Faith of the Baptists - United with Him
Romans 6:1-11
Faith of the Baptists — United with Him
The Biblical Mode of Baptism — Part II
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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.
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. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.[1]
Soon after arriving in Canada, I initiated a visitation programme in the neighbourhood surrounding the church I was then pastoring. During that first year, I visited well over 3,000 neighbours. As I visited, I endeavoured to present the message of life, telling people about Christ and about His great salvation. Many did not wish to hear what I had to say; some assumed that I must represent a cult akin to the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, some did receive the witness I presented, and the visits did raise the image of the Faith in the neighbourhood.
During one of those visits in that first year, I recall a visit with a man who had immigrated to our fair country from Great Britain. When I introduced myself, he told me he was a Christian, though not religious. He graciously invited me in to speak with him. He was curious, wanting to know what I believed about a variety of subjects. He was especially keen to know what I believed concerning baptism. When I explained the Baptist view of baptism, he exclaimed, “Oh, you are one of those ‘deep water’ Baptists.”
I conceded that I did seek sufficient depth to fully immerse the candidate coming for baptism. What that man meant, however, was that we Baptists are distinguished through our insistence upon only one mode of baptism. This insistence flows from our commitment as Baptists to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, and to our commitment to the reign of Christ over the life of the church.
Speaking broadly, baptism has one of two purposes. Either the requirement for baptism is presented as a means of making the one baptised into a Christian (or at least assisting in making that one a Christian), or it is performed because the one baptised has already become a Christian. Baptism is either a means to compel God to accept the one baptised as one of His own, or it marks a transition that has already occurred. If baptism makes a person a Christian, then it must be confessed that the rite if often ineffectual. Tragically, many people “baptised” as infants live lives that betray either the intent of their sponsors or the hope invested in the rite by their parents.
Baptists have historically resisted the ecumenical push to depreciate the ordinance of baptism, thus lowering it to the lowest common denominator in order to be seen as accommodating the views of non-baptistic Christians. Perhaps their adherence to strict doctrinal principles accounts in great measure for the reason that throughout the world, Baptists have become the largest non-Catholic Christian group. In the United States, Baptists have become the largest non-Catholic religious grouping; and in Canada, Baptists are well represented as a major presence among non-Catholic Christians.
There are multiple Baptist groups, differing from one another primarily through geography. Worldwide, there are at least 321 Baptist denominations and groupings.[2] Situated in the United States and Canada, there are at least 81 separate Baptist groups.[3] These associations, conventions, conferences and fellowships range in size from the Southern Baptist Convention, numbering more than 42,000 churches in the United States, to groups that represent fewer than 500 members in two or three churches. In Canada alone there are at least fifteen Baptist denominations and/or groups, in addition to multiplied unaffiliated churches that adhere to Baptist principles and doctrine. All these groups are fiercely independent, refusing to surrender autonomy to any outside agency.
Though independent in polity, and though differing on some minor points of doctrine, most of these groups agree on certain foundational truths. Baptists that know their heritage are committed to the Bible as the authoritative Word of God—infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts. Baptists historically have been committed to a regenerate church membership. They are committed to the autonomy of the local church. They believe there are but two offices in a biblical congregation—elders and deacons. They teach the priesthood of the believer, and hold to two ordinances—baptism for those who believe and the Lord’s Table for those who have been baptised. Baptists hold to individual soul liberty, and they hold tenaciously to separation of church and state.
Baptist ecclesiology has been well developed throughout the ages, thus distinguishing them from many of their fellow Christians. Baptist understanding of the doctrine of the church flows from commitment to Christ as Lord and to the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God. This does not change the fact that we have become known for our insistence upon immersion as the sole proper mode of baptism. Why do Baptists stand so firmly on this principle? That is the question we shall explore today.
Your Baptism Reveals Your Understanding of Grace — Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? In the text we are exploring, the Apostle stresses a point concerning aberrations of the Faith. Justification by faith is distorted as churches become legalistic, moralistic, or advocate and practise cheap grace. “Legalism” refers to the formulation of artificial standards to define holiness. Then, when a person lives out those particular rules of conduct, they congratulate themselves as though they have pleased God. “Moralism” speaks of the reduction of the teachings of the Faith to moralistic principles, instead of receiving the teaching of the Word as authoritative for faith and practise. “Cheap grace,” explained so eloquently by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is the attitude that contends, “Since I am saved, I need not be concerned with rules.” It is the reduction of God’s grace to a self-centred attitude that excludes responsibility to Christ or to His church.
Instructing the Corinthian Christians concerning worship through giving, Paul provides this assessment. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich [2 Corinthians 8:9]. He is reminding them, just as he reminds the Roman Christians in our text, that God has been richly generous toward us. He is speaking neither of money or of the ease we experience, but He is speaking of the sacrifice Christ made because of our condition.
