The Purpose
of Baptism
by
Pastor Robert A. Pannier
Published by
Bridge to Freedom Ministries
P.O. Box 385801
Bloomington , MN 55438
Copying for non-commercial purposes is permitted.
© copyright 2009
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U.S.A.
For nearly two thousand years a great theological debate has developed over the reason that one should be baptized. It seems that there are as many ideas about why and how one should be baptized as there are Christian denominations. It is amazing to me that one simple act could inspire such a great deal of debate, but yet so much has been written and said about it, that you would think that it is an explanation of how life began.
Over the years I have been taught many things in relation to what baptism is about, and to be honest, at times, I have believed a few different things about the purpose and process that one must undergo to become baptized. After studying this quite extensively in the Bible I have come to one conclusion - I have often been misled. In some cases I have been misled by teachings that are virtually harmless, while at other times the philosophies that I have been given were not only wrong, but actually quite nefarious ideology.
But let me state for the record that many are very militant about their beliefs related to baptism. During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century there were Believers who adamantly believed in infant baptism. They came into opposition with a group of Believers who thought that if they had rededicated themselves to Christ as an adult that they should go through a rebaptism. The first group became so outraged at this that they actually killed the "rebaptizers."
I tell this story because I don't want you to think I am approaching this subject without understanding that this is a very personal issue to many. It is an issue that some will fight and even die for. I also understand that there are many out there who no longer see any need to be baptized. Here in the United States we have the largest number of unbaptized, professing Christians ever. More and more churches are getting away from the idea of teaching the importance of baptism and so we have a large number of Christians who see no need to dedicate themselves to God in this way.
In this booklet I hope to alleviate some of the misconceptions that you may have been taught, and to enlighten you to the importance of this act. My hope is that by the time you have finished reading this booklet, you will have a more complete understanding of baptism, I hope this will then make you feel that you not only understand the reason for being baptized, but that you will appreciate your own baptism more completely. For those of you that have not been baptized I hope this will inspire you to take that amazing step toward coming closer to God through this simple act of obedience.
Baptism - Defined
The word baptism comes from the Greek word baptizmo, which means to be immersed. The common meaning is to be whelmed, in other words to make wet, or to wash or cleanse as part of a religious rite. While these common definitions are useful in our understanding, they are also used with a theological spin that leads Believers to think that baptism in water is necessary for salvation and/or the removal of their sins. The fact of the matter is that this is not true.
I have been taught as part of this definition that baptizmo means to be submerged, but this is not an accurate definition either. Submerged and immersed are not synonymous with each other, but the use of them in this manner has again led to the idea that one must be submerged in water to be baptized. This is also a misconception.
The reality is that the most perfect definition of baptism is to be immersed. This is fitting because immersion means more than being dropped in some sort of liquid. For example, I can be immersed in a language. I can be immersed in my work, but I cannot be submerged in either a language or work. That makes no sense.
When we understand this as our definition we then understand that baptism is the process of immersing yourself in something. It is with this definition that we are able to more fully understand why a person should be baptized.
Being Born of Water and Spirit
Many think of baptism as a New Testament idea, and to be honest, this is where it is most often discussed. However, baptism is strongly rooted in the Old Testament. Not only was the High Priest baptized before taking office, but both Moses and the Israelite people underwent a type of baptism.
While the roots begin in the Old Testament, we will begin our teaching in the discussion that Jesus had with the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3. To refresh our memories, Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night to ask Jesus some questions. During their discussion Jesus told Nicodemus that there are two things that he must do to be born of the Kingdom of Heaven. We read in John 3:5,
5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Over the years many people have attempted to explain what "born of water" means, with few of them being able to understand the cleverness in which Jesus is speaking here.
A predominant teaching is that Jesus was talking about water baptism. In fact in Albert Barnes' Commentary on the Bible he writes of John 3:5:
By "water," here, is evidently signified "baptism." Thus the word is used in Eph_5:26; Tit_3:5.
But not everyone agrees with this interpretation. Televangelist Andrew Wommack says of this verse:
Being born of water is not speaking of water baptism as being essential for salvation.
If we look at the NIV study Bible it provides the following reference note:
Born of water and the Spirit. A phrase understood in various ways: 1. It means much the same as "born of the Spirit". 2. Water here refers to purification. 3. Water refers to baptism - that of John or that of Jesus and His disciples. 4. Water refers to physical birth, specifically to the water of the amniotic fluid.
Clearly a great deal of misunderstanding has come from this verse, and the problem that has developed is that many take this verse to mean that Jesus is saying that one must be water baptized to be saved.
I mentioned earlier that what is missed here is the cleverness of Jesus. While this story was recorded by the Apostle John in Greek, it is important to understand that Jesus would have been talking to Nicodemus in Hebrew. If we know this then we are more readily able to understand the meaning of "born of water."
In Hebrew the word for born or drawn of water is mosheh. When this word is transliterated into English we get the word and name Moses. So born of water means to be Moses.
Back in the Book of Exodus, the Pharaoh had called for the death of all of the Hebrew children who were two years or younger in age. Moses' mother had him put in a basket and sent down the river, where he is discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh. Exodus 2:10 tells us:
10 .She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
Moses thus means to be drawn or born of water - mosheh.
When Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born of water, he is saying to him that he must be born under the covenant of Moses. So this makes us wonder what it means to be born of Moses. To understand this we must consider who Moses was and what he represented.
Moses was the giver of the Law. God gave him the Law and thus he was very closely affiliated with it in the minds of the Jewish people. This is even true today. So when Jesus spoke of being born of Moses He is cleverly saying that someone must be born of the Law somehow.
We now need to grasp how the Law fits in the life of the Believer. Paul explains the purpose of the Law this way in Galatians 3:24-25:
24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Paul tells us that the first purpose of the Law is to point out our need for Christ; that while we are not in Christ, we are under the Law. After we have accepted Christ and have faith in Him we no longer fall under the supervision of the Law.
We know that Jesus told us that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17:
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
I am not going to get into a theological discussion as to whether a Christian is bound by the Law or not. I am already going to be delving into enough of a theological firestorm with the issue of baptism, so I will not cover that issue. But what I want us to see is that Jesus made it clear that He came to fulfill the Law. This will help us to understand how one is born of Moses.
