“Baptism” (Romans 6:1-3)
October 20, 1995
Int. Alexander Carson says: “There are ever some who equate their beliefs with the mind of Christ, who count all books heretical which have not their approval. Or as old Thomas Pierce put it, they will not accept truth as truth unless it was digested by their bellies.”
1. John Milton said: "There is no learned man but will confess that he hath much profited by reading controversies, his senses awakened, his judgment sharpened, and the truth which he holds more firmly established. All controversy being permitted, falsehood will appear more false, and truth the more true. "
Ill. Some children were playing church and the one playing the role of the pastor was overheard to say: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and in the hole you go!"
a. Paul urged the people in (1 Th 5:21) to: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
b. Francis Wayland in his book, “Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches” said concerning the mode of baptism on pg. 86, “What is not there commanded, is not binding. ......if it is not sustained by the command or the example of Christ, or of his apostles, we value it only as an opinion or a precept of man, and we treat it accordingly......Hence, to a Baptist, all appeals to the Fathers, or to antiquity, or general practice in the early centuries, or in latter times, are irrelevant and frivolous.
Note: The word “Baptize” is an untranslated word.
1. The Greek word to baptize is “Baptizo”
2. The Translators did not translate the word, but rather dropped off the Greek letter “O” and substituted the letter “e”.
3. Thus we get “Baptize”
4. Let us consider the word “Baptizo” as set forth by the lexicographer and scholars of the world:
5. Dr. Robinson, Presbyterian, in his New Testament Lexicon says: “Baptizo, to dip in, immerse.”
6. Hastings Bible Dictionary. “The actual meaning of the word is Immersion.”
7. Thayer’s New Testament Lexicon. “To dip, immerse, or submerge.”
8. Webster’s Dictionary. “Baptize, to dip in water.”
9. Standard Dictionary. “Baptize, Greek baptizo, to dip in or under water.”
10. Martin Luther says: “It cannot be proved by the scriptures, that infant baptism was instituted by Christ, or begun by the first Christians after the Apostles.” (R. B. C. Howell, Evils of Infant Baptism, pg. 21)
a. Martin Luther also said: “ "Baptism is a Greek word and may be translated immerse. I would have those who are to be baptized to be altogether dipped."
b. The Augsburg Confession, Art 2) says: “Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.
c. Luther’s Small Catechism says: “What gifts or benefits does Baptism bestow? It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe.”
d. Luther’s Larger Catechism says: “Therefore....the power, the effect, the benefit, the fruit and the purpose of Baptism is to save.”
e. If indeed, as the Reformers teach, that baptism is necessary to salvation, then they have changed the way of salvation, for everyone of them admit that “Immersion was the original method of Baptism”.
11. John Calvin, “The word baptize signifies to immerse, and it is certain immersion was the practice of the ancient church.” It is nowhere expressly mentioned by the evangelists that any child was by the apostles baptised.” (Calvin’s Institutes).
1. Institutes...Book 4 pg. 524 "Whether the person baptised is to be wholly immersed...or whether he is only to be sprinkled with water is not of the least consequence: (the) churches should be at liberty to adopt either according to the diversity of climates, although it is evident that the term BAPTISE means to immerse, and this was the form used by the primitive church.”
12. Jeremy Taylor says: “For the argument from circumcision, it is invalid from infinite considerations. Figures and types prove nothing, unless a command go along with them, or some express such to be their purpose.”
13. Dr. Neander declares: “As baptism was closely united with a conscious entrance on Christian communion, faith and baptism were always connected with one another; and thus it is in the highest degree probable, that baptism was performed only in instances where both (faith and baptism) could meet together, and that the practice of infant baptism was unknown to the apostolic age.”
A. The words of Moses fit well at this point and time in this message:
1. (Deu 4:2) "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
B. The words of Jesus are even stronger: (Mark 7:7) "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
1. Francis Wayland says: “If we believe that Christ has commanded any thing, be it ever so small, it is morally dangerous to decline the doing of it, because we choose to call it a little thing.” (Principles and Practices–pg. 91)
14. R. B. C. Howell says: “The advocates of infant baptism, (sprinkling) say, ‘if it does no good, it does no harm...It is innocent, and therefore may be practiced.”
1. It was this very statement that called for his book on “The Evils of Infant Baptism”.
15. Jerome Zanchius says: “Baptism is a Greek word, and signifies, first and properly, immersion in water.” (Opera 6 pg. 217, 1619).
