Water baptism

Let me make it as clear as a mountain stream that Water Baptism is a vast subject, this is especially true if you are willing to sympathetically look at the viewpoints of other Christians and honestly evaluate the differences you find between “them” and “us” using the Word of God as the source and standard by which to judge the matter. Even if we should limit our inquiry to the evangelical or fundamental positions, and perhaps to those of our own congregation, people with whom we are in fellowship on a daily basis, we would still have a multitude of opinions and questions concerning the significance of the rite and the details concerning its application. Some areas in dispute could be whether we should refer to water baptism as an Ordinance or a Sacrament? We may differ on who may perform the rite?  Is there any justification in the Word of God for the practice of pouring or sprinkling the water? Or is total immersion necessary? How old must one be to be baptized? How soon after conversion to Christ may one submit to the rite? What effect does the ritual have?  Is one "Born again" by the act? Is one "Saved" by the act? Is there any affect at all? What is the difference if any between the baptism of the Jews, the baptism of John the Baptist, Jesus baptism and baptism as currently practiced in the  Church?  And of course it goes on and on, very serious questions all, answered in nearly as many ways as there are groups interested in the inquiry. 

It would be very pleasing to me and a great service to the Church to be able to answer all of these questions to the satisfaction of everyone in the debate. That is not going to happen. I am grateful however, that I am associated with a fellowship that holds a position on Water Baptism to which I can heartily concur, and one which is not so dogmatic that they would exclude those who hold differing positions in nonessential areas. This tolerance for divergent views (within the bounds of the Word of God and  orthodoxy of course) encourages personal Bible study, and allows me to express myself in this  article and to encourage you to start digging into the Word of God.

My purpose in this article is to show as best I am able, from the Scriptures, a view of Water Baptism that has helped me to appreciate the act as one of the two Sacraments of the Church. The other sacrament being The Lord’s Supper.  I use the word "Sacrament" in the sense that it is "an act which is entered into in response to a direct command of the Lord Jesus, and which includes a certain 'Grace' or 'benefit' that would not accrue to one who neglects the performing of the act."  The specific grace that follows Water Baptism, when entered into by true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a strengthened ability to withstand the lure of the world where it would influence us toward sin.  In my understanding, when I was Baptized in Water, the world with all its attraction to my flesh, went down into the water with me. I came up alive in Christ, the world died and stayed under the water.  It was a burial with Christ.  As far as the world and sin is concerned, and by faith I became a living zombie! Sin has no effect upon one who is dead! I am willing to testify that based upon the application of my faith in this act  I have defeated the temptation to evil innumerable times by simply resisting the Devil with the words or just the though that I am dead in Christ, and that anything in the sphere of the world has no effect upon me. I have not always made this plea, I have not always wanted to make this plea, and so because of yielding to sin I have sometimes been required to make another plea, a plea to God for forgiveness. "Thank you Lord for Your abundant Mercy!" I Jn. 1:9. The principle of death to sin is true, even if I have not always been successful in applying it. Now let us see if there is anything in Scripture that we can apply to our life, either retroactively if you have already been baptized, or by faith when you are baptized if it is still future. 

Please open your Bibles and look up the verses as we present them.  Mark 16:16 says "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." I am aware of the textual variant that ends the chapter at Mark 16:9. It is not relevant to the point I am making in this article.  The longer ending must at least be seen to represent a very ancient understanding by the early Church. My only concern here is that verse 16 has been used by those who believe in "Baptismal Regeneration"  That is the doctrine that teaches that one is "born again" by Baptism, and that the Holy Spirit is received at this time and directly attributable to and in consequence of the ritual, and that one becomes a child of God by the act of participating in water baptism. We reject this view as contrary to the explicit teaching of Scripture and outside the mainstream of orthodoxy. One is born again in Christ alone, by Grace alone, by faith alone.  We believe that no external act or ritual can change the heart of man, nor can any ritual dispense the grace of God upon demand. On the other hand, much effort has gone into the problem that is presented by Mark 16:16. It says "He that believeth (has already believed, aorist active participle in Greek) and is baptized, (has already been baptized, aorist passive participle in Greek) shall be saved (future passive indicative in Greek)". This can only mean that the first two events, faith and baptism, are two events in past time (from the viewpoint of the saving), and that the "saving" takes place at some point after this time. It cannot be made to say what we would like to read, i.e. "He who believes and is saved (should thereafter) be baptized."   It says that "He that believes and is baptized shall (at some point in the future) be saved."

