Baptism

	As we continue our examination of biblical topics, we encounter one final word relating to salvation.  We have seen what the Bible has to say concerning hearing, faith, repentance and confession.  Today we want to examine biblical teaching about baptism.
	There are few biblical words which are more misused and misunderstood.  This is even more amazing in light of the fact that the Bible and history are both very clear about baptism.  All of the confusion in the religious world today is the result of mankind's refusal to accept God's simple pattern.
	This confusion often centers on three areas.  Who should be baptized?  How should they be baptized?  Why should they be baptized?  If you encounter a religious leader who does not know what the Bible clearly says about these three questions, then you might want to ask somewhere else.  If you encounter a religious leader who claims that these answers do not matter, demand proof from the Bible.  If that person cannot  demonstrate from the Bible that these answers are not important, then look somewhere else.
	"Let not many {of you} become teachers, my brethren," James 3:1 warns, "knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment."
	Who should be baptized?  This question actually consists of two others.  The first is, "Can infants be baptized?"
	"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved," Jesus instructs in Mark 16:16, "but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
	Baptism must follow faith.  If an infant cannot have faith, then that infant cannot be baptized.
	"So faith {comes} from hearing," Paul points out in Romans 10:17, "and hearing by the word of Christ."
	Not only must baptism follow faith, but faith must follow hearing and understanding the Bible.  If an infant cannot hear and understand the Bible, then that infant cannot believe.
	"Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," Peter tells the crowd in Acts 2:38.
	Baptism must follow repentance.  If an infant cannot repent, then that infant cannot be baptized.
	"For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness," Paul notes in Romans 10:10, "and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
	We will see later that baptism is associated with salvation. But salvation requires verbal confession of Jesus as Lord.  If an infant cannot confess Jesus, then that infant cannot participate in other steps of salvation, including baptism.
	Scriptural baptism requires that a person hear, believe, repent and confess.  Can an infant hear and understand the Gospel?  Can an infant believe?  Can an infant repent?  Can an infant verbally confess Jesus?  What makes us think, then, that an infant can be baptized?  There is no magical power in water that allows it to operate outside of the boundaries established by God.
	"And corresponding to that," we read in 1 Peter 3:21, "baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
	Who should be baptized?  The second aspect of this question is, "Do infants need to be baptized?"
	"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven," Jesus states in Matthew 18:3.
	What does this verse tell us?  It tells us that we become like children when we are converted.  In other words, children do not have sins.  There is no biblical support for the doctrine of original sin.  This concept was invented to support other practices.  Its roots are in Augustine and Dante, not the Bible.
	"Limbo does not exist.  It cannot exist.  Infants who die without being baptized cannot but go directly to Paradise."
	"There is not a single solid foundation for limbo, either in the Holy Scriptures nor in tradition."
	Is this just because I say so?  Actually, these last four sentences have been quotes from a Jesuit professor at the Gregorian University in Rome.

	"The doctrine of limbo has never been affirmed by the (Catholic) church, and there are no decisive foundations for its existence, either in Scripture or in catholic tradition," another priest confirms.  He uses the same words of Jesus to back up his point that children are without sin.
	"It cannot be proved by the sacred Scriptures that infant baptism was instituted by Christ, or began by the first Christians after the apostles."  That was Martin Luther.
	Who can be baptized?  Who needs to be baptized?  Baptism is for adult believers.  All other uses are of human origin and are contrary to both biblical teaching and history.
	Another fundamental question about baptism is, "How must it be done?"  The answer should be quite simple, since the Greek word means "immersion."  There was no English word "baptism" until translators coined it to avoid using "immersion."  After all, they were practicing forms which did not agree with what they found in the Bible.  The simple solution was to invent a new word and stretch its meaning.  These translators were not able, though, to change passages which clearly describe the correct form of baptism.
	"Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death," we read in Romans 6:4-7, "in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
	"Having been buried with Him in baptism," Paul notes in Colossians 2:12, "in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."
	The Bible requires that baptism be a burial.

