What Does the Bible Say About Baptism?

The church baptizes. Okay, so what happens after the good news is proclaimed and people believe and they’re called out by God’s grace? The church baptizes. Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3000 souls. And we see this throughout the rest of the book of Acts. They were commanded to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Every single follower of Christ in the book of Acts was expected to be baptized. It was part of their identification with Christ. This is the foundation. We’ve talked about this. We’re recipients of a new covenant, and baptism is a declaration that we belong to Jesus.

Repent and Be Baptized

You look back up in the Acts 19 and Acts chapter 10, baptized in the name of Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus. The language is literally identifying with Christ. I love this quote from Stott. It’s just simple, but so true. “Being a Christian involves a personal vital identification with Jesus Christ, and this union with Him is dramatically set forth in our baptism.” This is why I would say to clearly and as bluntly as I can to any follower of Christ in this room who has not been baptized, you are living contrary to the pattern of the New Testament. And this was initial. This wasn’t something you grew into. Repent and be baptized. Those who received His word were baptized.

And it would make no sense to say, “Well, I don’t want to be baptized.” How can you be a Christian and not want to identify with Christ? And especially in light of our brothers and sisters around the world. My first time with a house church was in Asia and I was teaching on baptism and two of the brothers there, two of the believers had not been baptized. And they came up to me and they said, “We’ve not been baptized.” I said, “Well, okay, you need to be baptized.”

So they said, “Okay.” So we arranged it so this house church gathered together and we were about to baptize them. So I had taught them baptism and I thought, “Okay, I’ve taught them well on baptism,” but I learned a lot more in the next couple of minutes. When they brought those two men before the house church and they asked them about their confession of faith and they shared about their trust in Christ and they asked them both the question, “Are you willing to be baptized today knowing that it may cost you your life?”

First guy, he’s a teenager. He said, “No matter what it costs, I want to be baptized.” Second guy, older guy, he said, “I’ve already sacrificed everything to follow Jesus Christ. I want to be baptized.” So these two guys are baptized. And we don’t need to treat baptism flippantly. This is important. It’s our identification with Christ, but not just with Christ.

We talked about we’re members of a new community, and baptism is a declaration that we belong to each other. I want to show you that baptism is core to what it means to be a part of the church. It’s a core function and activity of the church to baptize. It’s something that the church does and something that the church is, a body of baptized believers. Now there’s a variety of questions about baptism.

Five Lessons From the Bible on Baptism

We don’t have one passage that gives us just a systematic treatment of baptism, so what I want to do is I think there’s five questions here that I kind of put there that I want to just run through and say, “All right, here’s what scripture teaches about baptism.”

Follow Christs Example

Number one, we follow the example of Christ. Matthew 3, this is what Jesus did. He shows us in a powerful way His identification with us, even though He had no sin and baptism was a picture of repentance. So we follow the example of Christ, we obey the command of Christ. Book of Acts, repent and be baptized. It was a command. Jesus says at the end of the book of Matthew, “Go make disciples of all nations, baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” How are you going to do that and tell others to be baptized if you’ve not been baptized?

How are you going to obey the great commission when you’re disobedient to what you’re going to tell others to do? That would make no sense. It’s a contradiction. This is an obedience issue.

And third, when we’re baptized, we unite with the body of Christ. Look down especially at Ephesians 4, “One body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Now, some scholars don’t think that’s talking about physical baptism. And maybe it is, maybe it’s not, but here’s the point. In the gospels and in the book of Acts and all these letters, everybody who followed Christ was baptized. It wasn’t even a question, so it was there. So unbaptized believer is like an oxymoron. It’s like jumbo shrimp, unbaptized believers, like Microsoft Works.

There’s no such thing in the New Testament as an unbaptized believer. So that’s why we’re baptized, Jesus’ example, His command, and we unite with the body of Christ. This is the church saying we see … when somebody’s baptized, we see that this is somebody who’s trusted in Christ and we affirm them, we celebrate with them, and they say, “Yes, I’ve trusted in Christ and I’ve been called out too.” This is good. Why not? What is the meaning of baptism?

The meaning of baptism. First, this is key, it’s a celebration of the grace of Christ. Romans 6 is the picture of baptism, and this is talking about how Christ died on the cross as our substitute, and He arose from the grave as our savior. And this is our identification with Him in baptism. It’s an illustration of the gospel of Christ. Baptism is a picture. Baptism is not your salvation. It’s a picture of your salvation.

We Are Called By God’s Grace

This is very key. We’re called by God’s grace through faith in Christ. We’re children of God and we are baptized as children of God. And it’s an illustration of the gospel of Christ. When we go into the water, it’s a picture of identification with His death. When we come out of the water, it’s a picture of participation in His resurrection. When you’re baptized, you don’t go in and stay underwater, because Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. He’s out, so you’re out.

That’s the picture that’s displayed every time somebody’s baptized. It’s the gospel. It’s a celebration, illustration, it’s a proclamation of the glory of Christ. This is Colossians 2:11. It’s just a great picture of how Christ has taken away our sins, made a public spectacle of sin, and triumphed over sin at the cross. It’s a declaration in the church and beyond the church. That’s the meaning of baptism.

How Are Christians Baptized?

How are Christians baptized? Now, this is where you’re going to get different answers in different churches. And I imagine there’s probably different answers represented around this room. The reality is there are great heroes of the faith in my own life who we would disagree on these things. So I want to humbly put this before you. I think this is certainly … I wouldn’t be saying it if I didn’t think it was what scripture is pointing us to, but at the same time, this is one of those places where there’s certainly room for … this is not an issue over which Christians … well either you’re Christian or not, whether you believe this or not. So I’m convinced the answer how Christians are baptized, the most biblical mode of baptism is immersion, that the word literally means … baptismo means to emerge, to submerge, to dunk. It’s how John got his name, John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, John the Dunker. That’s what he did.

