Believer Baptism
Baptism • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsBeliever baptism is a distinctive in Baptist churches and an essential for every believer
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Ask most people what makes a Baptist church a Baptist church and they will probably say something about baptism—its in the name.
And it is true that we do indeed practice and understand baptism differently than many other Christian groups. While it is not the most central Baptist distinctive, it is the most visible.
What makes our approach to water baptism different from the practices and beliefs of some other denominations?
In order to have a valid Scriptural baptism what must take place? Or what are the requirements to proper NT water baptism?
I. Proper Subjects
I. Proper Subjects
In order to have a valid NT baptism it must be performed on proper subjects. Who are the proper subjects of baptism? Only those who have made a credible profession of faith in Christ as Savior. Why do we limit baptism to professing believers? For instance, why do we not baptize infants?
The NT commands only believers to be baptized and shows baptism being performed only on profession believers.
Matt
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
This text connects baptism with making disciples, and it is difficult to imagine a disciple who does not at least profess to believe on Jesus.
Mark 16.16
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
The order is belief and then baptism and this order is always followed in the book of Acts.
Example:
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
First the gladly received the word (they accepted the testimony of Jesus Christ) were baptized.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning 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.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
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When the Ethiopian eunuch requested baptism, Philip required him to profess faith first.
47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Cornelius and his household were baptized only after they had received the Holy Spirit and by implication slavation
Acts
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
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 NT does not contain a single command to baptize infants, and it never speaks about a single indisputable incident in which an infant was baptized.
3. Peter connects baptism with a clear conscience
I Pet
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Nothing that is done to us involuntarily can be a matter of conscience.
4. The meaning of baptism implies that it should be limited to proper subjects.
II. Proper Meaning
II. Proper Meaning
When the meaning of baptism contradicts the gospel, the baptism is not Biblical baptism at all.
Two key texts for understanding the meaning of baptism
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Some of the aspects of this verse are difficult to understand, but some of them are not. One of the clear teachings of this verse in regards to baptism is that the significance of baptism is tied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since it is tied to Jesus’ resurrection it is tied to His death as well- you cannot have a resurrection from the dead without first a death. So baptism is tied to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Rom
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Here Paul pointedly links baptism to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the meaning of water baptism is connected to the death of Jesus for our sins and to His resurrection from the dead. So, baptism is a picture of the gospel. It is a symbolic reenactment of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the NT, it is always performed on those who have trusted Jesus as Savior. Indeed, it functions as their public profession of faith. In other words, people who submit to water baptism are symbolically stating that they have received Jesus Christ—Who died and rose again—as Savior. Water baptism become the badge of 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.
Baptism is a first step of Christian obedience. Jesus clearly intended water baptism to function as a major aspect of becoming His follower.
Matt
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Here Jesus commands baptism as a specific part of making disciples. For a believer to neglect baptism, therefore, is to disobey the Lord.
Tellingly, 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 for believers.
So the meaning of baptism then from a biblical perspective is:
It is a picture of the gospel that symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ. It is a public profession of faith in Christ, and therefore a badge of Christian identity. It is also the first step of obedience in the Christian life, which serves as a commitment to ongoing obedience.
Any baptism that intends a meaning other than what the Bible prescribes is not a valid baptism. Some other churches belief that baptism actually bestows grace on the recipient, in other words it takes part in forgiving their sins. This is not the NT meaning of baptism. Baptism does not in any way forgive us of our sins. Faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and his resurrection is what imparts forgiveness of sins. Baptism only pictures this saving reality that has already taken place in the one being baptized.
III. Proper Mode
III. Proper Mode
What does that mean? It means that I get to dunk these three ladies all the way under the water in just a few minutes. It means that in order for a baptism to be biblical it must be through the practice of immersing.
Some will say that it is OK to pour or to sprinkle, but as a baptist church we insist on immersion. Why?
Baptizein- literally means to immerse, to dip, or to plunge the idea of the word is complete submergence.
2. Scriptural instance of baptism support complete submergence
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
“In the river of Jordan” if John did not need to immerse people, why would he get in the river?
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
3. Meaning determines mode
Baptism is symbolic, it pictures something. If it pictures something, then we should seek to use a mode of baptism that adequately pictures whatever baptism is supposed to symbolize.
Some believe that baptism symbolizes the washing away of sins, thus sprinkling or pouring becomes an adequate and admissible picture.
But that is not the NT meaning of baptism!
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Biblically, baptism serves as a symbolic picture of the gospel itself, specifically a picture of Jesus’ death for sin and His resurrection from the dead.
The only proper mode that fits the biblical meaning is immersion. Immersion in water is an adequate and even obvious symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. By submitting to immersion, we confess our faith that Jesus died and arose for us. We are symbolically buried in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life. The subject’s confession of faith is tied directly to the meaning of the symbol itself.
So if you are to have a valid NT water baptism you must have
Proper subjects- professing believers in Jesus Christ
Proper meaning- a picture of the gospel that symbolizes the death and resurrection of Christ, a public profession of faith in Christ, and therefore a badge of Christian identity, a first step of obedience in the Christian life, which serves as a commitment to ongoing obedience.
Proper mode- The only proper mode that fits the biblical meaning is immersion. Immersion in water is an adequate and even obvious symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. By submitting to immersion, we confess our faith that Jesus died and arose for us. We are symbolically buried in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life.