Beth-El Baptist Church
06/18/06
Greg Tomlinson
Why is the function of the Local Church to baptize?
Over the last couple of meetings we have been looking at the function of the church. As we looked at the commission of the church in Matthew 28:18-20 there were four distinct functions identified by Jesus. The first was the recognition of Jesus’ authority. The second was to make disciples. The third was to baptize.
1. What does ‘baptize’ mean?
Matthew 3:6; 26:23
Mark 14:20
John 13:26
Revelation 19:13
Notice the John baptized in the Jordan and that the root of baptized is ‘bapto’ which is also a root of ‘embapto’. Both words are always translated as ‘dipped’. The historical usage of the transliterated, not translated, word ‘baptize’ has to do with immersed or dipped as well as washed. It is a washing or a cleansing.
Leviticus 11:25-28; 14:2-10
It is also associated with the Levitical law of washings due to uncleanness. Leprosy is used in the New Testament as a typical sign of sin. When the leper was clean from his Leprosy he was washed in order to be considered clean now. Thus baptism is a washing away of the sins.
2. What method of baptism should be used?
Matthew 3:16
Mark 1:10
John 3:23
Acts 8:36-39
When John the Baptist was baptizing, he baptized where there “was much water” and associated with the baptisms was a coming up out of the water. Both of these phrases, as well as the meaning of baptize being to dip or immerse points to being baptized by immersion.
3. Who should be baptized?
Act 8:36-39; 16:30-34
While some may see in the Acts 16 passage the need for baptizing everyone in a house, including infants, there is nothing in the text that says or implies that infants were there. The house could have just been the jailer, his wife and servants. The clearer passage is in Acts 8 in which Philip explicitly asked the Ethiopian if he believed with all his heart. Belief was the necessary and sufficient requirement for salvation. This text indicates that believers are the ones who should be baptized.
4. Is baptism required for salvation?
Acts 2:37-38 cmp 1 Peter 3:18-22
John 4:1-2
1 Corinthians 1:14-18
The scripture does say that we are to ‘repent, and be baptized’ to ‘receive the gift of the Holy Ghost’. It also says that the baptism that saves is ‘not the putting away of the filth of the flesh’. In a sense, there is a requirement of baptism for salvation, but the baptism that saves is not of water. Also notice that neither Jesus nor Paul dedicated themselves to baptizing. If baptism were required for salvation, then why do the scriptures specifically point out the lack of baptizing done by Jesus and Paul?
Other facts about salvation and baptism:
Acts 16:31-33
Hebrews 13:8 cmp Malachi 3:6
Luke 23:39-43 cmp 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
According to the scriptures, neither Yahweh nor Jesus (Yahweh in flesh) has ever and will never change. This means that his plan of salvation has never changed. The salvation of those who lived before the cross and those that lived at the cross (the thief on the cross) and those that lived after the cross and were saved, were all saved the same way. Salvation comes by putting your trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that saves and not our baptism.
5. If baptism by water does not save then why did Peter say to repent and be baptized?
Matthew 3:11-12
Mark 1:8
Luke 3:16-17
John 1:33
Acts 1:4-5; 2:38; 10:47; 11:16
2 Corinthians 1:22
Scripture talks about two distinct types of baptism. There is the baptism of water the John did and which was considered to be an inferior baptism to the baptism of Jesus. Then there is the baptism of Jesus, which was associated with the coming of the Holy Ghost. The baptism that is truly done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19) is the baptism that is results in the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the “heart” (life) of the believer and which sanctifies them for the purpose of God. You must have Jesus. You must have the Holy Spirit to be saved.
6. Why should someone be baptized?
Matthew 3:13-16; 28:19
Baptism is a sign of obedience. Jesus was baptized not to be saved, but to fulfill all righteousness. It is done out of obedience to the command of God to be baptized.
7. What does baptism mean to the Christian?
Romans 6:3-5
To the Christian, Baptism is the self-identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By being baptized the believer is saying that they view Jesus’ death on the cross was done on their behalf (entrance into water), Jesus’ burial was the burial of their sinful self (immersion into the water), Jesus’ resurrection was the preliminary of their resurrection (extraction out of the water). Baptism then is a sign of being participating in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There are
two distinct baptisms in scripture. The local church baptizes using water as
John did as a sign of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on
behalf of the new believer. They are dead to sin to be alive to Christ. The
true baptism of Jesus comes by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for all
eternity into the life of the Christian.