Over the centuries Christians have debated what baptism accomplishes, to whom it should be administered, and how much water should be used. At times in church history the controversy over baptism has gotten so intense the people have actually lost their lives over their view on this topic.
In our time, there seems to be a lot of confusion about the significance of Baptism and even some who see no relevance of this ordinance in our day.
We have noticed in our new membership classes that people's view of baptism flows from the context of the particular Christian denomination that they have come from. When we inquire if they have ever been baptized, some will say "yes, when I was an infant." Others have said, "Yes, several times! Once when I joined the Methodist church and then again when I joined the Baptist church."
Since Baptism is an ordinance that the Lord expects the church to observe until He comes for her, It is absolutely essential that we understand its significance and who would be a proper candidate for baptism. In addition, we need to observe the model presented in the NT of how people were baptized.
Therefore, in this segment of "What We Teach," we will consider several important interrogatives about the issue of baptism, looking to the word of God for its insight into this important matter.
Why is baptism important?
First and foremost, baptism is important because it is an essential component of our obedience to the command of our Lord to go and to make disciples of all nations. It is essential in the disciple making process.
When you examine Matthew 28:19-20, it is important to note that "Make Disciples" is the main verb and the only command given in this passage. The specific requirements for making disciples involves three participles; go, baptizing and teaching.
The initial act of obedience to Christ as one's Lord and Savior is to submit baptism as an outward testimony of your new union with Him in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:1-4).
Baptism is an outward indication of the inner exercise of saving faith. It serves as a public identification with Christ, His teaching and His church.
The second reason why we baptize those who profess faith in Christ salvation is because the early church modeled its obedience to this essential component of the disciple making process (Acts 2:37-41;16:13-15; 25-34; 18:8).
Who should be baptized?
The answer to this question has been hotly contested throughout church history. The camps of contention are made up of those who believe in infant baptism (which is not a monolithic position because even within this camp there is disagreement and division over why infants should be baptized). It is agreed that infants should or must be baptized, but disagreement about what it accomplishes.
The second camp is made up of those who believe in "believers baptism". It is their contention that baptism should be restricted exclusively to those who actually exercise saving faith. Baptism then should follow one's profession of faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ for salvation. This would exclude infants because of their inability to intellectually process the "gospel facts" and to willfully repent of their sins and to trust totally in that glorious message as their only hope of salvation.
Those from this camp would declare that the proper candidates for baptism would be those who have experienced new birth in Christ on the basis of faith in our Lord's saving work. These individuals would give evidence of their profession of faith by the newness in life that would be tangibly expressed in the conduct of their lives. Their transformed life would also be manifested by their new disposition toward knowing and doing the will of their sovereign Lord.
There are some divisions in this camp regarding the question of whether baptism is necessary for salvation and the mode of baptism.
The following represent the three major views of the meaning and purpose of baptism.
The Sacramental View
According to this view, baptism is a means by which God conveys saving grace. By undergoing this rite, the person baptized receives remission of sins, and is regenerated or given a new nature and an awakened or strengthened faith. Therefore those who hold to this position strongly believe that infant baptism is necessary for the salvation of the soul.
A leading Catholic authority defines "baptism" in the following fashion:
"A sacrament of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ, in which, as a result of washing with water accompanied by the words 'I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost', a human being is spiritually regenerated, and made capable of receiving other sacraments". (Attwater, p.45)
Lutherans hold that Baptism is a saving work of God, mandated and instituted by Jesus Christ. Baptism is a "means of grace" through which God creates and strengthens "saving faith" as the "washing of regeneration" in which infants and adults are reborn. Since the creation of faith is exclusively God's work, it does not depend on the actions of the one baptized, whether infant or adult. Even though baptized infants cannot articulate that faith, Lutherans believe that it is present all the same. Because it is faith alone that receives these divine gifts, Lutherans confess that baptism "works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare". Therefore, Lutherans administer Baptism to both infants and adults. In the special section on infant baptism in his Large Catechism, Luther argues that infant baptism is God-pleasing because persons so baptized were reborn and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
According to the word of God, regeneration or new birth in Christ may be defined as "the act whereby God awakens or regenerates the dead spirit of a person, restoring the ability to respond to and have a relationship with Him".
Louis Berkhof defines regeneration as "that act of God by which the principle of new life is implanted in man and the governing disposition of his soul is made holy".
Regeneration or the new birth plants in the person the new life principle and a new disposition to keep the Law of God. It overcomes the deadness of sin and the deadliness of sin. It is the restoration of eternal life which was lost in the Garden on the occasion of the fall.
The problem with the baptismal regeneration view is in trying to explain those whose lifestyle are characteristically lived in rebellion and indifference to God and yet have been ostensibly “regenerated" by their infant baptism. If that is the point when they were born again, where is the newness of life that is a demonstration of someone who has gone from spiritual death to spiritual life?
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,the new has come!
The Apostle John states without equivocation, that those who practice sin habitually as a lifestyle are not the “born ones” of God (1 John 3:7-10; note also 1 John 2:29).
An additional issue that needs to be given consideration is that the Bible prescribes a formula for the salvation of the soul and the forgiveness of sins which requires the cognitive and volitional abilities that infants are not able to exercise given their current state of development.
Consider the requirements stated in the following passage in order for someone to personally experience salvation and the forgiveness of their sins.
Acts 16:30-31 (NASB95)
30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Acts 10:43 (NIV)
43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Infants could not possibly meet the clearly stated requirements for the personal appropriation of salvation and the forgiveness of sins.
The problem that our church would have with the Sacramental view of baptism is that the Scriptures are very clear that no external act or ritual can in any sense contribute to our salvation.
