Baptism:
General Information:Baptism is a Sacrament of the Christian church in which candidates are immersed in water or water is poured over them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is derived from the practice of John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, and probably from the Jewish tebilah (a ritual bath).
Matthew 28:19 calls upon Christians to make disciples and to baptize them.In the early church, baptism was administered after a period of preparation (catechumenate), preferably at Easter. It was performed in conjunction with the rites later called confirmation and Eucharist. The effects of baptism were believed to be union with Jesus in his death and Resurrection, forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, membership in the church, and rebirth to new life in Christ. Some scholars believe infants were included among the candidates from the beginning; others believe that infant baptism began in the 3d century. Today Baptists and Disciples of Christ do not practice infant baptism and do insist on immersion. Most other churches baptize infants and permit the pouring of water. A few Protestant groups, such as the Quakers, reject outward baptism altogether. The Christian rite is in some ways similar to rites of purification used in other religions.
Bibliography
G R Beasley - Murray, Baptism in the New Testament
(1973); A T Eastman, The Baptizing Community (1982); M Fahey, ed., Catholic
Perspectives on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (1986); A Schmemann, Of Water
and the Spirit (1974); G Wainwright, Christian Initiation (1969).
Baptism:
General Information:In the normal process of things, one's Salvation is accomplished entirely separately from the Sacrament of Baptism. A person proceeds through Regeneration and Justification and becomes Saved. The subject of Baptism is a little different.
There are even some different attitudes toward Baptism. The actual most "correct" one is called "Believer's Baptism". (An entire article about Believer's Baptism is below, and most of these articles refer to it.) This is where, once a person IS Saved, whether as a 'new' Christian or a life-long Church attendee, a Baptism is performed, for that new Believer. This is actually the Sacrament that Jesus instituted. It is an after-the-fact public acknowledgement and demonstration that a person has been Saved.
There are many Churches and many Christians who consider Baptism to be a sort of "help" toward being Saved. "Infant Baptism" (see the article below) fits in this category, where a child clearly does not yet fully comprehend all the significance of being Saved or the Sacrament. There can easily be such value, mostly in a psychological basis, but that concept seems clearly somewhat different from what Jesus intended Baptism to represent.
Since the only people who would receive a Believer's Baptism are those who have been ALREADY Saved, such people are expected to clearly and fully under stand the difference between right and wrong. Such people also now recognize and understand the many "sins" they had done prior to becoming Saved as a Christian.
The Baptism therefore represents a "washing away" of those past sins (forgiveness for them), allowing the new Christian to have a "clean slate" without carrying countless earlier guilts and sins. In addition, the "washing" of the Baptism implies a new "cleanness and purity" suitable for the entrance of a new indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) in that individual.
The newly Saved Christian (or newly committed or re-committed Christian) therefore benefits from the Baptism regarding both his/her past (forgiveness) and future (guidance by the Spirit).
The combination of all these effects represents a public indication that the person has fully and totally committed to a Christian Faith. A Church considers this Sacrament to represent a transition to becoming a "full" member of the Church. Where an individual was generally considered a "Seeker" before, now he/she is a Christian, and can take his/her rightful place in the structure of the Church.
The Sacrament of Baptism reflects on the other of the 2 Sacraments that most Protestant Churches administer, the Eucharist. Prior to Baptism, nearly all Churches deny participation in the Eucharist to those present in the Church. It is believed that the Eucharist is explicitly intended only for Christians who have been Baptized.
Virtually ALL Christian Churches follow this Sacrament. It is quite important to all Christian Churches, since Jesus Himself instituted it.
Christian Baptism:
Advanced Information:Christian Baptism is an ordinance immediately instituted by Christ (Matt. 28: 19, 20), and designed to be observed in the church, like that of the Supper, "till he come." The words "baptize" and "baptism" are simply Greek words transferred into English. This was necessarily done by the translators of the Scriptures, for no literal translation could properly express all that is implied in them. The mode of baptism can in no way be determined from the Greek word rendered "baptize." Baptists say that it means "to dip," and nothing else. That is an incorrect view of the meaning of the word. It means both (1) to dip a thing into an element or liquid, and (2) to put an element or liquid over or on it. Nothing therefore as to the mode of baptism can be concluded from the mere word used.
The word has a wide latitude of meaning, not only in the New Testament, but also in the LXX. Version of the Old Testament, where it is used of the ablutions and baptisms required by the Mosaic law. These were effected by immersion, and by affusion and sprinkling; and the same word, "washings" (Heb. 9:10, 13, 19, 21) or "baptisms," designates them all.In the New Testament there cannot be found a single well-authenticated instance of the occurrence of the word where it necessarily means immersion. Moreover, none of the instances of baptism recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (2:38-41; 8:26-39; 9:17, 18; 22:12-16; 10:44-48; 16:32-34) favours the idea that it was by dipping the person baptized, or by immersion, while in some of them such a mode was highly improbable.
The gospel and its ordinances are designed for the whole world, and it cannot be supposed that a form for the administration of baptism would have been prescribed which would in any place (as in a tropical country or in polar regions) or under any circumstances be inapplicable or injurious or impossible. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two symbolical ordinances of the New Testament. The Supper represents the work of Christ, and Baptism the work of the Spirit.
As in the Supper a small amount of bread and wine used in this ordinance exhibits in symbol the great work of Christ, so in Baptism the work of the Holy Spirit is fully seen in the water poured or sprinkled on the person in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That which is essential in baptism is only "washing with water," no mode being specified and none being necessary or essential to the symbolism of the ordinance.