16. Notice what some famous Pedobaptist have said:
a. John Wesley, Methodist: "Buried with him in baptism-alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion."
b. Wall, Episcopalian: "Immersion was in all probability the way in which our blessed Savior, and for certain the way by which the ancient Christians received their baptism."
c. Brenner, Catholic: "For thirteen hundred years was baptism an immersion of the person under water."
d. Macknight, Presbyterian: "In baptism the baptized person is buried under the water. Christ submitted to be baptized, that is, to be buried under water."
e. Whitfield, Methodist: "It is certain that the word of our text, Romans 6:4, alludes to the manner of baptizing by immersion."
17. Recently I heard Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network discussing their new film "The Revolutionary with a Baptist Gospel singer. Crouch said they both sprinkled and immersed the character Jesus to satisfy everybody. This is a flagrant disavowal of Scripture and a flippant denial of a most sacred rite of the believer. No wonder the world laughs in ridicule and scorn as they watch entertainment replace evangelism, and contentment replace conviction, and complacency replace commitment. The Charismatics and credibility are alien to each other (Evangelist Al Wells, Bennett, Colorado).]
18. Tertullian, (On Baptism, Chapter 7): "Thus, too, in our ease, the unction runs carnally, (such as on the body), but profits spiritually; in the same way as the act of baptism itself too is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, but the effect is spiritual, in that we are freed from sins."
19. Tom Wells in Reformation Today, July/August 1993, pg. 28 in “Objections to Immersion Answered” says:
1. “It is hard to find writers before the 19th Century who object to immersion.”
2. Lange’s Commentary on (Mt. 3:11) says: “Baptism implies a descent into the depths”
3. Well’s continues, “whatever one makes of this, it is evident that Lange felt no difficulty at all in taking immersion as the picture in baptism.”
4. Well’s quoting Calvin on pg. 31, says: “That one baptism is common to all, Paul is not interested in the question, how many baptisms are there? He is concerned to show that the same baptism is shared by all, a baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.”
20. LET US EXAMINE THE EARLY COUNCILS ON THE WORD BAPTIZE.
1. Council of Nice, A.D. 325: "He who is baptized descends indeed, obnoxious to sins, and held with the corruptions of slavery; but he ascends free from the slavery of sins, a son of God, heir-yea, co-heir-with Christ, having put on Christ, as it is written, 'As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ'."
2. Fourth Council of Toledo, A.D. 633: "For shunning the schism (trine immersion) or the use of an heretical practice, we observe a single immersion in baptism . . . For the immersion in the waters is a descent, as it were into the grave; and, again, the emersion from the waters is a resurrection."
3. Council of Worms, A.D. 868: "While some priests baptized with three immersions, and others with one, a schism was raised, endangering the unity of the church "
4. Council of Tribur, A.D. 895: "Trine immersion is an imitation of the three days burial, and the rising again out of the water is an image of Christ rising from the grave."
5. The Synod of Cologne, A.D. 1280: "He who baptizes, when he immerses the candidate in water, shall neither add to the words, or take away from them, or change them."
6. Council of Ravenna, A.D. 1311: "Baptism is to be administered by tribe immersion or aspersion."
7. Only immersion only was accepted for the first 1311years and then pouring was accepted. The main thing to be noted is that only immersion was the practice for 1300 years.
8. “Baptism in the Early Church,” Didaskali Publishers, South Africa says: “Ranging from such first-century works as the Didache to statements by the fourth-century Greek author Theodore of Moqsuestia (Ca.350--428), these sources reveal that up until the third century there is no indisputable, unequivocal evidence that infant baptism was practiced.”
21. CONSIDER WHAT THE DICTIONARIES SAY ABOUT BAPTISM
1. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary: "Baptize . . . from Greek baptizein, from baptein to dip in water."
2. Century Dictionary (7 volumes): "Baptize . . . dip in water."
3. The Encyclopedia Dictionary (7 Volumes): "Baptize . . . to dip in or under water."
4. Chamber's English Dictionary: "Baptize . . . to dip in water."
5. The Library Dictionary: "Baptism . . . to dip in water."
6. Household Dictionary: "Baptism . . . to dip in water."
22. LET US EXAMINE THE ENCYCLOPEDIAS
1. Encyclopedia Britannica: "The word is derived from the Greek baptize, a frequentive form of baptize, to dip, or wash, which is the term used in the New Testament when the sacrament is described . . . The usual mode of performing the ceremony was by immersion . . .
a. The Council of Ravenna in 1311, was the first council of the (Roman Catholic) church which legalized baptism by sprinkling, by leaving it to the choice of the officiating minister."
