You want to cause a fight? Get a bunch of Christians from different denominations together and have them explain baptism.
We're having a baptismal service next month, and I was asked to put together a general teaching time on what baptism means. This is funny because we're a nondenominational church. The line about baptism in our Doctrinal Statement can fit into pretty much any theological position. I think this is positive because I'm big into unity within the church.
Christ connected the unity of the church to our union with him, that is, our salvation, in his high priestly prayer in John 17. You can't hate the body of Christ, or even significant chunks of it, and love Christ. That's like chopping up somebody's legs and saying "I love you, man" because you like the head and left wrist.
A lot of our arguments come from focusing on one aspect of baptism and trying to make every baptism verse in the Bible fit into that small peg. But what if baptism is about more than just one thing: more than the covenant of circumcision made new (Colossians 2:11), more than an outward symbol of what happens by faith (Colossians 2:12), more than whatever your favorite part is. What if baptism tells us the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ? If that's the case, then baptism can be both an effective way of producing saving faith, because it's telling us the Gospel, and an outward symbol of something that's true already, because we are saying we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, not by the activity. I think this is the way the Bible talks, and I think understanding this can help bring together the body of Christ. It can also help us stop pretending that Bible verses that say "baptism" don't actually mean "baptism." When the Bible says "baptism," it really means baptism, not "the inward thing that baptism correlates to but isn't mentioned here."
My overview of baptism is below.
Seeing the Gospel
Protestant Christians have always agreed that we are saved
by faith, but this faith is a gift from God. He gives us this gift of faith,
and strengthens it, through His word, through baptism, and through the Lord’s
Supper. As C. S. Lewis says, these are the three ordinary means of “spreading
the Christ-life to us.” Because these things give us Jesus, they should tell us
about what Jesus has done: carried our sin (Incarnation), died with it (Crucifixion),
was raised again (Resurrection), and brought man into God’s presence and the
Kingdom of God to earth (Ascension and Pentecost). Baptism is initiation into
the Body of Christ (Church) through dying under the waters of judgment, being
cleansed in death from our old life of sin, and rising again to a new life in
the Kingdom of God.
1. How is baptism about what Jesus has done?
- Romans 6:4: We were therefore buried with Him by baptism into death,
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, we too might walk in newness of life. We are buried with Christ and dead to sin in this world by baptism.
(Symbol of death)
- 1 Peter 3:20b-21: In the days of Noah, while the
ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought
safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as
a removal of dirt from the body but as an
appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. We are saved from the world of
destruction and ask God for new life in baptism. (Symbol of resurrection)
- John 3:5: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom
of God.” Baptism is about entering the
Kingdom. (Symbol of new birth)
- Matthew 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you. The
nations become disciples through baptism and teaching. (Symbol of passing over
Jordan into the Promised Land)
2. What about the thief on the cross? He wasn’t baptized.
Didn’t he enter the Kingdom of God?
Luke 23:42-43:
And he said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said
to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
- Does the
thief ever become a disciple in this
world?
-
Does the thief ever have to reject his old life and put on Christ?
-
Does the thief ever “walk in newness of life” in this world?
-
Does the thief need to be separated from the world of destruction?
The life of the Christian is not to
be like the that of the believing thief. The thief is saved by a faith that need
last only the night. We expect to live new lives in this world of sin for some
time. Baptism sets us apart as people of the Kingdom of Heaven and calls us to
more than an expectation of Heaven when we die.
3. Does anything happen at baptism, or is it just a ritual?
- The verses above say that baptism is a way God
works in our lives. Here are some more verses about how baptism is the death of
your old self, the cleansing of your soul from the life of sin, the
resurrection, and entry into the Kingdom:
o
Colossians 2:11-12—Baptism is a new circumcision
done by God, in which, by faith, we enter to the life of Christ (the work of
the church). Baptism separates us from
the world and unites us to the body of Christ. (Incarnation/Death)
o
Gen. 1:2 – Life comes from death when the Spirit
hovers over the waters. (Resurrection)
o
Exodus 14:30-31—By bringing Israel through the
Red Sea “the LORD saved Israel that day … so they believed in the LORD and in
his servant Moses.” Baptism produces
faith if you are aware of it. (New Life)
o
Gen. 6-8: God destroys the world with water,
those who he brings through the water are blessed with the same blessing given
to Adam and Eve; baptism brings you into
a new creation (the church). (New life)
o
Leviticus 8:5—Priests are washed by God before
they are given new robes; 1 Peter 3:21 uses this to talk about not just
removing dirt but asking God for robes of righteousness. Baptism asks God for a life of righteousness and calls you out as a
“priest.” (New life)
o
Luke 3:21-22—The Father and the Spirit name Jesus
as the Son of God at his baptism. Baptism
tells us and the world our identity. (New life)
4. Can something that happens to the outside of my body
actually affect me on the inside?
-
Outward actions are not just outward in the
Bible:
o
Genesis 3:7—Only when Adam and Eve ate the
forbidden fruit did they know they were naked and had sinned. Outward actions affect the mind.
o
Genesis 8:21—The smell of Noah’s sacrifice was a
way of pleasing God. Outward actions
affect our relationship with God.
o
1 Samuel 30:12 – Eating food “revives the
spirit.” Outward actions affect us in our spirit.
o
Proverbs 22:5—Spanking a child “drives
foolishness from his heart.” Outward
actions affect the heart.
o
Romans 10:17—“Faith comes by hearing.” Outward actions affect faith.
o
Mark 7:29—“For this statement you may go your
way; the demon has left your daughter.” Jesus affirmed the actions of faith as
an example of faith itself. Outward
actions may be the sum of our faith, and God accepts even that.
5. Doesn’t this mean everyone should be baptized?
- Matthew 28:19-20: Of course. But everyone should repent of sin and believe in
Christ for salvation. If you refuse that, you refuse the grace God offers you
in Christ, the very message of baptism.
- Romans 1:17; Matthew 17:20; Mark 9:24: We don’t
start out with great faith. We grow from faith to faith. If you get baptized
because you think God might just have grace for you despite your lack of faith,
this isn’t rejecting Christ but just having normal doubts. In your baptism, you
cry out, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
6. Does this mean that all who are baptized will go to
Heaven?
- Hebrews 13:18-24: In a sense, being part of the
church is being in the Kingdom of Heaven. So in a this-world way, yes. And God
honors this and produces faith in it. But …
- Hebrews 10:29-31: But the answer to your real
question is no. “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by
the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the
covenant by which he was sanctified and
has outraged the Spirit of grace?” Sanctified means set apart. We are set apart
into the family of God by baptism. If we deny our baptism and reject our faith,
then “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
- John 15:6; Hebrews 12:25; James 1:12; Revelation
3:3; Revelation 2:5--This rejection is always pictured in Scripture as a
decision made with full awareness.
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