The apostles of our Lord were baptized with the Holy Ghost (Matt. 3:11) by his coming upon them (Acts 1:8). The fire also with which they were baptized sat upon them. The extraordinary event of Pentecost was explained by Peter as a fulfilment of the ancient promise that the Spirit would be poured out in the last days (2:17). He uses also with the same reference the expression shed forth as descriptive of the baptism of the Spirit (33). In the Pentecostal baptism "the apostles were not dipped into the Spirit, nor plunged into the Spirit; but the Spirit was shed forth, poured out, fell on them (11:15), came upon them, sat on them." That was a real and true baptism. We are warranted from such language to conclude that in like manner when water is poured out, falls, comes upon or rests upon a person when this ordinance is administered, that person is baptized.
Baptism is therefore, in view of all these arguments "rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person."
The subjects of baptism:
This raises questions of greater importance than those relating to its mode.
- 1. The controversy here is not about "believers' baptism," for that is common to all parties. Believers were baptized in apostolic times, and they have been baptized in all time by all the branches of the church. It is altogether a misrepresentation to allege, as is sometimes done by Baptists, that their doctrine is "believers' baptism," Every instance of adult baptism, or of "believers' baptism," recorded in the New Testament (Acts 2:41; 8:37; 9:17, 18; 10:47; 16:15; 19:5, etc.) is just such as would be dealt with in precisely the same way by all branches of the Protestant Church, a profession of faith or of their being "believers" would be required from every one of them before baptism. The point in dispute is not the baptism of believers, but whether the infant children of believers, i.e., of members of the church, ought to be baptized.
- 2. In support of the doctrine of infant baptism, i.e., of the baptism of
the infants, or rather the "children," of believing parents, the following
considerations may be adduced: The Church of Christ exists as a divinely
organized community. It is the "kingdom of God," one historic kingdom under
all dispensations. The commonwealth of Israel was the "church" (Acts 7:38;
Rom. 9:4) under the Mosaic dispensation. The New Testament church is not a new
and different church, but one with that of the Old Testament. The terms of
admission into the church have always been the same viz., a profession of
faith and a promise of subjection to the laws of the kingdom. Now it is a fact
beyond dispute that the children of God's people under the old dispensation
were recognized as members of the church. Circumcision was the sign and seal
of their membership. It was not because of carnal descent from Abraham, but as
being the children of God's professing people, that this rite was administered
(Rom. 4:11). If children were members of the church under the old
dispensation, which they undoubtedly were, then they are members of the church
now by the same right, unless it can be shown that they have been expressly
excluded.
Under the Old Testament parents acted for their children and represented them. (See Gen. 9:9; 17:10; Ex. 24:7, 8; Deut. 29:9-13.) When parents entered into covenant with God, they brought their children with them. This was a law in the Hebrew Church. When a proselyte was received into membership, he could not enter without bringing his children with him. The New Testament does not exclude the children of believers from the church. It does not deprive them of any privilege they enjoyed under the Old Testament.
There is no command or statement of any kind, that can be interpreted as giving any countenance to such an idea, anywhere to be found in the New Testament. The church membership of infants has never been set aside. The ancient practice, originally appointed by God himself, must remain a law of his kingdom till repealed by the same divine authority.
There are lambs in the fold of the Good Shepherd (John 21:15; comp. Luke 1:15; Matt. 19:14; 1 Cor. 7:14). "In a company of converts applying for admission into Christ's house there are likely to be some heads of families. How is their case to be treated? How, for example, are Lydia and her neighbour the keeper of the city prison to be treated? Both have been converted. Both are heads of families. They desire to be received into the infant church of Philippi. What is Christ's direction to them? Shall we say that it is to this effect: 'Arise, and wash away your sins, and come into my house. But you must come in by yourselves. These babes in your arms, you must leave them outside. They cannot believe yet, and so they cannot come in. Those other little ones by your side, their hearts may perhaps have been touched with the love of God; still, they are not old enough to make a personal profession, so they too must be left outside...For the present you must leave them where they are and come in by yourselves.'
One may reasonably demand very stringent proofs before accepting this as a fair representation of the sort of welcome Christ offers to parents who come to his door bringing their children with them. Surely it is more consonant with all we know about him to suppose that his welcome will be more ample in its scope, and will breathe a more gracious tone.
Surely it would be more like the Good Shepherd to say, 'Come in, and bring your little ones along with you. The youngest needs my salvation; and the youngest is accessible to my salvation. You may be unable as yet to deal with them about either sin or salvation, but my gracious power can find its way into their hearts even now. I can impart to them pardon and a new life. From Adam they have inherited sin and death; and I can so unite them to myself that in me they shall be heirs of righteousness and life. You may without misgiving bring them to me. And the law of my house requires that the same day which witnesses your reception into it by baptism must witness their reception also'"
(from: The Church, by Professor Binnie, D.D.).
(Easton Illustrated Dictionary)
Baptism:
Advanced Information:Deriving from the Greek baptisma, "baptism" denotes the action of washing or plunging in water, which from the earliest days (Acts 2:41) has been used as the rite of Christian initiation. Its origins have been variously traced to the OT purifications, the lustrations of Jewish sects, and parallel pagan washings, but there can be no doubt that baptism as we know it begins with the baptism of John. Christ himself, by both precedent (Matt. 3:13) and precept (Matt. 28:19), gives us authority for its observance. On this basis it has been practiced by almost all Christians, though attempts have been made to replace it by a baptism of fire or the Spirit in terms of Matt. 3:11.
