by Rev. James McRobbie ©Pillar of Fire, International |
"Baptism is
. . . an outward sign or seal of an inward spiritual grace." |
Learn more about the power of the Holy Spirit for personal holiness
through Sanctification
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Living Word] [Back: Chapter 10] [Next:
Chapter 12] [Index]
Chapter 11 Contents: [Why Baptism
is Essential] [Mode of Baptism]
[Symbolism of Baptism] [Infant
Baptism] [Baptism of Adults]
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from the King James Version [KJV] unless otherwise specified.]
Chapter 11: What the Bible Teaches ABOUT
BAPTISM
There
has been more controversy over baptism than almost any other tenet of the
Christian church. Yet baptism is but a sacrament, a sacred rite, and is
in no way foundational or conditional to our salvation. The two sacraments
held essential by Protestants are baptism and the Lord's supper. Catholics
have seven sacraments; they add matrimony, holy orders, penance, confirmation,
and extreme unction [also referred to as last rites or the anointing of
the sick --ed.].
Why Baptism is Essential
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While there
have been and still are God-honored organizations that esteem the rite
of baptism unessential, yet that is no reason why it should be completely
ignored. Doubtless this attitude has been adopted because the necessity
of baptism has been overstressed by some. In the first place we are to
remember our Lord's final commission to the church [Matthew 28:19; Mark
16:15-16], which places the ordinance of baptism as co-extensive with the
command to preach. The command to "make disciples," or "make Christians"
of all nations is, upon the acceptance of Christ, to be followed by the
rite of baptism as an outward and formal dedication to the Father, Son,
and Spirit.
We are not to
infer that there is saving virtue in baptism. Baptism does not save either
infants or adults. One may have a dozen or a thousand baptisms and still
be unregenerate. A good example of this is Simon [Acts 8:9-24]. It is said
he "believed" and was "baptized" [verse 13], yet he was so ignorant of
the holy ways of God that he sought to buy the power of the Holy Ghost,
an act which evoked from Peter such a stinging rebuke that showed, though
baptized, he was not only utterly void of saving grace but in reality a
very child of the devil. Peter declared that his heart "was not right in
the sight of God," that he was in the "gall of bitterness, and in the bond
of iniquity."
In spite of
this, some hold firmly to the idea of "baptismal regeneration," especially
Roman Catholics. Baptists, too, put baptism in the forefront; they place
it as being a formal profession of faith in Christ for salvation, and of
course, adhere to the rite as being administered only in the form of immersion
and as being applicable to adults only.
The Scriptures
show that the early church looked on baptism as essential and yet as being
entirely separated from regeneration and the reception of the Holy Spirit,
from which we can easily see that it has nothing whatsoever to do with
our faith in Christ, our consecration to God, or our sanctification. Outwardly
it may be associated with our reception as members into the visible church
as a human necessary ordinance, but the moment we are saved we enter into
the fellowship of the family of God by adoption, and become members of
the household of faith and of the church of the firstborn. It is faith
that links us to God, even if the rite of baptism is not yet performed.
Peter said, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" [Acts 10:47]. Of Philip's
preaching in Samaria it is said: "When they believed Philip preaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they
were baptized, . . . they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus"
[Acts 8:12, 16]. When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost he insisted
that baptism could only be applied on the moral condition of "repentance."
Said he, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ" [Acts 2:38]. "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized
[verse 41]. So it was in the incident of the Ethiopian treasurer [Acts
8:37-38], and in the matter of Cornelius who had of long standing been
a man of prayer and zealous piety, and now the recipient of the Holy Spirit.
[See Acts 10:44-47].
By these and
other scriptures it can be seen that baptism is essential but that in itself
it has no saving merit; it is essentially a sign or seal of grace already
received. The words of the Catechism state its position clearly, as an
outward sign or seal of an inward spiritual grace [John 3:5; Romans 6:3,
4, 11].
Mode of Baptism
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Let it be remembered
that according to the Word of God there is but "one baptism" [Ephesians
4:5], that is, of course, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul says:
"For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body" [1 Corinthians 12:13].
The one true baptism is then, without question, the baptism with which
Jesus baptizes believers, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. "He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" [Matthew 3:11]. Water baptism is
not intrinsically a baptism; it is a symbolic sign signifying the sealing
of repentance. Seeing then that it is but a sign, a symbol, a sacred rite,
the mere form or mode of the ceremony cannot be very important, and, as
has been said, "Might be varied according to national custom or local convenience
without infringing its essence."
It is generally
conceded that the 3,000 who were taken into the church at Pentecost were
not immersed but sprinkled, because of the time that would have been taken
to do so, and of the lack of water.
Jesus submitted
Himself to baptism and in order to prove He was immersed it is said that
He came up "out of the water." But the Revised Version corrects this when
it says that He came up "from the water." In the matter of the baptism
of the eunuch it is a known fact that there are no rivers or pools in that
district sufficiently deep in which to immerse a man.
The importance
of baptism is put in its true place as being symbolic only when it is remembered
that Jesus "baptized not." His disciples did, but He did not. Likewise,
St. Paul, while writing in 1 Corinthians 1:14-17, thanks God that he baptized
none of them, for, said he, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the Gospel." The mode or form of this ceremony is therefore insignificant;
it may be done with propriety either by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion.
Symbolism of Baptism
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The Old Testament rite that corresponds
with the New Testament baptism is circumcision. When first given
it was evidently for adults, but later children at the age of eight days
were to be circumcised. Like the baptism of water it was profoundly symbolic
and if we overlook this feature of baptism we fail to grasp its true and
deeper spiritual significance.