2. Encyclopedia Americana: "Baptism (that is, dipping, immersing, from the Greek baptizo) . . . In the time of the apostles, the form of baptism was very simple. The person to be baptized was dipped in a river or vessel with the words which Christ had ordered . . ."
3. New International Encyclopedia: "Baptism . . . was originally by immersion. The candidates used to descend into fonts or streams, or rivers, and sink beneath the waters under the pressure of the hands of the minister."
4. Chamber's Encyclopedia: "Baptism . . . It is, however, indisputable that at a very early period the ordinary mode of baptism was by immersion . . "
5. Nelson Complete Encyclopedia (1937, 24 volumes): "There is little doubt that the original practice was immersion . . ."
23. LET US LOOK AT THE RELIGIOUS DICTIONARIES.
1. Blunt's Theological Dictionary: "That immersion was the ordinary mode of baptizing in the primitive church is unquestionable."
2. Catholic Dictionary (by Williamm. E. Addis, 1934): "Baptism . . . In apostolic times the body of the baptized person was immersed, for St. Paul looks on this immersion as typifying burial with Christ, and speaks of baptism as a bath . . . for even St. Thomas in the 13th century, speaks of baptism by immersion as the common practice of his time."
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia Dictionary (1941): "Baptism . . . the act of immersing or washing."
4. Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Dictionary (by Rev. John Thein, 1900): "Baptism . . . The word baptism is a Greek word which signifies ablution or immersion. This was the manner of baptizing in the primitive church "
5. Hook's Church Dictionary: "In performing the ceremony of baptism, the usual custom was to immerse and dip the whole body."
24. LET US LOOK AT THE RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIAS
1. Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: "Baptism . . . Original Forms . . . It is an attractive theory, supported by Cyprian's express statement, that the Jews and the Gentiles in the apostles' time had a different manner of baptizing; that among the Jewish Christians a single immersion was the rule, in the name of Christ alone, on the analogy of the Jewish proselyte baptism, while the threefold immersion in the threefold name, which has its counterpoint in the heathen lustrations was the rule among the Gentile Christians."
2. The Concordia Encyclopedia (1927): "Baptism . . . Nevertheless, it is held by historians that immersion wholly in water was the prevailing mode of the first century."
3. The Catholic Encyclopedia: "Baptism . . . The word baptism derived from the Greek word means to wash or to immerse. It signifies, therefore, that laying is the essential idea of the sacrament . . . The most ancient form usually employed was unquestionably immersion. In the Latin (Catholic) church, immersion seems to have prevailed until the twelfth century."
25. Liddell and Scott. The standard Greek Lexicon of the world.
1. “Baptiso, to dip under, over head and ears, overwhelm. Baptistis, dipping.
2.. “Baptisma, that which is dipped”.
3. “Baptistees, one that dips.”
4. “Bapto, to dip under, to dip in.”
5. “Baptos, dipped.”
26. Professor Anthon, an Eposcopalian, author of “Athon’s Classical Dictionrary,” one of the greatest classical scholars America ever produced, says:
1. “The primary meaning of baptiso is to dip, or immerse; and its secondary meaning, if it ever had any, all refer in some way or other to the same leading idea; ---sprinkling and pouring are entirely out of the question.”
27. Pickering, “Baptismos, immersion, dipping.”
28. Robertson’s Thesaurus, “Baptizo, immerse.”
29. LET US EXAMINE THE GREEK LEXICONS.
1. Thayer: Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: "Baptizo . . . Properly, to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge."
30. Timothy Fellows says: “The original Greek word "baptize" meant to dip, plunge, immerse in water. It had this meaning when Christ was here on earth, and it has never changed. “
31. Thomas Aquinas who died 1274) explains in his writings: "In immersion the setting forth of the burial of Christ is more plainly expressed, on which ground this manner of baptizing is more general and more commendable"
1. Since by “IMMERSION” in extremely cold climates, they were drowning babies and killing old folk by exposure, they appealed to the Pope to make “SPRINKLING” the official mode of “BAPTISM”.
