5. Baptism in Water

What is Baptism?

Every now and then a word is brought into English from another language because there is no existing English word which exactly expresses the true meaning of that foreign word.

For instance, we have 'bungalow', which comes from Hindi (via Gujarati), 'kiosk', which comes from Turkish (via French), and 'pizza', which comes directly from Italian.

'Baptism' is a Greek word ('baptisma', number G908 in Strong’s concordance) which literally means 'immersion'.

In Hebrews 6:2 the word used is the slightly different 'baptismos' (number G909 in Strong’s), which is used to convey the idea of washing or cleansing. In the RSV it is rendered as 'ablutions', meaning ceremonial washings. If we remember that the people to whom the letter to the Hebrews was written had been devout Jews to whom ceremonial purity was of high importance, we can understand why in this case this particular term is employed.

(You may notice that in many of the scriptures quoted in this article, the spelling is 'baptize', with a 'z' rather than an 's'. This is the American spelling. I am using the British spelling, with an 's'.)

We are introduced to baptism at the very beginning of the Gospel story (e.g. Mark 1:1-8).

John the Baptist emerges from the desert, where he has been waiting upon God for many years, studying the scriptures, praying, and preparing himself physically, mentally, and spiritually for his ministry as the fore-runner of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of Israel who will “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). John’s message is a straightforward call to repentance – to leave behind selfish and ungodly ways and to embrace a life of righteousness, holiness, and justice in accordance with the Law of Moses (Matthew 3:1-12; Luke 3:1-20; John 1:19-31).

For the people of Israel, the symbolism of John’s baptism would have been very clear.

When their forefathers had come into the Promised Land as free men, having been rescued by God through the agency of Moses from slavery to the Egyptians, it was by crossing over the Jordan that they had come.

But before God allowed them to cross over, He required that all of the men be circumcised, because none of those who had been born during the forty-year journey through the wilderness had been circumcised yet (Joshua 5:2-9), and circumcision was a condition of the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Only those who were circumcised might partake of the Lord’s covenant blessings (Genesis 17:7-14).

So John’s baptism in the river Jordan spoke of ‘circumcising their hearts’ (Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4), returning to God and coming back into ‘the promised land’ of His blessings.

They might also very well have been reminded of the case of Naaman, the Syrian general who came to the prophet Elisha hoping that he would cure him of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-4, 9), only to find that Elisha’s remedy was to “go and wash in the Jordan seven times” (2 Kings 5:10). After a struggle with his pride, Naaman eventually humbled himself and followed Elisha’s instructions, with the result that he was totally healed and his skin restored to the condition that it had been in when he was a boy (2 Kings 5:14).

Just as Naaman had known that his leprosy would at some stage force him into isolation and expulsion from normal society, the people of Israel in John the Baptist’s day were aware that God had, in a sense, isolated and expelled them (Amos 8:7-12), having not spoken to them by the voice of a prophet for some four hundred years, since the days of the prophet Malachi, because He was angry with them and had turned away from them for a season, as He had done to Miriam, Moses’s sister, when she had sinned against Him (Numbers 12:9-15).

However, in John they saw that God was once again speaking to them, reaching out to them as a nation and as individuals, and offering them a way back into His presence. As Naaman had washed away his physical leprosy in the Jordan river, so Israel now could wash away their ‘spiritual leprosy’ and be reconciled to God.

The association of baptism with victory over sin is spoken of elsewhere in the New Testament. Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle, shortly after his life-changing encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus was introduced to baptism by the words of Ananias (Acts 22:12-16):

Paul himself, in chapter six of his letter to the Romans, emphasises the power of baptism to bring victory over sin in the life of every Christian:

However, we must not think that baptism is some kind of magic formula that suddenly transforms us from sinners into saints. We have our work to do to ensure that the process is successful, as Paul goes on to say:

But, what does Paul mean when he talks about ‘considering yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God’?

Here are three things that are involved in this continual and ongoing exercise:

• a) the mental discipline of meditating on the word of God, which tells us that, by the grace of God, we are new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), that in Him we have the victory (Romans 8:37; 1 Corinthians 15:57), that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13);

• b) the spiritual discipline of believing it;

• c) the physical discipline of refusing to do what is wrong and choosing to do what is right.

Why Be Baptised?

So what is the purpose of baptism if we still have to discipline ourselves to do what is right after being baptised?

There are two reasons why baptism is important:

Firstly: In this, as in everything else, we need to follow the example of Jesus.

If there was ever anyone who did not need to be baptised, it was Jesus Christ. However:

Jesus said elsewhere, “I have come not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” (John 5:30; John 6:38). He knew that His Father’s will for Him was that the first thing he needed to do before He could enter into His ministry was to be baptised by John. Not until that had happened did He hear the voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”.

For Jesus, being baptised was a simple act of obedience to the Father’s will – and it is exactly the same for us. In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved”.

In 1 Peter 3:18-21 the apostle Peter also makes clear to us that baptism is a vital step in our journey of salvation.

Anyone who is no longer an infant whenever they become a Christian has a number of years of disobedience behind them, and it is disobedience that has separated us from God in the first place.

Our very first act of obedience to God is to repent. This is an act of the heart, an inward act. No-one except the one who is repenting (and God, of course) knows what is taking place and how genuine it is.

Baptism, on the other hand, is an outward act; it is a public declaration of that private decision to turn from sin and follow Christ. It is a God-given opportunity to perform an act of pure obedience.

Although it is preferable that the person being baptised should have an understanding of what baptism means, it is not essential. What is essential is that it should be done in an attitude of faith in and obedience to God. As Peter says, it is the “pledge of a clear conscience toward God”. The understanding of it can come later.

