The subject of baptism is one which has been debated, at times hotly debated, for centuries, and I have no delusions that this brief series of articles will remedy that sad reality. Tradition is an incredibly powerful force. While not all traditions are bad, they ought to always be subjected most severely to the clear and plain teaching of the Word of God. Unfortunately, when it comes to this particular issue, the tradition stretches back into the ancient world. The earliest mention of paedobaptism (the baptism of infants and little children) is found in Tertullian’s work in the third-century “Of Baptism,” and he advocates that baptism be delayed until such a time “when they have become able to know Christ.”1 Our task, however, is not to examine the various historical positions taken in regards to baptism. The first step, the most important step, is to understand what the Scriptures themselves clearly and plainly reveal concerning this doctrine. The aim of this particular essay is to examine what the Bible says about the nature of baptism. What exactly is it, and what is its purpose?
The word “baptism” is a transliteration. It is the rendering of a Greek word with English letters. This means that the words “baptism” and “baptize” are not translations. The Greek words involved are βαπτίζω (the verb, baptizō) and βαπτισμός (the noun, baptismos). The primary meaning of the verb is to dip under.2 A true translation of the words would be “immerse” for the verb and “immersion” for the noun. We should, however, remember that the meaning of a word in a particular context is not simply determined by a dictionary entry. Words often have metaphorical or figurative meanings, where a truth is conveyed in expressive terms. This is certainly true of the Greek words related to baptism. For instance, in Acts 1:5, the Lord Jesus tells his disciples that they will be “baptized” with the Holy Ghost. God the Holy Spirit is not a liquid; he is the third person of the Trinity. The meaning, therefore, is obviously metaphorical: the disciples will be filled with the Spirit to such a degree that it can only be described as being fully immersed in him. Occasionally, the words are used to describe the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ in figurative terms (Matt. 20:22-23; Mk. 10:38-39). Sometimes the word is used simply as a descriptor, as in Mk. 6:14: John the Baptist. However, these metaphorical meanings are clearly indicated in the context of the passage. The vast majority of occurrences of these words refer to the actual act of water baptism. One principle of interpretation is that the primary meaning of a word takes precedent unless the context demands otherwise. In other words, we cannot make a word metaphorical if the context requires us to understand it literally. Thus, when Paul writes, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3), we must understand this baptism to refer to the ordinance of baptism, because this is the context of Paul’s argument. He is arguing against the antinomians who say that we can continue in sin that grace might abound. He counters this by reminding the Roman church that they were baptized into Christ Jesus, and thus baptized into his death and burial, and raised to newness of life in Christ. The entire force of the argument is lost if we do not understand this to be speaking of actual immersion into water. In short, unless the context clearly demands otherwise, we must understand these words to refer to an actual immersion of the recipient into water, and their subsequent rising out of the water.
Additionally, the examples of baptism that we see in the New Testament clearly indicate that immersion is the only proper. In Mark 1:9-10, we read the account of our Savior’s baptism: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him” (Mark 1:9-10). The point is even more forceful in the Greek, where Mark uses the word ἀναβαίνω (anabainō). This word literally means to go upwards, to ascend, or climb. The implication is that the Lord Jesus was under the water, and then rose up out of it. We see the same in the record of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. When Philip and this man came to a certain water, the eunuch asked to baptized. Apparently the water that he carried for his journey would not suffice. In Acts 8:38 we read, “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.” Notice, they went down into the water. This was necessary because the eunuch was to be immersed in the water, because that is what “baptism” is. Even John Calvin wrote concerning this verse: “Here we see the rite used among the men of old time in baptism; for they put all the body into the water.”3 Calvin then proceeds to claim that the way baptism is performed does not matter. But we ought to ask the question: should we practice the ordinance the way that the Lord Jesus and the first disciples practiced it? Do not the Scriptures alone regulate the practice of Christian worship? If so, then sprinkling and pouring must be rejected.
