BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 51
January 1995
WATER BAPTISM
COMMANDED BY JESUS FOR CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES
By Anthony Buzzard
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There are friends
whose zeal for the Bible is undoubted, but who have been taught that baptism in
water is a pointless ritual not applicable to Christians. The argument has
been put this way: "There are
two major baptisms in New Testament: 1) water
baptism begun by John the Baptist, 2) baptism
in the spirit, the baptism which Jesus Christ baptizes with, and which makes someone
a Christian.” Take a careful look
at the above statement. It is really not a fair account of what the Bible teaches.
There is a major missing factor. The facts are that Jesus also baptized in water. There are therefore
three baptisms, not two: 1) the
water baptism of John the Baptist, 2) the
water baptism authorized by Jesus, 3) baptism
in the Spirit. Everyone is familiar
with the baptism of John. It has clearly been superseded by Christian baptism.
Christian baptism is BOTH by water AND by spirit. In John 4:1-2 we learn that "Jesus was
making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself was not
baptizing, but his disciples were)." John 3:22 says that "Jesus and
his disciples came into the land of Judea and there Jesus was spending time
with them and baptizing." There is no doubt, therefore, that
Jesus baptized in water (although the actual act of immersion was performed by
his agents, the disciples). This initiation ceremony was baptism performed by
Jesus - Christian baptism in water. The great commission
mandates that disciples until the end of the age go into all nations and teach
whatever Jesus taught. Part of that commanded discipling process is to "baptize
them into the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
(Matthew 28:19-20). That is a clear
command from the lips of Jesus, and it features amongst the marching orders of
the Church. The Apostles clearly
understood it that way. Peter's appeal to
his first century audience has not become obsolete : "Repent and
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
(Acts 2:38). The typical initiation
into the Church is by repentance, believing the Gospel of the Kingdom and the
Name of Jesus Christ and baptism in water. Acts
8:12 provides an early creed: "When they
believed Philip as he proclaimed the Gospel about the Kingdom and the Name of
Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, both men and women." As if to leave no
possible loopholes, Luke reports that even after the reception of the Holy Spirit,
the Gentiles were to be baptized in water. Peter was only following his Lord's
command when he called for water and "ordered them to be baptized who had
received the Holy Spirit" (Acts
10:47-48). When Paul discovered
converts who had received John's water baptism only, he immediately administered
Christian water baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5). The New Testament
Church certainly did not teach that spirit baptism replaced Christian water baptism.
The two go together as the standard way in which a person is joined to the body
of Christ. Late in his career, Peter can still talk of "baptism
which saves" us, as "an appeal
to God for a good conscience" (1
Peter 3:21). Of course, no one
is suggesting that there is anything "magical" in the water. What counts
is the child like submission to the ordinance prescribed by Jesus. It is a simple
matter of obedience. Baptism without
a persistent continuation in the Christian life cannot save a person, any more
than a onetime decision which is not followed by commitment. Salvation is by grace
and faith, which means also (in Paul's words ) "obedience
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed"
(Romans 6:17). That teaching included
baptism. This way of inviting
converts to become Christians is a part of what salvation by faith meant to the
Apostles. They taught the "obedience of faith"
everywhere (Romans 1:5
& Romans 16:26). God has given us
a proper procedure for admission to his Church. Baptism in water is a public renouncing
of sin and a determination to serve God and the Messiah. Labels like "carnal
ordinance" or "legalism" misrepresent the apostolic teaching about
Christian water baptism. Jesus himself was
baptized in water (Luke 3:21).
He made and baptized converts (John 4:1),
and he ordered his followers to make and baptize converts (Matthew 28:19-20). There is ample evidence
in Acts and the Epistles that the Apostles carried out their Lord's instructions.
On what authority should we challenge these and say that baptism is unnecessary. There is no need
for division or difference over this very simple matter, which has not been a
problematic issue for millions of Bible readers over many centuries. Evangelicals recognize
that Peter's appeal for repentance and baptism is strikingly different from the
modern evangelistic formula. Writing on “Conversion in the Bible”, R.T. France
observes that: "Our
tendency to see baptism as a symbolic this optional extra, or to be
embarrassed by the inclusion of a physical act as part of the spiritual
process of conversion, contrasts with the strongly "realist"
language of the New Testament about the saving significance of baptism (e.g. John 3:5, Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12, Titus 3:5, We appeal, therefore,
to dispensationalists who have been caught in the falsely spiritual view that
the physical act of baptism is not part of Christian discipleship. It was the
gnostics who created a mistaken division between what is physical and what is
spiritual. The Apostles, in
mandating water baptism, were obedient, as we should be, to the command of Christ.
And recognizing the Lordship of Jesus is the heart of what it means to be a believer.
There is no genuine confession of Jesus as Lord without obedience (Romans 10:9). Anthony Buzzard, M.A. (Oxon) MA.Th.,
is Professor of Bible at Atlanta Bible College, Georgia, U.S.A |