Jesus Fulfills the Law
John the Baptist boldly proclaimed that Jesus is the Lamb of God. John 1:29:
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
To this point God had demanded a series of sacrifices related to sin and guilt. This meant that often a goat or lamb was brought to be sacrificed to the Lord.
The most important sacrifice was at Passover where a lamb was slain and blood was placed on the doorposts and doorframe of a person's home. This was to commemorate the Passover when the Israelites were in Egypt, and God passed over them, taking the first-born of all of Egypt. You can read about this in Exodus 11-12.
This sacrifice was then commemorated at the beginning of each New Year at the feast of Passover. As part of this feast there were many Biblical requirements related to the lamb. It could not have a blemish, broken bone, or mark on it. It was chosen four days before Passover. It was slaughtered in a certain way that included piercing its side, so that the blood would run out on the ground. These are all things that Jesus Himself fulfilled. He was the perfect Lamb in everyway.
When Jesus came to fulfill the Law He was speaking primarily about how He was to be the ultimate Lamb of God; His sacrifice on the cross would be the final Lamb that would need to be slain to satisfy this feast. In one act He took away the sins of the whole world.
The Law demands that we die for the things that we have done. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. We have been judged by the Law as guilty of sinning, and as a result we have earned a death sentence.
When Jesus died on the cross He paid our wages. He died so that we may be made alive. By claiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior, as our payment for the sins that we have committed, we have in essence put the blood of the Lamb on our doorposts and doorframe (our hearts and minds), so that the Lord can pass over us.
Now let's put this all together so that we can understand what it means to be born of Moses.
The Law was put in place to lead us to the fact that we are sinners who deserve death. Jesus paid the price, according to the Law, for all the sins we have committed. Therefore when He died He satisfied the demands of the Law for us.
When we are born of Moses, we are born into the process of having our sins forgiven. We have been convicted of our sin by the Law, the Law given to Moses, and have been saved by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the sacrifice that the Law demanded. Being "born of Moses" then means to accept the demands of the Law, and fulfill those demands by claiming what Jesus did for us.
It is with this understanding that we are now able to say that Jesus was not talking about being water baptized.
The Israelite Baptism
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2:
1 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. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
What "baptism" is Paul writing about here? He is talking about being born of Moses. He uses the time when the Israelite people crossed the Red Sea as the symbol of their baptism.
If you remember, the Israelites had left Egypt and were being led by Moses towards Canaan when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to destroy them. They were trapped at the Red Sea , and as the Egyptian army approached they were sure that they were all going to be killed.
Exodus 14:10-12 tells us:
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!
When the Israelite people crossed the Red Sea they were in essence being baptized. This account is quite similar to the story told to us in Acts 8:38:
38 .Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
The Israelites too went down into the water. The only difference is that the water had been pushed back and they did not actually get physically wet. We will discuss what this means later on, but for now we see that the Israelite people underwent a baptism.
This also tells us about part of the process that Believers are to follow in their walk with Christ. After accepting Jesus in a person's personal Passover experience, the next step that they should follow is to "cross the Red Sea" and become baptized. This is what the Israelite people did.
As part of that baptism I want you to see that an amazing event occurred, that tells us about the importance of baptism. We read in Exodus 14 about the Egyptian army's attempt to destroy the Israelites at the Red Sea . We saw that God put himself behind the Israelites to protect them until they could cross the Red Sea. Once they had crossed the Egyptians came after them, but God returned the waters and the Egyptian army was destroyed. God then moved in front of them to guide them toward Mount Sinai.
This teaches that baptism is a transition from needing God's complete protection to needing God's guidance. Consider that as the Israelite people were standing at the shores of the Red Sea they were terrified that they were going to be destroyed. God needed to keep the Egyptian army from advancing towards them, so He went behind them to keep them safe so that they could cross the Red Sea . But after they crossed we are told that God moved out in front of them.
This means that our relationship with God should change once we are baptized. Before we are baptized God must protect us from the world we have left behind. Our former life is still chasing after us trying to drag us back to the life we were living, so God must stand behind us and protect our backs from the things that we no longer should allow into our lives.
We must realize that even though we have committed ourselves to Christ and are choosing to live our lives for Jesus, this does not mean that all of our friends, family, co-workers and neighbors want us to be living for Jesus. They want us as sinners, and are happy to try to persuade us to return to our former lives. In essence they are seeking to destroy us.
This may seem extreme, but to drag us back to the way that we were will cause more damage to us than if we had never accepted Jesus in the first place. Consider Jesus' words in Matthew 12:43-45:
43 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
For those who accept Jesus and decide to not be baptized they are in need of God's protection continuously because their enemies are trying to lead them back to where they came from, back to Egypt . This means that God must cover their back to ensure that they can remain safe. It also means that if they fail to stand firm in God, their lives will become twice as bad as it would have been had they never accepted Jesus at all.
This does not mean that God is not up to the task mind you. He is aware that He must provide this protection. As the advancing Egyptian army approached the people began to get terrified that they were going to be killed. Then Moses told them to have confidence in the Lord. Exodus 14:13-14 reads:
13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today . The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Stand firm and let the Lord fight the battle for you. This means simply to turn over a struggle to Him and let Him battle it out. When you do this you need to keep in mind a few things.
First that God has equipped you with armor to defeat anything Satan tries to temp you with. Ephesians 6:12-17 reads:
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Your head, your legs, your heart and chest, your waist and your feet are protected. In addition you have a shield that will protect you against things shot at you, and a sword to defend yourself against attacks. But notice one area of you is not protected: your back. You have no defense against anything coming up from behind you. This is why you need to stand firm, because God is fighting the battle for you and has provided a set of armor for you to be able to stand firm. You have no reason to run away.
Now let me state that I am not saying to run out and put yourself in precarious situations. If there is a person who has been harassing you, I am not telling you to quickly run up to them and challenge them to a fight. I am not saying if you are struggling with drug addiction to quickly run to the nearest crack house to show how you have overcome the desire for crack. What I am saying is that when Satan tempts you that you can't make it without crack, or that you are a chicken for not earning "respect" from others, turn directly back at Satan and tell him that his temptations are not going to make you afraid. He is not going to scare you into running to the crack house or the bar. He is not going to make you go and fight someone to get the respect. Tell him the truth that he is old, unable to catch you now and that God is fighting this battle for you, and has won!!
