Our would-be "wise spirits" assert that faith alone saves, and that works and outward things do nothing. We answer, "It is true, indeed, that nothing in us is of any use but faith, as we shall hear still further." But these blind guides are unwilling to see this: faith must have something that it believes, that is, of which it takes hold and upon which it stands and rests. So faith clings to the water and believes in Baptism, there is pure salvation and life. This is not through the water (as we have stated well enough), but through the fact that it is embodied in God's Word and institution, and that God's name abides in it. Now, if I believe this, what else is it than believing in God as the One who has given and planted His Word into this ordinance and offers to us this outward thing by which we may gain such a treasure?
~BOC, LC, IV, 28-29
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