Baptism

As one of the two sacraments ordained by Jesus, baptism has a direct relationship to the theology and spirituality of daily life because (1) it takes a simple everyday experience—washing, bathing or cleaning—and elevates it to a special means of grace, thus giving us a lens through which we can see God’s love for us; (2) it brings meaning by symbolizing and certifying that we are not alone but are truly members of the people of God, God’s true laity; (3) as a special means of grace, baptism introduces us to the realm of the Spirit by which we are empowered to live extraordinary lives in ordinary situations. This article will consider the confusing testimony of the church on the matter, the examples of Jesus and John, a Christian understanding of baptism, the vexed question of its administration and, finally, the significance of baptism with the Holy Spirit.

One Baptism or Three?

There is one baptism (Ephes. 4:5), but you would never guess as much from the way Christians talk about it. For the Catholic, it was his baptism as an infant that brought him into the church and made him a Christian. For the Baptist, her baptism was by immersion, administered after profession of faith. For the Pentecostal, baptism was in or by the Holy Spirit, normally accompanied by the gift of tongues: this Spirit baptism eclipses all else. All three are saying something important. All three are stressing an important aspect of Christian baptism.

Churches in the Catholic tradition see baptism as the way of gaining membership in the people of God. Just as you entered the old covenant people of Israel by circumcision, so you enter the new covenant people of God by baptism (Acts 2:40-41; Galatians 3:27-29). This noble view, strong on God’s act of incorporation, is weak on response. If we think of it as the only strand in Christian initiation, it degenerates into magic.

Churches in the Baptist tradition see baptism as a seal on the profession of faith, and that is clearly the emphasis in Acts 16:31-33. The church is the company of believers. This view is strong on response, but very individualistic. It makes human commitment almost more significant than divine initiative. Moreover it is very cerebral: it makes little room for those too young or too handicapped to make a decisive response.

Churches in the Pentecostal tradition see baptism very differently. The church is not so much a historical entity (which may well be apostate), not a company of believers (which may mean little more than intellectual assent). No. Reception of the life-giving Spirit of God is the authentic mark of the church. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the only baptism worth having (Romans 8:9). Important though this emphasis undoubtedly is, it too is deficient. Cut off from historical continuity it can be, and often is, very divisive. Cut off from any serious emphasis on the content of the faith, it can easily go off the rails in doctrine or morals. There is such a thing as church history and Christian doctrine. The Spirit of God, the Word of God and the people of God need to walk hand in hand.

These different strands belong together. We find them all in Acts, where baptism is sometimes seen as the agency of salvation (Acts 2:38), sometimes as the seal of faith (Acts 16:31-33) and sometimes as the sovereign anointing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48). The Catholics are right to see baptism as the objective mark of God’s great rescue achieved on Calvary, to which we can make no contribution or addition. The Baptists are right to see in baptism a personal response, in repentance and faith, to the grace of God. The Pentecostals are right to see baptism as the way we are ushered into the world of the Spirit. Baptism is as deep and broad as the salvation of which it is the sacrament.

What Can We Learn from the Baptism of John?

John’s baptizing caused an immense stir. It was a mark of repentance. No pedigree, no good deeds, could bring one into the coming kingdom of God: the only path lay through the baptismal waters of repentance. And that was very humbling.

Moreover, the baptism of John pointed ahead to the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit that Jesus, the Messiah, would bring. It was also a very public and a very humiliating act. Never before had Jews been baptized: baptism was one of the initiation ceremonies for Gentiles joining the people of God.

And finally, the baptism of John was decisive. A person either went through the waters of God’s judgment in the Jordan or else would have to face it in stark reality later on. In all these ways, John’s baptism, a landmark in Judaism, was an advertisement of the main feature: Christian baptism.

What Can We Learn from the Baptism of Jesus?

In his baptism Jesus identified with sinners, something which even John the Baptist found scandalous (Matthew 3:14). It was an anticipation of Calvary, when his cross was to be his baptism—in blood (Luke 12:50). We cannot enter with Jesus into the unspeakable agonies of bearing the world’s sin, but we can and should share in other aspects of his baptism.

