Acts Lesson 4. Baptism

Transcription

1 Acts Lesson 4 Baptism In the last lesson we saw the Holy Spirit come on the 120 gathered in the house in Jerusalem and begin to speak in unknown tongues to the many foreigners who had gathered in Jerusalem. Then Peter got up to speak to the crowd, undoubtedly on the great Temple plaza which was known as the court of the Gentiles, where Jesus had spoken many times. After his message he concluded: Acts 2:38 "Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This occasions a discussion of baptism in the scripture. We will look at the verse above in that discussion. The word "baptize" is from the Greek word $"BJ4.T {bap-tid'-zo} which means "to immerse so as to change the identity." It was the word which was used to describe the ceremony of Greek warriors who dipped their new spears in blood to mark them for their use. When reading the scripture one should always remember that there are many types of baptism located therein. The ten types of baptism I found mentioned in the New Testament are listed below, but before I get into that, I would like to add an excerpt from Bob George's "Classic Christianity" which might give you a little more insight into the meaning of "baptism." 1 / 13

2 Total Identification Since the earliest centuries of Christian history, there has been furious controversy surrounding baptism. How should it be performed? How much water should be used? This shouldn't be a surprise. Satan has always surrounded the most crucial biblical truths with confusion in an attempt to blind us to truth that will set us free. Our confusion reminds me of when I was a boy playing ball with my dog. He was a good retriever, but he would occasionally lose sight of where the ball went. He would come back to me, tail wagging and tongue hanging out. "Rusty, over there!" I would say enthusiastically, as I pointed in the proper direction. But have you ever tried to tell a dog where to go by pointing? It never seemed to work. He would just come closer and sniff my finger. "No, no," I would say, "not my finger. Over there!" But again he would sniff my finger and give it a lick. My dog just couldn't understand the significance of what I was doing. My finger wasn't the thing I wanted him to concentrate on; it was what my finger pointing to that was important. We laugh at a dog's failure to understand a pointing finger, but I believe we have done the same thing with several biblical truths. Instead of catching on to what God really wants us to know, we have focused on God's symbols (pointing fingers), and even made the symbols themselves objects of contention. Baptism is one of these. The literal meaning of baptize is to "dip" or "immerse in." The ancient Greeks used to describe the process of dyeing. If you had a white cloth and wanted to dye it red, what would you do? You would get a vat of red dye, hold the white cloth on a stick, and "baptize" it in the dye. What happened when you pulled it out? Now you had a red cloth. It went in as one thing and came out as another, with all the characteristics of what it was baptized into. The key meaning behind baptism is total identification, and that is exactly what God is trying to teach us. We are born into this world in Adam, spiritually dead and sinners by nature. Then we hear of the good news of Jesus Christ and trust in Him as our Savior and Lord. At that instant the Holy Spirit of God baptizes us into Christ! "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is 2 / 13

3 something that happens instantaneously to every Christian at the moment of spiritual birth: He is totally identified with Jesus Christ. If this has happened to you, you are no longer in Adam-you are in Christ! He is now your family head. No longer is death your inheritance: "In Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Now you have become a "partaker of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4 NASB). Now heaven is your eternal destiny. Why do you have all these things? Because you are now in Christ! When you stepped out of Adam into Christ, Christ stepped out of heaven into you and made you into a new creature! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being made into a new creation does not refer to your behavior; it refers to your identity. In my case, who was I before? Bob George in Adam, without God's Spirit, spiritually dead and a guilty sinner. That man is dead and gone; he will never exist again. Who am I today? Bob George in Christ, a person who possesses the Holy Spirit, is spiritually alive and totally forgiven. Now you can be sure that this change of identity will result in some behavioral changes, but don't confuse it. Becoming a new creation refers to who I am in Christ. This is why Paul could write, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Below are ten Baptisms found in Scripture. They vary in type. Three are ritual, two are symbolic, four are real and actual, and one is a false baptism. 3 / 13

4 Ritual Baptism of John - baptism signifying repentance: Matthew 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Also Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, John 1:26. Ritual Baptism of Jesus by John - baptism of identifying Jesus as the Son of Man who would die for their sins (Luke 3:21-22, Matthew 3:13-15). Luke 3:21-22 "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." What is the interpretation of "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too?" What period does the "when" refer to? We must concede there could be two interpretations. The period could be one day, or the entire period John was baptizing. If we accept the first interpretation we accept a view that Jesus and John must have been surrounded by other people being baptized. Yet nothing in the scriptures indicates that anyone but John knew who the Messiah was until Jesus came back after His temptation (John 1:28-31). However, the verse says "when all the people were being baptized," not "when some." "All" of the people were baptized only during the entire ministry of John, not on one afternoon when Jesus might have been baptized. If John had not been alone with Jesus at His baptism, 4 / 13

