Believer Baptism: Baptist Distinctives

This is the distinctive that Baptist churches are most widely known for.

But other churches baptize people. How do Baptist churches approach baptizing people differently than other denominations?

Three emphases make the Baptist approach to baptism different that other church denominations.

In order for a baptism to be valid, Scriptural baptism requires proper subjects, proper meaning, and proper mode. Some Baptists add a fourth- proper authority.

When we say valid baptism what do we mean?

A real or a genuine baptism. If someone was baptized as an infant we don’t say that we are re-baptizing them now as an adult. Why not? Because their infant baptism was not valid. They just had some water sprinkled on them.

In order for a baptism to be valid it must in accordance with the teachings of the Scriptures. For a Baptist, in order for a baptism to be valid, there must be a proper subject, a proper meaning, and a proper mode.

I. Proper Subjects

Who are the proper subjects of baptism?

Only those who have made a credible profession of faith in Christ as Savior ought to be baptized. We often call this practice believer baptism.

Why should we limit baptism to professing believers? Why don’t we baptize infants? Where would you take someone to teach them this principle from the Scriptures?

There are several Scriptural reasons why we only baptize believers.

1. The New Testament commands only believers to be baptized and shows baptism being performed only on professing believers.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

These verses specifically baptism with making disciples. It is difficult to imagine a disciple who did not at least profess to believe on Jesus.

Mark 16:16 ESV

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

The order is first believe and then be baptized. This is a proof text used for people who hold to baptismal regeneration. It is very clear in this text however that baptism is not a requirement for salvation. Notice the end of the verse. What is the only thing that will condemn someone? If the do not believe. Baptism is not mentioned. So why is it mentioned in the first part of the verse?

“Probably, because in the accounts recorded in the NT, baptism is normally administered immediately after someone professes faith. In fact, in a very real sense, baptism is the visible and external profession of faith. Baptism is how people declare that they believe. The notion of an unbaptized believer is entirely foreign to the NT. Biblically, belief and baptism go together so inevitably that they should almost be uttered in the same breath. In other words, baptism is very important as a profession of faith and a first step of obedience after salvation. It is not, however, a part of how one receives salvation.” Bauder (227).

Acts 2:41 ESV

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

First- they did what? gladly received his word, then second, they were baptized.

Acts 8:12 ESV

12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

The Samaritans were baptized only after they believed.

Acts 8:35–38 NASB95

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Textual variant- A few later MSS (E 36 323 453 945 1739 1891 pc) add, with minor variations, 8:37 “He said to him, ‘If you believe with your whole heart, you may.’ He replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ ” Verse 37 is lacking in {𝔓45, 74 א A B C 33 614 vg syp,h co}.

However the implication from v. 35 is that Philip preached Jesus to him, he believed, and then he was baptized.

Acts 10:47 ESV

47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Cornelius and his household were baptized only after they had received the Holy Spirit—and by implication—salvation.

Acts 16:31–34 ESV

31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

The Philippian jailer and his family were promised salvation if they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; then they received baptism and rejoiced that they had believed on God.

2. The New Testament does not contain a single command to baptize infants, and it never narrates a single indisputable incident in which an infant was baptized.

Some whole hold to infant baptism point to this text:

Mark 10:14 ESV

14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

As well as the occurence of household baptisms such as Lydia:

Acts 16:15 ESV

15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

or the Philippian Jailer

Acts 16:33 ESV

33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

The text never states that these household baptisms included infants.

And it is true that Jesus loves children and wants them to be brought to Him, we are never told that baptism is the way to bring the little ones to Jesus. In the NT there is never a time when baptism is practiced on little children.

Remember from our lesson on the sufficiency of Scripture for church faith and order- because the Scripture is silent on baptizing infants, this silence is tantamount to forbidding infant baptism.

3. Peter connects baptism with a clear conscience.

1 Peter 3:21 ESV

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Why does this idea of connecting baptism with a clear conscience argue against infant baptism?

Nothing that is done to us involuntarily can be a matter of conscience. When Peter connects a person’s obedience to follow the command of baptism to their clear conscience he implies that those who are baptized must have a choice in the matter. Baptism is a voluntary act. To perform it on someone who cannot personally decide for themselves to obey is a contradiction to the Scriptures.

4. Infant baptism does not appear in the records of the early church until the third century.

There is no indisputable reference to baptizing infants unto Tertullian, who argued against it in a treatise on baptism in AD 200-206. No example of infant baptism can be produced for the first 150 years of Christian history.

5. Baptists reject infant baptism because the meaning of baptism implies that it should be limited to proper subjects.

II. Proper Meaning

What is the proper meaning of baptism?

It is a picture of the gospel. When a baptism intends a false meaning then that baptism is not valid. When the meaning of baptism contradicts the gospel, the baptism is not a Biblical baptism at all.

Where do we turn in the Scriptures to articulate the proper meaning of baptism?

1 Peter 3:21 ESV

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Some of the teachings in this verse are hard to understand. But some of them are quite clear. Here Peter connects the significance of baptism to the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ also implies His death. Thus we can clearly tie the meaning of baptism to the death and resurrection of Christ.

Romans 6:3–5 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Some argue that Romans 6 is not speaking about water baptism but about Spirit baptism. The significance of I Peter 3 is that it clearly is in reference to water baptism.

