Thesis 26/36: Baptism

DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH:
Doctrine 26 / 36: Baptism

There are different types of baptisms talked about in the Bible. Not every time that the word "baptism" is used does it refer to the water baptism of a Christian. The last command that Jesus gave to His disciples when He left the earth to be with the Father was to, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). Baptism, in the New Testament, is an association the believer makes with Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:4). The Christian was not literally hanging on a cross outside of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, nor was the Christian literally buried in a tomb, nor did he literally rise from the dead. However, baptism is the picture that the Christian performs to associate with those events.

An entire denomination of Christianity has been formed primarily based on a distinct view of baptism. While most of Christianity practices the baptism of infants of Christian families, the Baptists are one of the few denominations of Christianity that follow the example of baptism in the Bible, wherein only those that professed faith in Jesus Christ were baptized. The perfect picture of that is the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8. Once Philip expounded to him the truth of the Scripture, the eunuch asked Philip, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36). The answer that Philip gave him shows that baptism is a practice for believers, and it is not for unbelievers or children that are too young to believe: "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest" (Acts 8:37). In Acts 10:47 there is another picture of this in that Peter asked why anyone should forbid baptizing some new converts, "which have received the Holy Ghost." Baptism in the New Testament is exclusively exercised with believers.

There are different baptisms in the Bible. For example, 1 Corinthians 10:2 reads, "And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." The Israelites were "baptized," but it does not refer to a believer's water baptism. John the Baptist also baptized people, but the baptism of John was for repentance, and was directed to Israel. When those disciples in Acts 19 told Paul that they were baptized of John, he corrected them saying that his baptism was not what was necessary, but rather that they should be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5).

There is only one baptism of the Holy Spirit, as John the Baptist talked about about in John 1:33, "And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." This baptism of the Holy Ghost is the one baptism through which all believers go, when the Holy Spirit baptizes the believer into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). This does not refer to water baptism, but to the actual immersing of the believer into the body of Christ. (The word "baptize" is actually a transliteration from the Greek word "baptizo" which means to immerse.) When Jesus came to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire (Matthew 3:11), He was categorizing all people into either the body of Christ, or those that would be lost and go to hell fire. The baptism of fire was not experienced on the day of Pentecost, but will be experienced when Christ immerses those who do not believe in Him, into the Lake of Fire. The Bible teaches that there is one baptism of the Spirit, occurring at the time of salvation, and not a second baptism of the Spirit at some later point in the believer's life.

Care must be taken when reading the Bible to not confuse baptism and water. As was seen, there are more baptisms than simply water, and also, any time water is spoken of, it does not need to mean water baptism. Some have taken John 3:5 to mean that unless a person is baptized in water, he can not be saved, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Their interpretation is that being born of water is being baptized. However, the very next verse shows that Jesus is contrasting the flesh with the Spirit and saying that unless you are born physically and spiritually, you will not be saved. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). To be born of water is compared with being born of the flesh, and it speaks of the physical water present at childbirth.

"I am crucified with Christ."