5 the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him and the voice of God saying, "This is my Son" would have caused a sensation that is not in evidence. However, how would Jesus ever have found John alone? The answer is simple; it was the Day of Atonement, which was a special "Sabbath" when travel would have been forbidden to ordinary Jews. Also, John's disciples would have been in Jerusalem for that special day. Matthew 3:13-15, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John." But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." John would have been baptizing at the fords of the Jordan about six miles from Jericho. This was where Joshua and the Ark crossed the Jordan in Joshua 3 and 4. It was also on one of the main highways in the Middle East, where many of the pilgrims and travelers on their way to and from Jerusalem journeyed. John the Baptist alone was the only one who witnessed the miracle of Heaven opening and the Father speaking! This explains why when Jesus came back from the desert 40 days later, he had to point out Jesus to John and Andrew as the one about whom he had been talking. (John 1:36-37) This sign that God gave only to John from heaven was the basis of John's testimony to Jesus' Messiahship. It was also the sign that the Pharisees and Sadducees always said they wanted Jesus to produce for them! (Matthew 12:38, Matthew 16:1, Mark 8:11, Luke 11:16, Luke 11:29, John 2:18, John 6:30) I believe that this Baptism of Jesus signified that Jesus was the one who would pass the test of righteousness for mankind, for Israel, and for David's line. Only if a surrogate stood in the gap "to fulfill all righteousness" could the promises God made be fulfilled that he made to Adam, Israel, and David. It also fulfilled the symbolism of the ceremony that had taken place on this spot almost 1500 years before, when Joshua, had taken twelve stones out of the middle of 5 / 13

6 the Jordan, out of judgment. Jesus had come to be baptized in the same place in the Jordan River and take the judgment of those delivered. J. Vernon McGee gives three significances. 1. Identification with His subjects. 2. Figure of His death which was a baptism. 3. Signifies His being set aside for His office as priest. Ritual Water baptism of believers by Jesus' disciples Before the Church Age John 3:22, 4:1-2 "After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, [a] and baptized." - "The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples." In the Church Age 6 / 13

7 Acts 8:36-38, "As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?' And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him." Also Acts 10:47, 16:15, 16:33. 18:8, 22:16. 1 Corinthians 1:14-17a "I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel" Symbolic Baptism of Noah - Symbolic of the actual baptism to come. 1 Peter 3:18-21 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. Because the water separated those who were in the Ark from the dying world, the Ark symbolized Christ. In the same way, the baptism that Peter is talking about is our identification in Christ which comes from our faith in Christ (our "pledge of a good conscience"). Peter makes clear he is not talking about the ritual of water baptism ("the removal of dirt from the body") 7 / 13

8 Symbolic Baptism of Moses 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all ba ptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." The baptism into the sea was symbolic, as most of the Exodus was full of symbolism. As it says here, the rock that was struck and poured forth water was symbolic of Christ. Paul is making the point in this passage that all of the adults of Israel were part of the Mosaic covenant by faith, baptism, and communion, yet their disobedience did not prevent God from destroying them for their subsequent disobedience. Likewise, Christians, may be under the New Covenant by faith, baptism, and communion, and yet they will be destroyed if they are also are disobedient. Actual Baptism of Jesus - baptism of identifying Jesus with the sins of all mankind Luke 12:50 "But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!" 8 / 13

9 Mark 10:38 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" Actual Baptism for Believers with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit through the gift of Jesus Matthew 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Luke 3:16 "John answered them all, I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'" Matthew 28:19, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them [b] in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Acts 1:4-5 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 9 / 13

10 Actual Baptism of Unbelievers with Fire (Judgment) by the Judge, Jesus Christ at the Last Judgment - (see Matthew 3:11and Luke 3:16 above) Actual Baptism into the Name and Body of Christ - This is the "one" baptism into the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:5) Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I suppose it is possible that this was water baptism, the Spirit baptism is here promised to follow immediately after. However, it seems to me to be another kind of baptism, a baptism not in water, but into the name (life accomplishment) of Jesus. After all, it is the name of Jesus that we take when we believe in Jesus Christ. Also, it would have been rather difficult for the 120 believers to find the water or the time to water baptize the 3000 that believed that day. Acts 19:3-6, "So Paul asked, Then what baptism did you receive?' John's baptism,' they replied. Paul said, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.' On hearing this, they were baptized into the name 10 / 13

11 of the Lord Jesus placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them.". When Paul Romans 6:3 "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" Colossians 2:11-12 "In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." Neither the circumcision talked about here, nor the baptism was done by the hands of men, but by Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3 "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" 11 / 13

12 Galatians 3:26-27, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." Ephesians 4:4-6 "There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Baptism for the Dead - a false baptism 1 Corinthians 15:29 "Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?" 12 / 13

13 It seems evident here that a practice of a "baptism for the dead" had been done in Corinth. Nothing else is spoken of it in scripture. It is my belief that this was a false practice that had arisen where a living person was ceremonially baptized on behalf of some dead person who had not lived to understand the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies in Jesus. It had probably arisen to comfort the families of the dead. It was of no benefit at all. It was the forerunner of burning candles for the dead, praying for the dead, and eventually, selling indulgences for the dead. The fact that there are multiple types of baptism is affirmed in Hebrews 6:2 which refers to "baptisms." [a] Nearly a year. [b] In 1 Corinthians 1:17 Paul makes clear that this cannot be talking about water baptism. 13 / 13