What was our condition? Out situation is chiselled indelibly in bas-relief and tinted in brilliant hues as he informs the Roman believers of our desperate condition, while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:6-8].
According to the Apostle, we were weak, we were ungodly, we were sinners! The word “weak” could dilute the impact of his words. We were “helpless,” “morally incapable of pleasing God”—we were “powerless” to change our condition or to please God. Paul had just invested considerable time speaking of the condition of all mankind.
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
[Romans 3:10-18]
There is within every individual, redeemed or otherwise, a law waging war against the mind and therefore making us captive to the law of sin that dwells in the body [see Romans 7:21-25]. Thus, not only were we weak, but we were also ungodly. There was nothing that we could do to make ourselves acceptable to God. Be we ever so scrupulous in religious observance, be we ever so meticulous in observance of our pious devotions, we are yet ungodly. We are not like God, nor can we ever be godlike through our own efforts. Therefore, God has correctly assessed our condition as ungodly.
We are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin; but rather, we sin because we are sinners. We were born with a fallen nature and we are born under sentence of death. Indeed, the wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23]. Even when we have not sinned through rebellion, we are contaminated by the sin that has touched each life because of the rebellion of our first father, and thus we are sinners. This was our condition before God—weak and helpless, ungodly sinners.
Of course, this provides the foundation for the Good News, for while in this awful condition ensuring separation and death, Christ died for us. According to the Word, Christ died for the ungodly. The Word also states, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:6, 8]. It was while we were dead in trespasses and sins that the mercy of God in Christ was extended to us. Christ did not call us after we had cleaned up our act and recreated ourselves as “good” people. We could not be good enough! Instead, it was while we were enemies that we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son [Romans 5:10].
The grace of God toward all humanity is pictured through baptism as we are buried with Him … into death, and as we are united with Him in a resurrection like His. It is not merely that Christ died and was raised from the dead that is important to us who are saved, but it is that this sacrifice had purpose. His sacrifice was for us, and His conquest of the grave was for us. It is vital to realise that we are now invited to identify with Him, because He identified with us. This is the grace of God! Christ tasted death for everyone [see Hebrews 2:9]. He conquered death so that He could offer salvation to everyone. The message of life is that salvation is freely offered to all who are willing to receive it. Baptism pictures this grace of identity between the Lord and those who are baptised.
Salvation began to come sharply into focus for us who are saved with the knowledge of our spiritual condition at the time Christ found us. Awareness of our need preceded turning to God for mercy. Our condition outside of Christ is best described as being dead—separated from God and from the life that is in Christ the Lord. When we were baptised, following the salvation we received through faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, we confessed that we had been dead in sin. This confession spoke of grace—grace that searched us out and that also made us alive with Christ when we could do nothing to help ourselves. In baptism we acknowledged that we had nothing to offer God to make us acceptable to Him. Therefore, the baptism that exhibits knowledge of our condition of death speaks eloquently of the grace of God extended to dead sinners.
That baptism that speaks of our confession that we were dead, also speaks of our having been made alive with Christ, for when we are raised up out of the water we are confessing that we have been raised with Him so that we might walk in newness of life. This is grace. We did not deserve the gift of life, but where death once reigned, life now reigns because of the grace of God in Christ Jesus the Lord. Baptism that fails to picture this truth must explain what it intends to portray. Baptism as detailed in the Bible presents the grace of God in graphic detail in that the one baptised pictures the prior condition of death and then pictures the resurrection to newness of life.
Your Baptism Pictures the Gospel — 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. There is frequent, considerable talk about the Gospel. We preachers often speak of the Gospel, and we are even on occasion identified as “Gospel” preachers. But just what is this Gospel, this Good News?
A concise definition of the Gospel is provided in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Christians. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul reminds that church of the gospel he preached [1 Corinthians 15:1]. I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared [1 Corinthians 15:3-5a].
This, then, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the Good News that atonement is provided, the Good News that propitiation has now been presented. Our faith rests in Christ’s sacrifice for our sin and in His resurrection from the dead. This truth comes to us through the account provided in the Scriptures. The Gospel was prophesied for millennia until it was fulfilled in the advent of the Son of God so that He could present Himself as a sacrifice for sinful man. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. Christ was buried. Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Christ appeared to many witnesses to verify that the multiplied prophecies were fulfilled.
Any message that fails to include the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is no Gospel. Where is the Good News if atonement for sin is not provided? There is no Gospel without a sacrifice and a resurrection. In the same way, a baptism that purports to present the Good News of Christ, and that yet fails to picture this truth is no Good News at all. I suppose one could imagine some religious imagery associated with sprinkling water on an individual, but there is assuredly no picture of burial and resurrection. Perhaps it is possible to create a story as result of pouring water from a plastic shell onto an individual’s head, but we must honestly confess that it is not the Good News found in the Word. Making the sign of the cross on an individual’s forehead may have religious significance, but it is not a truth that is taught in the Word of God.