In essence the action is an extremely simple one, though pregnant with meaning. It consists in a going in or under the baptismal water in the name of Christ (Acts 19:5) or more commonly the Trinity (Matt. 28:19). Immersion was fairly certainly the original practice and continued in general use up to the Middle Ages. The Reformers agreed that this best brought out the meaning of baptism as a death and resurrection, but even the early Anabaptists did not think it essential so long as the subject goes under the water. The type of water and circumstances of administration are not important, though it seems necessary that there should be a preaching and confession of Christ as integral parts of the administration (cf. Acts 8:37). Other ceremonies may be used at discretion so long as they are not unscriptural and do not distract from the true action, like the complicated and rather superstitious ceremonial of the medieval and modern Roman Church.
Discussion has been raised concerning the proper ministers and subjects of the action.
In the first instance there may be agreement with Augustine that Christ himself is the true minister ("he shall baptize you," Matt. 3:11). But Christ does not give the external baptism directly; he commits this to his disciples (John 4:2). This is taken to mean that baptism should be administered by those to whom there is entrusted by inward and outward calling the ministry of word and sacrament, though laymen have been allowed to baptize in the Roman Church, and some early Baptists conceived the strange notion of baptizing themselves. Normally baptism belongs to the public ministry of the church.
As concerns the subjects, the main difference is between those who practice the baptism of the children of confessing Christians and those who insist upon a personal confession as a prerequisite. This point is considered in the two separate articles devoted to the two positions [Editor: presented below] and need not detain us in this exposition of positive baptismal teaching. [It may be noted, however, that adult baptisms continue in all churches, that confession is everywhere considered important], and that Baptists often feel impelled to an act of dedication of children. Among adults it has been a common practice to refuse baptism to those unwilling to leave doubtful callings, though the attempt of one sect to impose a minimum age of thirty years did not meet with common approval. In the case of children, there has been misgiving concerning the infants of parents whose profession of Christian faith is very obviously nominal or insincere. The special case of the mentally impaired demands sympathetic treatment, but there is no warrant for prenatal or forced baptisms, and even less for baptism of inanimate objects such as was practiced in the Middle Ages.
A clue to the meaning of baptism is given by three OT types: the flood (I Pet. 3:19-20), the Red Sea (I Cor. 10:1-2), and circumcision (Col. 2:11-12). These all refer in different ways to the divine covenant, to its provisional fulfillment in a divine act of judgment and grace, and to the coming and definitive fulfillment in the baptism of the cross. The conjunction of water with death and redemption is particularly apt in the case of the first two; the covenantal aspect is more particularly emphasized in the third.
When we come to the action itself, there are many different but interrelated associations. The most obvious is that of washing (Titus 3:5), the cleansing water being linked with the blood of Christ on the one side and the purifying action of the Spirit on the other (see I John 5:6, 8), so that we are brought at once to the divine work of reconciliation. A second is that of initiation, adoption, or, more especially, regeneration (John 3:5), the emphasis again being placed on the operation of the Spirit in virtue of the work of Christ.
These various themes find common focus in the primary thought of baptism (in the destructive, yet also life-giving, power of water) as a drowning and an emergence to new life, i.e., a death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4). But here again the true witness of the action is to the work of God in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ. This identification with sinners in judgment and renewal is what Jesus accepts when he comes to the baptism of John and fulfills when he takes his place between two thieves on the cross (Luke 12:50). Here we have the real baptism of the NT, which makes possible the baptism of our identification with christ and underlies and is attested by the outward sign. Like preaching and the Lord's Supper, "baptism" is an evangelical word telling us that Christ has died and risen again in our place, so that we are dead and alive again in him, with him, and through him. (Rom. 6:4, 11).
Like all preaching, however, baptism carries with it the call to that which we should do in response or correspondence to what Christ has done for us. We, too must make our movement of death and resurrection, not to add to what Christ has done, nor to complete it, nor to compete with it, but in grateful acceptance and application. We do this in three related ways constantly kept before us by our baptism: the initial response of repentance and faith (Gal. 2:20); the life long process of mortification and renewal (Eph. 4:22-23); and the final dissolution and resurrection of the body (I Cor. 15). This rich signification of baptism, which is irrespective of the time or manner of baptism, is the primary theme that ought to occupy us in baptismal discussion and preaching. But it must be emphasized continually that this personal acceptance or entry is not independent of the once for all and substitutionary work of Christ, which is the true baptism.
It is forgetfulness of this point which leads to misunderstanding of the so-called grace of baptism. This may be by its virtual denial. Baptism has no grace apart from its psychological effects. It is primarily a sign of something that we do, and its value may be assessed only in explicable religious terms. The fact that spiritual gifts and even faith itself are true gifts of the Holy Spirit, with an element of the mysterious and incalculable, is thus denied.
On the other hand, it may be by distortion or exaggeration. Baptism means the almost automatic infusion of a mysterious substance which accomplishes a miraculous but not very obvious transformation. It is thus to be regarded with awe, and fulfilled as an action of absolute necessity to salvation except in very special cases. The true mystery of the Holy Spirit yields before ecclesiastical magic and theological sophistry.
But when baptismal grace is brought into proper relationship to the work of God, we are helped on the way to a fruitful understanding.
When we think in these terms, we can see that there is and ought to be a real, though not a magical, baptismal grace which is not affected greatly by the detailed time or mode of administration. The essentials are that we use it (1) to present Christ, (2) in prayer to the Holy Spirit, (3) in trustful dependence upon his sovereign work, and (4) in conjunction with the spoken word. Restored to this evangelical use, and freed especially from distorting and unhelpful controversy, baptism might quickly manifest again its power as a summons to live increasingly, or even to begin to live, the life which is ours in Christ crucified and risen for us.
