There are some comments and teaching in the audio not contained in the notes below.
Water Baptism
Baptists
baptize believers – by submersion. We're in the minority. Denominations that
practice "infant baptism" include Roman Catholics, Eastern and
Oriental Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, some
Nazarenes, the United Church of Christ (UCC), Moravian Church, Metropolitan
Community Church, Wesleyans, and Episcopalians. There are some who believe
baptism is salvific – Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and those who hold
to Federal Vision.
Baptists used
to be called “people of the book,” resting on the sure foundation of Scripture
and submitting to the authority of Scripture. If we are not tenacious in this
matter, we are vulnerable to smooth sounding arguments that end up becoming
traditions that cannot be questioned. Just as has happened for those who sprinkle
little ones. I do not want to spend much time explaining why the paedobaptist
view on baptism is wrong, I will appeal to a few of their finest theologians to
tells us they are wrong.
John Calvin:
“John and Christ administered baptism totins corpore submersione, by the
submission of the whole body … The very word 'baptize' … signifies to immerse
entirely, and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient
church.”
Martin
Luther: “The Greek word baptizo means 'immerse' or 'plunge', and the word
baptisma means immersion.”
Ulrich
Zwingli: “Immersion of the whole body was used from the beginning, which
expresses the force of the word 'baptize', whence John baptized in the river.
It was afterward changed into sprinkling, though it is uncertain when or by
whom.”
And the great
B.B.Warfield: “It is true that there is no express command to baptize infants
in the New Testament, no express record of the baptism of infants, and no
passages so stringently implying it that we must infer from them that infants
were baptized.”
These four
giants of the Reformation and the development of Presbyterian theology
unabashedly tell us their position is not based on the Scriptures. It’s
what I call “white space theology” – derived from the spaces between the words
in the Word; what they call "good and necessary inference." When did
this great controversy over baptism start? If believers' baptism is what the
Bible teaches, why and when did people start baptizing babies? History records
the creeping ignorance and superstition that led to this practice and the
religion which institutionalized it. In the 3rd century, some people
in the church became convinced that baptism was meritorious and had a magical
power to help save the soul. At first, people only baptized infants who were
sick – as an insurance policy. Quickly, all infants were baptized, sprinkled instead
of dipped – for their physical health. Church men began to argue over when the
infant should be baptized – saying on the 8th day? Others argued it
ought be delayed as long as possible so that more sins would be covered. Such
was the case with Constantine, who refused to be “baptized” until he was on his
death bed. Lack of knowledge and trust in the Word of God leads men astray, to
trust in the imaginations of men. Something that divides people for centuries,
shedding no little blood, ought to be based on clear teachings from Scripture -
not inferences needed to support that which is not found clearly taught.
When
Christianity was legalized, the church, already suffering from an unhealthy
view of “holy clergy”, saw infant baptism as an effective way to number the
people so they could be taxed and controlled. And to convince the ignorant
masses, these compromised churchmen played up the false notion that baptism
plays a part in saving one's soul. This is called Sacerdotalism – using a
sacrament (a religious rite) as a means of conveying God's favor to the people.
When the Reformation broke out, some were called Magisterial Reformers – they
maintained the close connection between church and state. One of these,
Zwingli, was stuck between his belief that the Bible commands believers'
baptism and his practice, which was more than a thousand years old, the union
of church and state and control of the people by infant baptism. So he
persecuted those who did not practice what the state commanded because he feared
the people. Such is the power of our unexamined presuppositions and the
influence of the culture. We must be people of the book!
In the early
17th century, the Puritans fled England in search of religious
liberty. They had been persecuted because they believed in salvation by grace
alone, through faith alone in Christ alone and they were persecuted because the
state church held to a sacerdotal view. Yet they, like Zwingli, failed to
escape the trap they fled – they brought it with them, just like Lot did when
he fled Zoar. Baptists also fled to the New World to escape religious
persecution. In a report, Ill News from New England, early American
Baptist John Clark records how he, Obidiah Jones, and John Crandall were
arrested because they had discussed baptism over dinner at a boarding house.
