Baptism Introduction I believe that with baptism, as with all biblical truth, we have not fully understood it until we have been subdued and overcome by its beauty. When it comes to the truths of God s Word, we must be faithful to see and then convey to others not just the facts, but always the loveliness, the delightfulness, the exquisiteness, the attractiveness, the comeliness, the resplendence, the sublimity, and the glory of God s truth. Anything less than this is less than what God is worthy of, and will always fall short of a true and full understanding of His Word! So when we ask about the importance and the meaning of baptism, we are really asking to see and understand its beauty. I. The Importance of Baptism God Himself(!!!) sent John to baptize with water. John 1:33 He who sent me to baptize with water said to me Jesus Himself underwent baptism. Matthew 3:14-17 John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Baptism was an essential, non-negotiable part of Jesus identification with sinners. Apart from Jesus baptism, the righteous will of God would have remained unfulfilled. It was specifically at Jesus baptism that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and announced His good pleasure. Jesus (through His disciples) baptized His followers. John 3:22 (cf. 4:1-3) After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. Jesus Himself(!!!) has specifically commanded the church to baptize. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. This is why we baptize! But why would Jesus include baptism in the Great Commission? Why would Jesus command that baptism should be performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? What does this tell us about the meaning of the physical ritual? 1
A. John s Baptism Mark 1:4-5 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Look how closely baptism is associated with repentance and the forgiveness of sins! I think it s safe to say that we would have at least hesitated to speak in terms like this. So why didn t Mark share this hesitation? John 3:5 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. It seems to me that born of water most naturally refers to John s baptism (cf. Acts 2:38). John 1:33 (cf. Mark 1:8) He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Matthew 3:7-8 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Luke 7:30 The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by [John]. Even if born of water is not a reference to John s baptism, it is clear that to reject John s water baptism was the equivalent of rejecting God s salvation while to partake of John s baptism was equated with fleeing from the wrath to come. B. Christian Baptism Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, 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. Notice how closely baptism is associated with the gospel (repentance, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit)! We would never say what Peter said! Many Christians today would respond by telling a person to pray to accept Christ and then only after this would they mention anything about baptism. Mark 16:15-16 And he said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Assuming these verses were not part of the original Gospel of Mark, they were nevertheless written as early as 130 A.D. and so they reflect a very early Christian understanding of the meaning and importance of baptism. It seems clear that Jesus, His apostles, and the first Christians viewed baptism in a very different light than we do! The fact that we are not able to speak about baptism using biblical language should be very convicting to us. Baptism has a very intimate connection with the Gospel and salvation, and it s when we understand this connection that we can discover the 2
beauty of baptism. Of course, whatever this connection is, it must not contradict the doctrine of salvation by grace alone and through faith alone! We are not saying that the gospel and baptism are the same thing! Paul says: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 1:17). Jesus assured the thief on the cross (who had never been baptized): today, you shall be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Simon the magician was baptized, but later found to be still in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity (Acts 8:13, 23). So what is this connection between baptism and our salvation? II. The Meaning of Baptism A. Old Testament Background (Ritual purification from sin and impurity) Numbers 19:9-13 (cf. Lev. 14:8-9; 15:13; Num. 8:5-7; 19:19; Heb. 9:13) The ashes of the heifer shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering [NASB: purification from sin ] Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. Ezekiel 36:25-27 (cf. Ps. 51:7) I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. John 3:25-26 (cf. verses 22-23) Now a discussion arose between some of John s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him. When John began baptizing in the wilderness, it was understood in light of the Old Testament rituals of water purification. John s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and so there was an intimate connection between the cleansing of the body and the cleansing of the heart. B. In light of this background, Christian baptism is very closely associated with the washing away of our sins by the precious blood of Christ. Acts 22:12-16 Ananias said to me, Brother Saul why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Notice how closely baptism is associated with salvation and the washing away of sins! We would never say what Ananias said! Instead, we spend all our time trying to explain what Ananias didn t mean! We need to affirm what Ananias didn t mean, but we also need to ask how it is that Ananias could possibly speak this way at all! 1 Peter 3:21 Baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter clearly shows us what he does not mean. He does not mean that the literal waters of Baptism magically save us as they remove dirt from the flesh (the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration). This is no more true than to say that the sinner s prayer has ever saved anyone. But Peter is 3