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)
Bibliography
G.W. Bromiley, Baptism and the Anglican Reformers; J.
Calvin, Institutes 4; W.F. Flemington, The NT Doctrine of Baptism; Reports on
Baptism in the Church of Scotland; G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the NT; A.
Oepke, TDNT, I, 529-46.
Baptism (noun):
Advanced Information:Baptism, consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence (from bapto, "to dip"), is used (a) of John's "baptism," (b) of Christian "baptism," see B. below; (c) of the overwhelming afflictions and judgments to which the Lord voluntarily submitted on the cross, e.g., Luke 12:50; (d) of the sufferings His followers would experience, not of a vicarious character, but in fellowship with the sufferings of their Master. Some mss. have the word in Matt. 20:22-23; it is used in Mark 10:38-39, with this meaning.
Baptism (noun):
Advanced Information:as distinct from baptisma (the ordinance), is used of the "ceremonial washing of articles," Mark 7:4, 8, in some texts; Heb. 9:10; once in a general sense, Heb. 6:2.
Baptism, Baptize (verb):
Advanced Information"to baptize," primarily a frequentative form of bapto, "to dip," was used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of water by dipping a vessel into another, etc. Plutarchus uses it of the drawing of wine by dipping the cup into the bowl (Alexis, 67) and Plato, metaphorically, of being overwhelmed with questions (Euthydemus, 277 D). It is used in the NT in Luke 11:38 of washing oneself (as in 2 Kings 5:14, "dipped himself," Sept.); see also Isa. 21:4, lit., "lawlessness overwhelms me." In the early chapters of the four Gospels and in Acts 1:5; 11:16; 19:4, it is used of the rite performed by John the Baptist who called upon the people to repent that they might receive remission of sins. Those who obeyed came "confessing their sins," thus acknowledging their unfitness to be in the Messiah's coming kingdom.
Distinct from this is the "baptism" enjoined by Christ, Matt. 28:19, a "baptism" to be undergone by believers, thus witnessing to their identification with Him in death, burial and resurrection, e.g., Acts 19:5; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 1:13-17; 12:13; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:12. The phrase in Matt. 28:19, "baptizing them into the Name" (RV; cf. Acts 8:16, RV), would indicate that the "baptized" person was closely bound to, or became the property of, the one into whose name he was "baptized." In Acts 22:16 it is used in the middle voice, in the command given to Saul of Tarsus, "arise and be baptize," the significance of the middle voice form being "get thyself baptized." The experience of those who were in the ark at the time of the Flood was a figure or type of the facts of spiritual death, burial, and resurrection, Christian "baptism" being an antitupon, "a corresponding type," a "like figure," 1 Pet. 3:21.
Likewise the nation of Israel was figuratively baptized when made to pass through the Red Sea under the cloud, 1 Cor. 10:2. The verb is used metaphorically also in two distinct senses: firstly, of "baptism" by the Holy Spirit, which took place on the Day of Pentecost; secondly, of the calamity which would come upon the nation of the Jews, a "baptism" of the fire of divine judgment for rejection of the will and word of God, Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16.
Believers Baptism:
Advanced Information:Where the gospel is first preached or Christian profession has lapsed, baptism is always administered on confession of penitence and faith. In this sense believers' baptism, i.e., the baptism of those who make a profession of faith, has been an accepted and persistent phenomenon in the church. Yet there are powerful groups among Christians who think that we should go further than this. Believers' baptism as they see it is not merely legitimate; it is the only true baptism according to the NT, especially, though not necessarily, in the form of immersion.
This is seen first from the precept which underlies its institution. When Jesus commanded the apostles to baptize, he told them first to make disciples and said nothing whatever about infants (Matt. 28:19). In other words, preaching must always precede baptism, for it is by the word and not the sacrament that disciples are first made. Baptism can be given only when the recipient has responded to the word in penitence and faith, and it is to be followed at once by a course of more detailed instruction.
That the apostles understood it in this way is evident from the precedents which have come down to us in Acts. On the day of Pentecost, for example, Peter told the conscience-stricken people to repent and be baptized; he did not mention any special conditions for infants incapable of repentance (Acts 2:38). Again, when the Ethiopian eunuch desired baptism, he was told that there could be no hindrance so long as he believed, and it was on confession of faith that Philip baptized him (Acts 8:36ff.). Even when whole households were baptized, we are normally told that they first heard the gospel preached and either believed or received an endowment of the Spirit (cf. Acts 10:45; 16:32-33). In any case, no mention is made of any other type of baptism.
The meaning of baptism as developed by Paul in Rom. 6 supports this contention. It is in repentance and faith that we are identified with Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. To infants who cannot hear the word and make the appropriate response, it thus seems to be meaningless and even misleading to speak of baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ.
The confessing believer alone knows what this means and can work it out in his life. In baptism, confessing his penitence and faith, he has really turned his back on the old life and begun to live the new life in Christ. He alone can look back to a meaningful conversion or regeneration and thus receive the confirmation and accept the challenge that comes with baptism. To introduce any other form of baptism is to open the way to perversion or misconception.To be sure, there is no direct prohibition of infant baptism in the NT. But in the absence of direction either way it is surely better to carry out the sacrament or ordinance as obviously commanded and practiced than to rely on exegetical or theological inference for a different administration. This is particularly the case in view of the weakness or irrelevance of many of the considerations advanced.
