First of all we will look into the passages that talks about baptism and then go into some of the important details.
- God’s counsel: Luke 7:29,30
- It is God who appointed John to baptize: John. 1:6,33
- The commandment of Christ: Mathew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16
- Jesus received baptism: Mathew 3:13, 16
- A foundational doctrine of the Church: Acts 2:38
- There is even no need for a gap between repentance and baptism if the proper teaching is received: Acts 8:12,13; 35-40; 10:47; 16:14-33; 19:5
- Meaning of baptism: Romans 6:1-4; Colossians 2:12; I Peter 3:21, Mathew 3:15;
- It is the outward expression of an inward change Romans 10:9
- A pleading for a good conscience: Peter 3:21
- To join Christ and to put on Christ Rom 6:3; Galatians 3:27
- Those who are baptized are to be filled with the Holy Spirit Acts 2:38; 19:5-7; 8:12-18.
- They are to be separated and they should have fellowship with those who obeyed the Lord: Acts 2:41;42
What baptism is not
Baptism is not administered as a means to salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. It is on the ground of the shed blood of Christ, that all our sins are forgiven. Some people on the basis of Mark 16:16 administer baptism as a means to salvation. But Jesus here is talking about the Kingdom age and not the Church age.
Even after being born in a family a person can live a life that has nothing to do with the family. He may chose to go ahead without identifying with the family, without making it known to the world that he is a son of the particular family. Baptism is the outward expression; a public professing of a person that he/she is born in the family of God. Baptism symbolizes that those who take it are dead to sin, buried and resurrected with Christ
Baptism makes a person to take sides. You cannot be on the side of two opposing parties in a courtroom. A person gives his witness for the benefit of one party in court. Baptism is a witness to the world that we take a definite side with the Lord forsaking the world and Satan.
The word baptism itself comes from the word baptizo which means to plunge, dip, immerse something or someone in water. This is the commonly recognized and standard meaning of the ancient Greek literature both inside and outside of the Bible. It is to be noted that there is an amazing and irrefutable consensus among New Testament scholars regarding the meaning of the word used in the originals.
We must also note that if any of the New Testament writers wanted to indicate that people were sprinkled with water, a perfectly good Greek word “rantizo” was readily available to the writers. But neither the Holy Spirit allowed them, nor did they disobey the holy inspiration. If that was the case who brought the practice of sprinkling. We will discuss that later. Notice the following: –
Mark 1:5 went into the river. (Not beside, by or near)
Mark 1:10 came out of the water
John 3:23 There was much water in Aenon
Acts 8:36 ff. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch went down into the water
Rom 6:3-4 and Col 2:12- Buried with him and raised/resurrected with him
However hard a person tries, there is no satisfactory explanation for the Biblical texts other than that baptism be by immersion. The sure meaning of the word used in the bible is with a purpose. God’s word cannot be explained away according to our convenience.
Who should be baptized?
Those who have themselves believed or to be more precise, those who have given reasonable evidence of believing in Christ should be baptized.
Acts 2:41 Those who received/accepted his word were baptized.
Acts 8:12 When they believed they were baptized.
Acts 16:14-15 Lord opened Lydia’s heart and then she got baptized.
Since baptism is an outward sign or expression of an inward regeneration that happens by faith and willful confession
Some ecclesiastical and historical documents from Episcopal churches that supports baptism.
1. ‘Hudaya canon’
Page 24-28: Baptism should be given to someone who has confessed his or her faith. It is to be given in a river or stream that has pure and running water. All ornaments should be removed at the time of baptism.
2. The Roman Catholic Church
Until the 13th century, Baptism was by immersion given to those who believed. . Also refer P.O.C publication N0. 9 book 6, page 31: – Baptism should be given to Disciples of Christ by immersion.
Brenner says “until the thirteenth century baptism was given by immersion, but in AD1311 at the council of Ravana although there was stiff opposition the council decided to give permission to clergy to perform baptism according to their convenience”. Some churches have continued this unbiblical practice until today.
3. Anglican Church
Archbishop Tilletson and Dr. Witby of Anglican Church has strongly recommended that since the only biblical practice of baptism was baptism given to believers through immersion and that has been the method followed by the Christian church until thirteenth century, churches should come back to that true pattern of baptism.
4. Mar Thoma Church.
A Study Book for First Communicants by Yuhanon Marthoma Metrapolitan:
p. 56ff There are no direct and specific verses that support infant baptism. In the book of Acts and epistles only those who heard and believed the gospel were baptized. The history of the church also teaches the same.