32. Bagster’s Greek New Testament Lexicon, “To dip, immerse.”
33. Cyril of Jerusalem (died 386) said: “Baptisteries in his extant baptismal addresses. In one of these he says: "You will now descend to the baptismal basin to be submerged in the water . . .; for he who is dipped in the water is completely encompassed by water." Some of the baptistery buildings are so large that synods could be held in them.
34. Schaff, “To dip, or immerse.”
35. Enclyclopedia Americana, “Baptism, that is dipping, immersion.”
36. Edinburgh Clyclopedia, “The person to be baptized was dipped.”
37. Kitto’s Clyclopedia, “The whole body was immersed in water.”
38. Baily, “Baptism is immersion. It was used by the primitive Christians in no other sense than that of dipping.”
39. Enclyclopedia Brintannica. “The words Baptismos and Baptisma from the verb Baptizo, the shorter form Bapto, meaning to dip.”
40. None of these lexicographers, authors, nor scholars was, nor is a Baptist.
41. The dominant scholarship of the world therefore testifies that Baptizo signifies to dip, immerse, and that baptism is-----”Immersion.”
1. H. T. Andrews wrote: “There is no shred of real proof that baptism was ever administered to infants in the Apostolic age.”
2. (Mark 10:16) "And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them."
a. Our Pedo-baptist friends try to make “Baptized” out of the word “Blessed” in this verse.
b. John Gill wrote a little book entitled: “Infant-Baptism–a Part and Pillar of Popery” (Pg. 13) “All nations of Christians,” says he, “that do now, or formally did, submit to the authority of the Bishop of Rome do ordinarily baptize their infants by pouring or sprinkling; and though the English received not this custom till after the decay of Popery, yet they have since received it from such neighbor-nations as had begun it in the times of the Pope’s power...”
42. Justin Martyr, 150 A. D. says: “They baptized “believers only who were resolved to live for God” and that where there was sufficient water to immerse them”.
Ill. In the year 1807, James Haldane, brother to Robert Haldane the author of the excellent commentary on the book of Romans, sprinkled an infant and was accosted by his six year old son with the following question, “Father, did that child believe?” “No”, said the surprised parent, “why do you ask such a question?” “Because, father, I have read the whole of the New Testament, and find that all, who were baptised, believed.” For James Haldane, it was enough. God’s simple truth, which was hidden, was revealed so clearly to a babe. That strange question, “Did the child believe?” haunted the mind of the father, until, after a thorough examination, he renounced his former error, and was publically immersed. Robert, his brother, soon followed his example as did many others.
1. (Acts 2:41) "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
2. In a book entitled: “The Nature of the Christian Church according to the teachings of the Methodist Church, 1937, declares on pg 19: “Baptism is for St. Paul a symbol that believers have entered into communion with Christ in His death and resurrection.”
3. The Methodist Recorder, June 17, 1948 says: “ In these days, for the majority of people, both Christian and non-Christian, the whole matter of baptism is hedged about with confusion and error. In the first days of the Christian Church things were different and the significance of the rite was clear. It was baptism of believers and it was baptism by immersion.”
44. Dean Alford, a Church of England man who certainly cannot be accused of favoring the Baptist, in his exposition of (Heb. 6:2) asserts that without any doubt whatever, the New Testament writers employed the Greek word Baptizo to mean “immersion.”
45. Consider with me briefly four requirements for New Testament Baptism.
46. A young Presbyterian student was called on to speak in “Practice Preaching” class and took for his text Mark 16:15..and proceeded to say, “He that believeth and is sprinkled shall be saved.” His professor interrupted and said, young man, that is, “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.” The young man responded, Sir, if that is so, then why do we sprinkle?
Ill. When Bob McNeal’s Professor insisted that N. T. baptism was the answer to O. T. Circumcism; Bob politely asked him, “Then why do you baptize (sprinkle) girls?”
I. THERE MUST BE A PROPER CANDIDATE.
A. HE OR SHE MUST BE A BELIEVER..
1. (Acts 2:41) "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
a. Robert Ibach Jr. in his work on Baptism, pg. 250 says: Believer's baptism implies "a gathered church, a community of intentional disciples marked off from the world by their commitment to Christ and to one another"
2. (Acts 8:36-37) "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? {37}And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
3. (Acts 16:30-33) "And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? {31}And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. {32}And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. {33}And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway."
