"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7)
In this episode Brother Jonathan talks about Baptism. What is
it, who is supposed to be baptized, when, and how. Also discussing
whether to re-baptize and should children be baptized.
On Baptism
S3EP24
Remnant Bible Fellowship
Intro
In the last episode that I talked about Baptism there were some
things that I didn’t talk about regarding baptism. So I wanted to
do a brief episode just talking very straightforward about baptism:
what is it, who is to be baptized, when are they to be baptized,
and how.
What is baptism really?
As we looked at the last time I talked about baptism, “Matthew
3:3-6 and Baptism”, baptism is simply an outward expression of your
profession of faith in Christ. It is not the cause of receiving the
Spirit of God, and it is not an instrument of grace. The only kind
of grace that you receive in baptism is the grace from obeying the
commandment of God. People can be established in the Lord before
they are baptized. My wife was very young when she was converted
and her family did not have a regular fellowship. They didn’t live
in an area where there were sound churches. So my wife was never
taught about the necessity of baptism and she was never really
given the opportunity for a number of years. After some time
though, when they were visiting out-of-state, a friend of her
parents baptized her at his fellowship. This doesn’t mean that she
wasn’t saved or that she didn’t grow, but it certainly wasn’t
ideal.
The early Christians so closely associated believers’ baptism
with your profession of faith that it was common to not be allowed
to fellowship or partake in communion unless you had been baptized.
The only exception was if you gave your life for Christ before you
were saved. That obviously showed a profession of faith in Jesus
Christ.
Who is to be baptized?
The next question that should be asked is who exactly is
supposed to be baptized?
“"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age."” (Mat 28:19-20)
In some translations the word underlying “make disciples” is
instead translated as “teach”. It’s the verb form of the word for
“disciple”. So some translations will translate it as “go ye
therefore and teach” and others will have “go therefore and make
disciples”. It has the same meaning though. Someone who follows and
adheres to the teachings of someone is their disciple.
This is the great commission. It, in essence, encapsulates our
marching orders as Christians. It also explains why we baptize:
It’s a commandment from God. We are to go and make disciples out of
all the nations of the earth. These disciples are to be baptized
and then they are to be taught how to be a follower of Jesus
Christ. It is disciples who are to be baptized. We see this in the
pattern of the history of the early Christians in the book of Acts.
“Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall
we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for
you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the
Lord our God will call to Himself." And with many other words he
solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved
from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his
word were baptized; and that day there were added about three
thousand souls.” (Act 2:37-41)
“But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being
baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and
after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he
observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly
amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came
down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Act 8:12-16)
You see that in these passages that it is those who believe the
gospel who are to be baptized. These are called disciples. By
believing the gospel and following through with baptism you are
committing yourself to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the
salvation that only He can provide.
When are they to be baptized?
“So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and
that day there were added about three thousand souls.” (Act
2:41)
“But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being
baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and
after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he
observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly
amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came
down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Act 8:12-16)
“So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying
his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared
to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that
you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And
immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he
regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;” (Act
9:17-18)
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit
fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the
circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the
gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God.
Then Peter answered, "Surely no one can refuse the water for these
to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did,
can he?" And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.” (Act
10:44-48)
“A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of
purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord
opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when
she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If
you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house
and stay." And she prevailed upon us.” (Act 16:14-15)
“and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the
Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took
them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and
immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.” (Act
16:30-33)
“Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord
with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard
were believing and being baptized.” (Act 18:8)
“It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed
through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some
disciples. He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when
you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were
you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." Paul said,
"John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people
to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus."
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus.” (Act 19:1-5)
When we read these passages we see that it was usually right
after they believed the gospel they were baptized. It should be as
soon as someone demonstrates that they understand the gospel, and
that they are putting their trust in Christ alone for salvation,
that they should seek to be baptized as soon as possible.
How are they to be baptized?
“Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the
district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in
the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.” (Mat 3:5-6)
“John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was
much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized”
(Joh 3:23)
We see from these two passages that there was much water
required for baptism. Now, these passages are referring to John’s
baptism of repentance and not to believer’s baptism, but the only
difference that we can discern is that of purpose. John’s baptism
was under the Law of Moses for people who were repenting and
confessing their sins to God in preparation for the coming of the
Messiah. Believers’ baptism is an outward show that you believe the
gospel and are putting your trust in Christ alone for
salvation.
(I said this in the last episode that I talked about baptism)
The early Christians got very much out of whack when it came to
baptism. Especially by the time of the Catholic church being
formed. It was due to the influence of pagan and Greek
philosophical thought that baptism started to be seen as a means of
receiving the grace of God. But this is not what the NT teaches or
the earliest Christian writers.
Here is a passage from the Didache which is believed to be a
first century document recording teaching from the apostles to new
gentile converts from paganism.