Christ's blessing of the children, for example, shows us that the gospel is for little ones and that we have a duty to bring them to Christ, but it says nothing whatever about administering baptism contrary to the acknowledged rule (Mark 10:13ff.). Again, the fact that certain characters may be filled with the Spirit from childhood (Luke 1:15) suggests that God may work in infants, but it gives us no warrant to suppose that he normally does so, or that he does so in any given case, or that baptism may be given before this work finds expression in individual repentance and faith. Again, the children of Christians enjoy privileges and perhaps even a status which cannot be ascribed to others. They are reckoned in some sense "holy" by God (I Cor. 7:14). But here too there is no express connection with baptism or the baptismal identification with Jesus Christ in death and resurrection.
[Reference to the household baptisms of Acts is of no greater help.] The probability may well be that some of these households included infants, yet this is by no means certain. Even if they did, it is unlikely that the infants were present when the word was preached, and there is no indication that any infants were actually baptized. At very best this could only be a hazardous inference, and the general drift of the narratives seems to be in a very different direction.
Nor does it serve to introduce the OT sign of circumcision. There is certainly a kinship between the signs. But there are also great differences. The fact that the one was given to infant boys on a fixed day is no argument for giving the other to all children some time in infancy. They belong, if not to different covenants, at least to different dispensations of the one covenant: the one to a preparatory stage, when a national people was singled out and its sons belonged naturally to the people of God; the other to the fulfillment, when the Israel of God is spiritual and children are added by spiritual rather than natural regeneration. In any case, God himself gave a clear command to circumcise the male descendants of Abraham; he has given no similar command to baptize the male and female descendants of Christians.
Theologically, the insistence upon believers' baptism in all cases seems better calculated to serve the true significance and benefit of baptism and to avoid the errors which so easily threaten it. Only when there is personal confession before baptism can it be seen that personal repentance and faith are necessary to salvation through Christ, and that these do not come magically but through hearing the word of God. With believers' baptism the ordinance achieves its significance as the mark of a step from darkness and death to light and life. [The recipient is thus confirmed in the decision which he has taken, brought into the living company of the regenerate, which is the true church, and encouraged to walk in the new life which he has begun.]
[This means that in believers' baptism faith is given its proper weight and sense.] The need for faith is recognized, of course, in infant baptism. It is contended that infants may believe by a special work of the Spirit, or that their present or future faith is confessed by the parents or sponsors, or that the parents or sponsors exercise vicarious faith, or even that faith is given in, with, or under the administration. Some of these notions are manifestly unscriptural. In others there is a measure of truth. But none of them meets the requirement of a personal confession of personal faith as invariably fulfilled in believers' baptism.
Again, believers' baptism also carries with it a genuine, as opposed to a spurious, baptismal grace. The expression of repentance and faith in baptism gives conscious assurance of forgiveness and regeneration and carries with it an unmistakable summons to mortification and renewal. Properly understood, this may also be the case with infant baptism, as in the Reformed churches. But a good deal of embarrassed explanation is necessary to make this clear, and there is always the risk of a false understanding, as in the medieval and Romanist view of baptismal regeneration. [Baptism on profession of faith is the only effective safeguard against the dangerous notion that baptism itself can automatically transfer the graces which it represents.]
To the exegetical and theological considerations there may also be added some less important but noteworthy historical arguments. First, there is no decisive evidence for a common Jewish practice of infant baptism in apostolic times. Second, the patristic statements linking infant baptism with the apostles are fragmentary and unconvincing in the earlier stages. Third, examples of believers' baptism are common in the first centuries, and a continuing, if supressed, witness has always been borne to this requirement. Fourth, the development of infant baptism seems to be linked with the incursion of pagan notions and practices. Finally, there is evidence of greater evangelistic incisiveness and evangelical purity of doctrine where this form of baptism is recognized to be the baptism of the NT.
G W Bromiley
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)
Bibliography
K. Barth, The Teaching of the Church Regarding Baptism and Church Dogmatics IV/4; A. Booth, Paedobaptism Examined; A. Carson, Baptism in Its Modes and Subjects; J. Gill, Body of Divinity; J. Warns, Baptism; K. Aland, Did the Early Church Baptize Infants? D. Moody, The World of Truth.
Infant Baptism:
Advanced Information:In a missionary situation the first subjects of baptism are always converts. But throughout Christian history, attested as early as Irenaeus and Origen with a reference back to the apostles, it has also been given to the children of professing believers. This has not been solely on grounds of tradition, or in consequence of a perversion, but for what have been regarded as scriptural reasons.
To be sure, there is no direct command to baptize infants. But there is also no prohibition. Again, if we have no clear-cut example of an infant baptism in the NT, there may well have been such in the household baptisms of Acts, and there is also no instance of the children of Christians being baptized on profession of faith. In other words, no decisive guidance is given by direct precept or precedent.
Yet there are two lines of biblical study which are thought to give convincing reasons for the practice. The first is a consideration of detailed passages or statements from the OT and NT. The second is a consideration of the whole underlying theology of baptism as it comes before us in the Bible.
To begin with the detailed passages, we naturally turn first to the types of baptism found in the OT. All these favor the view that God deals with families rather than individuals. When Noah is saved from the flood, his whole family is received with him into the ark (cf. 1 Pet. 3:20-21). When Abraham is given the covenant sign of circumcision, he is commanded to administer it to all the male members of his house (Gen. 17; cf. Col. 2:11-12 for the connection between baptism and circumcision). At the Red Sea it is all Israel (men, women, and children) which passes through the waters in the great act of redemption that foreshadows not only the sign of baptism but the work of God behind it (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-2).