4. Palmer, a Prebrysterian, in his book, "The Broken Home", speaks of baptism (sprinkling) as "Substitutionary faith".
B. ONLY BELIEVERS QUALIFY AS A CANDIDATE FOR BAPTISM.
1. The Roman Catholic Church at the council of Trent, said: “Baptism is a sacrament instituted by Christ to wash away original sin, and all those we may have committed: to communicate to mankind the spiritual regeneration and grace of Jesus Christ, and to unite them to the living head. If any man shall say that baptism is not essential to salvation, let him be accursed. In baptism not only our sins are remitted, but all the punishment of sin and wickedness.”
2. John Wesley speaks for the Methodist: “It is certain that our church supposes that all who are baptized (sprinkled) in their infancy are at the same time born again. If infants are guilty of original sin, they cannot be saved in the ordinary way unless this be washed away by baptism.”
Note: “Baptist believe blood first and through that to the water.”
3. Dr. Hodge of Prinston speaks for the Presbyterians: “We are baptised (Sprinkled) in order that we may be united to Christ.”
4. Espicopalians believe that “in baptism” (Sprinkling) they are made members of Christ and children of God.
5. Francis Wayland: (Principles & Practices–pg. 93) says: “....if the baptism (sprinkling) of infants had been the practice of the apostolic age, it could not possibly have escaped mention either in the Acts of the Apostles or the Epistles.
6. We read of “both men and women” being baptized, but nothing about children. (Acts 8:12)
7. If we are to conclude that (Acts 8:12) includes children; then we must conclude that Saul persecuted “children” also.
a. (Acts 22:4) "And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women."
8. Simon Peter says: (1 Pet 3:21) "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"
a. Can a little infant manifest a “good conscience toward God?”
b. S. Lewis Johnson Jr. on Mark 1:4 says: "It is repentance unto remission of sins, not baptism unto remission of sins. The baptism was only the outward symbol of the inner reality of repentance."
C. CONSIDER WHY PEDO-BAPTIST ADMINISTER BAPTISM– OR SPRINKLING.
1. R. B. C. Howell in his book, Evils of Infant Baptism, pg. 19 says: “Beza, doddridge, and their friends teach that children are holy, and are therefore to be baptised.”
2. “Wesley, and his disciples, teach that they are unholy, and must be baptised to cleanse them from their defilements. “
a. S. Lewis Johnson Jr. on (Mk 1:4) says: “It is repentance unto remission of sins, not baptism unto remission of sins. The baptism was only the outward symbol of the inner reality of repentance.
(1) (Mark 1:4) "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
(2) “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8). John points to repentance as the source of new life and spiritual fruit, not water baptism.
3. “Burder, Dwight, and their class, permit no other infants to be baptized but those of Christian parents, all of whom they contend, are born in the church, and are therefore entitled to the ordinances.”
4. “Baxter, Henry, and those of similar faith, baptize infants to bring them into the covenant and church of the Redeemer.
5. “The Church of England and the Episcopal Church of America, tell us that “the doctrine of infant baptism is deduced by analogical reasoning, from statements of scripture applying more expressly, to the case of adult baptism”
6. “All classes of Pedobaptists, (sprinklers), destroy one another throughout. They are like the builders at Babel, no two of them speak the same tongue, although everyone protests that he utters the language of the Bible. “
7. Irenaeus in support of baptismal regeneration writes calling water baptism: “…the washing of regeneration…baptism of regeneration unto God.”
8. Tertullian began his “De Baptismate” with: “Blessed is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are liberated into eternal life.”
9. To Augustine baptism delivers from the guilt of original sin and takes away the sinful character of the flesh.
10. Hence all unbaptized children were damned, even if only to the mildest grade of perdition.
11. By the fourth century heretical baptism (that is, by anyone) was accepted as valid, in spite of the earlier pronouncement of Cyprian to the contrary.
12. By the fourth century the doctrine of baptismal regeneration was wide spread in professing Christendom.
13. The Novatians rebaptized all who entered their churches from all others, baptismal regeneration then being almost universally held. They also insisted that the one baptizing be a qualified person.
Edward Mote’s great stanza.
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”
14. The Donatists (North Africa) believed in baptismal regeneration and in the necessity of baptism to salvation.
a. They in addition practiced infant baptism, a natural development from the concept of baptism being necessary for salvation.