These three were hauled before the court in Boston, found guilty of not
honoring the state religion. They were beaten, fined, and thrown in prison. The
Puritans had established state churches in the colonies and they persecuted
those who did not agree with their religious views – just like the Church of
England which persecuted them. Our theology affects how we live, just as it did
these Puritans and these Baptists.
With that
brief historical backdrop, I want to explore the deepest meaning of this
ordinance. Why is baptism – baptism of believers – important? What does it
signify?
We know what
Romans 6:4 says, we rightly hear it every time a child of God gets baptized - 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. This gives us a picture of what has been done to us,
that as the Lord Jesus was put to death and raised up, so are we. This is an
important truth that we must never forget. But I hope we open our eyes to the
greater meaning of this simple ordinance and pray that we see together what a
glorious picture has been given to us by our great and gracious Lord.
As with most
important truths from Scripture, the spiritual significance of what God has
revealed is far, far greater than we at first comprehend. Unless we dig into
the Word and pray for wisdom, we may not get to the place where we see more and
are given even more reason to humbly thank our God, in awe of Who He is and
what, in truth, has been done.
I highly
recommend a small book by Baptist Pastor Hal Brunson, titled The Rickety
Bridge and the Broken Mirror, a book of parables about baptism, which is
most helpful.
The metaphor
in Romans 6:4 gives us the active or present reality of the meaning of Christ's
death, that introspective reality of the first resurrection, when we die to sin
and are raised to new life. But this verse and the act of baptism also point
back historically to the death of Christ and prophetically forward to the
physical resurrection of all the saints when He returns to judge all flesh.
Baptism is a multifaceted word picture that ought to remind us of far more than
the glorious change wrought in the life of the redeemed sinner. One aspect of
baptism that baby sprinklers cannot lay claim to is baptism as a picture of
submersion into great waters, portraying the great waters of Divine judgment.
We see in Scripture several passages where great waters are graphic symbols of
God's judgment and wrath against sin – which Christ took upon His body as the
Lamb sacrificed for our sin. He was submersed into the ocean of God's wrath on
our account, and raised up on the third day. There are at least four major word
pictures used in Scripture that describe baptism.
- The flood of Noah.
- The sorrows of David, described as
“great waters”.
- Jonah being cast into the sea.
- Jesus' understanding of His death.
The Apostle
Peter points to this great flood of the entire earth as a vivid picture of the
believer's baptism as well as a figure or type pointing to the suffering of
Christ. In proclaiming (1 Pet 3:18) that Christ also suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, Peter then alludes to the
flood and how only 8 persons were saved in the ark, brought through the great
waters of God's judgment against sin. And Peter goes on in his first letter to
tell us that baptism corresponds to this – the flood of Noah, the outpouring of
God's wrath in judgment and the only refuge being in the ark which is Christ.
In 2 Peter, the flood is listed with another well-known symbol of God's wrath
against sin – Sodom and Gomorrah. God's wrath against sin is real, it is
certain, it is final. We need a savior, One Who can bear up under this wrath,
One Who has no sin of His own to atone for. Not only did Christ provide refuge
from God's wrath, He was buried in God's judgment as payment for sin. He is
worthy of our praise.
What about
the sorrows of David? This man after God's own heart knew of his own sin and
the despair of trusting in any mortal man for reconciliation with Holy God.
David and other Psalmists described their deep sorrows as a kind of burial
beneath the billows and waves of the Almighty. In Psalm 42 we read, Why are
you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? In this
sorrowful lament with his soul, he describes his afflictions in terms that
point to baptism - Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all
your breakers and your waves have gone over me. Three images of water –
waterfalls, breakers, and waves – all communicate the idea of a cascading
waterfall pummeling the poet, with the brutal breakers and waves of an angry
ocean violently washing over his head. These terrifying metaphors of his
torment and anguish wash over him, drowning him in his sorrows. Carried along
by the Spirit of God to write these things, perhaps the Psalmist knew not that
he prophesied of the promised Messiah, but his words anticipate the sufferings
and death of Christ as a kind of baptism. The word for deep in the psalm is
used as a synonym for sheol, connecting to the death of Christ as a
submersion into the deepest waters of sheol. And the water metaphors in
this psalm undoubtedly describe the suffering servant of God - Psalm 42:10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my
adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your
God?” This is widely recognized as prophecy of the Lord's sword-pierced
side and the cruel mockery of those who blasphemed while He hung on the cross.
