Mat 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations; baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;
Mat 28:20 and teach them to obey every command which I have given you.
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| Malcolm Yarnell in an ancient Baptismal Font in Tunisia |
1. The Meaning of the Word “baptism”.
βαπτίζω baptizō
Thayer Definition:
1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk) 2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe 3) to overwhelm
definition of full water immersion. The Greek for the word ‘baptizo’ means to immerse, plunge, dip, or bury in water. The very Greek word itself excludes it from meaning “sprinkling.” <christianity.about.com>
All major authorities on the Greek Biblical Language like the Church of England classical Greek Lexicon by Liddell and Scott, also Thayer’s NT Greek Lexicon written by the german Theologian Cremer, all agree that the word ‘ baptizo’ means to dip, immerse, plunge into or submerge or overwhelm.
The words for sprinkling or pouring are never used in the New Testament for the rite of Baptism. This has compelled scholars of all denominations to admit that in the original meaning and its use in the New Testament was for full immersion Baptism.
Luther, Calvin and the Catholic Scholar Brenner all agree that the meaning of Baptism is immersion.
How and When did sprinkling become a mode of Baptism?
It arose because people came to feel that there was something magical about baptism and that it brought salvation to the recipient. This is completely unscriptural.
But if it was true that a person dying without baptism was lost. (A belief which is false ; note the thief on the cross); a sick or injured person could not be immersed because of his physical condition, but he might die. If baptism were necessary to salvation, he would be lost. Thus, sprinkling began to be practised.
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| Infant Baptism Sprinkling with water. |
The first rcord of the use of sprinkling was about A.D. 250 when Novatian lay sick in bed and thought he was about to die. He had water poured all over him on his bed as an act of baptism.
It wasn’t until 1311 that the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Ravenna made sprinkling or immersion as modes of baptism. Not until 1644 did the Church of England adopt sprinkling by an act of parliament. The year before it was voted upon and recommended to Parliament by the Assembly of the Divines. The vote was 25 to 24 in favour of sprinkling. A truly New Testament Church cannot make such accommodations to human whim. My Church p.41-42 by Dr. Gordon G. Johnson in Willmington p. 710.
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Mikveh
This mikveh (ritual bath of purification) is located to the south of the Temple close to the Huldah gates, and dates to the second-Temple period. Jews would cleanse themselves from ritual impurity in this mikveh in order to be qualified to enter the Temple (see Lev 14, 15; Num 19).http://www.mycrandall.ca/courses/newtestament/hebrews/temple.htm
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2. The Different Kinds of Baptism.
Willmington shows that the basic theological meaning of baptism is “identification”p. 710
Here he gives a list of eight NT baptisms :
a. The baptism of Christ at Calvary. Luk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
But I have a baptism to be baptized with,.... Not water baptism, for he had been baptized with that already; nor the baptism of the Spirit, which he had also received without measure; though the Ethiopic version reads it actively, "with which I shall baptize", referring doubtless to that; but the baptism of his sufferings is meant, which are compared to a baptism, because of the largeness and abundance of them; he was as it were immersed, or plunged into them; and which almost all interpreters observe on the text, and by which they confess the true import and primary signification of the word used; as in baptism, performed by immersion, the person is plunged into water, is covered with it, and continues awhile under it, and then is raised out of it, and which being once done, is done.
b. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon believers at Pentecost.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire:
He shall baptize with the Holy Spirit. In order to know what is meant we must refer to the fulfillment. On the day of Pentecost occurred such a baptism, the first so recognized in the New Testament. Then the spirits of the apostles were overwhelmed by the Divine Spirit, so that they spoke as he gave them utterance. It was Christ who "shed forth" the baptism of that occasion. This would be plainer had the Greek en, here rendered "with," has been rendered "in," after the word baptize
Act 1:5 for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
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| Pentecost - The Baptism in the Holy Spirit |
c. The baptism by the Holy Spirit of all believers into the Body of Christ.
1Co 12:13 For also by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, even all were made to drink into one Spirit.
For by one Spirit - That is, by the agency or operation of the same Spirit, the Holy Spirit, we have been united into one body. The idea here is the same as that presented above 1Co_12:7, 1Co_12:11, by which all the endowments of Christians are traced to the same Spirit. Paul here says, that that Spirit had so endowed them as to fit them to constitute one body, or to be united in one, and to perform the various duties which resulted from their union in the same Christian church.
d. The Baptism of Israel into Moses.