saying that we are saved by what the waters of baptism signify. We are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses our conscience. So intimate is the connection here that Peter can refer to the inward reality by means of the outward sign and say that baptism now saves you! Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The writer of Hebrews closely associates the outward washing of baptism with the inward washing of regeneration. Titus 3:5-6 He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. We would use the language of our hearts being sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, but we are less likely to find any meaning in talking about our bodies being washed with pure water! C. Baptism is very intimately associated with our union with Christ. Romans 6:3-4 (cf. Col. 2:11-12) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Throughout the book of Acts, people were baptized simply in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5), which was the equivalent of being baptized into Jesus Christ. So when Paul talks about those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, He is referring to their water baptism. Paul is saying that all of us who have been baptized in water have been baptized into Christ s death. Does this mean that by our immersion in the baptismal waters we are somehow magically united with Christ at that very moment? Of course not. This is no more true than the idea that by saying the sinners prayer we are somehow magically united with Christ at that very moment! We are united with Christ at the very moment of our new birth and faith in Christ and this almost always happens before any sinner s prayer has been prayed and certainly before baptism! Our immersion in the waters of baptism is very closely connected with our being united with Christ and sharing ourselves in His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead! So intimate is the connection here that Paul can refer to the inward reality by means of the outward sign and say that we have been buried with him by [the waters of] baptism into death. Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ [water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ] have put on Christ. Once again, Paul refers to our immersion in the waters of baptism as our putting on of Christ (being clothed with Christ NASB). In Christ we are made partakers of every spiritual blessing. In Christ we are safe from the wrath of God which is poured out upon all who are outside of Christ. To say that we have been immersed in the waters of baptism is to say that we are in Christ! It may seem strange (if not heretical) to refer to the inward reality by means of the outward sign, but this is exactly what Paul does! 4
D. Baptism is the outward rite of initiation into the church of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Three thousand people were added to what? They were added to the church. And the number of people added to the church was discovered by the process of counting baptisms not sinner s prayers! Ephesians 4:4-5 There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Countless multitudes of Christians have been baptized, but there is only one baptism! And this one water baptism of which we have all partaken signifies the fact that by the inward baptism of the Spirit, we are all members of the one body of Christ the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (It is here that we see that baptism is only legitimately administered under the authority of the local church and preferably within the context of the local church Mat. 28:18-20; Eph. 2:20.) Baptism, then, has to do with the washing away of our sins, our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and our membership in the church, which is Christ s body. But what does baptism have to do with these things? Is it just a bare picture and symbol? This seems highly unlikely (even impossible) in light of the language of Scripture. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. Baptism now saves you. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our bodies washed with pure water. We have been buried with him by [the waters of] baptism into death. We have been added to the church and made partakers of the one body of Christ in our one baptism. What is the meaning of this kind of language? III. The Role of Baptism in the Gospel The key here is to see that the ritual of baptism signifies not primarily what we do, but primarily and first of all what God does. Baptism is not primarily our statement, but primarily and first of all God s statement. We don t baptize ourselves. We submit ourselves to baptism a baptism which is administered in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So baptism is not our work, but God s work. Therefore, the question we need to ask is: what is God saying to us in and through our baptism? It is in our baptism that God speaks to us and says in effect: I have saved you. I have cleansed your heart from sin just as surely as your body has been cleansed by these baptismal waters. I have united you with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection just as surely as your body has been immersed in these baptismal waters. I have joined you to My church just as surely as you have partaken in this one baptism of all believers. I have done it. I have saved you. Of course, we can never make, or compel God to speak. We simply acknowledge that God speaks in our baptism by faith in His word and promise and in the meaning that He Himself has assigned to baptism. Indeed, Jesus is the one who commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and 5