God did fight the battle for the Israelites. He guarded them and kept them safe and the Egyptian army never even got close to them. They safely crossed and were saved.
But here is where we see that the relationship with God changed drastically. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, God no longer remained behind them to protect them. Instead He moved in front of them to guide them. Their relationship had changed with God for the better. They no longer had to fear; they now learned to trust in the direction that God was taking them.
No longer do we need to fear our own personal "Egypts." We can have confidence that those things that have tempted us are now in the past and that we can move forward with God.
This does not mean that we cannot backslide into our past sins. We can easily convince ourselves that we should return to the way we lived before. This is frequently what happened to the Israelite people. In Exodus 16 the people had become tired of manna and wanted meat. We read in verse 3:
3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
One chapter later they were concerned about not having water and again began to grumble. Verse 3 reads:
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"
We can convince ourselves to return to our old ways, in complete opposition of what God wants us to do.
But notice throughout all this grumbling that we are never told that God allowed anyone to return. He kept them with Him, and actually provided for their needs, even when they were totally unappreciative. God took care of them regardless of their sinful lusts.
I do want to say that we should be on guard against those things that we grumble about wanting. The reality is that God may give us what we want simply because we are so arrogant to believe that we know better than Him; He then needs to demonstrate how little we know. I guarantee this is not a pleasant lesson to learn.
Satan as a Roaring Lion
This is a good place to stop and talk about Satan's role after one is baptized. We know that Satan is no longer able to drag us back to Egypt and destroy us once we have become baptized, so his plan is to scare us into running back to him. This is where he acts as a roaring lion. In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter writes:
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
If you think about it, roaring would not be a way to hunt for prey. Once they heard a lion roar they would run away. So let me give you a little explanation on lion hunting.
The oldest lion in a group is unable to chase after gazelle and other spry animals, so he goes to one side of the prey while the other lions go to the other side. The old lion roars and scares the animals. So what do they do? They run away from the roaring lion and straight into the young, fast lions that are waiting for them. These animals are sitting ducks.
This is how Satan works. He comes up from behind us. He knows God is in front of us, guiding us and protecting us from the things that are in front. He also knows that he cannot harm us. All he can do is scare us, and so this is what he decides to do. The problem is that we take the bait. We run away from Satan and his roars, run past God, and straight into the trap he has set for us. Instead of waiting on God to lead us we run right past Him and straight into the disaster.
One of the most common examples of this is in those who have battled addictions. They have overcome these addictions and now feel called to go and help others who are facing similar addictions. They soon conclude that they are not doing "enough" and must get out there and really start reaching people. They also conclude that God is not moving them along fast enough. It is Satan convincing them that they have to start going into the street or to places that addicts would be and start helping more people right now. He roars at them that if they don't do something quickly their ministry will never happen "the way it should." Sadly they listen. Soon they either find themselves overwhelmed by the task at hand, or in many cases they get drawn back into the addiction and are worse off than ever before. They run ahead of God because Satan roars at them to do so, and they run right into the trap.
If we are to truly overcome the things that are trouble for us, we must sit back and let God lead. When Satan roars at us we must do what Peter says in verse 9:
9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith,...
Tell him that his roaring will not scare you and you will not be afraid. Tell that old lion that he cannot chase you down, and has no power over you.
The Israelites were afraid of the oncoming Egyptians (Exodus 14:10-12). The Israelites began to fear, much like we fear the things from our pasts. I do not mean to sound like any kind of expert in addictions, and I know drug and alcohol dependencies can be very difficult to overcome, but the reality is that if you have been baptized you should totally be able to defeat those struggles. God is telling you that there is no reason to look back because you have nothing to fear. You are protected.
Peter Fails to be Baptized
The Disciple Peter had a chance to be baptized directly by Jesus. In Matthew 14 the Disciples are in the boat when they notice a figure walking towards them on the water. They think this may be a ghost, but Jesus tells them that it is Him. In verse 27 we read:
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Earlier I mentioned that these were the words that Moses said to the Israelite people when they were up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army barreling down on them. They were afraid and surely believed that they would be destroyed. Moses then told them in Exodus 14:13:
13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.
In essence both Jesus and Moses were saying the same thing: Stand firm and don't be afraid. Many are afraid to take the step toward baptism, because they are afraid to publicly declare their faith in Jesus. Whether they are concerned with public ridicule from their friends and family, or are afraid to commit themselves to God in this way, they refuse to continue on their walk of faith.
But there are those that are willing to take this step, only to find themselves drowning in troubles before they are baptized to completion.
Jesus told the Disciples it was Him. We then read in Matthew 14:28:
28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
Peter trusted in Jesus to the point of expecting that he could walk on water. And walk on water is what he did, until..Verse 30:
30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Peter did not become "baptized" that day. To do so he had to reach Jesus, but he did not make it. Instead he became concerned with the wind. All he could see was the trouble around him, the "approaching Egyptian army," the "roaring lion," and he gave into the fear.
I want you to understand that baptism does an amazing thing in terms of building your confidence in God. It is hard to explain unless you have experienced it, but if you have been baptized I am sure that you can testify to how your relationship with God has changed. In Verse 32 we are told:
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
I think this is a fairly significant verse because it teaches that Peter was placed back in the boat, not on the shore. He had to go back to where he started, and was not baptized into faith in Jesus. As a result we read later in the Gospels that he will deny Jesus to a 12-year old girl, and often will make rather ludicrous statements. His faith was hindered that day, because he was not baptized.
Had Peter continued on his trek across the lake to Jesus I contend that he would have been an entirely different Disciple. However, he decided to stop, and this meant that he was sent back to the boat. Consider that every step that Peter had taken toward Jesus did not matter at all. He was taken back to the very place where he began. Peter was on the water publicly declaring his faith in Jesus, when he suddenly changed his focus off of Jesus, and turned his attention to the wind. His declaration of faith changed from Jesus to the troubles around him.
