The Case for Believer's Baptism

6^th December 2019

I've no wish to offend anybody, least of all my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I'm aware that many churches teach and practice what they call "infant baptism". But I'm fully persuaded that the only genuine Christian baptism is what is known as "believer's baptism" - the baptism of people who have become Christians. And I would like to put the case for it. As I see it...

Every Christian should be baptised

All of us, I think, have something of a rationalist streak. Rationalism is forced into us at school and in the media. As a result, if we don't understand something, we take it less seriously. In our rationalistic culture, it's hard to see why one Christian dunking another Christian in a bath of water makes any difference. It's hard to see why it matters when this happens, or how it happens. It's even hard to understand why it happens, except that the Bible tells us to do it, so we do it.

That's a good start, though. If you want to be a Christian – a follower of Jesus and a believer in the Bible - then doing what the Bible says must be right, even if you don't know why it tells us to do it. But the Bible does explain why baptism is important.

Jesus Himself was baptised

Matthew 3:13-16
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness." Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

Jesus is our example in how to live. He got baptised to show us that it's important. And almost the last thing Jesus said on earth was:

Matthew 28:18-20
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you..."

So Jesus was baptised, and He told His disciples to go all around the world making more disciples, and he instructed them to baptise those new disciples.

Baptism is the first thing that Jesus said should happen after we become disciples. You'll notice that teaching comes after baptism.

How can we say we want to follow Jesus Christ, and then fail to do the first thing Jesus tells us to do, which is to be baptised?

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, Peter stood up and preached the first ever Christian sermon. Through his preaching, the crowd were convinced that Jesus Christ was the risen Lord, and they asked Peter what they should do. Peter said:

Acts 2:38-30
..."Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Because Jesus died for us and rose again, we can be saved through repentance and faith in Him. The promise of salvation, Peter says, is "for every one of you". It's "for you and your children and for all who are far off". Baptism is for all who believe and repent.

See the order here: baptism comes after repentance. Peter teaches us to "repent and be baptised" not to "be baptised and repent". Being baptised is the first thing we're told to do after we become Christians.

A non-Christian cannot be baptised

There is no reason to be baptised before we're saved. Many people have been "christened " and some denominations call this "christening ", "baptism ". I'm convinced that this is a mistake. Put simply, only Christians can experience Christian baptism.

If you haven't repented of your previous way of life, put your faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, and been born again as a child of God, you're not a Christian.

If your parents were Christians, that doesn't make you a Christian. If you go to church regularly, that doesn't make you a Christian. If you feel loved and valued in church, that doesn't make you a Christian. If you get baptised, that doesn't make you a Christian. They only way to become a Christian is to repent and believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

If we baptise somebody before they become a Christian, we do damage to that person. We confuse him or her by giving them the impression that they are now a Christian, and don't need to seek salvation. And many people who've been through a christening ceremony think they don't need to be baptised. Thus we rob them of the joy and power of a real baptism.

If you've been christened as a child, then you haven't been baptised. And that's great news, because it means you can be baptised now you've become Christian!

Baptism is a sacrament

Baptism is a sacrament – a ceremony ordained by God in which, if we will take part in the ceremony by faith, God promises to bless us. It's what theologians call a "means of grace". If we trust Him to do so, God will do us good when we're baptised.

This is another reason why only a Christian can be baptised: only a Christian has the faith necessary to receive God's blessing in the sacrament of baptism. Again, I don't mean to offend anybody, but it makes no sense to baptise an infant, who can't know what's going on, or why it's happening, and will have no memory of it afterwards. An infant cannot partake of the sacrament by faith.

As I've said, God guarantees to do us good if we are baptised with faith. Many people experience God in the ceremony, many are touched by God in the water itself. Many are filled with the Holy Spirit during or just after baptism. This is Jesus's own experience, Peter promises it in Acts 2, as we read, and it also happens in:

Acts 19:5-6
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

Another way God works in baptism is described in:

1 Peter 3:20-21 ...God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also — not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Noah's ark separated those on board from those who were perishing. Peter says this symbolises baptism which separates those in Christ from those who are perishing. When Peter says that baptism saves you, he means that baptism is part of the process of salvation. The definitive moment of salvation is when you repent of your sins, you believe that Jesus paid for your sins, and you put your faith in God. But salvation will continue until we die and go to be with Jesus in glory.

Let me use an analogy to explain about salvation. If a ship sinks, the people who get into the life boats in time could be said to have been saved. All the time they're rowing towards land they're being saved. And when they finally reach dry land, they will be saved. In the same way, the moment a Christian repented and believed in Jesus's atoning sacrifice he was saved. All the time he lives on earth as a Christian, God is working by the Holy Spirit to make him holy, to make him whole, he is being saved. And when he dies and goes to be with God, he will be saved.

Baptism is a major element in God's plan in which we are being saved. It's a major way in which God makes us whole. We will live better Christian lives if we're baptised.

We can see two different aspects of what it is to be saved. Firstly, we're saved from Hell, and saved into Heaven, we're saved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, we're saved from being servants of the evil one to being servants of God, by faith in the blood of Jesus. Secondly, God also wants to save us from a guilty conscience, from fear, from bad habits, from the power of Satan, not just after we die but here on earth. And baptism is part of this process of being saved from all the horrible stuff now. Baptism helps a Christian to get free from the negative.

Baptism is the pledge of a clean conscience

Peter says that baptism is the pledge of a good conscience towards God. This means two things. Firstly, baptism is a promise to God that we will live pure and holy lives from now on. Secondly, it promises us that God will forgive us our sins so our consciences can be clean. One of the greatest gifts God gives us is a clear conscience – the certainly that all our sin is 100% forgiven.

Baptism symbolises washing

Acts 22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.

1 Corinthians 6:11
...you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Ephesians 5:25-26
...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word...

Titus 3:4-5
But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit

And we wash things my immersing them in water.

Baptism symbolises death and resurrection

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

When we become a Christian, we become a new person. And then we're baptised. We're baptised to bury the person we were.

Colossians 2:12
having been buried with him [that is, Christ] in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

This is one reason why immersion is important. We can't be buried without being submerged.

Romans 6:3-4
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Having become a new person through faith in the blood of Jesus, we bury the old person in baptism. It's the funeral service for our old life. Our old self-centred attitude is gone, and we bury it. This is why we baptise people after they've come to faith in Jesus and become a new person. You don't bury someone before they're dead.

We're buried with Christ, because we've died with Christ. We have a share in His crucifixion. His sacrifice applies to us. And because we have a share in His crucifixion, we also have a share in His resurrection. We, too, may live a new life!

Baptism declares that we're no longer who we were. Before we came to faith in Jesus Christ, we were spiritually separated from God. Now, we're children of God, our sins have been forgiven, and we've inherited eternal life. We're HIS people now. We're not living for ourselves, we're not taking our own decisions based on our own wisdom – or foolishness – we follow Christ. We let Him lead. And by the Holy Spirit, our futures can be different.

As the first thing we're told to do after being born again, baptism is the Christian initiation ceremony. However, If you've been a Christian for many years and if, for any reason, you've not yet been baptised, then it's not too late.