15. The Paulicians uncompromisingly opposed infant baptism, criticizing those who baptize the “unbelieving, the reasonless and the unrepentant.”
16. Augustine’s systemization of theology and strong statement of total depravity and perdition for unbaptized infants, made infant baptism nearly universal ( Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and much later the covenant theologians)
17. Edward L. Hayes in his book: The Child and the Age of Accountability, says: “Advocates of infant baptism assume a covenant relationship between the child and the family of God.
a. “They argue from the silence of the New Testament on the issue, not from any direct teaching.
b. “The "unsafe" status of the child propounded by Augustine introduced the emergence of the concept of baptismal regeneration.
c. Belief that the sacrament of baptism (or sprinkling) conveyed to the infant all the benefits of grace and solved the logical problem, at least, of what to do with original sin.
II. THERE MUST BE A PROPER REASON FOR BAPTISM.
A. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and Resurrection of Christ.
1. (Rom 6:4) "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as (Hootos--”in like manner) Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
2. Professor Stuart says on Romans 6:4: “Most commentators have maintained that “Buried” (Stuart gives the Greek term) has here a necessary reference to the mode of literal baptism, which they say was by immersion.”
3.. Dear Lord! and will thy pardoning love
Embrace a wretch so vile?
Wilt thou my load of guilt remove,
And bless me with thy smile?
Hast thou the cross for me endured,
And all its shame despised?
And shall I be ashamed, O Lord.
With thee to be baptized ?
Didst thou the great example lead
In .Jordan's swelling flood?
And shall my pride disdain the deed
That's worthy of my God ?
Dear Lord, the ardour of thy love
Reproves my cold delays;
And now my willing footsteps move
In thy delightful ways.
No. 429 in Gadsby's Hymns
B. Hiscox's New Directory, pg. 17, says: "What class of persons should be admitted as members of the fellowship of Christian Churches? Baptist (Historic Baptist) say that godly persons, baptized upon a profession of faith, are the only proper and suitable persons, and that all others should be denied admission, and if already within the church, should be cast out." (That is, their names removed from the church roll)
1. In the days of the Apostles, teaching as to Baptism formed a part of every sermon.
a. At Pentecost, Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
b. In the case of Cornelius, Peter said: Acts 10:47 "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"
1. J. B. Jeter says: “Here, water baptism was not superseded by the baptism of the Spirit. While Peter was preaching to Cornelius, and those who were in his house, the Holy Ghost fell on them. The apostle did not consider this a reason for omitting water baptism; but, on the contrary, argued the propriety of administering it, from this very fact: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we?”
c. In the case of the Ethiopian Eunuch, Phillip must have preached such a sermon. Acts 8:36 "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?"
C. THE PROPER REASON FOR BEING BAPTIZED IS OBEDIENCE.,
1. We don't have any problem with the command: "Thou shalt not kill"
2. To Adam and Eve, God said: Gen 2:17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
3. We shouldn't have any problem with our Lord's command either.
4. Commandments are to be obeyed. (2 Sam 6:6) "And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it."
5. (Num 20:11-12) "And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. {12} And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them."
6. When the original charter of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was adopted in 1858 it contained the following statement which continues as a part of the "fundamental laws."
“Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life. It is prerequisite to church fellowship, and to participation in the Lord's Supper.”
D. J. B. Jeter’s Manual of Church Order, pg. 17 says on (1 Pet 3:21) "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"
“Water baptism, as a Christian rite, is not administered to cleanse the flesh, either literally or ceremonially. It figuratively represents the burial and resurrection of Christ, on which the believer relies for salvation. The answer of a good conscience is obtained by faith in the finished work of Christ, represented in the rite. In the language of Scripture, a thing is said to be that which it represents: thus, “The field is the world.” “This is my body.” “This cup is the new testament.” So Paul was said to wash away his sins in baptism, because it represented their being washed away: and so in this passage, baptism is said to save, because it represents our salvation, which is effected by the burial and resurrection of Christ; not by the removing of any corporeal defilement.”
III. THERE MUST BE A PROPER ADMINISTRATOR.
A. THE ADMINISTRATOR OF BAPTISM MUST HAVE AUTHORITY.
1. (John 1:6) "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."
2. Only a local church that believes and practices Scriptural baptism has the authority to baptize anyone.
a. (Mat 28:18-20) "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. {19}Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name (singular, not names) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: {20}Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
NOTE: The only church authorized to baptize in the beginning was the church that Jesus built. (Mt. 16:18)
Ill. Pat Boone “baptizing?” in his swimming pool.
