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Of all Biblical subjects, the most controversial is baptism. But it
needn't be so if we understand what the Bible teaches regarding it. In this
treatise, we intend to answer two questions from the Bible. The first is,
"What is baptism?" and the second is, "What is the purpose of baptism."
Now, Jesus thought baptism was important, because he told the apostles to "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," (Matt. 28:19). Friends, if Jesus thought enough of baptism to include it in his last words to the apostles, shouldn't we diligently search God's word to find out why he considered it so important? What is baptism? Now, we aren't interested in what the world thinks, what you think or what I think. The important question is, "what does the Bible say baptism is?" If you were to ask some denominational preachers what baptism is, they would say it is a sprinkling or pouring of water on a person. Many denominations practice sprinkling and call it baptism. Is that what the Bible teaches? Let's study together and arrive at the Bible answer to our question. The word "baptize," itself is a transliterated word. That simply means that the translators of the Bible didn't use an English word for the Greek Baptizo. They simply dropped the "o" from the end of the word and replaced it with an "e". Thus a Greek word became an English word with the alteration of only one letter. The definition of the Greek word "baptizo," from which we get "baptize" is "to dip or immerse" and James Strong's Greek Dictionary of the New Testament says it means "to make whelmed." The word "whelm" means to cover or immerse completely - so if the translators of the Bible had translated the word baptizo instead of transliterating it they would have used the word immerse. That's why baptism is called a burial by the apostle Paul in Romans 6: 3 and 4. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Paul says baptism is a burial. Sprinkling or pouring water on one does not fit with that Biblical description of baptism. In fact, those who administered Bible baptism never handled the element of baptism. The element is water and in sprinkling and pouring the administrator handles the water within a container. This was not the case in the New Testament. Baptism was always a burial and for those who seek to know God's will today, baptism is exactly what the Bible says it is. John 3:23 says John the Baptizer was "baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there." Baptism requires much water. It also requires a "going down into the water and a coming up out of the water. The account of the Ethiopian and his conversion in Acts the eighth chapter indicates this. Philip the evangelist preached to the Ethiopian nobleman and as they came to some water the Ethiopian said, "See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36). "And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip..." (Acts 8:38-39). The baptism taught in the New Testament is a burial or immersion in water. But now, let's turn our attention to our second question. We know that Jesus commanded baptism and that it was practiced in the book of Acts by the very first disciples of Christ. For what purpose did they preach and practice baptism? The simple answer to that question is found in Mark's account of the Great Commission. In Mark 16:15-16 Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." This passage gives us the importance and purpose of baptism. Jesus commanded it because he requires it of those who want to be saved. Baptism, according to this passage is for the purpose of salvation. This is one of those un-get-around-able texts. It is so patently plain that one would need help to misunderstand it, yet there are multitudes who deny its plain statement — "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." |