The baptism of Jesus was an assurance of sonship (Matthew 3:17). So it is with the Christian, adopted into the family of God (Romans 8:15-16). It was a commissioning for costly service. The voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, “You are my Son; in you I am well pleased,” was a combination of two significant Old Testament texts (Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 42:1). Jesus, the Son of God, is also the Servant of God. Those servant songs in Isaiah, culminating in Isaiah 53, sketch the path of ministry and suffering. For the Christian, ministry and suffering are also inescapable: baptism points inexorably to that calling.

Christian baptism embraces us in the threefold baptism of Jesus—the baptism of repentance in the Jordan, the baptism of rescue on the cross and the baptism of power in the Holy Spirit. In our own baptism we see these same three realities. It calls us to repentance. It shows us where pardon is to be had. And it offers us the power of the Holy Spirit.

How Are We to Understand Christian Baptism?

In the light of these precedents of John and Jesus, how are we to understand Christian baptism? It is no optional extra: Jesus solemnly enjoined it upon us at the climax of his life on earth (Matthew 28:18-20).

1. Christian baptism embodies God’s challenge to repentance and faith. It cannot be conducted without some expression of both. Baptism says to us, You are unclean. You need washing. I can do that for you. But you must change your ways. It takes us to the heart of the gospel.

2. Christian baptism offers us the blessings of the new covenant. God approaches us in utterly unmerited grace. We respond in repentance and faith. And baptism signs over to us the blessings of the new covenant: forgiveness, adoption, servanthood, the Holy Spirit, the new birth, justification and the promise of life after death.

3. Christian baptism plunges us into the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are brought to the point of death to the old life, which had little room for God, and the dawning of new life as the Holy Spirit enters our hearts. This dying and rising life is the essence of Christianity. It is what we are called to—and empowered for. It has a profound impact on the way we behave. So baptism is the gateway to a complete revolution in morals and lifestyle, even though we shall never achieve perfection in this life. It embodies our aim to live out the life of Christ in our own daily circumstances.

4. Christian baptism initiates us into the worldwide church. It is the adoption certificate into the family of God. It is the mark of belonging, the badge of membership. That may not always be obvious in traditionally Christian lands. But if your background is in Judaism or Islam, your baptism is the Rubicon. It is the essential dividing line.

5. Christian baptism appoints us to work for the kingdom of God. It is God’s appointing for service in this world. For baptism is indeed a sign of the kingdom. It shows that we have surrendered to our King, and it is the uniform we wear as we go about the King’s business. Through our baptism, then, we are commissioned to engage in active ministry for Christ wherever we find ourselves—in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, leisure activities and cities.

6. Christian baptism does something! This New Testament emphasis is often overlooked by Protestants, many of whom prefer to think it symbolizes something. But the New Testament uses some strongly instrumental language about baptism. It is through baptism that we enter the “name” of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19) and thus are saved (1 Peter 3:21), regenerated (John 3:5), united with Christ in his death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-8; Col. 2:12) and incorporated into his body (1 Cor. 12:13). To be sure, several of these references mention the Holy Spirit (the divine agency) or faith (the human agency), but there is an undeniably instrumental flavor about the language used by the biblical writers. This should not surprise us. Justification, regeneration, incorporation into Christ, baptism—these are all different images of the way God makes us his own.

Baptism, then, is an efficacious sign of the new life. But of course it is not unconditionally efficacious, any more than a wedding ring is! It was not efficacious with Simon Magus (Acts 8:13, 21-23) nor with some at Corinth (1 Cor. 10:1-6). But it is intended to bring about what it symbolizes. It is a palpable mark of belonging, like the wedding ring or the adoption certificate. Luther grasped this clearly. When he was tempted to doubt his own faith, he recalled the standing emblem of God’s faithfulness marked upon him as an infant. He cried out in confidence, Baptizatus sum, “I have been baptized,” realizing that God’s faithfulness was even more important than his faith.

How Was Baptism Administered?

Whether the early Christians sprinkled or immersed candidates for baptism is not a matter of supreme importance. They insisted on baptizing in water in the name of the Trinity, but the amount of water is nowhere specified. It is not a matter that should divide Christians. Sometimes a river was at hand, and they would doubtless immerse. Sometimes it would take place in a home, like that of the Philippian jailer, where immersion was not possible. One of the early murals in the Catacombs shows John the Baptist and Jesus standing waist deep in the Jordan with John pouring water over the head of Jesus: both methods are depicted!