Now I also want to insist that this verse does not teach "baptismal regeneration" unless you make the word "saved" in our text mean the same thing as "born again". If in fact "saved" in this context does not equal "regeneration", then we are on solid ground if we look for another possible explanation of the text. This is precisely the case I want to present. This verse teaches what may be called "Baptismal Salvation", a term I borrow from the book Love Not The World by Watchman Nee. Be aware then that we are not speaking about "Baptismal Regeneration". We are not saying that one is "Born Again" by baptism or any other ritual, ceremony, ordinance or sacrament.  What is being said is that faith followed by water baptism, when rightly appropriated can save a believer.  The question that next comes to mind is "Saved from what?"  We know that it is not salvation from death, because the resurrection does that. We know it is not salvation from sin, because repentance and confession of our sin with faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross does that. What then? My answer is that Water Baptism, rightly entered into will result in the grace of God to reckon yourself dead, and will thereby save you from the world!

We must be saved from the world if we are going to live in it. This makes sense when you consider it in light of the contrary  position taken in Roman Catholic teaching. Our view is that one  who is about to die does not need baptism, he needs forgiveness. They believe in "Baptismal Regeneration", and have concluded that the soul of a believer that dies without baptism is relegated to existence in a place that they have come to call "Limbo" there is a  "Limbus Patrum" a Limbo for the Fathers for those of olden times who died before salvation in Christ was accomplished and a "Limbus Infantum" a Limbo for Infants for all children who die unbaptized.  But we say, and our main point is that only those who are going to LIVE IN THE WORLD need baptism.  The thief on the Cross was not concerned about baptism, he was about to die, and yet according to Jesus Himself, this man was going right to paradise that very day.  If he had been saved from death by deliverance from off the cross that he was on, and granted in the mercy of Jesus to live longer in the world, then he would have needed baptism. But he was going to die alongside of his newfound Lord Jesus! His salvation was from sin and death, since he would not need salvation from the world that he was soon to leave behind.

I Peter 3:20, 21 speaks about the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:  Noah prepared the Ark in order that eight souls might be saved by or through the water. He also tells us that this salvation was a "type" of baptism.  It tells us that the Ark was not the means for having sins forgiven, not the "putting away of the filth of the flesh", but the instrument or means of deliverance for those who were already forgiven and cleansed.  Just so, we, having been born again by faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross and having in us the answer (appeal or petition) of a good conscience to God, ask Him in baptism to save us from the world around us just as the Ark saved the eight. The word picture is clear. The Ark with the eight souls is "under the water". The whole world is also under the water. The water brings death to all, but the eight are saved from the water, in a type of resurrection, by the power of God.  The Ark comes out of the water upon Ararat and the world has no effect upon the eight any longer. They were as good as dead, but for God.                                   

Moses and the children of Israel were on the bank of the Red Sea. The Egyptians, representing the world were about to eliminate them, or at least enslave them again in full view of the Living God.  The Red Sea was not the instrument to save the Israelites from death or sin, but from the world of Egypt and the threat of Pharaoh.  The people went under water with Pharoah's forces.  All were as good as dead, but for God.  The Israelites come up out of the water on the other side, saved from that which dies.  They are on the other side of symbolic death.  The "world" as represented by Egypt and Pharoah was no longer a factor in their life. That they failed to maintain this new relationship with God by faith, and continually desired to return to "Egypt" is the precise reason that Paul warns us not to go that same route, but to recognize our vulnerability and dependency upon Him.  Ex. 19:4-6; I Cor. 10:1-14.

Please open your Bible and read Rom. 6:1-7. It teaches us that we are buried with Him by baptism into death.  We are raised to walk in newness of life (upon the earth) with the effect that the world is cut off from us.  Once again, we are not saved from our sin by baptism in Romans 6, but from the world of sin, so that it does not have the drag upon us that it once had, because our burial and death has separated us from it. We went under water, the world went under with us, we all die, the believer comes up renewed and the world stays down there. What happened to Noah and Moses in the physical realm happens to us in the spiritual realm. Of course all this is by faith, and like the Lord's Supper, it can be abused or ignored to our detriment.  But it can also be powerful to save us from the world. 

In Acts 2:14ff Peter stands up with the eleven and gives his "Pentecostal" sermon.  In verse 37, the ones who heard are smitten in their hearts and want to know what to do next.  Peter tells them to repent (in response to believing) and to be baptized in the name of Jesus and they will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This is Mark 16:16 in slightly different form.  Notice verse 40, Peter goes on to testify and exhort, And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Save yourselves from what?  From sin? From Death? No, from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.. Was Peter teaching baptismal regeneration? of course not!  He was telling them to partake of the Noah/Moses experience and separate from that crooked generation. Peter was telling them what to do in life.

There is not much here that differs from the orthodox view of Baptism by Immersion, and so you would ask what difference does it make?  My answer is that too many candidates go into the water simply as an expression of obedience with no real life changing significance.  The "baptismal salvation from the world" idea lets them by faith believe that when they go under the water, the world with all its evil goes down with them.  They come up in newness of life, and the world stays down there.  When they grasp this it gives them a powerful motivation for claiming Gal. 2:20. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1 John 1:8-10              If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Exodus 19:4-6            Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

1 Cor. 10:1-14            Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

The nature of this article may inspire comments or questions. I would be pleased to receive them at haydenk@svbc.org