Anyone can be baptised.

You don’t have to be young, strong, fit, or healthy. You don’t have to be clever or well educated. You don’t have to have a particular cultural background, or even a knowledge of the Bible. All you have to be able to do is get into the water – and even if you can't do this by yourself, then someone else should be able to help you in.

God has provided us with an act of obedience that is open to everyone, no matter who they are or what condition they may be in. All you need is someone to baptise you, and as many people as possible to witness it being done.

You will not be able to remember all of the sins that you committed before becoming a Christian, and so you will not be able to ask forgiveness for all of them, one at a time. However, you can perform this one simple act of obedience as an earnest of your repentance and of your determination to live from this day forward in obedience to the will of God rather than in rebellion against it.

Secondly: It is our public declaration of intent to follow Christ.

Just as a wedding is the public declaration by the couple of their intent to be true to one another “till death us do part”, so the Christian being baptised is declaring that they will be true to Christ for the rest of their days; that they have died with Christ, been buried with Him, and have risen again with Him into “newness of life” (Romans 6:4); that the “old man” is now dead and buried, and that the “new man” has come to life and will live the rest of his time on this earth for God (Romans 6:6-7).

Of course, as with every act of obedience, God pours out grace upon us when we obey Him in this way. He requires us to “reckon ourselves dead to sin” (Romans 6:11, KJV), and He gives us the grace to be able to do it. He requires us to “yield our members to God as instruments of righteousness”, and He gives us the grace to be able to do it.

However, if we do not perform the act of obedience, we cannot expect to receive the divine assistance. If we want to have victory over sin, and over the lusts of our own flesh, without yielding ourselves in obedience to God’s express command, we will find ourselves struggling in our own strength, and ultimately failing.

God has provided the means for attaining victory, and we should be eager to avail ourselves of it.

Who Should Be Baptised?

After Jesus had risen from the dead and prior to His ascension to heaven, He spent forty days giving His disciples final instructions. These are summarised by both Matthew and Mark in what is known as “the Great Commission”:

From these passages it is clear that baptism is for DISCIPLES of Christ (Matthew 28:19), for those who BELIEVE in Him (Mark 16:16).

In Acts chapter 8, the evangelist Philip came across a man called Simon the Sorcerer (also known as Simon Magus), who appeared to give his heart to Christ and was baptised, but was found later on to be a fraud (Acts 8:9-24). Philip learned a valuable lesson from this, so that afterwards, while he was witnessing to an Ethiopian official in the desert, the following exchange took place:

With Simon the Sorcerer, Philip had taken his protestation of faith at face value. With the Ethiopian eunuch he wanted to be certain that the man really was a believer, and that there was a definite change in his heart.

Simon had adopted Christianity as a “flag of convenience”, and thereby made a mockery of baptism.

The Ethiopian, however, was genuine. He had become a true disciple of Christ. His baptism was valid.

What about the baptism of infants, which has been widely practised throughout the church for centuries?

There is no evidence anywhere in the scripture of the baptism of infants or children who are not old enough to know what they are doing. In the two passages that deal with household salvation (Cornelius in Acts 10:44-48 and the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:29-34) it is clear that those who were baptised were those who had heard the message, believed it, and, in Acts 10, received the Holy Spirit as a result.

Is There a Right Way to be Baptised?

The Bible does not prescribe any particular technique for baptism. However, there are certain pointers that we should pay attention to:

1. The medium used for baptism is always water. There is no indication anywhere in the New Testament that anyone ever used anything other than water.
2. To be baptised means to be put under the water, not just sprinkled with water. As we have seen, the basic meaning of the Greek word ‘baptisma’ is 'immersion'. This is borne out by a number of passages referring to people going down into the water and coming up out of the water (Matthew 3:16a; Mark 1:10a; Acts 8:38-39a). We also see that John the Baptist chose a particular place to baptise because “there was much water there” (John 3:23).
3. In Romans 6, Paul uses the symbolism of death and resurrection – being buried and then rising from the grave. For this reason, it is common to lower the candidate backwards into the water, as if they were being buried, and then lift them out again face upwards.
4. It is also common that at some point during the baptism ceremony, the candidate should be given the opportunity to give a word of testimony and to declare their repentance and their faith in God, as Philip did with the Ethiopian eunuch.
5. The form of words used by those baptising the candidate would commonly be based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19 – i.e. “baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

The technique, of course, is of secondary importance. The vital part is “the pledge of a clear conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21 NIV).

Is There a Right Time to be Baptised?

From a number of the passages already referred to, it is clear that in the early church the new converts were baptised immediately after their conversion. There may, however, be practical reasons for not doing so.

Most churches would organise a baptismal service when there are a number of candidates, as it takes time to fill the baptismal pool, and people normally want to have their family and friends present to witness the baptism.

It is also common today for candidates to receive instruction before being baptised so that they have a good understanding of what baptism means, and it gives the church leadership the opportunity to satisfy themselves that the candidates are genuine.

However, no such delay is necessary. As one preacher pronounced at a meeting that I attended, “Just get it done!”

Is There a Right Place to be Baptised?

There are those whose dream is to be baptised in the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptised by John. While it would be wonderful to be able to do this, should the opportunity present itself, it is entirely unnecessary to go to such lengths.

In the New Testament, people were baptised wherever there was water. Today, many churches have their own baptismal pool; others use the public swimming pool; others use the sea. Some people have been baptised in the bath.

The question is not, “Where is the baptism taking place?”, but “Where is the heart of the person being baptised?”.

Having been baptised in water, the next step on your journey with Jesus is to ask Him to baptise you in the Holy Spirit.