4/12/18. What About Water Baptism? Selected Scriptures

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1 1 2 4/12/18 What About Water Baptism? Selected Scriptures The concept and understanding of and about water baptism among those who call themselves Christians is quite diverse in the various denominations and movements within the church about the significance of water baptism in relation to salvation, you would be shocked at the unbiblical answers you would hear. 1. There are those who believe that their baptism in water guarantees their entrance into heaven, doing violence to the doctrine of atonement, not being based on faith, but rather foolishness! 2. Then there are others who believe that infant baptism is necessary for original sin to be removed, but an infant cannot repent and only the blood of Christ can cleanse our sins. 3. Still others believe that if you are not baptized in water right after being saved, you will not enter the Kingdom of God, insulting the sufficiency of the atonement at the cross for salvation. In view of these misunderstandings lets look at water baptism by observing six things that will help us better understand water baptism in order that we may give an answer to those who ask about it. I. Water baptism was practiced by the Jew for the Gentile converts, not Jews. II. Water baptism was preached by John the Baptist. III. Water baptism is distinguished from the Baptism of the Spirit. IV. Water baptism was preached and practiced by the disciples and apostles of Jesus. V. Water baptism was and is a symbolic witness of salvation. VI. Water baptism should not be required for salvation. I. Water baptism was practiced by the Jew for the Gentile converts not Jews. A The Gentile converts to Jedeaism were called proselytes. 1. There were two kinds of proselytes. a. First there were proselytes called God fearers, who embraced the Jewish religion in every thing with the exception of circumcision. b. Second there wee Proselytes of the gate, that embraced the Jewish religion in everything, including circumcision. 2. These Gentile proselytes would be baptized in water. a. The word baptism baptisma, means immersion or submersion. 1) In no way does not it mean to sprinkle. 2) Neither does it mean to pour water on or over the head.

2 3 4 3) The basic meaning of baptism baptism, is emersion or submersion being enveloped completely by water. b. The word appears in different forms. 1) The noun form baptism is found 22 times in the New Testament. 2) The verb forms baptize is found eight times and baptized forty-nine times. B. The Jews were sons of Abraham by the covenant God made with Abraham giving them a land and sealing it with the covenant of circumsision of the righeousness of faith. Gen. 15:18; 17:4, 7-14; Rom. 4:11 1. They were the nation of God. 2. They were the people of God. 3. They were the witnesses of God. 4. They were the heirs by the promise of God. Water baptism was a practice of the Jew for the Gentile converts not Jews! II. Water baptism was preached by John the Baptist. A. John was commissioned by God to baptize. 1. John was the prophetic messenger, as the precusor or forerunner of the Messiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Is. 40:3 2. John was told by God the Father that when he baptized the Messiah, He would confirm it by the sign of a dove descending on Him, And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Jn. 1: John was called the Baptist, due to his commission by God, to baptized sinners. a. He is called John the Baptist seven times in Matthew b. He is called John the Baptist three times in Mark. c. He is called John the Baptist four times in Luke. B. John baptized unto repentance in view of the coming Messiah. 1. He came from the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Mk. 1:4 2. He went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Lk. 3:3

3 He baptized those coming from Jerusalem, even tax collectors justified God. Mk. 1:5; Lk. 7:29 C. John addressed all Jews, even the religious leaders. Matt. 3: He told the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were Jews and the religious leaders that they were a Brood of vipers. Matt. 3:7a-c a. The Pharisees Pharisaios were the separted ones, the ritualist hypocrites. b. The Sadducees Saddoukaios, the righteous, were the rationalist and materialist, who did not believe in resurrection, in spirits or angels. Acts 23:8 2. He asked them who had warned them to flee from the wrath to come? Matt. 3:7d a. Confirming their lost condtion. b. Affirming their greater judgment. 3. He told them they had to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Matt. 3:8 a. They had to repent of their sins. b. They had to have a change of heart and life. D. John gave them a stern warning about the judgment to come. Matt. 3: He told them not to trust in the fact that they were children of Abraham. vs. 3:9a-b a. God had not grandchildren. b. God only has sons and daughters. c. God does not approve of nepatism. 2. He told them that God was able to raise up children to Abraham from the very stones. vs. 3:9c a. 3. He told them that even now the ax was laid to the root of the trees, meaning judgment. vs. 10a a. They were living in sin contrary to the Law of God. b. They were corrupting the word of God. 4. He told them that every tree that did not bare fruit would be cut down and cast into the fire. vs. 10b a. God trims His trees to bear much fruit by abiding in Him. b. God cuts down those tress that do not abide in Him or belong to Him. c. God was calling sinners to be baptized unto the repentance of sins. Water baptism was preached by John the Baptist! III. Water baptism is distinguished from the baptism of the Spirit. A. John clearly declared the inferiority of himself and the superiority of Jesus. Matt. 3:11; Mk. 1:8; Lk. 3:16; Jn. 1:26; 1:33 1. John baptized in water.