In fact, the mode of baptism, or the way in which the ordinance is performed, is absolutely critical because baptism is a sign or a picture of something else. It is a physical symbol that represents a spiritual reality. The Lord our God gave us the exact picture that he desired for us to have because it perfectly matches the inward reality represented. The primary signification of baptism is the believer’s union with the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 6:3-4, Paul writes, “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.” Here, the apostle reminds the saints in Rome that their baptism pictured their spiritual death, burial, and resurrection in the Lord Jesus Christ. This why, later, he can proceed to tell them: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11). They can “reckon” or account themselves dead to sin because they have died unto sin in the Lord Jesus, and they can be living unto God in Christ because they have newness of life in him. This is what baptism represents: we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection; we are, therefore, new creatures who are called to walk in newness of life.4
There are many who teach that baptism is symbolical of the believer’s purification, referencing texts such as 1 Peter 3:21. In a certain sense, this is true. But we must understand that this purification is secondary, because it is a result of our union with the Savior. In John 13:8, we read, “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” The implication is that if he washes Peter, it is because Peter has a part with Christ, i.e., is united to him. Washing is a result of union. Again, in Ephesians 5, we read of the Lord Jesus sanctifying his bride, the church, washing her and cleansing her. Then in verses 29-30, Paul tells us the reason the Savior does so: “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” The Lord Jesus sanctifies his people because we are members of his body, i.e., are united to him. Thus, our purification stems from our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that the primary signification of baptism is that union, and other aspects which it represents must be considered secondary.
This is important because it necessarily means that the mode of baptism matters. If baptism represents our union into the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, then no other mode suffices. This is why God the Holy Spirit, when inspiring the writing of Scripture, used the word “immerse.” Just as the Lord Jesus descended into the grave, and three days later, rose up out of the tomb, so the believer is lowered down into the water and lifted up out of it to represent our union into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Sprinkling and pouring do not properly display this reality. One argument for sprinkling is that baptism is supposedly the rite of initiation into the New Covenant; the Old Covenant was initiated through the sprinkling of blood, and thus sprinkling is an acceptable mode of baptism. One problem with this is due to the verbal inspiration of Scripture. Every word is inspired, and the Holy Spirit selected the words he used for a reason. There is a Greek word for “sprinkle,” ῥαντιζω (rhantizō). But the Spirit did not use this word; he used the word βαπτίζω (baptizō), “immerse.” Another problem is that the Old Covenant sprinkling with blood does not answer to baptism in the New Covenant, but rather to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for our redemption. An animal was killed, and blood was sprinkled on the altar. This sprinkling pointed forward to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ being applied to us by the work of the Holy Spirit. In Hebrews 9:13-14, we read, “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The sprinkling of the Old Covenant is answered in the New Covenant by the application of work of redemption to us by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Baptism, on the other hand, represents the saint’s union with Christ with emphasis on the idea of “newness of life,” (Rom. 6:4). Further, baptism is not a “rite of initiation” into the New Covenant. Baptism does not make a person united to Christ: it signifies that a person is already united to Christ. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is the believer’s “initiation” into the New Covenant.5 Thus, again, sprinkling answers to this operation of God the Spirit, not to New Testament baptism.
In summary, we have seen that the New Testament teaches us that baptism is the act of immersing the recipient into water, and that this immersion pictures the recipient’s union with the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. The mode, or way in which baptism is practiced, is crucially important, and not something that we can dismiss or belittle. This immersion into water perfectly pictures our union with the Savior, and the subsequent call to walk in newness of life. This is not argument for argument’s sake. However, we must conform our practice to the clear and plain teaching of Scripture. If this is what the Bible tells us that baptism is and represents, then we ought to submit ourselves to it. This has been a very brief article, and this was intentional. It is my belief that we do not need to over-complicate what the Scriptures reveal simply. We have no need to look to history, or tradition, or creeds and confessions, as helpful as those things may be. We must be governed by the Word of God alone, and weigh everything else in the light of its plain teaching. After all, we believe what Paul wrote to Timothy: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
1 Tertullian, “Of Baptism,” in Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff and Allan Menzies, PDF, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1885), 1497.
2 Henry George Liddell, A Lexicon Abridged from Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.v. βαπτίζω.
3 John Calvin, Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (e-Sword for Windows v.13.0.0, 1552).
4 See also Colossians 2:12 and Galatians 3:27.
5 Romans 2:29; Colossians 2:11-13; John 3:5.
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