In the NT the ministry of our Lord is particularly rich in relevant statements. He himself becomes a child, and as such is conceived of the Holy Spirit. The Baptist, too, is filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, so that he might have been a fit subject for baptism no less than circumcision very early in life. Later, Christ receives and blesses the little ones (Matt. 19:13-14) and is angry when his disciples rebuff them (Mark 10:14). He says that the things of God are revealed to babes rather than the wise and prudent (Luke 10:21). He takes up the statement of Ps. 8:2 about the praise of sucklings (Matt. 21:16). He warns against the danger of offending against little ones that believe in him (Matt. 18:6), and in the same context says that to be Christians we have not to become adults but to become as children.
In the first preaching in Acts it is noticeable that Peter confirms the covenant procedure of the OT with the words: "The promise is unto you, and to your children." In the light of the OT background and the similar procedure in proselyte baptisms, there is little reason to doubt that the household baptisms would include any children who might belong to the families concerned.
In the epistles children are particularly addressed in Ephesians, Colossians, and probably 1 John. We also have the important statement in 1 Cor. 7:14 in which Paul speaks of the children of marriages that have become "mixed" by conversion as "holy." This cannot refer to their civil status, but can only mean that they belong to the covenant people, and therefore will obviously have a right to the covenant sign.
It will be noted that in different ways all these statements bring before us the covenant membership of the children of professing believers. They thus introduce us directly to the biblical understanding of baptism that provides the second line of support for baptizing infants.
As the Bible sees it, baptism is not primarily a sign of repentance and faith on the part of the baptized. It is not a sign of anything that we do at all. It is a covenant sign (like circumcision, but without blood-shedding), and therefore a sign of the work of God on our behalf which precedes and makes possible our own responsive movement.
Its a sign of the gracious election of the Father who plans and establishes the covenant. It is therefore a sign of God's calling. Abraham no less than his descendants was first chosen and called by God (Gen. 12:1). Israel was separated to the Lord because he himself had said: "I will be your God, and ye shall be my people" (Jer. 7:23). Of all disciples it must be said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). The elective will of God in Christ extends to those who are far off as well as nigh, and the sign of it may be extended not only to those who have responded, but to their children growing up in the sphere of the divine choice and calling.
But baptism is also a sign of the substitutionary work of the Son in which the covenant is fulfilled. As a witness of death and resurrection, it attests the death and resurrection of the One for the many without whose vicarious action no work even of repentance and faith can be of any avail. It preaches Christ himself as the One who is already dead and risen, so that all are dead and risen in him (II Cor. 5:14; Col. 3:1) even before the movements of repentance and faith which they are summoned to make in identification with him. This substitutionary work is not merely for those who have already believed. It may and must be preached to all, and the sign and seal given both to those who accept it and to the children who will be brought up with the knowledge of what God has already done for them once for all and all-sufficiently in Christ.
Finally, baptism is a sign of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit by which individuals are brought into the covenant in the responsive movement of repentance and faith. But the Holy Spirit is sovereign (John 3:8). He works how and when and in whom he pleases. He laughs at human impossibilities (Luke 1:37). He is often present before his ministry is perceived, and his operation is not necessarily coextensive with our apprehension of it. He does not disdain the minds of the undeveloped as fit subjects for the beginning, or if he so disposes the completion, of his work. So long as there is prayer to the Spirit, and a readiness to preach the evangelical word when the opportunity comes, infants may be regarded as within the sphere of this life-giving work which it is the office of baptism to sign and seal.
Where infant baptism, or paedobaptism, as it is sometimes called, is practiced, it is right and necessary that those who grow to maturity should make their own confession of faith. But they do so with the clear witness that it is not this which saves them, but the work of God already done for them before they believed. The possibility arises, of course, that they will not make this confession, or do so formally. But this cannot be avoided by a different mode of administration. It is a problem of preaching and teaching. And even if they do not believe, or do so nominally, their prior baptism as a sign of the work of God is a constant witness to call or finally to condemn them.
On the mission field adult baptism will naturally continue. In days of apostasy it can and will be common even in evangelized lands. Indeed, as a witness to the fact that our response is really demanded it is good for the church that there should always be a Baptist section within it. But once the gospel has gained an entry into a family or community, there is good scriptural and theological ground that infant baptism should be the normal practice.
G W Bromiley
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)
Bibliography
G. W. Bromiley, The Baptism of Infants; J. Calvin,
Institutes 4.16; O. Cullmann, Baptism in the NT; P.C. Marcel, The Biblical
Doctrine of Infant Baptism; Reports on Baptism in the Church of Scotland; W.
Wall, The History of Infant Baptism; J. Jeremias, Infant Baptism in the First
Four Centuries; H. Thielicke, The Evangelical Faith, III.
Lay Baptism:
Advanced Information:[The NT affords neither precept nor precedent for the administration of baptism except by an ordained minister.] From an early period, however, laymen did give baptism where ministers were not available. The custom was defended by Tertullian and later theologians on the ground that what is received may be passed on, that the sacrament is more important than order, and that the rule of love permits it. Some early authorities insisted on certain qualifications (e.g., monogamy or confirmation), and the medieval church drew up an order of precedence.
Luther approved of the practice, seeing in it an exercise of the priesthood of the laity. But the Reformed school rejected and suppressed it on the ground that it is not scriptural, destroys good order, and is linked with the false idea of an absolute necessity of baptism. Baptism by midwives was particularly disliked. The practice was fully debated in the Church of England, and eventually discontinued after the Hampton Court Conference in 1604.
G W Bromiley
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)
Bibliography
J. Bingham, Works, VIII; G.W. Bromiley, Baptism and
the Anglican Reformers.
