A coworker recently told me she started going to church again, and thought she should get baptized.
I asked her if she had ever been baptized before. She hadn’t.
So I asked her why she wanted to get baptized.
She said, “Well, …isn’t that what God wants?”
I encouraged her for her desire to obey God and do what He wants, but I also told her that God doesn’t really care too much if she gets baptized or not.
She was shocked to hear me say this, and possibly, you are too.
Baptism is not for God
I went on to explain to her that baptism is not for God. He already loves her and forgives her and accepts her completely as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus. I told her that baptism is a public declaration of her desire to follow Jesus. It is like publicly stating, “I am a follower of Jesus!” If that is what she wants to do, and she wants to do that through baptism, that would be fine.
However, I went on to tell her that there were numerous other ways of making a public declaration about her choice to follow Jesus, and one of those other ways might be more meaningful for her and for those who know her. We went on to talk about what some of those other ways might be, and she told me she would think about it. She said she was not sure she was ready to make any of those other public declarations.
Isn’t this interesting? She was ready and willing to get baptized, but not ready to make a public declaration among her friends and family about her desire to follow Jesus.
Wondering about Baptism
It made me wonder. How many people who get baptized today really understand what they supposedly are doing? How many understand what baptism really represents? If baptism today truly represented what baptism did in the days of Jesus and the early church, how many people would really undergo baptism?
The solution to this problem, I believe, is not to resurrect baptism.
It is hopeless to try to educate an entire generation of Christians on what baptism indicates, and also educate an entire culture of people about what it means when their friends and family members get baptized. There is deep symbolism and significance in baptism. It symbolizes something revolutionary.
Yet since most people (including Christians) do not understand the symbolism, the solution is not to just keep baptizing people since “That is what we’ve always done.”
But we cannot really “re-education” everybody either. For the symbolism of baptism to work properly, the symbolism has to be understood not only by those getting baptized, but also by those who observer the baptism, including the surrounding non-Christian culture of friends, neighbors, and coworkers who hear about it.
The Baptismal Solution
So rather than try to educated the entire world on the function and symbolism of baptism, wouldn’t it be easier and more meaningful to find an equivalent function in our own culture which symbolized the same thing that baptism symbolized in the days of Jesus and the early church?
But to find this, we must look back to Scripture and biblical culture to relearn the meaning and significance of baptism, so that we can understand the symbolism and function. Only then can we look for some equivalent function and symbol in our own time and culture.
We will begin looking at the Scriptures about baptism tomorrow.
Thank you, Jeremy, for voicing something that I have long harbored. I have often thought that the church has an almost superstitious view of baptism.
Glad I’m not the only one!
I guess I’ll have to disagree about this. I don’t think we should get into legalism about this, and I don’t think we should be superstitious, but in the New Testament there is more to baptism than you have said. For example:
Romans 6:3-4: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized 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.”
1 Peter 3:21: “this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God”
I don’t pretend to understand these passages fully, and perhaps Peter and Paul are speaking figuratively, but they are saying that our baptism is important to us – for our salvation, freedom from sin and a new life – all things we all need.
And we note that it was high on Jesus’ list as one of 4 things he instructed us to do – Matthew 28:19-20: “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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 your idea of baptism as a public declaration seems to me to be only part of its purpose (at best) and perhaps not even what the Bible says at all (at worst). Can you think of any passages that teach this, for I cannot? – all I can think of focus on repentance, forgiveness and new life.
So I think, in faith, we should all be baptised. Whether we do it as part of a church ritual or not is another question – my wife and I and two of our children were all baptised as adults at separate times in the sea by friends and family, and one child only in a church ritual.
I don’t pretend to understand these passages fully, and perhaps Peter and Paul are speaking figuratively, but they are saying that our baptism is important to us – for our salvation, freedom from sin and a new life – all things we all need.
are you saying that getting dunked in a jacuzzi will help save you and forgive sins, and give you a new life? Is there something in the chlorine or something?
UnkleE,
It’s good to disagree. I don’t mind.
I will try to explain how I read Romans 6 and Matthew 28:19-20 in future posts.
While I don’t know that Scripture exactly says that the primary purpose of baptism is public declaration or public witness of our faith in Jesus/desire to follow Jesus, it does appear from early accounts of baptisms that they definitely functioned in that way. It seems I remember that being publicly baptized could be very dangerous when done in times and places where Christianity was illegal.
I personally was involved with a church that considered a baptism “valid” only if it had been by immersion, and only if the person knew the date of their baptism, had been at least twelve years old at the time, had been baptized by the proper people in certain churches, etc. If these requirements had not been met, or if one had divorced, changed churches or even if “it has been a long time”, they should be rebaptized.