1. Baptism is a picture of the gospel that symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ

From these two texts we discover that baptism is connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism then is a symbolic reenactment of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

2. Baptism is a public profession of faith in Christ

In the NT baptism is also performed upon those who have already trusted in Christ as their Savior. Baptism becomes a public way for people who have already believed to profess their faith.

3. Baptism is a badge of Christian identity

People who become water baptized are symbolically saying that they have received Jesus Christ—who died and rose again—as Savior. Water baptism becomes the badge or ensign of the believer’s faith. It is a declaration to the world that the Christian is identifying with Jesus and acknowledging Him as Savior.

4. Baptism is the first step of obedience in the Christian life, where it serves as a commitment to ongoing obedience

In the Great Commission Jesus clearly intended baptism as a major aspect of becoming His follower. It is commanded by Jesus as part of making disciples. For a believer to neglect baptism, therefore, is disobedience to the commands of Christ.

Remember, the NT does not offer a single example of an unbaptized believer. Baptism is a Christian duty that stands at the head of the list of Jesus’ commands.

III. Proper Mode

Baptists insist that for a baptism to be valid it must be administered via a proper mode—that is immersion.

Some churches sprinkle (aspersion). Some pour (affusion), but baptists immerse.

Why do Baptist insist so strongly upon immersion as the only mode that can properly be called baptism?

1. The Meaning and Use of Baptizein

The Greek word we transliterate as baptize is baptizein. This Greek word literally means to immerse. This word was widely used in secular Greek before and during the NT era and the verb always carries the idea of complete submergence.

Even in figurative uses it carries this notion. Example: a drunken person could be said to be “immersed in wine,” a vivid picture of the effects of alcohol.

Mark 1:4–5 ESV

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

If John was simply sprinkling or pouring water on people why did he need to be “in the river Jordan”?

Acts 8:38–39 ESV

38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

Why did they have to go “down into the water” if Philip only needed to sprinkle or pour?

2. Meaning Determines Mode

Going back to the meaning of baptism- what does baptism picture?

Baptism is a picture of the gospel that symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ.

If you get the meaning of baptism wrong then you have an argument for another mode.

Some think that baptism pictures the washing away of sins—and if this is true the sprinkling or pouring are adequate. How would you refute someone who believes that baptism is a picture of washing our sins away?

How do we know the proper meaning of baptism? From the Scripture!

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

1 Peter 3:20–21 ESV

20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Only immersion is an adequate picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus—which is the biblical meaning of baptism. So meaning determines mode.

Every run into trine immersion? This is the practice of immersing three times, once in the name of the Father, twice in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the HS. But a proper understanding of the meaning of baptism refutes this practice. Why? Jesus did not die three times.

3. Practice of the Early Churches

The earliest churches of the New Testament gave no evidence of baptizing by sprinkling or pouring.

The pattern that was established was that of immersion. The earliest Christian documents after the NT indicate that the churches were still immersing converts.

Who are the church fathers?

Christian pastors and thinkers who wrote from the close of the apostolic period to the beginning of the Middle Ages.

What value are the writings of the church fathers?

Not on par with the NT, but they help us understand how the early Christians read and implemented the Bible.

Didache- The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

An attempt by one early Christian writer to summarize what the apostles taught in a variety of areas.

“Now concerning baptism, baptize as follows: after you have reviewed all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in running water. But if you have no running water, then baptize in some other water; and if you are not able to baptize in cold water, then do so in warm. But if you have neither, then pour water on the head three times in the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.”

Important to note that this entry does not teach to perform baptism by pouring. It permits the practice as an emergency substitute for baptism. It does not suggest that pouring is baptism, but that pouring may sometimes be performed instead of baptism. Note especially that immersing was done once, but pouring three times. Perhaps he thought the increase in frequency would make up for the deficiency of mode.

The normal and consistent practice of immersing was held until the fourth century. And then only clinic baptism (the baptism of the sick and dying) caused pouring to become popularized.

So the earliest churches recognized only immersion as baptism.

IV. Proper Authority

This is a debated issue.

Properly speaking baptism is viewed as an ordinance reserved for the local church. Some people include proper authority as an essential to valid baptism. If someone is not baptized in a local church (either a gospel-preaching church or a baptist church alone), then their baptism is not valid.

So what about people who get baptized by tour guides in the Jordan River? or at summer camps? or at a non-baptist church?

Which baptisms should we accept?

First of all we must note that baptisms that do not take place under the authority of a local church are what we call irregular. That is- it is a baptism out of order. Practicing irregular baptism should not be encouraged.

1 Corinthians 14:40 ESV

40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

So Baptist have typically discouraged baptisms at camps, on tours, and under other circumstances that lack authorization from a local congregation.

However, irregular baptisms are not necessarily invalid baptisms. If the proper subjects, proper meaning, and proper mode were all followed then the baptism can still be regarded as valid. This has been a subject of sharp disagreement of the past 150 years. Especially, those who hold to a form of Landmarkism insist that this kind of baptism should never be permitted. But most Baptist churches have been wiling to count as valid a baptism that has proper subject, proper meaning, and proper mode.

These kinds of baptisms however, are like a couple who elopes: the parents might have wished for a more orderly wedding, but the marriage is still a marriage.