	Who can be baptized?  Who needs to be baptized?  Baptism is for adult believers.  How must baptism be done?  Baptism is a burial.  It is an immersion.
	The third fundamental question is, "Why is a person baptized?"  Lets look back at some of the passages we have already mentioned.
	"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved," Jesus promises in Mark 16:16, "but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
	Baptism results in salvation.
	"Repent," Peter preaches in Acts 2:38, "and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
	Baptism results in salvation.
	"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" Paul explains in Romans 6:3-11.  "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
	Baptism results in salvation.
	"And corresponding to that," 1 Peter 3:21 confirms, "baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
	Baptism results in salvation.
	Who can be baptized?  Who needs to be baptized?  Baptism is for adult believers.  How must baptism be done?  Baptism is a burial.  It is an immersion.  What is the purpose of baptism?  It is for the forgiveness of sins.
	There are other important questions that we might ask about baptism.  What happens at baptism?
	"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" Paul writes in Romans 6:3.
	We are baptized into Jesus and into His death.
	"Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin," Paul instructs in verse 11, "but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
	Through baptism, we are made dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus.
	"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body," we learn from 1 Corinthians 12:13, "whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."
	Through baptism, we are placed into the body, the church.
	"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ," Paul notes in Galatians 3:27.
	Through baptism, we are clothed with Christ.
	"And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh," Colossians 2:13 states after mentioning baptism, "He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions."
	Through baptism, our transgressions are forgiven.
	Here's another important question.  Can we separate baptism and faith?
	"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus," Galatians 3:26-27 informs us.  "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
	This passage links faith and baptism.
	"Believe in the Lord Jesus," Paul and Silas tell the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31, "and you shall be saved, you and your household."
	"And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house," the passage continues in verses 32-34.  "And he took them that {very} hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his {household.}  And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household."
	The jailer is told to believe.  Verse 34 says that he rejoices after believing.  What does he actually do?  He is baptized.  We cannot separate faith and baptism.
	Can we, as some suggest, preach Jesus without preaching baptism?
	"And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him," Acts 8:35-36 records. "And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, 'Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?'" 
	What does Philip preach?  He preaches Jesus.  What is the Ethiopian's only concern?  He wants to be baptized.  But Philip doesn't preach baptism.  He preaches Jesus.  Could it be that preaching Jesus means to preach His death, burial and resurrection, including our participation through baptism?
	Here's still another question.  Can a person be baptized and then believe?  Are knowledge and faith retroactive?
	"And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,'" Hebrews 8:11 quotes from Jeremiah 31:34, "for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest of them."
	Under the Old Law, a Jew was born an Israelite and then taught to know God.  This is similar to the system where children are supposedly baptized and then taught later to believe.  But God says that the new system will not function this way.  Knowledge and faith are the first steps in knowing God, not the last ones.
	"And it came about that while Apollo was at Corinth," we read in Acts 19:1-5, "Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found some disciples, and 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.'  And 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.' And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." 
	Did their later understanding validate an earlier baptism? Not at all.
	How many baptisms are there?
	"{There is} one body and one Spirit," Ephesians 4:4-6 answers, "just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."
	Who can be baptized?  Who needs to be baptized?  Baptism is for adult believers.  How must baptism be done?  Baptism is a burial.  It is an immersion.  What is the purpose of baptism?  It is for the forgiveness of sins.
	There is one more question that you should consider.  It is the question that the Ethiopian asks in Acts 8:36 after Philip preaches Jesus to him.
	"Look! Water!" the Ethiopian exclaims.  "What prevents me from being baptized?" 
	What prevents you from being baptized?  Is it a misunderstanding about the who, the how and the why of baptism?  Is it some man-made tradition which underestimates the answers to these questions?  The solution is so simple.  All you have to do is accept the truth and be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."