But does not the word baptizō mean “immerse”? Not necessarily: it can mean “wash” (Luke 11:38). The early Christians seem to have been very relaxed about the mode of baptism. The very early Didache says, “Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if thou hast not running water, baptize in other water. And if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water three times upon the head in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Didache 7:1).

Who Received Baptism?

Adult believers certainly received baptism, and they are primary in any theological reflection about baptism. But probably children, wives and slaves in the household were also baptized when the head of the household professed faith (Acts 16:31, 33). Children were sacramentally admitted to the Old Testament church (Genesis 17); whole families of proselytes, including children and slaves, were baptized into the Jewish faith. The attitude of acceptance that Jesus displayed to tiny children would have helped (Mark 10:13-16). Infant baptism does emphasize the objectivity of the gospel: what Christ did for us at Calvary is marked upon us, whether we choose to respond to it or not. And it emphasizes the initiative of God, reaching out to us before we ever think of reaching out to him. But it is a practice open to gross abuse if it does not take place in the context of faith. It should not be administered indiscriminately, but only with careful teaching of the obligations it calls for and the blessings it offers. And it requires personal reaffirmation on behalf of the candidate when he or she is confirmed.

Believer’s baptism stresses that baptism is the Christian badge of belonging, not a social ceremony for the very young. It gives a clear, datable time of commitment. It produces far less in the way of fallout than infant baptism does, and it is a powerful evangelistic occasion. My prayer is that Baptists and pedobaptists may grow in mutual understanding of the strength of the other’s position and respect, rather than criticize, one another.

Can You Repeat Baptism?

No. Baptism is as unrepeatable as justification or adoption, of which it is the sacrament. The early Christians were clear about this. There is an ambiguous longing for rebaptism today. People very often feel that their baptism as an infant was deficient. There was too little faith around, too little water, too little feeling, too little chance for public confession of faith. The desire to do it again, and do it properly, often springs from the modern cult of feelings. But baptism cannot be done again, any more than birth can. It is ever to be remembered but never to be repeated. Baptism may be reaffirmed. It may even be reenacted: “If you are not already baptized, I baptize you . . .” But it cannot be repeated.

What Is Baptism with the Holy Spirit?

There are seven references to baptism with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament: Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15-16; 1 Cor. 12:13. The first six of these draw the distinction between John the Baptist’s baptism which was looking forward to Jesus and the baptism Jesus would himself give “in” (or “with” or “by”) the Holy Spirit. These six point forward, then, to Christian initiation. It is the same with the seventh, where Paul reminds the Corinthian charismatics and noncharismatics alike that they had all been baptized by one Spirit into the one body. So none of the New Testament references points to a second and more profound experience. That is not for a moment to deny that such subsequent experiences may and do occur. Sometimes they are the most momentous spiritual experiences in our lives. But it simply causes confusion to call them baptism. As we have seen, the Pentecostals are right about the importance of having the Spirit to come and flood your life; they are wrong to call that experience “baptism in the Holy Spirit” in contrast to “baptism in water.” The Bible never speaks of it that way.

Although there are not many references to baptism in the New Testament, it was clearly critically important to early Christians as the sacrament of initiation. It sealed for them their unrepeatable incorporation into Christ. It pointed them to the dying and rising life that Christians are called to live. It joined them to brothers and sisters throughout the world. And it released in them the power of the Holy Spirit so long as they claimed in faith the gift God so generously offered them.

» See also: Communion

» See also: Membership, Church

» See also: Sacraments

» See also: Spiritual Growth

References and Resources

P. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962); D. Bridge and D. Phypers, Waters That Divide: The Baptism Debate (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1977); G. W. Bromiley, Children of Promise (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979); M. Green and R. P. Stevens, New Testament Spirituality (Guildford, U.K.: Eagle, 1994); P. K. Jewett, Infant Baptism and the Covenant of Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979); L. H. Stookey, Baptism: Christ’s Act in the Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1982); W. Ward, “Baptism in Theological Perspective,” Review and Expositor 65, no. 1 (1968).

—Michael Green