Nor can such acts or rituals initiate nor plant the seed of salvation in our souls. Nor does the scripture teach that Baptism is the source of new birth in Christ. There are no NT examples of infant baptism. If it was as significant as those who hold to the sacramental view propose, you would expect to see many accounts of it written in the NT. The initiating event that indicates that one has come to saving faith is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48). This is followed by baptism as the external demonstration of coming to saving faith.
Salvation is by divine grace alone through faith alone. Both Salvation, and the faith exercised to appropriate it, come from God as a gift so that all glory might be given to God for our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). There is no insufficiency in the cross work of Christ that we are called upon to make up or to complete.
The Covenantal View
Those who hold to this view of infant baptism do not believe that baptism is a means by which salvation is brought about, but rather baptism is a sign and seal of the New Covenant in the same manner as circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham.
In the covenantal view, baptism serves the same purpose for the NT believers that circumcision did for the OT believers. It places them under the benefits and blessings of the covenant but does not guarantee the exercise of personal faith and the salvation of the soul.
For the Jews, circumcision was the external and visible sign that they were within the covenant that God had established with Abraham. Boys were circumcised 8 days after they were born signifying that they were under the covenant that God had established with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-14).
So it is thought that the rite of circumcision proves that God’s blessings are given to the children as well as to their parents. In the same way, infants who are brought by their parents to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are placing their children under the NT covenant blessings which have as its centerpiece, the gracious salvation of the soul through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
The problem is that there is an enormous difference between the Old Covenant, and the New Covenant that must be recognized. Under the Old Covenant which has as its sign circumcision, a descendant of Abraham could be properly circumcised and yet at some later date, reject God and become an apostate.
So you could be a child of Abraham and reject God and reject His Messiah (as we have seen the majority had done by the time the Book of Romans was written), even though you were placed under the Old Covenant having received the sign of circumcision. You could have the rite minus a relationship with God.
One of the primary aspects of the New Covenant is that it is unbreakable and is made with those who have been born of God. The New Covenant is made with believers only. Therefore, there is no one who is in the New Covenant who is not a believer (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:7-13; 10:11-18).
Thus, when those who believe in the covenant view of infant baptism speak of their covenant children as “breaking covenant” because they reject the Christian faith and become apostate, we would have to ask, “What covenant are you talking about?” It can’t be the New Covenant because only those who have the Law of God written on their hearts, who know the Lord, and who have their sins forgiven, are in the New Covenant. The New Covenant is made with believers only!
The second problem I would have with the Covenantal view of infant baptism is that baptism is not the primary sign of the New Covenant. The sign of the New Covenant is the blood of Christ remembered in the ordinance of communion (Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:20).
Believer’s Baptism
This is the view which appeals to the NT practice of baptizing only those who have actually exercised saving faith and are therefore baptized as an outward sign of that faith.
The proper candidates for baptism would be restricted to those who have experienced regeneration on the basis of their personal faith in the saving work of Jesus and who give evidence of the transformation He has made in their lives.
Only those who have come to a true saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and who desire to give a public witness of this new and transforming relationship with the Lord should be baptized – this would exclude infants for obvious reasons.
This view argues from the evidence of the NT. In every instance of NT baptism in which specific identity of the persons was known, the persons being baptized were adults.
Further, the condition required for baptism was personal conscious faith. Without this faith, baptism was not administered (Acts 8:12; 16:14-15; 19:1-5)
Geoffery Bromiiey who is the best defender of infant baptism and who is the author of the book, Children of Promise, admitted what all paedobaptists have acknowledged namely, that there is no evidence that infants were baptized in the churches of the New Testament.
How Should We Baptize?
Should we immerse, sprinkle, or pour water on the head?
Is there a prescribed way or mode of baptism found in the Scriptures. The place to begin to find the answer to this question is the very word transliterated baptize in the New Testament (transliteration is to bring a word into another language without changing or translating it). The second place to look is at some NT examples of how people were baptized in the NT, or the places where baptisms took place and why those places were important.
The NT Greek word Baptizo means to dip repeatedly, to plunge under (i.e. water) to submerge, to make whelmed; that is, fully wet; to dip to immerse. The point is that the word baptizo does not convey the idea of simply pouring water over something orsomeone. Nor does it seem to convey the idea of sprinkling. The word in the original, conveys the idea of immersion, plunging under the water and making fully wet.
Support for this idea of baptism is found in a few NT examples of baptism.
John 3:23 (NASB95)
23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized
Matthew 3:16 (NIV)
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
Acts 8:36-38 (NASB95)
36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
There seems to be little doubt that the NT provides examples of people who were baptized by immersion, that is, by being put under water and brought up again. Whether it is John the Baptist baptizing in the Jordon, or Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, the text tells us that they went down into the water and then came up out of the water.
Practical Implications
- Baptism is not the means by which God conveys saving grace. Baptism will not in and of itself secure the forgiveness of sins, new birth in Christ, a place in the body of Christ, nor will it implant faith into the heart which at some later date will be exercised.
- Baptism is not the New Covenant sign. The sign of the New Covenant is the blood of Christ given for our redemption and remembered in the ordinance of communion.
- Baptism is an essential component of the disciple making process. It is the initial act of public obedience to Christ and an outward sign of the inward faith exercised in Jesus for the salvation of the soul.
- The New Testament pattern is that once a person made a profession of faith in Christ for their salvation they were baptized shortly thereafter as a public testimony of their faith.
- To profess faith in Christ while being unwilling to be baptized is an act of disobedience and an affront to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
- Those that have been baptized as infants and then come to a true saving relationship with Jesus Christ must be baptized as believers.