B. NONE OF THE MODERN DENOMINATIONS PRACTICE SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM.
1. I. M. Haldeman, in his booklet entitled: “The Truth about Baptism” pg. 14, says: “To baptize an infant upon the proxy of another’s faith is a denial of that scripture which requires faith before baptism.
a. (Mark 16:16) "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
2. To say that children in Israel were circumcised as a witness that they were partakers of the covenant, so infants may, and should be, baptized (sprinkled ) now.
a. If this were true, since the rite of circumcision belonged only to males, all female children would be excluded from baptism.
3. Paul said: (Rom 2:29) "But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
4. We are not sealed with baptism, but with the Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13)
5. Baptism cannot save; “all the water in the world cannot wash away sin.”
6. All Christian works--baptism, confirmation, attendance at the table of the Lord, church membership, and all other Adamic fig leaves----cannot avail.
a. (Rev 1:5) "...... Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"
b. (1 John 1:7) "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
IV. THERE MUST BE A PROPER MODE OF BAPTISM.
A. STRICTLY SPEAKING, THERE ARE NO MODES OF BAPTISM.
1. Lester Ferguson on Romans 6 says:”Immersion of the believer is not a mode of baptism, but it is baptism in the true sense. Sprinkling and pouring are not modes of baptism but are substitutes for baptism. The term, “mode of baptism”, has been generally accepted for the past five hundred years. It is, however, a term foreign to the New Testament and the early church. The Greek language, and the practice and teaching of the New Testament, present immersion as baptism rather than one of many possible modes of baptism.
a. Roy B. Zuck says: " According to this verse, salvation is pictured by water baptism, which in turn was prefigured by the water of the flood."
2. Dr. Alexander Carson, who was for years a Presbyterian minister in Ireland emphasizes this fact in his book on Baptism, published in 1860 by American Baptist Publishing Society. He says that no group other than religious leaders try to make the word “baptizo” mean anything other than immersion.
3. The etymology of the word “baptizo” is found in the classical Greek where it is used of the Blacksmith who would heat the iron and work it into the desired shape and then he would “baptizo” it or dip it underneath the water and cool it.
4. A lady asked Brother G. T. Hall: “what would you be if you were going to be anything besides a Baptist?” Without hesitation he responded, “ashamed!”
Conclusion:
1. Mr. Mosheim, a Luthern historian, says: “Before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay secreted in almost all the countries of Europe persons who adhered tenaciously to the principles of modern Dutch Baptist.” (Insttutes of Eccl. History)
a. “Mosheim also informs us that baptism, which he calls a sacrament, was performed in the first century outside the public assemblies in places selected and prepared for that purpose and was performed by the immersion of the whole body in the baptismal font”
b. Edward L Hayes says in his book, “The Child and the Age of Accountability” “ It was not until the Reformation that any dominant mood of dissent appeared, although "believers' baptism" was practiced from the earliest of Christian times.
2. In the History of the Dutch Reformed Church by I. J. Dermot, (Vol 1, pg. 148), we are told: “The Baptist may be considered as the only Christian community which has stood since the days of the apostles, and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrines of the gospel through all ages.”
3. For anyone that would charge me with bigotry, sectarianism; let it be known that: “Denunciation is the last resort of a defeated opponent.”
4. Paul said: (Eph 4:5) "One Lord, one faith, one baptism,"
a. Modern preachers would change this to: “No Lord, many faiths, and several baptisms.”
b. “One preacher is quoted as saying: “We dropped the Baptist name because we found it offensive and therefore a hindrance to our desired progress.”
c. “Another said: “That is not the road people want to travel nowadays.
d. “Still a third one said: “Like any business, you must go where the traffic is, and it’s not on the Baptist boulevard any more.”
e. Some have recently dropped the name “Baptist” because they don’t what to be identified with those that preach ‘HELL FIRE AND DAMNATION.’
f. . In Moslem countries a new believer has little trouble with Moslems until he is publicly baptised. It is then, that the Moslems' know he means business, and then the persecution starts.
5. C. H. Spurgeon said: “ "I should think it a high sin and treason against heaven, if, believing that baptism signifies immersion only, I should pretend to administer it by sprinkling. Or, believing that baptism pertains to believers only, I should consider myself a criminal in the sight of God if I should give it to any but those who believe."