Additionally, this church practiced “public baptisms” (which usually meant in the tank on the church platform, almost always attended by the church folk) and “private baptisms” (by invitation only – usually in someone’s backyard pool, and occasionally in the church baptistry at a time when no other function was scheduled at the church – and always followed by a “party” that included food).
I understand that some look at the Scriptures UnkleE quoted, and others, and speak of the “mystery” of baptism. I think the general idea is that we don’t fully understand what happens in the physical act of baptism. I was once rather skeptical of this idea, but since have talked to several people who said they did not believe before baptism, but “something happened” when they were baptized, and in the “act” of baptism they came to believe. I don’t quite know what to think of their stories, but am inclined to accept them at face value, and find their explanations a “mystery”.
Sam,
Yes, I am really struggling to express myself on this series of posts. I kind-of know what I want to say, but I am having difficult finding the words. So, some of what I write will require future clarification, I am sure.
Anyway, you make great points about baptism.
Nothing special happened to me at my baptism, but maybe I shouldn’t take my experience to be normative for all.
I think it is good to challenge peoples reasons for doing many things in the Church but not to put them off doing it by saying it’s not one of Gods requirements. It is one of Gods requirements we be baptised Jesus said it and the disciples in Acts did it the Ethiopian Eunuch demanded it and Philip was pleased to carry it out. I was baptised as a baby and in Israel last year I confirmed this by being immersed in the Jordan I felt a feeling of completion as a believer and acceptable. Clive
That is wonderful. My sister was baptized in the Jordan as well. But she had been baptized before that also, so it was more of just a tourist thing for her.
Anyway, I strongly believe that people should get “baptized” but not necessarily in the way we see it done in the New Testament. It will all become more clear as the blog series progresses…. I hope.
Kirk said: “are you saying that getting dunked in a jacuzzi will help save you and forgive sins, and give you a new life? Is there something in the chlorine or something?”
Actually, no. I didn’t say that, so the words and ideas are yours. : )
Well, why would baptism be important for salvation then?
Well, I think that is a better question. The obvious answer is, because Jesus, Peter and Paul said it was.
Beyond that, I’m guessing. (As I said before, I don’t pretend to fully understand the passages, but I start with the fact that they are there and difficult to explain away.)
My guess is that, at the very least, baptism is a symbol, and if we submit to baptism knowing that it is a sign of dying to sin and of rising to new life in Jesus, then we invite God to do that work in us, and he does. In that respect, it would be like prayer – not a magic slot machine, but part of an ongoing relationship of submission to God. If this is so, then our attitude and God’s response are the important things, but the action makes it all real to us and leads us to the correct attitude. In this way, it would be analogous to a marriage ceremony and the wearing of a wedding ring – neither of these are of much value without the commitment, but they symbolise and make concrete that commitment.
But I have a feeling that baptism is more than a symbol, but a means of grace. Perhaps what I have described above is what is entailed in a means of grace, perhaps there’s more, I don’t know. That is why I worded my comment the way I did – because I don’t pretend to understand everything about God’s dealings with people, but I think the fact that I don’t fully understand should be no barrier to obeying a clear teaching. Communion/Lord’s Supper/Eucharist, the atonement, prayer, etc are other examples of things I find difficult to understand, but reasonably clearly taught in the New Testament and therefore worth doing.
I hope that helps a little. Thanks for the question.
Thanks for challenging that girl and asking her if she knew what baptism represented. Churches do make it too easy to dunk and leave.
However, I’m wondering what other biblical options you are giving this girl to choose from to profess her faith in Jesus.
I understand water does not save us, Jesus does. I wonder why you feel the need to suggest modern “options” which are not listed here as another way.
You have such a creative mind! I could understand trying to update things that the Bible doesn’t talk about in many places.
I just never see the need to change things that Jesus endorsed, submitted to, and at least had his disciples perform.
I will talk about some of those in a future post when I get back around to the concept of “baptism for today.” Sorry to put you off like this, but I don’t want to steal my thunder! 🙂
Then why did the Ethiopian get baptized in a puddle with no witnesses? He saw it as literal(and so did Philip). Why didn’t Philip just tell him it wasn’t important?
Well, it was important then… I’ll explain more in a future posts about the Ethiopian Eunuch.
God often uses tangible physical expressions as a means to teach us spiritual realities. Bread and wine to allow us to connect with the body and blood of Jesus. Baptism as a beautiful means of identifying with the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus given to us by God. Public or private baptism does not seem to be a big point of emphasis in Scripture. We have been the ones to label baptism as “a public profession…..etc.”, not the writers of the New Testament books. Whether we are at liberty to substitute other method(s) to stand in the place of baptism is a matter of hermeneutics. I believe people today are fully capable of being taught from Scripture the beautiful significance of baptism for believers.