Against Objections to Baptism

Intro.

It’s no secret to us, surely, that most of the religious world around us has a grave misunderstanding regarding the issue of baptism.

Many believe that one must be sprinkled as a baby to inherit the promises of the Covenant in Christ Jesus. Between Roman Catholics and various different Protestant denominations, this idea is fairly common. However, this falls well short of the truth for a number of reasons, which we don’t have time this morning to cover.

Others, who may even baptize by immersion in the name of the Holy Trinity will teach that one is saved before baptism and not at baptism. The claim, usually, goes something like this: “You are saved the moment you have faith in Jesus, and your baptism is merely an outward expression of the inward work of the Spirit!” This is one of the ideas that we are going to deal with this morning.

In part, this could be considered a “doctrinal sermon” because we are discussing a necessary doctrine of Christ. However, I prefer to think of this sermons as an equipping sermon, because my goal is not only to enforce that we understand the doctrine of baptism. My goal is also to equip us with the ability to wield the Word of God well against common objections to the necessity of baptism.

What do we do with:

Saved by grace and not works?

The thief on the cross?

This morning, I intend to help us answer this objections so that when we are faced with them, we can lovingly yet confidently affirm the doctrines of Christ our Lord!

These are the most common objections I come across, and if we are left unprepared they can easily stump us in our pursuit to plant seeds and bring others to the Lord.

Saved by Grace or Baptism?

Coming from people who are usually of the “faith alone” camp, it will come up that baptism is “a work” they say. Which, in a sense, is true. Then, they will cite Eph. 2.8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 LSB

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast.

“If we are saved by baptism,” they will say, “then it would be a work and not grace!”

But is all “work” the same?

John 6:26–29 LSB

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

According to Jesus, that we believe in the Son as the One sent from the Father is itself a kind of work!

Romans 3:21–28 LSB

21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

According to Paul, speaking in the early chapters of Romans to the Jews in the Roman congregation, we are not saved through works of the Law!

Baptism is apart from the Law of Moses entirely!

Titus 3:3–7 LSB

3 For we ourselves also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Again, according to Paul, it is not by works done by us in righteousness which we are saved.

Nobody who has been baptized according to the command of Christ through the Apostles was Baptized because we were righteous! We are baptized because therein God promises to make us righteous! Therefore, baptism neither fits under this definition of “work”.

James 2:14–24 LSB

14 What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

It doesn’t get much more clear than James’ words here: “Justified by works and not by faith alone.” James even says that without works, a person’s faith is useless — the word literally means lazy or that it accomplishes nothing!

Baptism is this kind of work! It is the kind of work that marries with our faith so as to perfect it in our submission to the Lordship of Christ. If one rejects baptism, both the mode (immersion) and the reason (“unto the remission of sins”), then that one is not perfecting their faith through obedience to Christ the Lord. As God told Abraham none would be in covenant with his people without circumcision, so too with baptism we are not in covenant with Christ without Baptism. If we will not humble ourselves to the obedience of this most simple and initial command of faith, we are yet to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Proper baptism is even itself entirely inseparable from faith!

Colossians 2:9–13 LSB

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily, 10 and in Him you have been filled, who is the head over all rule and authority; 11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.

You see then that one is made alive with Christ by God only when he has been buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the work of God! Tell me, at what point in this “work” am I putting any trust in my own righteousness, my own deeds, or myself? God is the only active agent in the salvific effort! Even being baptized, you and I are passive! The only thing we do is submit ourselves to be baptized and trust God!

The Thief on the Cross

The second, and final, objection for the morning is the thief on the cross!

Luke 23:39–43 LSB

39 And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Many will use this exact moment to push back against the biblical doctrine of baptism because the thief was not baptized, so far as we know. I get asked this question regarding baptism every day! However, this is rather easily debunked when we understand a few simple things regarding our baptism into Christ:

Baptism Unites Us W/ Christ

Romans 6:3–9 LSB

3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

We find here that in our baptism, we were united with Christ in His death and in His resurrection! We are thus united because it is through these very things that our redemption is made possible and the New Covenant is made. Heb. 9.16-24 and Matt. 26.28 both go far to say this very thing, that His blood/death was necessary for the New Covenant to be in effect.

Without the death of Christ, the Thief was never part of our covenant! Having died under the first covenant, how we are saved now would have no bearing on him! This uniting with, and a kind of participation in, the Gospel in Rom. 6 never applied to thief, for none of it had as yet occured when he was forgiven.

He Was Never Commanded

It is also very important to note when commands were first given for men to be baptized into Christ! The first time Jesus ever says anything about the salvific nature of baptism is Mk. 16.16

Mark 16:16 LSB

16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Christ was recorded in Mark as being resurrected in 16:6! Then we find the command in Acts 2.38 at Pentecost and following!

It is important to note this, because it was after the resurrection that men were commanded to be baptized in the name of Jesus unto remission of sins! The thief was both forgiven and dead before this time! Therefore, the very command never applied to the thief! You can’t obey a command which you were not given! Some may say there was the baptism of John, but Acts 19 shows us clearly that they are not one and the same baptism.

Saved Through the Resurrection

1 Cor. 15 goes to great pains to explain to us that apart from the resurrection of Jesus, our faith in Him is entirely meaningless! 1 Pet. 3.21-22 says that it is through the resurrection that we are saved at baptism! Notably, again, the timeline of events is important: The resurrection had not yet occured! Therefore, the very thing through which we are saved in Christ Jesus had not happened! The thief was saved under the Covenant through Moses, not the covenant in Christ secured in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

We see clearly, then, that nothing applied to us in baptism could have chronologically applied to the thief on the cross! This being the case, the thief has nothing to do with how we treat baptism.

Conclusion

Church, I pray that not only our understanding of baptism be deepened and anchored this morning, but also that we are now further equipped through the study of God’s revelation how to reprove those who contradict healthy and true doctrine!

Baptism is not “works based salvation” as we saw in the first part of this study. And the thief, though I look forward to meeting him one day, has absolutely nothing to do with how we view and understand baptism in the name of Jesus!

We all have loved ones, friends and family, who are taught to use these arguments against baptism’s necessity — have faith in God, and knowing His Word intimately let us go forth in bold love the show them who disagree what God has actually said on the matter!