FUNDAMENTALS OF THE FAITH: BAPTISM PART 3 Randy Broberg 2005
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
Review
Review: 3 Views Sacramental View The act of baptism brings regeneration. Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran. Lutheranism. Unconscious faith (infant faith) Vicarious faith (proxy faith) of sponsors Anticipated faith (the candidate at a later time) Disciples/Churches of Christ: the event at which God grants new life. Saves, Forgives, Rescues From Hell
Review: 3 Views Covenantal View Reformed, Presbyterians. Sign of covenant in OT is circumcision. Sign of covenant in NT is baptism. Sign and seal: sign of God s working and seal of God s promises to the person. Sign = Evidence Seal = Imprinting Both are to be given to infants. Faith = collective faith of the community. Some tension with idea of election. No Correlation To Salvation
Review: 3 Views Symbolic View Baptists, Mennonites, Brethren, Pentecostals. Outward token of what has already taken place inwardly (regeneration). Public testimony to one s faith in Christ. Believer baptism only. Those who can confess their faith. Not the same as adult baptism.
Review: Jewish Background Requirements for being Jewish The recognition of Jewish lineage through matrilineal descent only. Conversions to Judaism requires both circumcision and mikveh immersion for males and only the latter for females. Micah, Miqvah, Mikveh, Mikva, Mikve A Jewish communal bath for washing away spiritual impurity by immersion. Converts must immerse in the mikva at the end of the conversion ceremony.
Baptisms Compared Old Testament Jewish Mikveh Essenes John the Baptist New Testament When 1. After being unclean 2. Before Entering Temple Conversio n to Judaism 1. Initiation rite 2. Daily washing After Repentance After faith How Immersion Immersion Immersion Immersion Immersion Why Purification New Birth Purification Remission Of Sins Whom Jews No babies Gentiles converts No babies Jewish Initiates No babies Repentant Jews No babies New Birth / Union with Christ Believing adults No babies
New Testament Baptisms Review What? Two Baptisms: Water and Spirit When? -- Immediate How? Immersion Why? Whom?
Acts 8:36-38 36 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? 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Why Baptize?
Acts 22:14-16 14 Then he said: The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
Romans 6:1-8 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him..
1 Corinthians 1:13-17 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other., 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.
1 Corinthians 12:13 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another, 9to another. to another 10 to another, to another, to another., to another tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 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.
1 Peter 3:18-21 18 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, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 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, 21 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. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Whom Do We Baptize?
Acts 2:37-41 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? 38Peter 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. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will call. 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 8:12-17 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 16:13-15 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us.
Acts 16:29-34 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved you and your household. 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God he and his whole family.
Acts 18:8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
What Was A Household? Latin: familia Included slaves, animals, and property, as well as members of a nuclear family and their ancestors or descendants. The legal head of the familia was the oldest living male (paterfamilias), who had supreme power within the household. the right to sell family members into slavery and the rarely used power to kill an errant child. A son, no matter how old, was always legally subject to the authority of a living paterfamilias.
Mark 10:13-16 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Luke 18:15 15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Acts 2:15-21 15These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
1 Corinthians 7:14 12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
Ephesians 6:1 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Is Baptism The New Covenant Circumcision?
The parallel between infant circumcision and infant baptism is obvious and perfect. Presbyterian website
Genesis 17:3-14 3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." 9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Galatians 3:6-14 6 Consider Abraham: He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you. 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, The righteous will live by faith. 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, The man who does these things will live by them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:27 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Colossians 2:9-17 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 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, 12 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. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.,,, 16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Romans 4:11-12 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Ephesians 2:11-12 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 4But God,, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,.