4 Jesus was the One among them whose shoelaces he was not worthy to loosen and He would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire. 3. John the man would baptize in water, Jesus never baptized in water. Jn. 4:2 4. Jesus the God-Man baptized in the Spirit. Matt. 3:11d B. The baptism of water is inferior to the Baptism of the Spirit. Matt. 3:11 * I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 1. The baptism in water is a ritual or sacrament that affirms salvation and not the process of actual salvation. 2. The baptism of water was an initiatory rite, to be incorporated into the body of the church. 1Cor. 12:13 3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is superior in that Jesus alone baptizes men and women. Acts 1:5 4. The Ephesian disciples had been baptized in water unto John s baptism, then in the name of Jesus by Paul, when Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Eph. 19:4-5 * The Baptism of the Spirit at time is accompanied with gifts, but no one gift is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. C. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit for empowerment through Jesus is distinct from the fruit of the Spirit. Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:8 1. The disciples were told by Jesus to tarry in Jerusalem till they be endued with power from on high. Lk. 24:49 2. The disciples were told by Jesus that they were going to be witnesses for to Him, in Jerusalem, all Judea and the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8 3. The Bible calls agape love the fruit of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22 Water baptism is distinguished from the Baptism of the Spirit! IV. Water baptism was preached and practiced by the disciples and apostles of Jesus. A. The baptism of water was now a practice that followed conversion. 1. At Pentecost it say, Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

5 Philip baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch in water after repenting, Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then 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. Acts 8: At the house of Cornelius Peter said, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Acts 10:37 a. They had repented from their sins in the name of Jesus. b. They had identified themselves with Christ. c. They had left their old life-styles and made a complete turn about. 4. That is why we do not baptize infants, but rather dedicate them, they are unable to repent and exercise their own free-will. 5. Children over the age of accountability we baptize in water after we speak with them to find out if they are saved. B. The baptism of John was inferior to the baptism in water after the death of Jesus because it was in fulfillment of the fact, no longer future. 1. For it was prophetic of the Coming of Jesus. 2. For it was a baptism unto repentance. 3. Apollos was instructed in the more perfect way by Aquila and Pricila. Acts 18:25 4. Paul asked the disciples of Ephesus, And he said to them, Into what then were you baptized? So they said, Into John's baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Eph. 19:4-5 Water baptism was preached by the disciples and apostles of Jesus! V. Water baptism was and is a symbolic witness of salvation. A. Paul tells us that it is a symbol of death. Rom. 6: We are buried with Jesus through baptism into death. vs 4a 2. We are to walk in the newness of life just as Christ was raise from the dead by the glory of the Father. vs. 4b-c 3. We are united together with Jesus in the likeness of His death, even so we are united together with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. vs We are empowered to live above sin. vs. 6-7

6 11 12 a. The old man is crucified with Him. vs. 6a 1) The meaning of crucified is to put out of business. 2) The statement implies human responsibility in view of the divine accomplishment. b. The result is that the body of sin nature might be done away or rendered inoperative. vs. 6b c. The purpose being that we not continue to be slaves of sin. vs. 6c d. The reason is that we have been freed from the slavery of sin nature and sin. vs. 7 1) The end to the old life of sin. 2) The end of yielding to sin nature. 3) The ability is by the same power that raise Jesus from the dead, the Father and Holy Spirit. e. The ritual is used in the New Testament to indicate two things about Christians. 1) Identity with Christ. 2) Union with Christ. B. Peter tell us that water baptism is a figure compared to the Noah flood. 1Pet. 3: The illustration is that the flood was a type of baptism of the eight souls who were saved by entering into the ark, which was evidence of the faith in what God had revealed, and after death they went to Sheol waiting for Jesus the Messiah vs The application is that as they believed God by faith and acted on His revelation, so water baptism is the antitype or the fulfillment, but not the removal of the filth of the flesh but an answer to a good conscience through the efficiency to be saved through the resurrection. vs. 21 a. Water baptism is only a public confession of what has happened in a person s heart by faith. b. Water forgives no sins. 3. The proclamation being that Jesus Christ has gone into heaven and is a the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. vs. 22 a. Jesus is sitting because the work of salvation has been finished. b. Jesus is sitting in the place of authority. Water baptism was and is a symbolic witness of salvation! VI. Water baptism should not be required for salvation. A. A man or woman is saved by grace through faith and that not of themselves but it is a gift of God. Eph. 2: Grace is unmeritted and underserved.

7 Faith is God s enabling to believe what He has declared. 3. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Rom. 10:17 B. A man or woman s salvation is completely a work of God by the atoning work of Christ on the cross. 1. Whoever believes in the gift of God, His Som, will be saved. Jn. 3:16 2. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom. 10:13 3. Whoever comes through the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus can be saved. 1Tim. 2:5 4. Whoever believes the words of Jesus from the cross, It is finished can claim it for himself or herself. Jn. 19:30 C. Every believer should be water baptized in obedience to the words of Jesus of the Great Commission, but it certainly is not an addition, completion nor is it a supplement salvation. 1. Paul declared that he thanked God he had baptized none except for Crispus and Gaius and the house of Stephanas, lest some in Corinth would make him a party split to Christ, for God had not called him to baptize but to preach. 1Cor. 1: Paul said, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 1Cor. 1:17 a. Paul recognized that though water baptism is to be done in obedience to Christ, it did not affect the work of Christ on the cross. b. Otherwise the words of Paul would have to be blasphemous, if water baptism was compulsory for salvation! 3. The thief on the cross was saved, Jesus said, Today, you will be with Me in Paradise, yet he was not baptized in water. a. Some say he was Old Testament, no, all did prophecy till John the Baptist. b. He was complete in Christ Jesus. Col 2:9-10 Water baptism should not be required for salvation yet practiced by the church! Conclusion I pray that these six things have helped you better understand water baptism in order to give an answer to those who ask about it: I. Water baptism was practiced by the Jew for the Gentile converts, not Jews! II. Water baptism was preached by John the Baptist! III. Water baptism is distinguished from the Baptism of the Spirit! IV. Water baptism was preached and practiced by the disciples and apostles of Jesus!

8 V. Water baptism was and is a symbolic witness of salvation! VI. Water baptism should not be required for salvation! 15 16