A Primer on Baptism
Witness Magazine, Summer 2022
We believe that the only ordinances of the church of Christ are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper;
immersion being the only true baptism.
From the earliest days of the church Christians have been instructed to be baptized and to baptize. Before our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, He told His disciples, “All authority in heaven has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20, ESV). Based on this final earthly instruction from Jesus, baptism is one of two key components of making disciples (the other is teaching). But what is baptism?
Baptism is a seal
A seal is a physical sign, ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ, to help His Church better understand the New Covenant. As we look to Scripture, and as the Declaration of Principles states, there are only two such seals, the other being the Lord’s Supper. Let’s look at what baptism teaches us about the New Covenant.
Baptism is a proclamation of citizenship
Baptism proclaims the entrance of a person into that covenant or, we could say, into the community of faith. In other words, baptism visibly declares that an individual has met the requirements needed to be citizens of the Kingdom of God. Of course, the requirement is rather steep: absolute perfect obedience to God in every action, word, thought, and even motive (see Romans 3:9-20). No individual is able to meet those standards on her own.
Baptism is a proclamation of the gospel
Baptism, third, proclaims not only that a person meets the entrance requirements, but also how she meets those requirements. In Romans 6:3-4 Paul stated, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (ESV)” Based on what Paul said, baptism shows us that the believer is united with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and new life.
Consider what that means. Baptism is a proclamation that a person has been united with Jesus Christ. In other words, the person being baptized is saying through that act that she is incapable of entering the Kingdom of God on her own and that Jesus Christ has met the requirements for her. She is no longer her own, but has had the atoning work of Christ applied to her by the work of the Holy Spirit in her, so that she is now justified with God. Jesus’ death and burial take the place of the just, eternal punishment that she has earned for her sins. Jesus’ perfect life and resurrection give her new life so that she is seen by God with His own righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21), and with a freedom from sin and for righteousness.
Baptism pictures washing
In Acts 22:16, when Paul was giving his defense before the Jews, Paul called for them to repent and be baptized, but with a different focus than he made in Romans. Take a look: “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. (ESV)” You probably picked up on the difference rather quickly: washing. Washing is a recurring image in the Old Testament (see, for example, Psalm 51:7; Isaiah 1:18) for what happens when a sinner is forgiven by God. The idea is that sin stains our figurative clothing making us unworthy to enter into the presence of God. Those garments need to be washed, but the only way to wash them is through the blood of a worthy sacrifice. Baptism, then, proclaims that the blood of Jesus washes clean the sin-stained garments of the repentant, believing sinner so that the repentant and believing sinner is able to enter into the Kingdom of God.
What is the correct mode of baptism?
This brings up an important question: what is the right mode for baptism? This answer is not as straightforward as we might like it to be because the Bible does not directly tell us. Christians have practiced three different modes. The first is sprinkling, where a small amount of water, usually from a bowl, is sprinkled over a person. The second is pouring, where water from a bowl or pitcher is poured over the individual’s head. In either of these modes we can see the image of washing, but it takes a great deal of imagination to see the picture of dying and rising again. So, these modes give a partial, incomplete, picture of what is going on in baptism. There may be situations when they need to be used (a deathbed conversion, for instance), but they are neither one is the ideal.
The third mode, which is most likely practiced in all of our churches, is immersion. This is the practice of lowering the new believer fully under the water and then lifting her out again. Here we can see not only washing, but also dying and rising again. Immersion gives the fullest picture of what baptism signifies. Further, the Greek word that our English word “baptize” came from appears to have originally meant “wash” or “immerse.” And although not every use of that word necessarily means immerse, this gives us a helpful clue as to what was going on when Jesus was baptized by John (see Matthew 2:13-17), and what Jesus intended when he gave the Great Commission.
Who should be baptized?
Who, then, is baptism for? Based on the meaning of baptism outlined above, the answer should be straightforward. And yet, this has been a matter of debate throughout the history of the church. Many argue that baptism is the New Testament equivalent to circumcision and, therefore, not only believers be baptized, but also their children. That statement is half correct. Circumcision, in the Old Testament, was the visible sign, ordained by God, to proclaim the entrance into the Nation of Israel, which was God’s visible, covenant people. All males within a specific household, no matter what age, and without regard to family relationship, were required to be circumcised, even if some of those males did not believe. However, we should notice that women were not circumcised and yet were still part of the visible, covenant people of God at that time. This sign, though only identified that a family was part of the physical nation, not that an individual had become a true follower of God.
By its very nature God’s Word gradually proclaims the truth more fully the further we go into it. In Genesis 3 we hear about the child promised to Eve who would crush the Serpent, and bring a remedy for the sin that Adam and Eve brought into the world, but we don’t learn who that is until the New Testament. That same progressive nature of revelation also occurs in the relationship between circumcision and baptism. While circumcision focuses on entrance into the visible nation (or, we could say, the visible church), baptism proclaims that a person has entered both the visible church (all those who say they are Christians) and the invisible church (all those who really are Christians).
Colossians 2:11-12 makes the connection for us, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (ESV)”
Thus when Peter said to the people in Jerusalem, “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. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. (Acts 2:38-39, ESV),” he wasn’t saying that if one person gets baptized, then the rest of his family should also get baptized. Rather, Peter was telling us that the salvation made possible by the person and work of Jesus Christ is available to you, and to your children, and people throughout the world. It was the person repenting who was baptized, as a sign of the forgiveness of sins provided by Jesus.
Conclusion
Baptism, then, is to be administered, only once, preferably by immersion, to the person who professes faith in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior, and as the entrance sign for both the visible and invisible church.
Nathaniel Bickford is the Teaching Elder of the Whitefield Christian Church in Whitefield NH, where he lives with his wife, Kimberly, and three children, Lydia, Josiah, and Miriam. He is a graduate of BICS, Lancaster Bible College, and Westminster Theological Seminary, where he is currently continuing his education. Nathaniel and his family enjoy hiking and snowshoeing around the beautiful mountains of northern New Hampshire.