Christians who come to the ordinance of baptism generally fall into one of two camps. Taken to the extreme, either view creates serious problems. The baptismal camps dividing Christendom view baptism as either a sacrament or as a symbol. Those who believe that baptism is a sacrament teach that the act confers grace. In the view of the sacerdotalist, baptism either makes one a Christian or helps to make one a Christian. It is far too easy to move toward the view that the act is more important than what is said by the act. Tragically, that is precisely what happens in far too many instances.
If baptism is a sacrament, then logic leads us to say that baptism is “necessary” as a means of receiving grace and ultimately, the act supersedes faith. This is demonstrated in the sense of many young parents who “feel” they should have their children baptised. Undoubtedly, the majority of parents are conscientious, attempting to do what is best for their children. Consequently, many parents, though not religious themselves, see baptism as a sort of divine insurance policy. Therefore, for the welfare of their children, these parents will seek to have them baptised.
Baptism for the parents in this instance is less a conscientious act to honour God, or even an act meant to openly pledge that they will raise the children in the knowledge of Christ the Lord, than it is a religious duty to be performed and thereafter ignored. Baptism of their children does not mean that Christ is now at the centre of their lives; it does say that they want what is best for their children. Thus, for too many, baptism has become a magic rite meant to ward off evil. However, baptism does not secure salvation, nor does it in any way add to the salvation we enjoy. It is an act of obedience performed because we have received the gift of life, and as we identify with Him who saves us.
Christians are called to confess faith in the Living Son of God as of primary importance. He is the propitiation for our sins through the sacrifice of His own body because of our sin. He was declared to be the Son of God with power through His resurrection from the dead. Therefore, it is Christ and not any action we may perform that redeems us from sin. The sacerdotal view of salvation is opposed to the doctrine of grace and us therefore antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The other part of Christendom mentioned earlier sees baptism as a symbol, baptism picturing what has transpired in the life of the one baptised. There is a danger in this view arises if it is taken to the extreme. If baptism is a symbol, then it is of no great importance, and it may even be reduced to a vestige of meaningless rites long forgotten. For denominations believing this, the rite is relatively unimportant when compared to the reality of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. However, where is the open confession of faith that was expected of those coming to faith in the New Testament? Faith is vital, but that does not obviate obedience to the means Christ commanded for our confession.
It is apparent that baptism was important among the early churches. Those who confessed Christ were immediately baptized. The action was not delayed, but rather when an individual confessed his or her faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, that one was baptised without delay. The new believer first verbally confessed faith in the Risen Son of God, and then he or she pictured that faith through identification with Christ in His death and in His resurrection.
Baptism of believers is commanded by our Lord for everyone coming to faith. Make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19]. More than a mere obedience to His command, baptism blesses the one baptised. Baptism is not merely a ceremonial act of no consequence, but rather it is an act of open identification with Christ the Lord in His passion and in His triumphal life. Peter says baptism is as an appeal to God for a good conscience [1 Peter 3:21].
Barclay provides insight into Peter’s statement, “The word Peter uses for [appeal] is eperōtēma. I n every business contract there was a definite question and answer which made the contract binding. The question was: ‘Do you accept the terms of this contract, and bind yourself to observe them?’ And the answer, before witnesses was: ‘Yes.’ Without that question and answer the contract was not valid. The technical word for that question and answer clause is eperōtēma in Greek, stipulatio in Latin.
“Peter is, in effect, saying that in baptism God said to the man coming direct from heathenism: ‘Do you accept the terms of my service? Do you accept its privileges and promises, and do you undertake its responsibilities and its demands?’ And in the act of being baptized the man answered: ‘Yes.’”[4]
Baptism, then, is the statement attesting that the child of God has made a clean break with the past and that they have been born into the Family of God. The one confessing faith once lived in darkness and was ruled by his own passions, but now he lives in light and is ruled by the Son of God. Thus, when times get rough and the child of God is tempted to retreat into the wickedness that previously marked their lives, the baptism he or she received serves to remind him or her of commitment to Christ.
This is much the same as Paul is teaching, for the child of God is confessing acceptance of and identification with the Gospel of Christ when she or he is baptised. The Christian is openly confessing belief that He died, that He was buried, and that He has risen from the dead. That one says this, acknowledging that he or she has received His command as authoritative. Therefore, the Christian can always look back to the baptism received to remind him of the commitment he has made. The Christian declared identification with the Master, confessing that he died to sin but that he is alive to life.