What Baptism Does NOT Do
Too many people ignore these stories from the Bible, so they do not understand the true focus of baptism. In fact, what is often taught about baptism is that it is God's way of cleansing us from sin. In Ronald G. Falconberry's article, Religious Debate On Christian Baptism, he writes that baptism is idealized from a sacramental point of view. He states:
A sacrament, or ordinance, is a religious act in which God's grace is conveyed. Christians who have a sacramental view of baptism believe that the person being baptized receives the remission of their sins and is regenerated into a new life.
This is a very pervasive idea within the church. If one is not baptized then they have not truly had their sins forgiven. This is not the case however.
This belief concludes that baptism somehow washes away our sins. They are equating how water washes away impurities in our clothes or on our bodies, and are using the water as the method by which sins are removed. Sin however is not washed away with water. It is cleansed with blood. Revelation 7:14 says:
14 .they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
We read in Hebrews 9:22:
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
We also read in the last half of 1 John 1:7:
7 .and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
It is the blood of Jesus that makes us cleansed from our sin, and makes us "white." Water cannot do this, because if it could, every time I took a shower, a bath or went swimming I would be cleansed from my sins. This is not what happens. The authors want us to clearly understand that water baptism has nothing to do with cleansing sin.
Now I know that there are many that would contest my assertion that baptism is not necessary for the cleansing of sins. They turn to verses such as Acts 2:38 to support their claim that one must be baptized to be forgiven of one's sins. In Acts 2:38 we read:
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 statement by Peter seems to make it clear that baptism is necessary to have one's sins removed. But the problem comes in the translation of the verse. To make it more clear to us, let's turn to the Young's Literal Translation of verse 38:
38 and Peter said unto them, `Reform, and be baptized each of you on the name of Jesus Christ, to remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,
When we read it this way it gives us a slightly different view on the verse, which I think will help us to more clearly understand. In the NIV translation we are given the idea that there is a direct correlation between baptism and sin being cleansed. This occurs from the use of the word "for." But when we look at the Young's Literal Translation (YLT) we get a different point of view on this, because the word "to" is used.
Here we are taught that there is a process related to having your sins remitted. To grasp this we need a definition of the word remit.
According to the International Dictionary of English we see that remit has three meanings. The first is to surrender, as in to give up something, the second means to restore, as in to restore someone's liberties, and the last is to pardon, as in to forgive or pardon the crimes that someone has committed. All of these definitions apply in this case.
When we accept Jesus we surrender our lives to Him. When we accept Jesus as Savior we have our relationship with the Father restored to the point that we are no longer at enmity with God, and we are also forgiven our sins. But this does not come through water baptism, but through "being drawn from water;" from being born of Moses.
Remember that to be born of water means to understand that one is guilty under the Law and to accept the sacrifice that Jesus paid on the cross. This is to be baptized, and when we look at the context of what Peter is saying here we see this as the true understanding of this verse.
This becomes clearer as we look at the prepositions that are used here. We see that one is baptized "on the name of Jesus Christ" and "to remission (or remit) of sins." To be baptized on the name of Jesus means that one is baptized on the work of what Jesus did, and not on what they did in Jesus' name.
Let's look at an example for a moment. Let's say that I tell you that D-day happened on June 6, 1944. By saying it this way I am pointing out that the event and the day are interdependent. In other words, they are integrated with each other. The event tells the day, as well as the day telling the event. Now let's look at being baptized on the name of Jesus. It is Jesus' name that one is baptized on, and it is baptism that one is associated with Jesus' name. They are not independent of each other, but are synthesized.
So let's tie one more piece of this together to make it completely understandable. To comprehend this we must grasp what the name of Jesus means. You see we read things like "ask for anything in my name and it will be given," but there is more to this than just throwing the name of Jesus out there and expecting something to happen. We are told of the seven sons of Scheva in Acts 19 that did this. They tried to cast out demons by just calling on Jesus' name and the demons roughed them up. See the name is more than a name. It has meaning behind it. In this case it is the life and death work on the cross that is an essential part of Jesus' "name." The name means more than simply a name. There are ideas and characteristics that come with saying Jesus' name.
This tells us then that when we call on Jesus' name we are calling on what He represented and did, not simply on a name. His work is the baptism that we are receiving, not a water baptism. You have to keep in mind that this is the very sentiment that He was teaching to Nicodemus back in John 3. When we discuss what baptism really is this will make more sense.
Baptism is also not necessary for salvation, although some would disagree with me on this subject. In David E. Pratte's article on the Purpose of Baptism, he writes:
Noah illustrates how we are saved. (1 Peter 3:20) says he and his family were saved "by (or through) water." The flood water destroyed the wicked, but it also saved Noah because it bore the ark up, delivering (saving) Noah from death.
This illustrates the fact that baptism is what saves us. This does not mean that we are physically washing dirt from our bodies. The power is not in the water but in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But we contact that blood in baptism.
While I agree that the flood was a baptism for Noah and his family, they were saved long before the flood waters even started, because they were already in the boat. They were saved before one drop of water fell.
We see that the idea of baptism as a means of salvation was quite common even in the early church. St. Augustine, who wrote a great deal of teachings that is still doctrine used in the Catholic Church today, writes in Forgiveness and the Just Deserts of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants :
"It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North African] Christians call baptism salvation and the sacrament of Christ's Body nothing else than life. Whence does this derive, except from an ancient and, as I suppose, apostolic tradition, by which the churches of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the table of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation and life eternal? This is the witness of Scripture, too. . . . If anyone wonders why children born of the baptized should themselves be baptized, let him attend briefly to this. . . . The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of regeneration."
This is very well said by Augustine, but not accurate at all. Regeneration comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is insulting to think that something else can provide the solution.
To dispel this idea further we must return to the story of the Israelites in Egypt. The night of Passover Israel was saved because they had the blood of the Lamb on their doorposts and doorframes. They did not undergo baptism until they crossed the Red Sea , and Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 10. This clearly shows us that baptism is not essential for salvation.
I think it is important to understand that to teach that baptism is essential for salvation is a false teaching at best; it is heresy at worst. This teaching implies that Jesus did not do all the work on the cross. This is the theology of "Jesus plus something else." To teach this implies that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was not complete enough to save us from our sins and that we need to do something else to secure our salvation. This is a slap in our Lord's face. I do not know about you, but I am not ready to spit in Jesus' face this way. His work was complete and all we need to be saved.
