Baptism and the world (Leithart)

“Baptism is not a merely social event because there is no such thing as a ‘merely social’ event. God is always involved in every act and movement of the creation, and the universe teems with other spiritual beings, beneficent and malevolent, that are also active. The world is not a ‘merely social’ reality because it is dominated by principalities and powers and controlled by sin and death (which are nearly personified in some parts of Paul’s letters). It takes a divine act—a series of divine acts—to extract someone from the world and then plant him in the body of Christ. Baptism is one of those divine acts.”

—Peter Leithart, The Baptized Body, p. 80