The big question now is that what is preventing these churches from the biblical and apostolic teaching of true baptism? The answer is any one’s guess. To admit something that has become the practice of any church for long as a mistake is the most difficult thing to do. However all must admit that to accept a mistake as a mistake and correct it is the only way to spiritual blessing and God’s approval. Let us hope that someday someone who has the power to make his voice heard loud and clear will show the guts to stand for the truth.
Remember: the five-M’s
Meaning, Motive, Matter, Method, Maturity
Start Right: Believer’s Baptism
Baptism is the first step every believer should take in his or her walk with Christ.
Scripture Passage: Acts 8:35-39
In a race, how you end up has a lot to do with how you begin. If you begin strong, you have a much better chance of winning. The same is true in education – learning advanced things, as an adult is much easier if you learned the basics as a child did. Many business people have learned the importance of getting their business off to a strong start. And what is true in those areas is also true of your Christian life. If you get off to a strong start by obeying what the Bible tells you to do, you will find it much easier to grow strong in your walk with Christ.
In the early church the Lord took a preacher, Philip, and moved him into a unique evangelistic effort in Samaria. Philip saw a man who was riding a chariot and reading from the prophet Isaiah. That man had great authority. He was the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, and he had recently been to the city of Jerusalem to seek the truth of God. So the Holy Spirit nudged Philip to talk with that Ethiopian eunuch.
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth,” the Ethiopian said out loud, reading from Isaiah 53. “In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth” (vv. 32-33). As Philip heard these words, he asked the Ethiopian, “Do you know what those words mean?” Then he began to explain the gospel to that religious seeker:
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believe with all thine heart, thou may. And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing (vv. 35-39).
That’s a great passage of Scripture. Philip preached unto him Jesus. Not denominationalism, not empowerment, not politics, and not economics. He preached unto him Jesus, and as soon as that man believed, Philip baptized him. Many people misunderstand baptism. Some act as though, since baptism doesn’t save us, it isn’t important. Other people make the mistake of saying, “If you don’t get baptized, you’ll never go to heaven.” Baptism isn’t necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience. Obedience is necessary if you are going to experience joy and growth and fruitfulness in the Christian life. Believers dare not minimize what the Bible so emphasizes.
Jesus began His public ministry by being baptized, and He concluded His public ministry by commanding His disciples to baptize others. When our Lord was baptized, He identified Himself with us. When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with Him. There are some Christians who have never been baptized, but I think they need to be as a sign of their commitment to obedience. I don’t want to make this a lesson on what Baptists teach about baptism, because that has little to do with the topic. What’s important is what the Bible has to say about baptism, and that we agree to follow the example of Scripture.
The Biblical Method of Baptism
As we read the account in Acts 8, there are several facts about baptism that are clear. First, it takes water to baptize someone. Second, the person is to be baptized if they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Third, baptism is the act of immersing someone in water. The word in Greek, “baptidzo,” means, “to immerse in water.” When the Ethiopian asks, “What hinders me to be baptized?”, we could also translate that, “What hinders me from being immersed?” The Bible says they both went down into the water, so it was a big enough body of water for two men to wade into, and the one immersed the other.
That method wasn’t incidental. When we read about the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1:9, we find out the Lord was baptized in the same way: “And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.” Jordan refers to the Jordan River, so Jesus went down into the Jordan River to be immersed. He wasn’t baptized near the Jordan, or with water from the Jordan, but actually into the Jordan. The next verse reads, “and straightway coming up out of the water . . .” Now, if He came up out of the water, He had to have been down in the water. Jesus was baptized by immersion.
It’s important to note that Jesus wasn’t baptized by immersion just because it was convenient. As a matter of fact, it was downright inconvenient. It was about a sixty-mile trip, one way. But He went to the Jordan because that’s where the water was, and it takes a lot of water to immerse someone. John 3:23 notes that John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon near Salim “because there was much water there.” Now if John had wanted to sprinkle people, he could have baptized everybody in Jerusalem with a fifty-five gallon tank of water. But John had to find a place that had plenty of water, because it takes a lot of water to immerse someone.
Hear the story of a pastor –“When I was a young pastor, we once scheduled a baptismal service in another church building that had a baptistry. But they forgot to fill it up for us! People were waiting to be baptized, and it would have taken hours to fill that baptismal fount. So we called the fire department, and they came with a pumper and–in no time–filled that baptistry. To get enough water to sprinkle would have been very easy but I don’t believe it would have been Biblical”.