The Purpose of Baptism
Now that we understand what baptism is not, we must determine what its real purpose is. The primary purpose for baptism is to make a public declaration of faith in God. It is to establish that one has put his or her trust in God and has confidence in God to lead them through their life.
There are a few examples given when people became baptized into Jesus. Most of these are told to us in the Book of Acts. The first of these we read in Acts 8:9-12:
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is the divine power known as the Great Power." 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. 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. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Next is the Ethiopian baptized by Philip. In Acts 8:36,38 we read:
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.
We then see that after Saul was given his sight back that he too was baptized. This is told in Acts 9:17-18:
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.
We then read that after Cornelius and his family had received the message and become Believers that Peter stated in Acts 10:47:
.Then Peter said, 47 "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.
We then read about a series of baptisms that were performed by the Apostle Paul. First in Acts 16:14-15:
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.
In Acts 16:31-33 we read about Paul baptizing his jailer:
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.
We then see that Paul baptized many of the Corinthians in 18:8:
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
We then read about a group of people in Ephesus who had been baptized through the baptism of John the Baptist. Paul explains to them who Jesus is and in Acts 19:4-5 we read:
4 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." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
We are told of eight instances where people were baptized. The people who were baptized in these accounts include a sorcerer and the people of Samaria, an Ethiopian, Saul (before he was Paul), Cornelius, who was a Roman centurion, and his family, a merchant named Lydia (representing women), a jailer and his family, a synagogue leader and the people of his city, and finally a group of Believers who had not taken on the full baptism. As we look through these verses we can see that the importance of baptism was more important in the fact of the declaration that was being made than in the fact that they were baptized. Let me explain that a little more clearly.
Each individual we are told of had a certain standing in the community. Paul was a Pharisee, Lydia was a woman and a merchant, Crispus was a synagogue leader, there was a jailer, Cornelius a Roman centurion, and a eunuch, who must have been of some importance in that he was traveling from Ethiopia to Jerusalem and back. He clearly must have had some wealth and influence. All of these people would have a prominent position within their communities, and thus their declaration of Jesus through being baptized would be an amazing testimony to others. This brings us to the purpose of baptism then - a public display of faith in Jesus.
The purpose in one being baptized is to declare to others that you have placed your faith and confidence in God; that you are fully dedicated to God.
Before I elaborate on this further, I want to return to these verses one more time to demonstrate how they dispel any other explanation for how a person is saved or has their sins removed. In Acts 10:47 we read:
.Then Peter said, 47 "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.
Notice that they were already filled with the Holy Spirit. The only way that one can be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be a Believer in God. In fact we are told in the previous verse that they were already speaking in tongues. To do this they must have already been filled with the Holy Spirit, because this gift can only be given to those who have accepted Jesus and received gifts from the Spirit. It was only after they had believed and received that they were baptized.
This is further supported in Acts 16:31 where we read:
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household."
This clearly tells us that salvation comes through belief, and nothing else.
Let's also understand that baptism is not required of all Believers. While every Believer should want to be baptized, it is not required. Look back at Acts 18:8 for a moment:
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
Notice that many of the Believers who heard and believed were baptized; not all of them. Does this mean that those Believers who did not get baptized were not saved or did not have their sins removed? Of course it does not mean that. And it is not a mistranslation. The Greek word here, polus , means many, meaning that not everyone was baptized, although everyone who believed was saved. If baptism was such an important thing that was required to be saved or to have one's sins removed, I am sure that Paul would have demanded that ALL (Greek word - pas ) be baptized. Let's face it, very few understand God's wishes as well as Paul did, and if he did not demand that all be baptized this should tell us something about the requirement of being baptized.
But then, it also makes us wonder why it was not important for all to be baptized. The reality is that God was looking for a public declaration from some key people to inspire others to believe in Jesus. By these men and women being baptized they would lead others to want to know more about God and maybe to believe in Jesus themselves.
Therefore baptism serves two purposes. The first is personal. A person becomes baptized as an individual show of faith in God. They are moving from a place of needing God's protection and are ready to be guided by God. This guiding means that they are ready to hear directly from God and to obey what God has to say. You can read more about this in my booklet, Being a True Pentecostal.
The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and so God was able to move out in front of them and direct and guide them. Peter did not get "baptized" when he gave into the roaring lion (the wind) and started to sink. Thus for the next three years he was constantly in need of correction, protection and admonishing from Jesus. He could not be guided by Jesus, because he was not confident in what Jesus said to him. Consider that for every declaration that Jesus made Peter was quick to challenge. It was his inability to be properly baptized that made him unable to trust and have confidence in Jesus.
This leads us to an interesting argument related to baptism. There is no account ever given of the Disciples being baptized. We are told that Jesus called them to join Him, but we are never told that He baptized them. In fact we can conclude that Jesus did not baptize them at all. In John 4:1-2 we read:
1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
Jesus did not baptize anyone, it was His Disciples. If it was so imperative that one get baptized you would figure that He would have been performing this ritual as well, but He did not.
Returning to our discussion we see that baptism becomes an identification with Jesus. We read earlier about how Paul had baptized a group of men in Ephesus who had been baptized into John. We read in Ephesus 19:3:
3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?"
"John's baptism," they replied.
These people identified themselves with John the Baptist, because they were following his baptism. Thus they declared a need for repenting of sins, but they were not committed to Jesus, and did not understand the forgiveness by our Lord. They were not identified with God in their baptism.
This tells us why we should commit ourselves to God in this way. We do this to declare before men that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of our lives, and through baptism we are willing to give up our own lives and commit ourselves to Him. Not only are we willing to make this commitment, but we are willing to do it in front of others so they know that we truly stand for God.
This is the second purpose of baptism - the public declaration. When one becomes baptized they are declaring before a group of people that they are ready to serve and be guided by God. Notice that all of the people who were baptized in Acts did this in front of at least one other person. Most did it in front of the communities and/or their families. They wanted others to see that this is the life that they chose for themselves.