Holy Spirit, and who then promised us His special presence when He said: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. In this way, then, we see that baptism is God s visible/outward sign and seal of His invisible/inward work of salvation. Do you see what a gracious gift is the gift of baptism! When we were saved we didn t see our sins washed away, we didn t see ourselves united with Christ, and we didn t see ourselves transferred from Satan s kingdom into the church of Christ. These are all invisible and spiritual realities. But the fact that they are invisible makes them no less real! And so God in His mercy, and kindness, and grace, has bestowed upon us a special sign and seal so that we can see and feel even the invisible things that He has accomplished for us in our salvation. IV. The relationship between Circumcision and Baptism Most of God s gracious covenants with man come with a special sign and seal. The sign and seal of God s covenant with Noah and his descendants was the rainbow. The sign and seal of the Mosaic covenant was the gracious gift of the Sabbath. The sign and seal of God s covenant with Abraham and his physical descendants in the nation of Israel was circumcision. Every infant male was to be circumcised at eight days old as the sign and seal of his membership in the covenant people of God. (This was not at all to say that females were not part of the covenant people of God.) Of course, not all of the infants who were circumcised grew up to be saved by God s grace and through faith in His promises! In fact, many did not! So we see that the covenant people (marked out by the sign and seal of circumcision) consisted of both believers and unbelievers there was always a true and spiritual Israel within the larger covenant community of all ethnic Israel (Rom. 2:28-29; Rev. 2:9; 3:9). The Old Covenant community was a mixed community (a mixed bag ) consisting of believers and unbelievers, and so therefore the sign and seal of that covenant was administered even to infants. However God promised through the prophet Jeremiah that one day He would make a new covenant with His people with the result that no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer. 31:33-34). God promised that one day His covenant people would consist only of the true and spiritual Israel so that all those within the covenant would truly know the Lord from the least of them to the greatest. And with this redefining and reshaping of God s covenant people would come the need for a new covenant sign and seal. This reconstituted Israel the true and spiritual Israel would be marked not by circumcision, but by the gracious sign and seal of baptism. And since this new Israel was to consist no longer of believers and unbelievers, but only of believers, infant circumcision gave way not to infant baptism, but rather to the baptism of believers only! Praise the Lord! Our reformed brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian church baptize the infants of believing parents not because they think that baptism has some magical powers to save, but because they still see the New Covenant community as a mixed bag of believers and unbelievers. There is nothing heretical about this view, though we do believe that it s wrong and unbiblical. As Reformed Baptists, we recognize a tension. Since we cannot infallibly judge the hearts of men, there is always the chance that unbelievers will partake illegitimately of the sign and seal of the New Covenant. But we still believe that in light of the character of the New Covenant community as a spiritual rather than an ethnic Israel, it is our responsibility to administer the sign and seal of baptism only to those who can give a credible profession of faith and provide true evidence of salvation. 6
Through the sign and seal of circumcision, God testified to the fact that He had chosen and elected a person into a mixed covenant community. Through the sign and seal of baptism, God testifies to us that He has chosen and called us into a spiritual covenant community composed only of true and believing Israel. Conclusion Brothers, what shall we do? Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Baptism is no more magical or necessary to salvation than praying the sinner s prayer. Some who have been baptized are not truly saved. Some who have not been baptized are truly saved. However, it seems safe to say that the place we have given to the sinner s prayer, is given in the Bible to baptism. So instead of saying Repent and pray this prayer for the forgiveness of your sins or Believe and repeat after me for the forgiveness of your sins, it would be better for us to learn how we can say with the Apostle Peter: Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Indeed, in the sinner s prayer, we may easily think that we ask God to save us, and then He responds to our faith by saving us (so God s grace is conditioned by our faith). But in baptism, we hear God assuring us that our salvation is a work of His grace from beginning to end through faith. In our baptism, we hear God speaking these gracious words: I have cleansed your heart from sin just as surely as your body has been cleansed by these baptismal waters. I have united you with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection just as surely as your body has been immersed in these baptismal waters. I have joined you to My church just as surely as you have partaken in this one baptism of all believers. I have done it. I have saved you. What a wonderful assurance, and hope, and joy is given to all those who have truly partaken of the sign and seal of baptism! 7
Teaching our Children Q. When God saves us, what are some of the amazing things that happen to us? A. ~ Our sins are washed away. ~ We are united with Christ (we are in Him and He is in us). ~ God makes us members of His church. Q. Can we see these things happen with our physical eyes? A. No! These are invisible and spiritual realities. We don t see them happen with our physical eyes. Q. What is the visible sign and seal that God places upon our invisible salvation? A. ~ The visible and outward sign and seal of our salvation is baptism (See Matthew 28:18-20 on bottom of page 1 & Acts 2:37-38 on bottom of page 2). ~ In our baptism, we can see and feel even the invisible things that God has accomplished for us in our salvation ~ Baptism is a wonderful and gracious gift from God! Q. What is the meaning that God has given to baptism? (What can we hear God saying to us in our baptism?) A. ~ I have cleansed your heart from sin just as surely as your body has been cleansed by these baptismal waters (See Scriptures under II. B.). ~ I have united you with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection just as surely as your body has been immersed in these baptismal waters (See Scriptures under II. C.). ~ I have joined you to My church just as surely as you have partaken in this one baptism of all believers (See Scriptures under II. D.). ~ I have done it. I have saved you. 8