6. C. H. Spurgeon said: “Do not imagine that immersion in water can wash away sin. But do remember that if the Lord puts this outward profession side by side with the washing away of sins, it is no trifling matter.”
7. C. H. Spurgeon said: “As long as you give baptism to an unregenerate child, people will imagine that it must do the child good. They will ask, "If it does not do the child any good, why is it baptized?" The statement that it puts children into the covenant, or renders them members of the visible church, is only a veiled form of the fundamental error of Baptismal Regeneration. If you keep up the ordinance, you will always have men superstitiously believing that some good comes to the babe thereby. And what is that but Popery?”
8. William Gadsby HymnsNo. 653
Of one Lord will we sing,
And spread his fame abroad,
Jehovah Jesus is our King
And be his name adored.
One living, vital faith,
Each Christian will approve;
A faith that triumphs over death,
And sweetly works by love.
One baptism we own;
A sacred, solemn sign
Of what the Saviour's undergone,
To wash away our sin.
His overwhelming pain,
And burial we see;
His rising from the grave again,
To set his children free.
Here we by faith may view,
That every Christian's dead
To Satan, sin, and Moses too,
Through Christ, our living Head
In rising from the flood,
Saints solemnly proclaim
Their life is hid with Christ in God,
And they shall with him reign.
9. Why J. B. Jeter’s child was not sprinkled:
a. "Just as the honored pastor of the Presbyterian church raised his hand to say the baptismal formula and baptize Brother Jeter's baby, (by his 3rd Wife), he said something like this: "My brother, I believe that we ought to have a 'Thus saith the Lord for all that we do. This is my baby as well as my wife's Before you sprinkle my child, I want you to take your Bible and read out of the Book your authority for what you are about to do." The scholarly, old-school Presbyterian preacher slowly raised his hand and pronounced the benediction. Mrs. Jeter soon became a Baptist. She said that her pastor was one of the most scholarly Presbyterian preachers in all the South. If he could not find infant baptism in the Bible, then it must not be there. “
Conclusion: A Methodist Cup of Coffee
I have a pleasant story which I will tell in rhyme
About a circuit rider, who lived in recent time.
He was a circuit preacher of John Wesley's band.
And rode the finest circuit in all this sinful land.
At one of his fine charges, some members, not a few,
Became quite sorely troubled about the word, INTO.
The Bible says so plainly in Acts, chapter eight,
They went down, INTO the water, just as Baptist state.
The parson preached a sermon of extra zeal and might,
And to his satisfaction, he set the passage right:
INTO does not mean INTO but, AT, CLOSE TO, NEARBY.
They went down to the water and got a small supply.
Near the place of worship, there lived a sister Brown
And for her splendid cooking, she'd gained a great renown.
Her yellow legged chickens, her luscious cakes and pies,
Oft' made that circuit rider roll his weeping eyes.
And her delicious coffee, in all the circuit round,
The preacher oft' admitted, its like could not be found.
So when he preached a sermon of extra power and length,
He loved at Bro. Brown's good table to there renew his strength.
But sister Brown was a Baptist, the strongest in the land,
And oft' reproved the Methodist for changing God's command.
She heard Bro. Jones' sermon and thought the matter o'er
And asked him home to dinner, as she often done before.
She ground the Java coffee, with the kettle steaming hot
She put it AT, CLOSE TO, NEARBY, the famous coffee pot.
She poured Bro. Jones a cupful--I think it was no sin.
"Why, Sister, you forgot to put the coffee in."
"Oh no, Bro. Jones, that's coffee, I ground a good supply
And put it AT the kettle, CLOSE TO, NEARBY.
But by the logic of your sermon-- I thought it rather thin,
If AT or NEARBY means INTO I put the coffee in.
But if you will faithfully promise, no more such error to teach,
Nor dodge God's plain commandments when you attempt to preach,
I'll go and make some coffee, just to the Bible dot,
And I will put the coffee, not AT, but INTO the pot.
John Gill’s booklet: “Of the Faith and Practice of The Baptist Church” (Published by Ron Rumburg)
ARTICLE XI. ON “We believe”, we read: “ That Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be continued until His second coming; and that the former is absolutely requisite to the latter; that is to say, that those only are to be admitted into the communion of the church, and to participate of all ordinances in it, who upon profession of. their faith, have been baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.