“Regarding baptism. Baptize as follows: after first explaining
all these points, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if you have no
running water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot in cold,
then in warm. But if you have neither, pour water on the head three
times in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Before the baptism, let the baptizer and the candidate for
baptism fast, as well as any others that are able. Require the
candidate to fast one or two days previously.” (Didache, ch.
7)
Now, we gather several things from this. The method was not
important. It was preferable in certain ways and settings over
others, but it was not mandatory. The type of water was not
important: running, standing, or pouring in rare instances. The
temperature of the water didn’t matter: cold or warm. There is no
mention of the spirit of God. There is no mention of the need for
it to be in a particular place. There is no mention of who is to do
it. None of those things is mentioned in scripture either.
It should be seen from the scriptures though, and from the
meaning of the word as well, that baptism by immersion should be
sought. That is, it should be that you dip the person entirely
under the water and they should be brought out again. Usually what
is done is the person or persons doing the baptizing stand beside
the person who is to be baptized. Then the person should proclaim
their belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their confidence
in the gospel. Then the baptizer helps to lean the person backward
into the water until they are submerged and then bring them back up
again. This is the traditional way that a person is baptized.
I changed a point in my description from most people’s
experience though. Baptism is the time of the person being baptized
proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Most churches
simply have the baptizer, usually the pastor, say something about
it for the person. I don’t think that is right. I’m not saying it
is sin or anything. But the person who is being baptized should be
willing to say it themselves. It doesn’t have to be a speech. It
doesn’t have to be eloquent. But it should be affirming their
sincere belief in the gospel. Maybe something as simple as: “I
believe that Jesus is the Son of God and I believe that He died for
my sins and rose again.” I do believe that there is something wrong
if the person is not willing to do that.
Should children be baptized?
A question that might arise sometime is whether or not small
children should be allowed to be baptized. I believe that they
absolutely should as long as they can demonstrate that they
understand the gospel, and what its implications are, and that they
are sincerely trusting in Christ.
I do want to say though that I despise what most congregations
do though to children. They teach them an A-B-C-repeat-after-me
type of gospel where the child has memorized what to say but has no
understanding of it. You should be able to ask them open-ended
questions about their belief and they should be able to respond in
their own way. Now, don’t make it an academic exercise. We should
never over-complicate the message of the gospel. I just want to
emphasize that we should be careful from that wrong kind of
persuasion, which I call coercion, and emotionally manipulating a
child.
If I can give you an example, I have known that there are
people who ask a child if they want to go to Hell. The child will
obviously say no. Then the person will just go, “Well, repeat after
me.” The child repeats what their told with no understanding of
what’s going on and is told they are now a Christian. No their not.
There was no personal understanding or exercising of faith on the
part of that child. So be careful to not manipulate a child, but
also remember what Christ said:
“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch
them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He
was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me;
do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as
these.” (Mar 10:13-14)
Now, it should be obvious that infants cannot be baptized. An
infant cannot profess their own faith in Christ. This is something
that very early on crept into Christianity because of Greek
philosophy’s ideas affecting the interpretation of scripture. Only
those who can personally understand the gospel and make up their
own mind to believe on Christ are eligible for believers’
baptism.
Should people ever be re-baptized?
There are times when a person is being saved and converted to
the truth from a cult. There are many cults that profess themselves
to be “Christian” who have some form of baptism. Cults like the
Seventh Day Adventists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (Mormons), the Watchtower Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses), and
the Roman Catholic Church, etc. There are many other examples that
could be given. But these types of cults like to proclaim that they
are “Christian” or the true church of Christ and have a kind of
baptism usually.
My belief is that those who are saved out of these groups NEED
to be re-baptized. I believe it absolutely should be done because
baptism is a way to proclaim your faith in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. By not re-baptizing someone from these groups you are in
essence saying that the form of teaching that they had received was
acceptable so as to have no need. This is historically how it has
been understood in the Church.
When groups like the Anabaptists (who did have some problems of
their own but were nevertheless brethren) started to proclaim that
those who were baptized as infants in the Roman Catholic Church
needed to be re-baptized it started a firestorm of anger because it
was seen as denying Roman Catholic authority. I say rightly
so.
So if someone is coming out of a religion or group that denies
the true gospel of Jesus Christ or His identity as the Son of God
then they should definitely be re-baptized.
Closing
I hope that you in some way learned something in this episode.
I wanted to do a straightforward talk about baptism because some
people have questions.
Next time, which may be a couple of weeks out, I’m not sure
yet, we will continue going through the book of Matthew and
finishing up chapter 3 as we talk about the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. It can be a pretty divisive issue but I believe it is
necessary to discuss it. I may end up devoting multiple episodes to
talk about it, according to the Lord’s will.
The Remnant Bible Fellowship Podcast is a podcast done for the purpose of edifying, or "building up", the body of Christ. Our desire is to see people soundly converted and continuing in Jesus Christ.
Anything that helps toward this end, that is not contrary to the scriptures, is something that we'll consider doing: sermons, testimonies, lessons, book reviews, and answering questions.