David's
description of his soul's suffering in deep water takes us more deeply into the
sufferings of Jesus. As did the high priest of Israel, we are brought through
the first veil, the holy place of Christ's impeccable flesh, gazing upon His
physical sufferings; and then through the second veil into the holy of holies,
to the very heart of Christ, where we see the spiritual anguish of the Lamb
being under the rod of God's wrath. In Psalm 18, David wrote about his
persecution at the hand of Saul – but the eternal message of redemption
contained in all of Scripture here portrays the Savior's passion, not David's
sorrow; death and hell as the persecutor of Christ, not Saul chasing David. The
king of Israel describes his trials in terms of sorrow and death and hell which
have a human and a divine cause, stark images of his soul's baptism into the
lesser sea of man's wrath and the greater ocean of God's wrath. David is
immersed in human wrath, Saul's rage is real. But David's words tell of God's
judgment on sin and care for His people. Psalm 18:7-17 Then the earth reeled
and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because
he was angry. Smoke went up from his
nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from
him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He
rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made
darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out
of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his
clouds. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he
flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were
seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from
those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
But as God
did not leave David's soul in torment, neither would He suffer His Holy One to
see corruption, as Christ was not left buried beneath the sea of God's wrath
and the ocean of His judgment. As David cried out in his distress and called
upon the Lord from beneath the deep waters of his sufferings, so also the Savior,
as it were, from beneath the burning waters of the cross, (Matthew 27:46) Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As deep calls to deep, the Almighty
heard the voices of David and David's seed, and thus He bowed the
heavens and came down, riding on a cherub and flying on the wings of the wind;
God answered the cry of His Son and sent from above and drew Him out of many
waters.
The sorrows
of David and other psalmists resonate with all who suffer, but they point us to
the One Who suffered what we deserve, to bring many sons and daughters to
glory. The love of God for His elect caused the Son of God – David's promised
seed – to submit to the baptism of His Father's wrath, so we who are called by
His name would be reconciled to our Father and not be left to our just deserts.
When we baptize
a new convert, we are not drinking His cup, but we bapize in remembrance of
what He did – to cut the New Covenant in His blood to reconcile sinners to Holy
God. Paul asks, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Rom 6:3) And further he tells
us, (1 Corinthians 12:13) For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
Oh, the
Savior’s love for His Father – and all those He chose to redeem in Christ!
Baptism – it's an ordinance which shows how spiritually dead people have been
raised to new life in Christ. But, oh my dear brothers and sisters – it is
much, much more than that. I pray you got a glimpse of a better picture of the
grand and glorious sacrifice of our Lord and Savior was prophesied and pictured
in various ways as a baptism into God the Father's judgment. The price He paid
and the suffering He took as He drank the cup of wrath due us, summed up the
submersion and emersion as one is plunged beneath the waters of baptism and
raised up from the deep as did our Savior. Let us never see baptism as only the
celebration of a new-born brother in Christ, and not ever the mere sprinkling
of water over a little one who knows nothing and fears not the sprinkled water.
Let us always remember the One Who was baptized in a way you and I could never
survive. Christ paid the price we could not pay. He drank the cup and underwent
the baptism we could never do. Every time we see this ordinance, let us think
on His sacrifice, His obedience, His submission. And let us be thankful we have
a faithful God Who did not allow His Holy One to see corruption – that we would
have the firm hope of life eternal. 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. It is a
glorious picture of our Redeemer, but we won't know that if we are not people
of the book!