There is a very clear commitment that comes in being baptized. Maybe some do not understand this, but clearly baptism is saying to God, "You guide me God, because I cannot return to where I came from." The commitment of baptism draws us into a relationship with God that changes us significantly and should alter our lives in overwhelming ways.
Peter wanted to make this commitment. While we may think that this is amazing that Peter walked on water, even if it was briefly, think about how the other disciples must have felt. They were actually watching Peter walk on water. He was making a declaration of faith right in front of all of them that he trusted in Jesus so much that he believed that Jesus could make him walk on water. But then he got caught up in the winds, the troubles, and lost his trust. He returned to " Egypt ." As a result he remained on "the west bank of the Red Sea" in his walk with Jesus, and did not grow while Jesus was alive on earth.
To further solidify our point, look at the Israelite crossing of the Red Sea . We read in our last section that Paul described this as a baptism. It was a baptism because they trusted God in front of the Egyptians and publicly declared that they trusted God enough to cross the sea while the water was held back. This would have taken some courage and serious faith to do so.
I frequently read attempts by scientists to explain how the water was held back so that the Israelites could cross. They explain how strong winds could have come and pushed against the waters making a wall so that the water would be so shallow that a crossing would be possible. I even saw a demonstration of this on a model they had constructed.
While their models and theories are quite interesting to read about I am always left wondering if they can explain one thing to me. We are told that about one million Israelite men left Egypt . Estimating conservatively I will figure that for every man there was probably a wife and three children on average. So there were about five million men, women and children in all that crossed the Red Sea. They also had animals, goods and carts. Five million people is about the size of the population of Minnesota. I think to myself how long would it take for all of the citizens of Minnesota to cross the Mississippi River in the same location with all their pets and all they could carry, even with cars and trucks? Have you ever watched the evacuation of a city when a hurricane is coming? They have cars, huge paved roads and many avenues to take to get out of the area, and yet it still takes them five or more hours to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people from a city.
This then leads me to my question - if this was nothing but a strong wind that caused the waters to be pushed back enough for the land to be visible and to cross, what kind of wind blows for ten or twelve hours continuously to allow five million people to cross at one place? That would have to be the most amazing wind of all time!
I bring this up, because I wonder what the Israelite people thought when they saw the water split like this. Was there some logical science type, pocket protector in his robe, telling everyone that this was just some quirky act of nature? Clearly nothing like this had ever been seen before, and if you have ever seen the Red Sea it is at least a few hundred yards across. There was plenty of reason to believe that this would not last and they would all die if they entered. But they did not doubt. They all entered in and crossed to safety. They did this right in front of the Egyptian army, thus proclaiming their faith in God. They believed that God would do something amazing for them, and He did.
This shows us that baptism is a faith step. It might even tell us that one does not have to enter into water to be baptized. Clearly the Israelites were in the sea, but they were not in the water. Yet they demonstrated that a public display of faith can be a form of baptism. We will return to this idea later, however.
I want to make a statement that I think is important for all of you to hear before you decide to run out and be baptized. If you want to take this amazing step because you want to not fear, then you are doing it for the wrong reason, and you will most likely not feel the awesome power of this blessed event. Baptism is an issue of trust in God, and thus it requires an act of faith in God to take this step. However if you want to do this to glorify God, to know His love and majesty in a more powerful way, and to show others how much you love Jesus, I know you will not be disappointed in the things that He will show you. You will see God like never before, and your relationship will help you to feel more trust for Him. In addition, you will bring great glory to God.
I want you to realize that if you decide to be baptized for the wrong reasons that there can be extremely unpleasant consequences. Baptism is not intended to be something that one does with wrong motives in mind. The Egyptians decided to cross the Red Sea in the same way that the Israelites had. They may have even trusted that God would keep the waters back, but He did not. Clearly their motives for crossing were not to bring glory to God. They instead wanted to destroy God's people and so He destroyed them. So keep in mind that this act should be about glorifying God and building your relationship with Him.
Cleansing to Join the Priesthood of God
One of the areas of misunderstanding that has arisen comes from Jesus' own baptism. Matthew 3:13-15 reads:
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
Many people have used this verse to support the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation, because Jesus demanded that John baptize Him. However this is not the case at all.
In the Book of Hebrews we are told that Jesus is our High Priest. For example, Hebrews 3:1 says of Jesus:
1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Another example is Hebrews 4:14 which tells us:
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
There are eleven references to Jesus as the High Priest in the Book of Hebrews. I mention this because I want us to be clear that this is one of His primary roles now.
In Leviticus 8 Aaron and his sons were about to take office, with Aaron being the high priest. Before they took their positions Moses performed some rituals that were required of him by God. We read in verses 5-6:
5 Moses said to the assembly, "This is what the LORD has commanded to be done." 6 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water.
This was a requirement of anyone who served as High Priest, and would be required of Jesus as well. After all, He intended to serve as our High Priest for all time. If He came to fulfill the Law and not abolish it, then He had to follow this ritual of going through a washing before taking the office of High Priest.
Just so we make this clear, "washing" in Greek is the same word as baptism. For example we read in Hebrews 9:10:
10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings -external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
Washing is baptizmo, and shows us that to go through a washing was also to be baptized. It was ceremonial in nature and did not have cleansing powers.
When Jesus came to John and told Him that He needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness He was pointing out that if He did not get baptized then He could not properly serve as High Priest. He had to go through this washing if He was to be declared able to serve, and this is why John complied.
For those of us who feel called to serve in God's priesthood we too must undergo this washing.
Now let me explain who is a priest of God before we continue on. In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter writes:
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Many of us hear the idea of being in a priesthood and we assume that we must go to a seminary or Bible college to be a priest, but this is not the case. Peter is saying here that we are all called to be priests of God, serving Him. You see, according to Peter, one is not a priest so that he or she can deliver Sunday services and perform rituals. One is a priest so that they can "declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light." I am sure that you would agree that all of us are capable of praising God and telling others of how God changed us. If you can do that, you are ready to be a priest of God.
However there is one requirement of being a priest, and here is where we find one more purpose for baptism. You must go through a washing to be declared clean to serve God. This means you must go and be baptized.