1Co 10:1 And, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea.
1Co 10:2 And all were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
RWP Were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (pantes eis ton Mōusēn ebaptisanto en tēi nephelēi kai en tēi thalassēi). The picture is plain enough. The mystic cloud covered the people while the sea rose in walls on each side of them as they marched across. B K L P read ebaptisanto (causative first aorist middle, got themselves baptized) while Aleph A C D have ebaptisthēsan (first aorist passive, were baptized). The immersion was complete for all of them in the sea around them and the cloud over them. Moses was their leader then as Christ is now and so Paul uses eis concerning the relation of the Israelites to Moses as he does of our baptism in relation to Christ (Gal_3:27).
e. The Baptism of John the Baptist.(a national Baptism of repentance)
Mar 1:4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Act 13:24 John having before proclaimed the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, before His coming.
| John Baptising Jesus in the Jordan |
f. The Baptism of Jesus.
1. With water by John . Mat 3:15 And answering Jesus said to him, Allow it now, for it is becoming to us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed Him.
Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him.
Mat 3:17 And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit by the Father. Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up immediately out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him.
g. The Water Baptism of New Believers in the Book of Acts.:
At Pentecost Act 2:40 And with many other words he earnestly testified and exhorted, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.
Act 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls. cp. v.38
At Samaria.Act 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the gospel, the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Act 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him.
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| Straight Street in Damascus where Paul was Baptised |
At Damascus Act 9:17 And Ananias went and entered into the house. And putting his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you in the way in which you came, has sent me to you that you might see and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Act 9:18 And instantly scales as it were fell from his eyes, and he instantly saw again. And rising up, he was baptized.
At Caesurea Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered,
Act 10:47 Can anyone forbid water that these, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we, should not be baptized?
Act 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they begged him to stay certain days.
At Philippi Act 16:15 And when she (Lydia) was baptized, she and her household, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she constrained us. Act 16:33 And taking them in that hour of the night, he washed from their stripes. And he (The Philippian Jailer) was baptized, he and all his, immediately.
At Corinth. Act 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house. And hearing this, many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized.
At Ephesus Act 19:3 And he said to them, Then to what were you baptized? And they said, To John's baptism.
Act 19:4 And Paul said, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe into Him coming after him, that is, into Jesus Christ.
Act 19:5 And hearing, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Notes from Willmington p.711
3. False Views of Baptism
a. That it is necessary to Salvation.
This view is totally false. Dozens of verses show that salvation is by Grace through Faith alone. Romans 4:1-6; Eph 2:8-9 Titus 3:5
Note these verses against Baptismal Regeneration.
1Co 1:17 1Co 15:1 And, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and in which you stand;
1Co 15:2 by which you also are being kept safe, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures;
The Proof text Acts 2:38 is answered by Acts 16:30
Act 16:30 And leading them outside, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your household. No Baptismal Regeneration here.
b. That it replaces Circumcision.
This cannot be so for several reasons.
(1) Circumcision was performed upon male babies only, but in the NT we have the baptism of women mentioned Acts 8:12; 16:14-15.
(2) Circumcision has nothing to do with the faith of a baby. Only his nationality was in mind.
(3) Baptism has nothing to do with the nationality of the believer. Only his faith is in view.
(4) Circumcision has continued to be practiced among Jewish believers even after the Institution of baptism Acts 16:3 Willmington p.711
4. The Scriptural View of Baptism
a. That all believers be baptised. F.F. Bruce says:”The Idea of an unbaptised Christian is simply not entertained in the New Testament”. The Book of Acts p.77 Baptism is therfore not a personal choice but a Divine Command.
b. That only believers be baptised. The two words belief and baptism are inseparably linked in the New Testament.Belief is the root from which Baptism becomes the fruit.
Act 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls.
Act 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the gospel, the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
See also Acts 8: 36-38; 16:14-15; 30-33;18-8 and 19:4-5.
In the light of these Scriptures the practice of Baptising infants must be completely ruled out.
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| 21 Baka believers and one missionary kid getting baptized |
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