The What, Who,How and Why of Baptism

What is Baptism

Intro:

On February 19, 1812, Adoniram and Ann Judson, a couple of newlyweds, bade a tearful farewell to their family and friends and boarded the Caravan, a three-mast brig in Salem harbor, and began the long ocean voyage from Massachusetts to India. Convinced that God had called them to spend their lives in missionary service, the Judsons devoted themselves to prayer and intensive Bible study during their four months at sea. Judson had studied the Greek New Testament at Andover Seminary, and he poured over the meaning of the word baptizō. As he and Ann studied the meaning of baptism in the NT, they both became convinced that this sacred rite was intended for believers only. Both of them had been baptized as infants and brought up in godly Congregationalist families, but when they reached India they made contact with the renowned Baptist missionary William Carey and requested baptism in keeping with their newfound convictions. On September 6, 1812, they were immersed at Calcutta in the baptistry of Carey’s Lal Bazar Chapel by William Ward.

Their friend Luther Rice, who had followed the Judsons to India on another ship, also became unsettled in his own views about baptism. After further study and prayer, he too was baptized as a believer on November 1, 1812. In his diary for that day he wrote, “Was this day baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. The Lord grant that I may ever find his name to be a strong tower to which I may continually resort and find safety.”

Baptism is the discarded jewel of Christian churches today—even of Baptist churches. Confusion, ignorance, prejudice, and a misplaced and distorting cultural conservatism all beset most churches today in their practice of baptism. The Southern Baptist Convention’s own study has suggested that only 40 percent of baptisms in cooperating churches are “first time” baptisms of converts.

So

Luke 3:21–22 ESV

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Baptist Faith and Message 2000

Baptized or Baptism comes from the Greek word (Baptizow); which means: to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge, or to overwhelm.

It is used either in verb form or as a noun 96 times in the New Testament.

When we speak of Baptism we are