Church Series-Should the Church Practice Water Baptism
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 27, 2016
The Church Series: Should the Church Practice Water Baptism?
Lesson # 9
Matthew 28:19-20 is used as documentation by the church throughout history to support the observance of the ritual of water baptism.
Matthew 28:16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (NASB95)
“Go” is the nominative masculine plural aorist passive participle form of the verb poreuomai (πορεύομαι), which means “to depart, to travel, to journey” since it pertains to moving away from a reference point.
Therefore, the word is used here of the disciples of Jesus Christ traveling from place to place.
“Make disciples” is the second person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb mathēteuō (μαθητεύω) which means “to cause someone to become a disciple or follower of, to cause one to be a pupil.”
It not only speaks of the Lord’s disciples evangelizing unregenerate sinners who would become disciples of Jesus Christ by trusting in Him as Savior but also instructing them with regards to proper Christian conduct after being declared justified through faith in Christ.
A New Testament disciple is one who is under biblical instruction.
The Lord expected discipleship to involve total commitment if one was going to be able to fully follow through as a disciple, but being a disciple and being a believer are not one and the same.
“Baptizing” is the nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb baptizomai (βαπτίζομαι), which means “to employ water in a religious ceremony designed to symbolize purification and initiation on the basis of repentance, to use water in a rite for purpose of renewing or establishing a relationship w. God.”
Water baptism was a public declaration of the sinner justified through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ regarding their new life in Christ.
“Teaching” is the nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb didaskō (διδάσκω), which means, “to teach, to educate, to train, to impart information in a public assembly.”
The verb didaskō in the Greek New Testament means, “to provide instruction in the Word of God in a local public assembly” (Matthew 4:23; John 18:20; 1 Corinthians 4:17; Colossians 1:28-29; 3:16).
The verb didaskō is used of the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching ministry in which He was always teaching publicly whether in the Temple in Jerusalem, the synagogues or outside in the open air (Matt. 4:23, 5:2; 9:35; 11:1; 26:55; 28:20; Mark 1:21-22; 2:13; 4:1-2; 6:2, 6, 34; 8:31; 9:31; 10:1; 11:17; 12:35; 14:49; Luke 4:15, 31; 5:3, 17; 6:6; 11:1; 13:10, 22; 19:47; 20:1; 21:37; 23:5; John 6:59; 7:14, 28; 8:2, 20; 18:20; Acts 1:1).
Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ is commanding His disciples to authoritatively teach the Word of God to those who trust in Him as Savior.
The aorist tense of this verb poreuomai is an ingressive aorist which emphasizes the disciples of Jesus Christ entering into the activity of traveling from place to place for the purpose of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
The participle form of this verb poreuomai is an attendant circumstance participle which is used to communicate an action that is coordinate to the finite verb.
This type of participle is not dependent because it is translated like a verb.
However, it is semantically dependent because it cannot exist without the main verb.
Therefore, this type of participle “piggy-backs” on the mood of the main verb.
It also expresses a prerequisite before the action of the main verb can occur and has something of an ingressive force to it.
So here in Matthew 28:19, the participle form of the verb poreuomai is coordinate with the second person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb matheteuo expressing a prerequisite action before the disciples of Jesus Christ can fulfill the command to make disciples.
The aorist imperative form of the verb matheteuo is an ingressive aorist imperative which emphasizes the beginning of an action which the context usually makes clear is not a momentary action.
Therefore, it expresses the idea of the disciples of Jesus Christ beginning to perform the action of making disciples.
This is not a constative aorist imperative which emphasizes the solemnity and urgency of the action and is used in general precepts since this type of aorist imperative is used often in commands in which the action has been going on.
Up to this point in Matthew, the disciples of Jesus had not been obeying this command since this was the first time they had received it.
The present tense of the verb baptizomai is a customary present which is used to signal either an action that regularly occurs or an ongoing state.
Here the former is in view expressing the idea that the Lord wants His disciples to make it their habit of baptizing in water those who trust in Him as Savior.
The participle form of this verb is a participle of means which indicates the means by which the action of its controlling verb is accomplished.
This would indicate that the Lord wanted His disciples to make disciples “by means of” baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The present tense of the verb didaskō is also customary present expressing the idea that the Lord wants His disciples make it their habit of teaching those who trust in Him as Savior all that He had commanded them.
The participle form of this verb is also a participle of means which would indicate that the Lord wanted His disciples to make disciples “by means of” teaching them all that He had commanded them.
So, the early church practiced water baptism in obedience to the Lord’s command in Matthew 28:19.
In every recorded instance in Acts after trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior, the believer was baptized (Acts 2:41; 8:12-13, 38; 9:18; 10:48; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:5).
Therefore, it is clear from our study of Matthew 28:19-20 that our Lord commanded His disciples to observe the practice of water baptism.
However, it was not to be a means of salvation but rather it was to be one of the means, along with teaching, in which to make disciples of Jesus Christ, those who have been declared justified through faith in Him.
But there is a problem with this since it would appear in several passages that water baptism was not practiced by our Lord and was not always practiced by the apostles themselves.
John 4:2 reveals that the Lord Himself never baptized anyone in water but rather His disciples baptized people.
Furthermore, it would appear from several of Paul’s statements in 1 and 2 Corinthians that he followed the Lord’s practice by not baptizing people upon their acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior.
In 1 Corinthians 4:15, Paul states that he became the spiritual father of the Corinthian believers through the gospel.
In 1 Corinthians 9:1, he says that they are his work in the Lord.
Then, in 1 Corinthians 15:1, he states that they accepted the gospel which he proclaimed to them.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2, he says that he betrothed them to one husband, Jesus Christ.
Lastly, in 1 Corinthians 1:14-17, Paul says he baptized none of the Corinthians except for Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanus.
He asserts that Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel.
From these statements, it would appear Paul did not baptize everyone in the Corinthian Christian community when they trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior which would seem to imply that he did not observe the practice except in a few instances.
Thus, Paul did not observe water baptism as an ordinance.
This leads to the question, should the church observe water baptism today?
The answer is yes.
The reason why Paul did not personally baptize the Corinthians when they became new converts to Christianity is that he followed the practice of the Lord Jesus who did not personally baptize anyone but rather delegated this responsibility to His disciples.
Therefore, men such as Timothy and Titus would have baptized the Corinthians when they trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior on behalf of Paul and under his direction.
Peter followed the same practice according to Acts 10:48 which teaches that he “ordered” Cornelius and his family to be baptized in water upon receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior through faith.
Paul did not regard water baptism to be a sacrament or ordinance that required the administration of “apostolic hands.”