also all other sins, past and present. For they that are baptized, are baptized into Christ’s death. Now Christ’s death is available, not only to wash away those sins, that go before baptism, but those also which in our whole life follow baptism, so that we have not need, to devise a new sacrament, and second table. But does as the Apostle does, who calls the Galatians back to the grace of baptism, Gal. 3:27. So many as are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

In baptism original sin is washed away and taken away, specially as concerning the guilt, that is to say, the fault and the punishment, there remaining notwithstanding the vitiation, and the sickness, that is to say, wicked lust and inclination to evil: and that to this end, we might all our life long, fight against sin, and the devil, the author of sin, we in the meanwhile continually calling upon God, and constantly cleaving unto him.

Amandus Polanus, The Substance of Christian Religion, (London: Arn. Hatfield, 1600), 327-332.

Calvin:

1) Here, indeed, they disclose their impiety, not only more clearly, but also more grossly. The device of opus operatum is recent, and was coined by illiterate monks, who had never learned anything of the nature of Sacraments. For in Sacraments God alone properly acts; men bring nothing of their own, but approach to receive the grace offered to them. Thus, in Baptism, God, washes us by the blood of his Son, and regenerates us by this Spirit; in the Supper he feeds us with the flesh and blood of Christ. What part of the work can man claim, without blasphemy, while the whole appears to be of grace? The fact of the administration being committed to men, derogates no more from the operation of God than the hand does from the artificer, since God alone acts by them, and does the whole. Calvin, Selected Works, vol, 3, p., 176.

2) Then the Scripture finds occasion for exhortation in all the benefits of God that it lists for us, and in the individual parts of our salvation. Ever since God revealed himself Father to us, we must prove our ungratefulness to him if we did not in turn show ourselves his sons [Malachi 1:6; Ephesians 5:1; 1 John 3:1]. Ever since Christ cleansed us with the washing of his blood, and imparted this cleansing through baptism, it would be unfitting to befoul ourselves with new pollutions [Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 10:10; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Peter 1:15,19]. Ever since he engrafted us into his body, we must take especial care not to disfigure ourselves, who are his members, with any spot or blemish [Ephesians 5:23-33; 1 Corinthians 6:15; John 15:3-6]. Calvin, Institutes 3.6.3.

3) Washing it with the washing of water. Having mentioned the inward and hidden sanctification, he now adds the outward symbol, by which it is visibly confirmed; as if he had said, that a pledge of that sanctification is held out to us by baptism. Here it is necessary to guard against unsound interpretation, lest the wicked superstition of men, as has frequently happened, change a sacrament into an idol. When Paul says that we are washed by baptism, his meaning is, that God employs it for declaring to us that we are washed, and at the same time performs what it represents. If the truth–or, which is the same thing, the exhibition of the truth–were not connected with baptism, it would be improper to say that baptism is the washing of the soul. At the same time, we must beware of ascribing to the sign, or to the minister, what belongs to God alone. We must not imagine that washing is performed by the minister, or that water cleanses the pollutions of the soul, which nothing but the blood of Christ can accomplish. In short, we must beware of giving any portion of our confidence to the element or to man; for the true and proper use of the sacrament is to lead us directly to Christ, and to place all our dependence upon him. Calvin, Commentary, Ephesians 5:26.

4) Wherefore are we baptized, but to be washed from all our spots, that we may be pure and clean before God, that we may be members of Jesus Christ, that we may be clothed in his righteousness, & (to be short) that we may be renewed by the Holy Ghost? Now, lies it in the mortal man that baptizes us, to give us all these things? No, if we consider him but as a man in his own peculiar person. But sith [since] it is God’s will that the ministers of his word should baptize in his name: baptism must needs have that virtue notwithstanding that it be delivered by the hand of a man. Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy, Sermon 16, Deut 3:12-22, p., 93.

5) Again, we see that God is contented with few ceremonies. For it is not his will that we should have any more decking, lights, perfumes, cakes, sacrificings of beasts, nor other such things: but his will is that in our baptism we should have such assurance of our washing and cleansing by the grace that is purchased for us in our Lord Jesus Christ, as should continue with us for ever. Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy, Sermon 82, Deut 12:8-14, p., 505.

6) We have at this day the Sacraments. Indeed we have not so great a multitude, as the fathers had, for it were more than we need for us, because we have the substance of all the old shadows our Lord Jesus Christ. But yet for all that, God does still at this day apply himself to our rudeness by his sacraments. In the water of baptism we have a testimony that we be washed and made clean, and that we be renewed by the Holy Spirit. Now then we must not muse upon the water; but when we see the visible sign, we must rise aloft, and understand, that God accomplishes the thing in truth, which is signified unto us by the visible Sacrament. Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy, Sermon 174, Deut 30:9-14, p., 1081.