Rebaptism:
Advanced Information:During the second century, the church in Asia Minor, faced with considerable heresy, refused to recognize the validity of heretical baptism. Converts to the orthodox faith from heretical groups were accordingly rebaptized. The church at Rome, however, took the position that the rite was valid when properly performed, i.e., with the correct formula and with the right intention, despite the erroneous views of its administrator. In North Africa, Tertullian, then Cyprian, would not recognize the baptism of heretics. Cyprian carried on a bitter controversy with Stephen, bishop of Rome, on this issue. An anonymous writing, De rebaptismate, set forth the position of the church at Rome. It made a distinction between water baptism and Spirit baptism. When a heretic was admitted to the church by the laying on of hands, the Spirit was conveyed, making further application of water unnecessary.
The Roman position was endorsed by the Council of Arles (314) and was championed by Augustine in his controversy with the Donatists. Its advocates could point to the fact that Scripture contained no instance of rebaptism, that the analogous rite of circumcision was not repeatable, and that the questioning of the legitimacy of heretical baptism made the efficacy of the rite depend upon man rather than God. The Council of Trent, in its fourth canon on baptism, reaffirmed the Catholic position.
In Reformation times the Anabaptists insisted on baptism for those who had been baptized in infancy, and this has continued to be the position of the Baptist churches. The Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England practice what is known as conditional baptism in cases where there is doubt as to the validity of prior baptism. The formula used in the Church of England begins, "If thou art not already baptized, I baptize thee."
E F Harrison
Elwell Evangelical Dictionary
Bibliography
E. W. Benson, Cyprian; Blunt; H. G. Wood.
Modes of Baptism:
Advanced Information:There are, generally speaking, two opinions regarding the proper manner of administering baptism: that only immersion is lawful and that the mode is a matter of indifference. It would not be correct to identify the immersionist as the Baptist position, for some Baptists do not accept the necessity of immersion. The early Anabaptists as a rule baptized by pouring, and still today certain writers who strongly condemn infant baptism are indifferent as to mode (e.g., Karl Barth).
The immersionist position is founded on three arguments.
- (1) It is argued that the word baptizein means "to immerse" and therefore the command to baptize is itself a command to immerse. Baptizein in classical usage generally meant "to dip." Immersionists maintain that this meaning continues unaltered in NT usage and that this is confirmed by the use of the prepositions "in" and "into" with baptizein and by certain circumstantial references to baptism being administered in places where large supplies of water could be found (Luke 3:3; John 3:23).
- (2) Because baptism signifies union with Christ in his burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), immersionists contend that only sinking under and coming up out of the water adequately express the symbolism of the sacrament.
- (3) Immersionists lay claim to the testimony of the early church, for which immersion was the primary mode.
The second position is essentially a negative one.
It denies the immersionist insistence that baptism is rightly administered only by immersion; instead, it contends that in the NT baptism, in its external form, is simply a washing, a cleansing, which can as well be effected by pouring (affusion) or sprinkling (aspersion) as by immersion.
While there is widespread agreement that baptizein in classical Greek means "to immerse," because baptizein has become a technical theological term in the NT it is maintained that the classical and secular usage cannot by itself be normative. The term diatheke, for example, universally means "testament" in the Greek of the NT period, but it cannot be given that meaning in its NT usage. That in its biblical and theological use baptizein has come to mean simply "to wash" or "to purify with water" is indicated by certain occurrences of the term in the LXX and NT where baptizein cannot mean immerse (Sir. 34:25; Luke 11:38; Acts 1:5; 2:3-4, 17; 1 Cor. 10:1-2; Heb. 9:10-23). The last text in particular is a reminder that the purificatory water rites of the OT, the biblical antecedents of baptism, were never immersions. It is further maintained that it is at least implausible that certain baptisms recorded in the NT were immersions (Acts 2:41; 10:47-48; 16:33). Nor, it is contended, can appeal be made to the use of the prepositions "in" and "into" which are ambiguous and, if pressed, in Acts 8:38 would require the immersion of both subject and minister.
While baptism certainly signifies union with Christ in his death and resurrection, it is denied that this has relevance for the mode. In Rom. 6:6 union with Christ in his crucifixion and in Gal. 3:27 being clothed with Christ are included in the signification of baptism, but no mode illustrates these aspects of the symbolism of baptism. Further, water is a singularly unlikely symbol for the earth into which one is buried, as the immersionist contends. Actually, sprinkling is as well established in Ezek. 36:25 and Heb. 9:10, 13-14; 10:22.
It is conceded that immersion was the primary mode in the early church, but it is pointed out that other modes were permitted (cf. Didache 7; Cyprian, Epistle to Magnus 12), the earliest artistic representations depict baptism by pouring (affusion), and that some of the influences contributing to the popularity of immersion well may not have been healthy. In general, the nonimmersionist contends that rigor in matters of form is contrary to the spirit of NT worship, contrary to the universal indifference to the mode of celebrating the Lord's Supper, and subject to the scandal that, in principle, the immersionist depopulates the church of most of its membership and most of its finest sons and daughters.
R S Rayburn
Bibliography
A. Carson, Baptism, Its Mode and Its Subjects; T.J.
Conant, The Meaning and Use of Baptizein; J. Warns, Baptism; J. Gill, Body of
Divinity; A.H. Strong, Systematic Theology; A. Oepke, TDNT, I, 529, 46; B.B.
Warfield, "How Shall We Baptize?" in Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B.
Warfield, II; W.G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology; R.L. Dabney, Lectures in
Systematic Theology; R. Watson, Theological Institutes; R.G. Rayburn, What About Baptism? J. Murray, Christian Baptism.