Your Baptism Demonstrates Understanding of God’s Character — If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
What is God like? The answer to that question is best answered through looking at Jesus. Jesus told His disciples, Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father [John 14:9]. Baptism reveals a great deal concerning our understanding of who Jesus is and of the divine nature. As we are raised out of the water, we are saying that we are confident that we will be united with Him in a resurrection like His. Confidence in God is not limited to the present, but it extends into the future and ultimately throughout all eternity. Through baptism, we express our confidence that we shall be raised with Christ.
This is really another way of saying that God secures our future. Since God lives forever, since He is eternal, then to dwell with God is to live forever. That is precisely the concept conveyed through the term “eternal life.” Speaking of His disciples, Jesus said, I give them eternal life. Then, to more firmly establish the truth for the Jews who were listening critically to His words, He added, and they will never perish [John 10:28].
This promise is not merely a statement concerning length of days for those following the Lord Christ, but it speaks of the quality of life enjoyed by the child of God. Because Christ has conquered death, sin no longer has dominion over him—He cannot die again. Of Christ, Paul emphatically states that death no longer has dominion over him. Then, the Apostle says of our Lord Jesus Christ, the death he died he died to sin, once for all.
Christ died once for all, and therefore death has no further power over Him; He is free of any threat of death. In the same way, we who are believers, we who have received the forgiveness of sin and who are free from all condemnation, now enjoy life with Him and we no longer live under sentence of death. We have all that attends that happy condition—peace with God, forgiveness of sin, joy in the Holy Spirit—all this and heaven too. This was our declaration as we were raised out of the water; we were saying that we are finished with the old life that was marked by death. Therefore, through being lowered into the watery grave with Christ and raised to walk in newness of life, we testified that God is eternal and that He has forever broken the power of death for us.
God is the source of freedom. Paul insists that for freedom Christ has set us free [Galatians 5:1]. In baptism we confess that we have been set free from sin, and thus we have accepted that we need no longer be slaves to sin. Those who are tempted to sin can look back to their baptism. As they were lowered into the water they declared that the old life was buried … with Him by baptism into death. Looking back they are encouraged by the transition to which they testified in baptism. For not only did they declare their death to sin through the act of being immersed into water, but they also confessed that they have been raised to life through the power of Christ the Lord, and thus they are no longer under sentence of death. The baptised believer testifies to a radical transformation through picturing a death, a burial and a resurrection in their baptism.
In baptism we declare confidence in the eternal nature of God and we declare that because of the liberty that is inherent in being born from above we also are free from the constraints of sin. James reminds us that The Lord is compassionate and merciful [James 5:11], and one of the great evidences of that compassion and mercy is His identity with us in our fallen condition. Baptised with Christ, we declare that God is compassionate toward us precisely because Christ has shared this life with us. Our baptism declares that we have been united with Christ—He shared our condition, having tasted death for every individual [see Hebrews 2:9]; and so we share His life, which is a new quality of life—life everlasting. Thus, in baptism we confess that God is caring and compassionate.
No wonder baptism is such a meaningful act. Baptism, properly conducted, demonstrates that the child of God properly understands grace. It reveals that the one baptised has understood and accepted the Gospel of Christ the Lord. It is at the same time a testimony that the one baptised knows and rejoices in the character of God. As we have studied these truths, it should have become evident that only through immersion—picturing the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ and picturing the death of the old nature, the burial of that same old nature and resurrection to walk in newness of life—can one picture these truths. It is for these reasons that we Baptists insist that the mode is important. Baptism must have a purpose, and God’s Word determines that purpose instead of our own desire for personal convenience.
There is more than a hint of the hope of the resurrection in Paul’s affirmation that we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his [verse five]. We put our faith in Christ, and though we are redeemed at the point of faith, we know that He has promised that we will receive a resurrection body. John affirms that glorious and heartening truth, we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is [1 John 3:2b].
Paul encourages us through the instruction he drafted for Titus. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works [Titus 2:11-14]. We are called to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the return of our Saviour, and we are able to draw strength as we look back to the declaration we made when we openly identified with Him in baptism.
Have you openly identified with the Christ in baptism? If you have believed, you are responsible to obey His command to be baptised, to identify with Him in this way. If, however, you have never believed, your first need is to embrace the message of life. That message is that Christ died for your sins and was raised for your justification. This is the Word of God concerning your responsibility before God.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved… For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9, 10, 13].
We call all who hear our message to believe this Good News of the forgiveness of sin in Christ the Living Lord. For all who have believed, our invitation is for you to openly confess your faith in Him through baptism as one who has already been born from above. Do this today. Do this now. May God bless you as you obey His call. Amen.
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[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers, 2001. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Eric Svendsen, 30,000 Protestant Denominations? (http://www.ntrmin.org/30000denominations.htm)
[3] List of Baptist sub-denominations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baptist_sub-denominations)
[4] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible: The Letters of James and Peter (Revised Edition), (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA 1976) 244-5