"...whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." - John 4:14 KJV
Jesus said:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)
Because the Great Commission is given to all Christians, baptism is an essential element of the Christian mission.
...be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16 KJV)
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5 KJV).
...ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11-12 KJV)
The apostle Peter says that baptism is "not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God." (1 Peter 3:21 NIV)
...the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. (Acts 8:36-38 KJV)
The message of the Bible is that people are saved by grace through faith in God alone.
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. (Galatians 3:6-9 KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 KJV).
Grace through faith in God alone saves, and baptism is an expression of faith.
God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace (2 Timothy 1:8-9 NKJV).
It is only by God’s mercy and grace that anyone is saved. God does not save us because of anything we have done, nor because we are righteous, nor, for that matter, because we are worthy. He saves us only because of His own purpose and grace. So, surely God does not save us simply if we take a dip in the water.
Baptism is for people who have heard the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, have believed and repented. There are no examples of baptism of infants in the entire Bible. Some would argue that instances in the Bible where entire families are baptized prove that God intends baptism for infants. For example, there is the story of the conversion of the jailer and his entire family. In pertinent part, the Bible reads,
And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. (Acts 16:30-33 NKJV)
The key sentence in the passage above is, "Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house." All the others in the house listened to the message before they were baptized. Surely, the apostles were not speaking the word of the Lord to infants in the family, if there were any. No, the apostles were teaching everyone the message of Jesus Christ and evidently everyone in the family believed what they heard, repented, and were baptized.
After Peter preached the first sermon after Pentecost:
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. (Acts 2:37-39 NASB)Was Peter teaching that children who are infants should be baptized when he says that the "promise is for you and your children"? No, the "promise" that Peter talks about is that if a person repents and is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, then that person will be saved. An integral element to this promise is repentance. We know from Scripture that repentance and believing in Jesus Christ are all that is required for salvation. So, what of repentance? Well, I don’t know when you last tried to talk to a baby, but my last experience did little more than elicit a burp form the sweet little one. Babies can’t repent, but the baptism that Peter talks about follows repentance.
Peter also says, "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call." What did he mean by saying that the promise of salvation is for the people’s children and for all who are far off? One thing is for sure, Peter was not saying that "all who are far off" were saved that day, let alone to be baptized that day. Peter was saying that the promise of salvation is available to "all who are far off" if they are called. Likewise, he was not saying that every child of every adult that was baptized that day is also to be baptized, only that the promise is available to all children who reach a level of maturity where they could actually understand repentance and take the plunge themselves. All that Peter was saying is that the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ was and is available to every person, should the person repent and believe. Hallelujah!
Scripture teaches us that baptizing is not reserved for Jesus, senior pastors or preachers alone. Scripture shows us that Christian disciples are qualified to baptize.
Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. (1 Corinthians 1:12-17 NASB)Two things are important about this Scripture for our purposes here. First, we see that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, did not do much baptizing. Second, we see that Paul’s point that baptism has little to do with who baptizes you and everything to do with whose name you are baptized in; Christians of course are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:4-6 says,
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (KJV)Note that there is One Body into which all Christian believers are baptized, symbolically with use of water. In the midst of the diversity of bodies of water, ranging from American pools to African rivers, of languages, of people being baptized and people doing the baptizing, there is only one baptism, united by Christ.
Jesus Himself apparently did not baptize. Though Scripture says that Jesus was believed to be baptizing, it tells us that in actuality His disciples were doing the baptizing. From this we learn two things. First, it echoes what we learned above about there only being one baptism: baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, it reinforces that fact that the people doing the one baptism are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself baptized not, but his disciples. (John 4:2 KJV)Baptism is never to be treated lightly. On the contrary, the author of Hebrews lists some fundamental truths that all believers should know and includes "instructions about baptisms" among items in this list (Hebrews 6:2). Although there is not clear elaboration about what this means, we can safely say is that any disciple who is contemplating baptizing should search the Scriptures for instruction and guidance, so that God's will be done.
Ryan George and LWWDC
Last revised: June 3, 2003