Sermon Tone Analysis

Liberty University

 

 

Baptism and The Early Church Practice According to the Acts of the Apostles

 

 

A paper submitted to Dr. Hudson

In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for

the course NBST 522

 

 

Liberty Theological seminary

 

 

By

Christopher W. Myers

 

                                                                                  

Lynchburg, Virginia

Sunday, December 09, 2007

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Introduction- 3

The Greek- 3

Mode- 5

Spiritual Baptism-- 7

The Meaning of Baptism-- 8

Salvation and Baptism-- 11

John 3:5- 16

Participators in Baptism-- 19

For Today's Church: A Conclusion- 20

Bibliography- 23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

!!! Introduction

       One of the most hotly debated topics within the church today is the issue of baptism.

Churches have been divided over such issues as mode, meaning, purpose, and who may partake in the New Testament ordinance of baptism.

Believers even argue if baptism is an ordinance or a sacrament!

This paper seeks to show that there is a physical baptism and there is a spiritual baptism.

Spiritual baptism is the reality that the physical baptism is portraying.

The purpose for this portrayal of the spiritual is necessary to understand the meaning of the physical baptism both for the believer and the witnesses.

The purpose of baptism explains who may be baptized and why they should be baptized and the meaning of baptism brings the understanding of the proper mode for baptism.

The baptism of the Spirit is not a separate circumstance from the spiritual reality of baptism.

A survey of the use of baptism in the Book of Acts will serve to guide the discussion on these matters of baptism.

!!!

The Greek 

       The Greek action verb for "to baptize" is βαπτίζω (baptizo) and occurs 80 times in the New Testament and 21 times in Acts.[1]  /Baptizo /is derived from the Greek word /bapto, /which means to dip or immerse.

Hence /baptizo/ in its normal sense is to be translated to fully whelm (i.e.wet) as "to wash."[2]

In a rare circumstance in Hebrews 9:10 the word is used to describe various Jewish ceremonial washings.

The Jews had ceremonial washings that used all sorts of modes of washing such as: sprinkling, avulsion, and immersion.[3]

However, even the ancient Reformists such as Luther and Calvin acknowledged the normative use of /baptizo/ to mean immersion.[4]

The Septuagint uses /baptizo/ to translate the Hebrew לבט (taval).

It is found translated this way four times in the Septuagint (LXX): two times in the Apocryphal books of Judith and Ecclesiasticus and two times in the canonical books II Kings and Isaiah.[5]

The Hebrew /taval/ means "to dip" or "to plunge into."[6]

The LXX of Isaiah 21:4 confirm our definition of the Greek translation of /baptizo/.

It says, "My heart wanders and transgression /overwhelms /me; my soul is occupied with fear."[7]

This shows us the genuine use of the word baptism where water is not involved.

Isaiah is so totally emotionally overtaken and overwhelmed by the frightful plights of his vision.

Isaiah is fully /whelmed/ by his visionary experience and /fully/ whelmed is the normative meaning of /baptizo/.

The Greek noun for "baptism" is βάπτισμα (baptisma) and occurs 6 times in Acts.[8]

In every instance where it is found in Acts it refers directly to the baptism of John.

The baptism of John is also called the baptism of repentance.

The Christian ordinance of baptism is not the same as the baptism of John.

This is understood in Acts 19:3-5 where Paul finds out that some of John's disciples have only been baptized with John's baptism and Paul tells them, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."[9]

And after John's disciples heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

It can be shown from the gospels with much certainty[10] that John baptized by immersion and the accounts of Jesus' baptism fit the context best if immersion is understood.

Since Christian baptism builds on John's baptism, it is important to discuss the nature of the mode for Christian baptism.

Understanding John's baptism to use the mode of immersion definitely strengthens the hypothesis that Christian baptism should use the mode of immersion.

But weightier evidence lies with the Greek and the contexts of New Testament texts that allude to the mode of baptism.

!!! Mode

       The Greek is clear that the mode for baptism, by its very definition of "fully whelmed" and the idea of being washed, is immersion.

This belief in the mode for baptism to be immersion is further strengthened when the meaning of baptism is understood and one understands immersion to best symbolize being "buried with Christ" and rising again with Him in His resurrection "to newness of life."[11]

Furthermore, many passages in the New Testament are understood best in context if immersion is the mode of baptism for the apostolic church.

One of these passages is in Acts 8:36-38, where the story is told of Philip and the eunuch.

First, one must observe that they came to water while riding along in the chariot.