The word baptize means immersion, so when we baptize we need to immerse the person. Actually, it is an untranslated word in the King James Version. In 1611, when old King James of England was going to have the Bible translated from Greek into English, the scholars he hired came to the Greek word baptizo. Unfortunately, King James didn’t believe in baptism by immersion, because the tradition in his day was to sprinkle people with water. So those scholars, in order to save the king embarrassment, decided not to translate the word.They just used the Greek word because they didn’t have the courage to translate it. But any Greek scholar can tell you the word means “to immerse.” Immersion was practiced in the early Christian church, and if you visit the ancient cathedrals of Europe built before the thirteenth century, you’ll find they all have baptistries. The method of baptism is important, because the method is tied to the meaning. Therefore, if you change the method, you change the meaning.
The Meaning of Baptism
Baptism speaks of what God did for you when He saved you. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” This is the key to understanding baptism.
When we are saved, we die to sin. We die to the old way of life. God forbids that we who have been saved should continue to live sinful lives. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). Christian, this is your biography. This passage describes the past, the present, and the future of every Christian.
The Christian’s past
Your past is in verse 4: You have been buried with Jesus Christ by baptism. When you are baptized, you are buried under the water. This is a visual symbol of your old life dying and being buried. It also connects you with Christ’s death 2000 years ago. He took your sin, carried it to the cross, suffered and died for you, bearing your sins in His body. He paid your sin debt in full. When He died, you died with Him because of your faith in Him. Your old self was crucified with Christ that your body of sin might be destroyed and you should no longer serve sin. Your baptism is a funeral of your old self. You bury that old self; it’s in the grave of God’s forgetfulness. Your sin is gone; you no longer have to be haunted by the ghost of guilt. Baptism is a visual picture of your old self going into the grave.
The Christian’s Present
Paul tells us in Romans 6 that Christ was raised from the dead, so we should walk in the newness of life. That’s the present reality for the Christian. Jesus didn’t stay in that grave, He arose. And, you didn’t stay in that grave; you came up out of the water a new person. You now walk in a new life. The old has gone, the new has come. You’ve been born again. Coming up out of the baptismal water is a symbolic picture of you coming out of that grave, risen to a new life in Christ. Your old sin nature has been washed away, and you come up clean and new.
The Christian’s Future
Paul goes on to say that, since we have been planted like Christ in death, we shall be raised like Christ in the resurrection. Someday I am going to die, and they will put my body into a grave. But as the grave couldn’t hold Christ, it won’t hold me. I’m going to be raised like Him. That’s what baptism depicts. It pictures our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus. That’s really the core of the gospel, and God commands that we be baptized because He wants us to understand the transformation that occurs when we are saved. Baptism is a beautiful illustration of the death, burial, and resurrection of the person who believes on Jesus Christ. Immersion is the way God arranged for us to symbolize it. You don’t want to use just any symbol. Sprinkling doesn’t depict the full meaning of baptism. Immersion does. The method and the meaning are bound up together.
The Motive for Baptism
There are three reasons for getting baptized.
First, it proclaims your commitment to Jesus. It is a way to say, “Lord, I am identifying myself with you, openly and publicly.” It doesn’t make you a Christian, but it certainly does demonstrate that you’re a Christian. Wearing a wedding ring doesn’t make me married, but it does show that I am married and am not ashamed of letting everyone know it. I belong to a woman I love with all my heart, and my wedding ring is a way of showing it. When Jesus was baptized, He was identifying Himself with us. When you are baptized, it publicly identifies you with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Second, it portrays your conversion to Christ. Your baptism is a testimony that you are a believer in Jesus. You are saved and you want everyone to know it. Your friends see you being baptized, and they hear you proclaim what Christ has done for you. I have known many people who were saved watching a friend’s baptism.
Third, it pays attention to your command from God. Baptism is not a suggestion; it is a command from our Heavenly Father. In Matthew 28:19-20, Christ said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” We are to observe that which Christ commanded, which is to baptize.
After Peter had preached the gospel to Cornelius, he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, according to Acts 10:48. Baptism is His command, and we are to obey His commands. One of our motivations for baptism is that we wish to obey the commands of our Master. Baptism can’t save us. It’s an outward expression of an inward reality. But it is an act that Christians are called to obey and it has great meaning and significance that cannot be compromised.
Baptism is a command that demands your obedience. Only the knowledge of the truth and its obedience will set you free.
Christian doctrines: – notes by Rev. Dr. Abraham K. Chacko. If you are interested to know more or for any spiritual help call (281) 403-7939.
Although this note is prepared for the Living Waters Christian Church that meets on all Sundays for worship at 10 am (Bible study at 9 am) 845 Staffordshire Road, Stafford, TX, anyone who gets this may please feel free to make copies of this for distribution.