This sacrament not only ushered the believers into the covenant, but was itself the covenant. By His being baptized by John, Jesus was committed by God to death and resurrection, and now in our Baptism he makes us participants in that same death and resurrection. Jesus is at the same time both object and subject of Baptism, the baptized and the baptizer. The One who commands His church to baptize is Himself baptized into death, and baptizes all Christians into that same death. What is confessed in the Apostles' Creed actually takes place concretely in Baptism.
Baptism is the summary of the Christian faith and the history of salvation.
Scaer strongly emphasizes that dogmatics is intrinsically exegetical in nature and practices this principle throughout the book. Dr. David P. Scaer is Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Perhaps the most prolific confessional Lutheran scholar of his generation, he is the author of numerous books and articles and a frequent commentator in a wide range of periodicals, most especially Concordia Theological Quarterly , of which he is the editor.