Trine (Triune) Immersion Baptism:
One popular aspect of Baptizing a Christian involves a triple Baptism, called a Trine Baptism or a Triune Baptism. In contrast with a single immersion or a single sprinkling of water, this involves three quickly successive immersions or sprinklings.Historical Practice
There is no evidence that the Jews practiced trine immersion, nor had they doctrinal reason to do so. A threefold scheme is sometimes detected in the sequence of circumcision, baptism and sacrifice, but this sequence is reflected rather in the baptism, confirmation, and first communion of the early Church.The NT neither commands trine immersion nor provides any example of it. The only possible connection is with the trinity (Mt. 28:19), but single immersion might equally well be deduced from the reported baptizing in the name of Christ.
Yet trine immersion is undoubtedly early and seems to have established itself quickly as the common practice, though with no apparent appeal to the Apostles. Thus the Didache speaks of trine immersion (or affusion): "But if thou hast neither [cold or warm running water], pour water three times [Gk. tris] on the head 'in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit'" (7:3). Justin Martyr, too, seems to have hinted at trine immersion (Apol. i.61), and it is plainly attested by Tertullian: "And indeed it is not once only, but three times, that we are immersed into the Three Persons, at each several mention of Their names" (nam nec semel, sed ter, ad singula nomina. in personas singulas, tinguimur; Adv. Prax. 26; cf. also De corona 3). The Apostolic Constitutions reiterate: "if any bishop or presbyter does not perform the three immersions of the one admission, but one immersion, which is given into the death of Christ, let him be deprived" (xlvii. 50).
At a later stage Gregory allowed single immersion, in Spain, thus giving rise to the famous Toledo ruling much cited by the Reformers. This ruling seems to have been in opposition to a false Arian conception of the three persons and to emphasize their essential oneness in deity. In both Western and Eastern Churches trine immersion has continued to be the common practice.
Reformation Teaching:
The Reformers did not object in principle to trine immersion. For Luther it was a neutral matter. Calvin, too, argued for liberty in the matter, although he did not practice trine baptism; he also permitted either immersion or sprinkling (Inst. iv.15.19). The principle of a primary conformity to what is actually found in Scripture probably influenced Calvin's own practice.
In England the Sarum Use prescribes dipping, "first on the right side, then the left, then the face." In 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer maintains trine immersion; in the 1552 edition dipping remains, but the three dippings are abandoned as of no true moment. T. Becon (ca. 1511-1567) granted that the trine practice is ancient, but he listed it among things indifferent, since "Christ left the manner of baptism free in the church" (Works, 2, ed. J. Ayre for Parker Society [1843-44]). Later opinion tended to harden against the practice. Thus J. Calfhill (ca. 1530-1576), almost certainly erroneously, dismissed it as a "strange invention of Tertullian" (Works, 213, ed. Parker Society). Reformation teaching and practice was generally biased against the custom on the ground that it was an addition with no biblical sanction or true theological weight. A principle of liberty was not abandoned, however, except by the narrower Puritans.
The Reformation view seems on the whole to be the most satisfactory. Since trine immersion lacks direct biblical support, it is not a binding obligation. A different baptismal practice does not affect the sacrament and may be preferred by churches that try to exclude what is not biblically enjoined. Nevertheless, trine immersion has impressive historical attestation. It is not devoid of helpful signification and does not corrupt the sacrament. A liberty of judgment may thus be conceded to Churches that maintain the practice. In other words, it belongs to the sphere where each church may and should decide for itself the most appropriate form of fulfilling the scriptural ordinance.
Strong's Definitions for (Greek) Biblical Baptism words:
907 baptizo {bap-tid'-zo}
from a derivative of 911; TDNT - 1:529,92; verbAV - baptize (76), wash 2, baptist 1, baptized + 2258 1; 80
1.) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk).
2.) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe.
3.) to overwhelm.
When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g. Mark 16:16. 'He that believes and is baptised shall be saved'. Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!
Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.
908 baptisma {bap'-tis-mah}
from 907; TDNT - 1:545,92; n nAV - baptism 22; 22
1.) immersion, submersion
1a) of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed
1.b) of John's baptism, that purification rite by which men on confessing their sins were bound to spiritual reformation, obtained the pardon of their past sins and became qualified for the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom soon to be set up. This was valid Christian baptism, as this was the only baptism the apostles received and it is not recorded anywhere that they were ever rebaptised after Pentecost.
1.c) of Christian baptism; a rite of immersion in water as commanded by Christ, by which one after confessing his sins and professing his faith in Christ, having been born again by the Holy Spirit unto a new life, identifies publicly with the fellowship of Christ and the church.
In Rom. 6:3 Paul states we are "baptised unto death" meaning that we are not only dead to our former ways, but they are buried. To return to them is as unthinkable for a Christian as for one to dig up a dead corpse! 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.
909 baptismos {bap-tis-mos'}
from 907; TDNT - 1:545,92; n mAV - washing 3, baptism 1; 4
1.) a washing, purification effected by means of water
1a) of washing prescribed by the Mosaic law (Heb 9:10) which seems to mean an exposition of the difference between the washings prescribed by the Mosaic law and Christian baptism.
910 Baptistes {bap-tis-tace'}
from 907; TDNT - 1:545,92; n mAV - Baptist 14; 14
1.) a baptiser
2.) one who administers the rite of baptism
3.) the surname of John, the forerunner of Christ.
911 bapto {bap'-to}
a primary word; TDNT - 1:529,92; vAV - dip 3; 3
1) to dip, dip in, immerse
2) to dip into dye, to dye, color.
Not to be confused with 907, baptizo. The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.