The Methods of Being Baptized
I would be remiss in covering this subject if I did not speak directly on the methods of being baptized. Because so many believe that one must be "submerged" to be baptized, the primary doctrine of most Protestants is that one must be taken down into a pool or lake and be completely submerged in the water. For many, including Catholics, they believe in sprinkling water over the forehead of the person. Still there are those who believe that water must be poured over the head of the individual being baptized.
To be honest, the Bible does not really specify a method of how one should be baptized. One can draw some conclusions from the fact that people went down into the water, but this still means that we have two options - complete submerging and pouring the water over a person's head.
The tradition of the first century Christian writers is that John baptized a person by standing in the water. He would take a bowl of water and scoop water into it, and then pour the water over the person's head. The Bible does not specifically tell us that this is how Jesus was baptized, but there is some significant evidence to support the idea that John poured water over Jesus' head and did not submerge Him.
While the Bible does not tell us this, there is a text that does tell us that the early church used this method. Between 60-120 AD a book called the Didache was compiled by the early church leaders. Didache means "teaching," and this was the book on theological issues and rituals. Not every issue was covered, but things like baptism, commandments and communion were.
Chapter 7 tells us:
And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.
Notice we are not told that a person went down into the river or lake to be dunked. Instead, three times water was poured over their head. This was the teaching of the early Christians and supports that Jesus may have been baptized in this manner.
The first is the verse we read in Leviticus 8:6. We were told there that Moses called forth Aaron and his sons and "washed" them. The Israelites did this washing in front of the temple or tabernacle, which eliminates the possibility of being submerged. The method used then was to scoop water out of the basin and poor it over Aaron and his sons, and later the other priests, to make them ceremonially clean. This would have most likely been the procedure that John used with Jesus.
But there is another supporting point to this idea. In John 3:23 we are told:
23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.
It is in the location where we are likely to find our answer. Aenon is Aramaic for "springs" or "fountains." The closest springs to the area are in Scythopolis, about six miles west of the Jordan . There we find seven springs. While some springs have large quantities of water where a person could be dunked, this is not true of these springs. They in fact offer only a small amount of water which would eliminate immersion, but would be enough water to scoop and pour over Jesus' head. In the book, A Modern Shibboleth, author Wilbur Christy writes:
".these springs trickling through marshy meadow land on their way to the Jordan , offer little or no facilities for immersion"
Clearly immersion baptism could not have occurred here and since there was "plenty of water" it is most likely that the tradition of John pouring water over Jesus is accurate.
Now with all that said, the answer to the question of how one should be baptized is that it does not matter. The Bible never gives us a clear indication or directive on how this should occur, and this says something to us in itself. If the Bible does not say which option should be employed, then there is not a correct way to do so. I know this may be vastly unpopular, but we must face the fact that people argue their position on this issue more out of the tradition they have followed or learned then on Biblical evidence.
The reason that it honestly does not matter is because it is not the method that is important. The purpose of baptism is the public declaration and trust in Jesus. Whether one is sprinkled, immersed or poured over is completely irrelevant. What is important is that one makes a statement of faith and trust in Jesus in front of others.
For those of you who have been baptized through submerging, my message to you is that this option is perfectly fine. If Jesus was baptized by pouring water over His head, it does not take anything away from your personal baptism experience. If you have made this declaration and set your faith in Jesus that you will trust Him and let Him guide you, then you have nothing else to worry about.
For those of you who have had water poured or sprinkled on you I also want you to take heart in the fact that you have made the commitment that you needed to make. You do not need to do anything else to earn the acceptance of others. Know that your baptism was just as valid as anyone else's.
Can I Be Baptized Without Water?
I also want you to consider that there are cases where a person is baptized and water played no part in the baptism. Baptism has two ingredients to it. It is a ritual and an act of faith. Both are intended to display our confidence and love for God before men. So the question then comes: do I need to be baptized in water to make that declaration? I am adding this commentary as something to think about. You may not agree with this point of view, and that is ok. Just consider the possibility that it could be valid.
I mentioned that the Israelite people were not actually baptized in water. They went "down into the water," but there was no actual water there. So were they baptized? I would say yes. Paul also said it was yes.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago were baptized in the furnace. We read in the Book of Daniel that these men were ordered to bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar but they refused to do so. Their disobedience meant that they were sent into the fire where they were to be completely incinerated. However, they were not burned up. They trusted in God and God rescued them.
Was this a baptism? Of course it was. They made a public declaration of faith. They understood that if they did not bow to the statue that they would be burned. They refused to do this anyway, and instead chose the furnace over denying God. This was their declaration before men. They also trusted that God would guide them through this experience. This is why we are told that when the king looked into the furnace he not only saw the three but one who looked like "the Son of God." What he did not realize is that it was the Son of God guiding these men through the furnace.
This event had the key elements of baptism and thus it was a baptism, even if water was not present.
King David was baptized as well. When he was about 12 years-old he agreed to go and battle against the giant Goliath, and he won. He should not have won. In fact he should have been pummeled into the ground. But he declared that he would fight for God and trusted that God would guide him to victory, and he won.
Joseph was forced to be enslaved by his brothers, and eventually went to prison for a crime he had not done. There he continued to trust in God and bore witness to how good God is. As a result the jailer knew he could trust Joseph and so he put him in charge of the jail. That is pretty amazing considering that he was a Hebrew slave who was accused of trying to rape the wife of his Egyptian master. He was fortunate that he wasn't beaten to death. But God took him through the trial and his faith in God was shown to those around him. Joseph was baptized through this experience, although it was a rather lengthy baptism.
Now you may be wondering, if an experience is able to baptize us, then why should we be water baptized? Remember that washing is associated with being cleansed as a priest of God. When you go through a water baptism you are adhering to the demands to be washed before taking office.
Many of us do not "feel" called to be priests of God, but we should "feel" this way. Remember that Peter told us that one is a priest who praises God and declares how God brought them out of darkness. Can't all of us declare this? Then all of us should be willing to undergo the washing needed to be God's priests, serving and trusting Him.
Infant Baptism
A number of years ago when my daughters were in elementary school one of their teachers had a baby during the school year. Sadly, the baby only survived for three days. They both wanted to go to the funeral and when they came home they asked me what would happen if a baby was not baptized and died. I explained to them that baptism had nothing to do with them going to heaven. They then told me that a majority of the message that the pastor delivered at the service was praising the fact that the baby had been baptized before he died; that if this had not happened then the baby would have gone to hell.
