Back to the Basics - Baptism
ME
It was in April 1986 that I was baptized by immersion of my own choice into Christ Jesus. Of course a few weeks ago I talked about being baptized in the Lutheran Church when I was 8 days old. That is a baptism is one I do not remember, nor did I choose of my own accord to give my life to Christ.
My parents back then were doing what they knew and they thought it was the right and proper thing to do in the will of God. They made a commitment to raise me the God would want and of course for all of my childhood years it was the Lutheran Church who formed my beliefs.
Honestly baptism is a subject that I don’t remember talking about or learning about as a child. And as I said a few weeks ago I didn’t know that my confirmation in the Lutheran Church was confirming my baptism as a baby until after I became a preaching minister while at the last church I served.
With my up bringing and once I began going to the Christian Church and I began to hear and learn about baptism. Also, in seeing others be baptized my interest in the subject was peaked.
I will admit I did not understand why a person would need to be baptized. I did as a child see other babies get baptized being, held over a basin and the priest pouring water over their head. I thought it was kind of mean to pour water over the baby and make the baby cry like that.
I knew it was an important thing that was done, but again I didn’t know why. So as a young adult I had a lot of questions concerning baptism. I tried getting answers in various ways. My step dad was a huge source for me. Of course going to Sunday school, listening to sermons and reading the Bible on my own helped.
But as I continued to search for the reason for baptism I kept coming up with disagreements and arguments concerning baptism. I even went to a deacon in my church to talk to him about baptism but my response from him was, “You know Mark, I don’t completely understand baptism and I have questions myself.”??WE
With all of that said, I was confused and I completely understand why others, and maybe even some of us may not fully understand and/or be confused about the act of baptism and why we baptize. But this one thing is for sure. Baptism is a Basics of the Church.
So what is some of the discussion concerning baptism and what are some of the arguments being made today?
Before I get to that I want go back to the New Testament, First Century Church. The very first time we see Christian baptism is in the forming of the church. Back in Acts 2 as Peter is preaching the first Gospel message and the people were pierced to the heart and wanted to know what they needed to do to be saved.
GOD
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:38-41
So in the purest sense of baptism, before arguments, before differences in opinion, before any confrontation or any confusion about baptism we see straight from the mouth of Peter what it is we do to be saved and we see that baptism is a part of God’s plan in the process of salvation.
Honestly, how could have a person to whom Peter was talking take it any differently? Take a look at a few verses preceding Acts 2:38. Peter is concluding his sermon and making his main point of it all they say, —
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:36-37
You could put it into other words as far as what they said to make it a little more clear. Brothers, what shall we do to save us from what we have done?
So let’s take a look at what happened in this moment in time when the church was formed.
The Gospel message was preached telling of the good new about Jesus
The people who heard the Gospel message where convicted that they were sinners and they believed that Jesus is the Messiah.
The people asked for a solution that would wipe their slate clean, that would make them right again with God “Brother’s what shall we do?”
The people were given the solution. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
Repent — To repent is to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness. It is being sorrowful of your sin and seeking not to sin anymore.
Be baptized — To be baptized is the act of submitting your will to God’s in response to your conviction that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. It is an act of complete obedience that includes death to yourself and life in Jesus Christ.
And then we see in Acts 2:38 what we receive as a gift from God once we have heard the Gospel message about Jesus Christ. And then have been convicted that we are a sinner and not worthy of God. And then believe in Jesus Christ. And then repent. And then are baptized. Once all of those things have occurred in our lives the gifts we receive is forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit.
Something else we find out in verse 39 is — The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:39. This is a covenant between God and ourselves. And the covenant says if you do this, I will do that. And the covenant is for everyone who the Lord calls and the Lord calls through the Gospel.
Now why go into all of that? Because one of the arguments concerning baptism is that baptism is not connected to salvation. That is an outward sign of your inward faith. That salvation comes from belief only, from faith only and not from any act that we do.
But what did Peter say when they asked what they should do. Did he not tell them that they needed to physically respond to their conviction and belief? Sure he did! To repent is a physical and mental response. And for sure submitting yourself to baptism is a physical response and a response from our hearts and minds.
Once we do those things though what we receive is not payment for what we have done, but it is a gift from the only One who could give such a gift. The gifts of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit could only come from God the Father Himself. His gift to us is in response — to our response — to His sacrifice — through Jesus Christ — for us.
In all honesty if you believe in God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God you shouldn’t need more information than that to come to the conclusion that baptism is a part of salvation. But let’s look at more verses.
Acts 8:34-38, 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Acts 9:17-19, Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Acts 22:12-16, “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. 13 He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14 “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Acts 10:44-48, 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Acts 16:13-15, 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Acts 16:29-33, The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.
Acts 18:4-8, Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.
6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
Acts 19:1-5, While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
With all of this evidence in Scripture of baptism being connected with the gospel message and belief how could one say baptism does not play a part in salvation? Without a doubt, unless the Scripture is not true, baptism belongs in the process of salvation which includes, hearing, being convicted you are a sinner, believing in and confession of Jesus Christ, repenting, and baptism.
And I’m so glad that the Holy Spirit is included in the promise of what you receive as well as forgiveness of sins. Because it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and helps us live a life of righteousness for the rest of our lives after we become Christians.
YOU
I know what it is to be confused about baptism so I really hope I didn’t further confuse you today. You may have questions about baptism and I understand that. There is no way I could cover every argument concerning baptism that is out there today. But if you know that baptism is truly a part of salvation — of being a Christian, you are ahead of many, many people today.
There is one other argument that I think I can quickly dispel just from reading these Scriptures and that is that everyone who was baptized believed and made a response based on their belief. Babies do not have the mental capacity to do that and Scripture never once give a instance of a baby being immersed in Christian baptism.
If you have questions concerning baptism please do not hesitate to ask. I am more than happy to help and walk with you through God’s Word concerning baptism.
WE
I want to leave you with this today instead of my normal challenge and it is the Scripture I have read many times when we have a baptism. It is Romans 6:1-7
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:1-7
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