This is important because no doubt on this dry desert road journey, the eunuch had water for drinking, but this is not what was used, rather the eunuch saw a body of water and "Philip and the eunuch went down into the water."

It seems that immersion fits the context the best, since it would be fruitless to go into the water for sprinkling or avulsion, especially when either could have been accomplished with drinking water, but immersion could not.

However, it should be said here that nowhere in the New Testament is it commanded for someone to be baptized by immersion.[12]

Rather, it is more clear that baptism is fully a matter of the heart's intent and desires, and so, the mode although important for symbolism is not as important as the heart of the one being baptized.

A believer should choose immersion as their mode in baptism because physical baptism by immersion best symbolizes the work of Christ in one's life, which is the spiritual reality of baptism.

The meaning of Christian baptism is best understood through the writing of Paul to the Colossians in chapter two, and the epistle to the Romans in chapter six where he explains the spiritual meaning of baptism.

!!! Spiritual Baptism

       Paul explains spiritual baptism in two analogies throughout his corpus, one is with the symbol of circumcision and secondly, he uses the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to illustrate the meaning of baptism.

In Colossians 2:11-14, this is the one place in scripture where New Testament baptism is connected to the Old Testament ordinance of circumcision.

Notice, however, that Paul does not say baptism is the continuation of circumcision.

Rather he explains how spiritual circumcision describes the work of Christ in spiritual baptism completed by the Spirit in the elect.

First, we must come to the conclusion that the baptism of Colossians 2:12 is indeed describing the washing of the heart of man and not the physical aspect of water baptism that is commanded by Jesus in the Great Commission.

To understand this as Spirit baptism, two things must be manifest.

One, verses 11-12 of Colossians 2 is one Greek sentence.

It makes the best semantic sense if Paul is referring to both spiritual aspects of things within the same sentence.

We would expect Paul to denominate the baptism as that "with hands," or the like, if he meant a physical thing, when he was just developing thought on the spiritual thing of circumcision.

But the Greek construction tells us that Paul is continuing his thoughts on the spiritual aspects of regeneration using baptism to further make his point.

Secondly, the first part of the sentence is describing the spiritual aspect of an Old Testament ordinance.

Paul is describing a spiritual circumcision of man's heart that was prophesized by the prophet Ezekiel.[13]

One done "without hands" and it is the work of Christ or as Paul put it "the circumcision of Christ."

Is it so surprising that Paul would talk this way about a physical ordinance?

It is this spiritual aspect of the ordinance that the prophet Jeremiah speaks of in his Spirit inspired work:

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.[14]

And then the prophet goes on to talk of a spiritual washing in the similar way as Paul speaks to the Colossians:

O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.

How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?[15]

Is the prophet talking of a physical washing to rid the people's sins?

No, rather it is the turning work of repentance that displays new character and hence new spirit.

With the manifestation of the New Covenant, Paul can make known the mysteries of the gospel that only the spiritual circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11) and the spiritual washing (baptism) of Christ (Colossians 2:12) can "put off the body of the sins of the flesh," which is the total work and power of God.

The operation of God to do these things is a display of his power that we must have faith in.

Therefore, the evidence weighs heavy towards the spiritual aspect of baptism being described here.

!!!

The Meaning of Baptism

       Baptism is likened to circumcision, in that, by circumcision the foreskin symbolizing the old man[16] of sin is put off by the work of Christ and in baptism the sins of old are nailed to the cross and die with Christ.

In Colossians 2:12-13, Paul explains how baptism better pictures the work of Christ over circumcision by relating Christ resurrection to the sinner's ability to rise again with Christ.

Now this rising again with Christ is not explicitly explained here in Colossians, it is more plainly defined in Romans 6 where Paul makes it known that we rise again with Christ to a new life, we become a new creation, a new creature and are freed from sin.[17]  Additionally, not only can the believer understand baptism to symbolize newness of life that ensures us the hope of the salvation of our souls from damnation, but also through the resurrection of Christ we have the hope of the redemption of our body.[18]

Christ is the firstfruits of those to be risen again at the day of the resurrection;[19] so all believers have the hope of glorified bodies.

So in turning to Romans 6 to explain the resurrection of Christ in relation to the meaning of Christian baptism the objection can be given that Romans 6 does not explain the spiritual aspect of baptism, but merely what the physical rite of baptism accomplishes.

Of course, the question of baptism and salvation emerges.

First the objection to Romans 6 must be evaluated.