And you look at this on a few different levels. Precedent of Christ, we saw it in Matthew 3 and Mark 1. He was baptized by John in the Jordan and He came up out of the water. Not sprinkled, not cup over the head. He was in the water and He came up out of the water. The pattern of early church leaders in Acts chapter 8, Ethiopian eunuch, what prevents me from being baptized?

Philip doesn’t go run down and get a cup and bring it back up. They go down into the water, baptize, they come up out of the water. So picture of the gospel, that’s the illustration of the gospel. Identify with Christ in His death, raised. That’s the picture that’s there in immersion. I am not claiming to have the corner of truth on this. At the same time, I think there’s good biblical precedent to rest here. The biblical mode of baptism is immersion.

Who Should Be Baptized?

Who should be baptized? This is another area where we would differ some, particularly with say Presbyterian brothers and sisters. I believe scripture teaches and the only people who should be baptized includes everyone who has been born again, key word being again, not just born. That’s obviously where the distinction would lie. Where you put the period is key. Again, this is where I have heroes in the faith who have advocated infant baptism on a variety of different bases.

 And I don’t want to try … I think I could accurately represent the picture of infant baptism, but the reality is that I think the testimony of scripture is clear, that baptism is a declaration that you belong to Christ and that your heart has been changed and regeneration has occurred.

I put Colossians 2 there, even the parallels with the old covenant and circumcision that are often used as a basis for why infant baptism is like circumcision in the old covenant and how those relate, I think the reality is old covenant, yes, circumcision followed physical birth into a physical community. Where I think the parallel is, and I think this is what Paul is saying in Colossians 2, new covenant, baptism follows spiritual birth into a spiritual community.

Baptism Reflects Spiritual Birth

The baptism is a reflection of spiritual birth, and that happens by the sovereign work of God’s grace in the gospel in our hearts. Spiritual regeneration precedes physical immersion. External demonstration follows internal transformation.

This is when our hearts have been changed, which obviously cannot happen in an infant. Our hearts have been changed and that’s when we are baptized. I do think obviously it’s good and healthy for parents to say, “We want our child to be raised in the nurture and admonition of the gospel and of Christ from the very beginning.” So I wouldn’t say that’s not healthy, but I do think that we confuse the picture of baptism when we don’t do it after somebody’s trusted in Christ. So when should Christians be baptized? And that’s the picture. As soon as they trust in Christ for salvation.

In Acts, and I put all these instances, believers were baptized soon. They were baptized soon. And the picture is … first of all, it’s not something you do over and over and over again. They were baptized and then … you don’t get re-baptized. You get baptized once. If you were “baptized”, you were immersed or had water poured or anything els, and you’re not a follower of Christ and then you’re immersed later, the reality is you just went for a swim that time. This is baptism. So this is … yeah.

So the other thing here that I want to add, and I know this is totally on shaky turf, and I will admittedly put out there from the very beginning that I don’t have a scripture necessarily to point you to this. So that should put all kinds of yellow flags often in your mind so I’ll put them out there for you, but yes, as soon as they trust in Christ for salvation, but I would also add as soon as we can most wisely testify to our salvation.

And here’s why I put that, because I think I perceive a potential danger in our cultures and cultures like us that are more predominantly Christian. Every instance that we see in the New Testament of baptism, in all those passages in Acts, every specific instance that we see involves an adult maybe … and we see household. We don’t see specific ages, but every specific instance involves an adult in a context that was non-Christian, where it was risky to do this.

Be Discerning About The Culture of Baptism

And I think we need to be really careful in our culture and cultures like ours when it comes to children in a area where it is not just socially acceptable, it’s socially suggestible and it’s a way of gaining approval even in society to be baptized. And it’s easy, especially in the way we so often do children’s so-called evangelism. We use unbiblical terms in it. And you can get children to say a variety of different things.

And I think it’s wise for us to be discerning, for parents and for pastors to be discerning when it comes to a culture where baptism is accepted and common and even … I mean encouraged. And for good reason, but with a child who may not yet fully understand the gospel … and that’s tough to define. I mean who really fully understands? But has a clear understanding of the gospel and realizes what this means when they’re baptized. I just think there’s room for some wisdom there and I think scripture would point us to that kind of wisdom.

With this picture of baptism, then we’ll stop, when you think baptism, think wedding ceremony. I think about the day 10 plus years ago when my wife and I, when I stood at the front of the building … and you know how it is at weddings in our culture. Somebody walks out and the groom walks out and everybody’s kind of sitting there talking. They look up and they’re like, “Huh, it’s the groom.” They just kind of go back to talking to each other. So I’m standing there. A few minutes later, all the music stops and it gets silent and these doors in the back open up and this woman steps into the room. And what does everybody do? Oh, they stand up, all turn. They got tears in their eyes and I’m thinking, “I came in five minutes ago, what’s the deal?”

And I’ll never forget the moment when I saw her face and just real … “Yes, she’s mine.” And this is the picture. And the whole host of people there to say, “Yes, she’s yours.” It was testifying to everybody, “She’s mine.” And this is what baptism is. It’s a picture, it’s a public picture, designed to be a public picture. It’s not a private thing. It’s the church baptizes. The church because this is the church saying, “Yes, he belongs to Christ. She belongs to Christ.” And it’s you saying, “Yes, I belong to Christ. It’s mine. I’ve identified with His death. I’m dead to sin and I’ve identified with His life and His resurrection. I’m alive in Him,” and the church celebrates it together. Why would we not make that a priority in the church? That’s good. We need to do this. That’s why it’s a non-negotiable, essential function activity of the church.