WE BELIEVE IN ONE BAPTISM

Intro:

We are back in our series the Nicene Creed and hopefully we will be able to complete this in the coming weeks. To review let us read through again the confessions we already discussed:

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.”

The remaining sections are as follows:

“We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.”

The last three topics are:

The One Baptism of the Believer

The Resurrection of the Dead

The Life to Come

These 3 are different aspects of a Christian life but they are connected as we shall see in the Sundays to come. But today we will focus on number 1.

Baptism in today’s Christianity or at least in our Church is often understood like a wedding.

My problem with the wedding analogy in our context is that in a wedding, the bride and groom are committing to each other on equal terms. But baptism biblically is not like our modern wedding. Add to this is the tendency of Christians (especially females) extends this analogy to a point that it becomes problematic. They see the Lord from a lense of a lover (romantically), make no mistake the Lord is our lover but I think we push the relationship so far that it becomes somehow a romantic human relationship.

I believe many of the problems we face today is a product of many Christians do not understand or at least appreciate the true meaning of baptism. Add to this that we have a defective view of marriage so we treat the Lord like how we treat someone we are romantically involved with which is often times one sided.

Now in this confession we see in the Nicene creed is based on:

Ephesians 4:4–5 (NASB95)

4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

5one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

and

Acts 2:38 (NASB95)

38Peter 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.

If you are a thinking Christian, you have question now as we read the creed and as we read Acts 2:38 but let us hold our horses because we will answer that question. I you do not know the question, we will tell you later.

Today we are going to talk from the subject, WE BELIEVE IN ONE BAPTISM

Three things we need to know about Baptism:

I. The Concept of Baptism

a. Identification / Union with Christ

Romans 6:3–11 (NASB95)

3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

4Therefore we have been 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.

5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

6knowing this, that our old self 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;

7for he who has died is freed from sin.

8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

b. Pledge of New life to God

1 Peter 3:21

21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[a] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

II. The Controversies of Baptism

Christian debates about Baptism:

Paedobaptist vs Credobaptist

Immersion vs Sprinkling

Rebaptism vs One Baptism

Sign vs Salvific (Removal of Original Sin)

We do not have time to go in detail to all this controversies but this Church believes in credobaptism and immersion as the mode of baptism (although personally if there is a good reason, pouring water on the head can be allowed). Rebaptism can be allowed if the necessary requirements on prior baptism is not met (e.i. faith) and it is a sign of salvation not a means to salvation.

a. Belief is Necessary for Baptism

Acts 2:38 (NASB95)

38Peter 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.

First, the command to repent is prior to or at the very least is partner to baptism. We do not read any example in the NT in which one was baptize without expressing faith in Christ.

This is the reason we follow the credobaptist tradition. Paedobaptist argues that baptism replaced circumcision, and since Jews are circumcise as a baby (8 days old) we can also be baptized as a baby. In some sense, baptism may have parallel circumcision but It is more likely it follows the concept of the Israelite going through water to be delivered from Pharoah’s army as Paul mentioned in:

1 Corinthians 10:1–3 (ESV)

1For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

3and all ate the same spiritual food,

Furthermore, it follows the way John the Baptist employed it as a sign of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. A baby cannot repent.

b. Baptism is Immersion

Acts 8:38–39 (ESV)

38And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

39And 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.

Baptism is most probably derived from “Mikveh/Mikvah” immersion, in which the practice of immersing oneself to a pool of water for ritual cleansing.

c. Rebaptism is Allowed sometimes Necessary:

Acts 19:1–5 (ESV)

1And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

2And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This is issues is not controversial in our Church even in the universal Church at the moment but it was once an issue. But we can see from the text that rebaptism becomes necessary if the prior baptism did not meet the requirement which is faith in Christ.

d. Baptism is not a Means of Salvation

1 Peter 3:21 (ESV)

21Baptism, 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,

We don’t get baptized to saved, we are saved therefore we get baptized.

Then why did the creed said that baptism is “for the remission of sins”?

The creed was originally written in greek and the word translated as “for” is the word “eis” which is a word used for identification not causation. Meaning, it is not baptism that caused the forgivenes but baptism identifies who are already forgiven. It is a sign not a means to salvation.

III. The Conclusion of Baptism

What is expected of someone baptized in Christ? Since we are a people united with Him and has pledge our lives in obedience, how should we live?

Romans 6:12–13 (ESV)

12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

13Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

If you remember, the context of this text is what we have discussed under union with Christ.

The point is, when we see someone who was baptized into the name of Christ, what we should see is someone sold out to Christ who has presented himself to Christ as instrument of righteousness. As I mentioned in the introduction, the analogy of wedding is being taken so far that we treat the Lord like how we treat the person we are romantically involved with.

Nope, Baptism is about our commitment to live obedient lives to the Lord. Sure, this also signifies our relationship with Him as His children but this does not mean we can do what we want. Despite our standing as children of God, He is still creator, and we are creature. He is still King of kings and we are His subjects. We are to live lives of obedience.

1 Peter 4:17 (ESV)

17For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?