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Roman Catholic AnswerThe symbols of Baptism: water and the word, are important because they effect what they symbolize:

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

Symbols of the Holy Spirit

694 Water. The symbolism of water signified the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth; just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water; so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As "by one Spirit we were all baptized," so we are also "made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Cor 12:13) Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified (Jn 19:34; 1 Jn 5:8) as its source and welling up in us to eternal life. (Cf. Jn 4:10-14; 7:38; Ex 17:1-6; Isa 55:1; Zech 14:8; 1 Cor 10:4; Rev 21:6; 22:17)

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