By Water and the Spirit

The Baptism Debates

Have you ever wondered why it is that there are so many different churches out there? Why the Methodists do things one way, and why the Baptists think entirely differently…and don’t get me started on the Presbyterians!

But seriously, why is it that churches are so divided these days over just about any issue imaginable? From how we come to salvation to who gets to preach and teach, Christian churches tend to divide instead of work through their differences over issues that aren’t central to salvation or the common core of the faith.

And notice that I’m not saying that there aren’t boundaries in the Christian faith—things that must be believed in order to be a Christian in what I think is the legitimate sense of that word. And, over the years, statements have developed that help guide the church into precisely what those things are. These documents we call the Creeds and Confessions of the church.

And so, if you were to take a United Methodist Hymnal and open to the back, you’d find in there several statements of faith. One of them is the Apostle’s Creed. Another is the Nicene Creed. These are quite old documents dating to the first few centuries of Christianity. In these creeds we find the familiar statements of faith as handed down to us from the Apostles to their successors the teachers and preachers of the early church.

These creeds cover such basic Christian truths as the nature of God as Trinity, one God in three persons. They cover things like the fact that Jesus is both God and human. They tell us that the Holy Spirit is God and that the church is the body of Christ.

But in none of these statements are there any rubrics or instructions for baptism. Now, there is a statement in the creeds that we believe in one baptism for the remission of sins, but that’s all it says. It doesn’t say how that baptism is to be performed, who gets to do the baptizing, how old you need to be to be baptized or any of the details.

And as we know, it is in the details of life that the tensions and struggles occur. It is in the details that we find the seed of strife and division. And this is plainly seen in the sacrament of baptism.

A History of Baptism

Introduction

So, before we turn towards our brother’s reaffirmation of baptism today, it behooves us to look at the history of the sacrament of baptism. And we’ll do that by turning first to the Scriptures that we heard read this morning. From there we’ll glean the importance of the sacrament of baptism. Along the way we’ll have to expand our search a bit and touch on some other passages that have an impact on our understanding of baptism as well. Then, after we expound the Scriptures, we’ll see how throughout church history there was a divergence of practice that eventually led to splits among believers. We’ll end with our own United Methodist understanding of baptism and then I’ll invite our brother to come forward as well as any others that might feel led to the water today to reaffirm their baptism.

The Old Testament

In the Old Testament, as exemplified by our passage from Numbers 19:10-13 we find several key understandings that point the way forward towards the New Testament concept of baptism.

Numbers 19:10–13 NASB 2020

And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening; and it shall be a permanent statute for the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them. ‘The one who touches the dead body of any person will also be unclean for seven days. That one shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. Anyone who touches a dead body, the body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

The Red Heifer Ritual

Touching a Dead Body

Purification

Ceremonial Washing

An outward symbol of inward transformation

A symbol or a fact?

The Intertestamental Period

The history of Israel does not stop with the Old Testament. Now, our Old Testaments end with the book of Malachi, but between Malachi and Matthew there was a period of about four centuries in which Jewish thought continued to grow and develop. And one of the areas in which this is clearly seen is in the new growing understanding of the purpose of the Law of Moses and the understanding of how sin interrupted and broke community.

For Israel, the concept of sin was at once both individual and communal. It was individual in that you individually would be accountable for your actions. If you committed adultery, you and your partner would receive the penalty. But at the same time, the effects of your actions also impacted the status of the community. If the community did not intervene and stop the actions then the entire community would feel the defiling effects of sin.

Corporate Personality

Israel’s purpose to be a light to the nations and a kingdom of priests

Developing understanding of cleansing and purification

Renewal Movements

Dead Sea Scrolls community at Qumran

John the Baptist

The New Testament

John the Baptizer

Mark 1:1–8 NASB 2020

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending My messenger Before you, Who will prepare your way; the voice of one calling Out in the wilderness, ‘prepare the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight!’ ” John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. And he was preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Beginning of the Gospel-what is the gospel? (The Saving Message of Jesus’ life ministry death, resurrection, and ascension)

God and Jesus are now king (restored kingdom)

JTB functions as a hinge between the Testaments

The last OT Prophet

The Herald of the Great Priest, Prophet and King

Malachi 3-4 tells us that one is coming who would prepare the way of the Lord (Elijah)

Isaiah 40 tells of one who would prepare the way of the Lord

JTB’s baptism

Repentance

Define

Preparatory

Jesus’ Disciples participated (cf. John)

Jesus himself would come

After me one is coming…baptize with the Holy Spirit

Jesus’ Baptism

Matthew 3:13–17 NASB 2020

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized?

sin? no

a mere formalism? no

Fulfill all righteousness

Representative Israelite

Recapitulation (Irenaeus of Lyon)

Jesus’ Red Sea Moment

Inaugurating Jesus’ Ministry

Empowered by the Spirit

Psalm 2: the message of Sonship

Divine Kingship affirmed

Baptism is for All

Acts 8:26–40 NASB 2020

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get ready and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he got ready and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to slaughter; And like a lamb that is silent before its shearer, So He does not open His mouth. “In humiliation His justice was taken away; Who will Describe His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.” The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”And he ordered that the chariot stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

Familiar story

The bonds of who is in and who is out are being stretched to the breaking point

Non-Israelite

Eunuch

Could not enter the Temple

Gender confusion; neither male nor female by ancient standards

God-Fearer

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Candace (title) of Ethiopia

Early Christian country—before much of Europe

What prevents me from being baptized? Nothing!

Recapitulating the Recapitulator

Romans 6:4 NASB 2020

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

Baptism unites us with Christ spiritually and mystically

Buried with him; we died his death

Raised with him; we live in his life

Clothing metaphor, off with the old on with the new

Why Children and not Adults? (Why we aren’t Baptist)

Infant Mortality

Baptismal Efficacy (baptism now saves you)

Household Baptism

Practice of the Church for over a thousand years

Anabaptists (Radical Reformation)

Anabaptists —> Baptists—>Purely Symbolic View of sacraments

UMC View is in line with historic church practice and the NT

Baptism —> Confirmation analagous to Dedication and Baptism

By why miss out on the grace??

Come to the Water

I invite our brother to come forward today as we prepare our hearts and minds to gather around him at this time to renew the commitment made on his behalf by others. If anyone of you feel like you too would like to affirm your baptism or if you have never been baptized and want to partake of that grace today, I invite you to come forward now.