The "cutting" of circumcision implied
a dedication to God. Toward self it signified death -- the burial, the
putting away of self -- self government, self life, and the flesh. In order
that Israel might be His own peculiar treasure, a people whom He could
lead and bless and rule, they must of necessity renounce self and yield
themselves unconditionally to His holy will. That was what was implied
in circumcision, and that, too, is really the symbolic meaning of the rite
of baptism.
Baptism in its outward form signifies
a separation to God. Inwardly it signifies the washing away of sin, even
all sin, including the inherited sin principle, the "carnal nature" that
is "enmity against God" and which is "not subject to the law of God" [Romans
8:7].
Baptism is a sign of the burial (or
drowning) of self, being "buried with him by baptism" into death, that
is, a death to sin and self and the world. How few people who contend for
immersion know anything about this burial of the old self-life, this death
to sin and the world! Irrespective of the mode of baptism, the symbolism
remains the same.
As an evidence of how St. Paul compared
the New Testament rite of baptism with the Old Testament ceremony of circumcision
we find him, when speaking of Christ, saying in Colossians 2:11-12, "In
whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him."
That we are "risen with him," as the apostle says, has nothing whatever
to do with coming out of the water; it is a reference to Christ's resurrection,
a token of the Christian's new life and heavenly walk of separation that
comes in regeneration.
This cleansing of the heart, this
death unto sin, this being "buried with him by baptism into death," is
a reference to the baptism which Jesus gives. The same people whom John
baptized with water he tells us are to be baptized with the Holy Ghost
by Jesus. This practice in apostolic times was adhered to.
For instance, Apollos, the "eloquent
man" of Alexandria, knew only the "baptism of John," but soon Aquila and
Priscilla took him to them and "expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly." That was with respect to the baptism of Jesus. So it was when
St. Paul came to Ephesus and found certain "disciples" who knew only the
initial meaning of baptism. He instructed them regarding the deeper meaning
of the Christian life, and through his instruction they were constrained
to be baptized in the name of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came upon them.
The type or symbol of baptism is brought
out by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2. We know that the Israelites passed
through the Red Sea on dry land, yet they were "under the cloud," evidently
sprayed by the mist from the sea, and so he says, they were "all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Here again is seen the separation
from Egypt, a picture of the unregenerate world, and the death of the Egyptian
hosts, a type of the burial of our sins in the depth of the sea, and then
the "songs of deliverance" and the new life.
St. Peter said that the flood was
a figure of baptism [1 Peter 3:20-21]. That it is a reference to water
baptism he disclosed when he said that it is not in the "putting away of
the filth of the flesh." Noah and his family were saved from perishing
in the flood, the water bearing the ark up. The water in baptism, as a
symbol, saves us; that it, it is an emblem of the "washing of regeneration,"
the saving from death that sin would naturally bring. Here, too, he defines
baptism as the "answer of a good conscience toward God," revealing that
it is not an external rite but the inward satisfying of the conscience.
The passage in John 3:5 often referred
to in connection to water baptism is not a reference to the necessity of
water in our salvation: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." The water referred to here by our
Lord has an explanation in Titus 3:5. It is seen here as the washing or
laver of regeneration. So it definitely refers to the necessity of the
new life so strongly insisted on in these opening verses of John 3, namely
regeneration, and the birth by the Spirit to sanctification, positively
revealing the necessity of the two works of grace, regeneration and sanctification,
as the double qualification for entrance into the kingdom of God.
Infant Baptism
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The rite of baptism should be administered
to infants for various reasons, not that they are to be saved by so doing,
but because of what they are in the sight of God.
-
(1) First of all, they should be the objects of baptism because
they belong to the kingdom of God [Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14]. They are
all subjects of prevenient grace [the grace that goes before salvation
and "enables the sinner, otherwise dead in trespasses and sins, to hear
the gospel call, repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved."
( Exploring Our Christian Faith, W.T. Purkhiser, editor, Beacon
Hill Press)]. If they die in infancy they go to heaven because the atonement
of Christ avails for them. The important scripture that confirms this is
Hebrews 2:9 -- Christ tasted death for all.
-
(2) Children should be baptized, not alone because of what
they are, but also in anticipation of what we expect them to be: namely,
that they will grow up strong and sturdy in the faith of Christ.
-
(3) A third reason for the baptism of infants is that by
it they are outwardly dedicated to God.
-
(4) In the days of our Lord children were recipients of His
blessing: "He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed
them" [Mark 10:16].
-
(5) In infant baptism a responsibility is placed upon the
parents and godparents, and this is a further reason.
-
(6) The baptism of infants seems to have been an apostolic
practice from the fact that "households" were baptized. This is seen in
the instance of Lydia [Acts 16:15], the Philippian jailer [Acts 16:33],
and the household of Stephanas [1 Corinthians 1:16].
-
(7) The Jewish rite of circumcision, required to be performed
on children at the age of eight days, being comparable to infant baptism,
is also an argument in its favor.
Baptism of Adults
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Doubtless all who were baptized by
John the Baptist were adults, and perhaps, too, all who were taken into
the early church as adults received baptism.
Children who are baptized in infancy,
who grow up in Christian homes, with God-fearing parents, who receive the
instruction of the Sunday-school, and who attend divine worship all through
their infancy, and are in this way very early led to trust in Jesus, simply
grow up in the church and need no further initiation into it except the
formal matter of uniting with it in membership.
With most people it will be different,
for usually so many become the victims of sin and are led away as slaves
of its adamantine grip through the power of Satan. In conversion, these
persons return to the Lord Jesus, become new creatures in Him, and there
and then begin to live the life of inward and outward purity, and of dedication
to and separation unto God. These are subjects for baptism, which in all
its symbolic beauty would signify the new life of regeneration and sanctification,
the separation from the world and sin, the death unto self, the dedication
unto God, and the entering into the sacred and useful fellowship of the
church militant. We belong then to a
"glorious church without
spot or wrinkle."
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