Paedo-Baptist Arguments From Silence
Argument From Silence Though the New Testament does not argue for infant baptism, it does not argue against it. Surely if Jesus or the apostles had intended to abridge the privileges of Jewish parents who under the Abrahamic covenant included their children as part of the congregation of Israel, then such a command would have been issued. Otherwise it was only natural to assume that infant baptism would be practiced under the New Covenant since baptism was the rite of initiation into the Church, even as circumcision was the Jewish rite of initiation into the congregation of Israel. Further, there is not a single instance in the New Testament where any teenage or adult son or daughter of Christian parents was ever baptized! Presbyterian website
The First Generation Argument it should be remembered that the converts to Jesus Christ recorded in the Book of Acts were first-generation Christians--except that we are told some households were converted which undoubtedly included children. This unique missionary situation of the first Christians would mean that adult baptisms in the Book of Acts would be prominent, but this is not an effective argument against infant baptism since adults were obviously the ones who needed to be evangelized since there were no Christian parents until the Christian message had been received into the world.
Infant Baptists Hermeneutic Proof-texting is the fundamentalist approach of trying to find isolated verses of Scripture which supposedly will state explicitly and literally what we are supposed to believe as true doctrine. The proof-texting approach tries to interpret the various texts of Scripture with a kind of literalism. But biblical hermeneutics is more than skillful and analytical dissecting of isolated text; it is the art of seeing behind the words and discovering (intuiting) the depth of meaning; it is experiencing the whole context of meaning beyond the mere isolated text.
Lacking Bible Texts, Infant Baptists Turn To Tradition & Theology If one uses a proof-texting approach, then there are many, many things which we as Christians have no basis for believing. Where in Scripture are we told that Jesus is truly God and truly man in one person with two wills? Where in Scripture are we told that God is three eternal persons with one essence? The orthodox doctrines of the incarnation and trinity are based on theological reasoning on the whole context of Scripture. Where in Scripture are we told that Sunday explicitly is to replace Saturday as the day of worship? Yet this is a tradition which clearly dates back to apostolic times and is done for good theological reasons. The New Testament is in an important sense a qualified continuation of the OT. Jesus resurrection is the NT equivalent of the Exodus event. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost signified the internalizing of the kingdom of God first situated in Canaan Land, the place of God s abode. The Passover Feast was a prototype of the Lord s Supper. The NT Church is the fulfillment of the OT congregation of Israel. Circumcision was the Jewish rite of initiation into the congregation of Israel even as baptism is in the NT. Why shouldn t Christian parents then baptize their infant children even as ancient Israel practiced infant circumcision?
Our Understanding Not the same as Reformed concept. Sign of what God has already done (new birth). Seal of confirmation and encouragement to candidate (an aid to deepened faith). Sign of a relationship that already exists. Pledge of lifelong commitment. Community support and accountability. Testimony/Witness
GBC STATEMENT OF FAITH God has established two ordinances for the church to observe: baptism, which is undergone once as a sign of the new life in Christ after a person has confessed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Lord's Supper, which is to be observed regularly to call into remembrance the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, until He returns (Acts 2.38,42; 1 Corinthians 11.23-26).
GBC CONSTITUTION It is not required that a person be rebaptized to become a member. However, if the prospective member was only baptized as an infant, or for some reason there is a question about the validity of the original baptism, the prospective member shall be encouraged to be baptized as a believer.
GBC CONSTITUTION Water baptism is symbolic of the Christian s spiritual union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). According to the Biblical pattern, a new Christian is to be baptized after conversion at the earliest convenient time as an expression of personal faith in Christ and membership in the church. Full immersion is the preferred method, consistent with the New Testament practice A believer who regards his infant baptism as valid, will not be required to undergo baptism as a condition of membership. However, he will be encouraged to study the Biblical principles involved in the hope they will be persuaded to be baptized as a believer.. The candidate for baptism should demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of sin, repentance, substitutionary atonement, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Particular care should be taken to ensure that the candidate understands the meaning of baptism as an important act of obedience and outward profession, but is not a condition of salvation. In addition, those conducting the interview should look for the fruit of faith and repentance as expected in the life of a believer.. Children who seek baptism must meet the same requirements as adults. Baptisms shall be conducted under the supervision of the Elders.