I thought that was a terrible message, and unfortunately it is very commonly taught, especially within the Catholic and Lutheran faiths. In these religions baptism as a baby is not only encouraged, but required.
In many other denominations they have what are referred to as "baby dedications," that are almost identical to infant baptisms. Here the major difference is that the parents make the commitment to raise the child in the ways of God, instead of this being a ritual that secures the babies place in heaven.
There is nothing wrong with baby dedications I suppose, because truthfully the parents are the only ones who are making any kind of commitment. The child is not responsible for anything to which the parents committed themselves.
This is not the case in infant baptism however. In infant baptism the actions of the parents are making the child committed to Jesus, when it is only the child that can make such a choice.
For us to understand why infant baptism is wrong I want to first take a look at the history of it.
Infant baptism has actually been present in the church for quite some time. One of the early church fathers was a man named Origen. He was born in 180 AD, just 80 years after the last Apostle, John, died. Origen, himself, was baptized as an infant, and did address the subject in two of his writings. In his Homilies on Leviticus he writes:
"Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous"
He later wrote in Commentaries on Romans:
"The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit."
While I consider much of Origen's writings to be quite amazing, I find his view here to be in error. My contesting with Origen's point of view comes from the fact that he believed that baptism was necessary for the remission of sins. I believe I have already showed this to be false. However we should note that clearly the idea of infant baptism had spread throughout the Christian world, considering that Origen was raised in Egypt.
It was at this time that a theology developed amongst Bible scholars that baptism had replaced circumcision. In the days before Jesus, every male child was required to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. It was concluded by some theologians of the day that baptism was the New Testament version of circumcision, and therefore all infants had to be baptized.
The problem with this is that there was no Biblical foundation for this teaching. God demanded that a boy be circumcised and explained when this was to occur. Leviticus 12:3:
3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised.
There is no such mandate from God for infant baptism, and since God is usually quite specific about the rituals He wants performed we can be sure that infant baptism was not a commandment of God.
Infant baptism really became a dominant teaching within the church amongst those who ministered to the pagans. Frequently men were married to many different women and therefore had numerous children. It was actually not uncommon for a man to have a hundred wives and six or seven-hundred children. The father had complete say over how the children were raised and how they were named. In fact, if a child was born in a sickened condition, the father often took the child to the pigpen and left it out over night to freeze to death, to then let it be eaten by the pigs. The mother could say nothing in opposition to this.
Out of concern for their children, mothers would take salt and mark a cross on the child's forehead when it was born, and would then take a small amount of their spit and rub it on the baby's lips and pray that God would care for their children. This was their attempt to ward off evil spirits from their child in case he or she would die, and to ensure that the child was "ordained" to be with God. This practice actually came out of an occult ritual, which should concern us. Why would we want to institute an occultic tradition into our faith?
However, this teaching was supported by another church father, Gregory of Nazianz. In his Oration on Holy Baptism he writes:
"Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the seal [of baptism] because of the weakness of nature? Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how little faith!"
Salt and spit were later replaced with "holy water" and the ritual was born.
Eventually it became the church doctrine that baptism was required for all infants. At the Council of Mileum II in 416 AD the following edict was proclaimed:
"[W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers' wombs ought not to be baptized, or say that they are indeed baptized unto the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which is expiated in the bath of regeneration . . . let him be anathema [excommunicated]. Since what the apostle [Paul] says, 'Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so passed to all men, in whom all have sinned' [Rom. 5:12], must not be understood otherwise than the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it. For on account of this rule of faith even infants, who in themselves thus far have not been able to commit any sin, are therefore truly baptized unto the remission of sins, so that that which they have contracted from generation may be cleansed in them by regeneration."
Therefore it became the official church position that infants must be baptized. No longer was it to drive away evil spirits, but was now required for a child to be regenerated, as we read previously that Augustine proposed.
Two additional thoughts dominated the ideology of having babies baptized. The first was that since the children could not speak for themselves, the parents had the right to speak for them. Hippolytus writes in The Apostolic Tradition:
"Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them."
Therefore babies were baptized out of the idea that parents knew better and therefore since the baby could not say yes or no, the parents would.
Of all the arguments that were used the most common was "it couldn't hurt." To be honest, they are right - it can't hurt. For example John Chrysostom writes in Baptismal Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian:
"You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ's] members"
Gregory of Nazianz supports this idea where he writes:
" 'Well enough,' some will say, 'for those who ask for baptism, but what do you have to say about those who are still children, and aware neither of loss nor of grace? Shall we baptize them too?' Certainly [I respond], if there is any pressing danger. Better that they be sanctified unaware, than that they depart unsealed and uninitiated." (Oration on Holy Baptism )
Again, I do not contest the idea of "it can't hurt." I just want it to be understood that despite these teachings infant baptism is doing nothing to secure the child's salvation.
There are two key points that need to be made that refute the idea that baptism is necessary for infants to be "regenerated." First, the Bible does not give one example of an infant being baptized. It would be logical to think that if infant baptisms were necessary then God would have told us that we should do so, or at least given us some examples of infant baptisms. He did neither, however.
The other thing to remember is that baptism is about a public declaration of faith in Jesus and wanting to be guided by God. An infant is unable to be guided by God, because he or she is completely guided by adults. How can this infant make choices about following God when he or she cannot even make choices about sleeping, eating, or where to sit?
I do not mean to discourage anyone from baptizing or dedicating their newborn. As John Chrysostom wrote, there is really no harm in doing it. I just want you to have a clear understanding of what it really means and to not be deceived. I do not want you to think that baptizing your infant makes them a Christian.
Conclusion
Baptism is a very important act of obedience that all Believers should desire. It gives you an opportunity to profess your faith in front of others, while also establishing a more close and personal relationship with our Father. It also is an important rite in preparing you for the priesthood of God.
I hope this study has helped you to understand the importance of baptism and removed false ideas about what it is all about. Truly this is an awesome opportunity to show your love and trust in God, and I pray that all of you will seek to devote yourself to God in this way.
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