Though there are some possible alternatives to water baptism which will be discussed in later posts, there are three reasons to continue the rite of water baptism today.
Why Water Baptism Can be Practiced Today
First, water baptism is a traditional church practice. Water baptism is what Jesus and the apostles practiced, and what nearly all believers have undergone during the past 2000 years of church history. For this reason, and this reason alone, it is never wrong for a person to receive water baptism.
Second, the symbolism in water baptism is very strong. Though alternatives will be suggested below, it may be that there is no better symbolic ritual which so wonderfully depicts the idea of being buried with Christ and being raised to a new life in Him. Water baptism is like a visual sermon. It tells the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and our full participation with Him. This is one reason I am somewhat opposed to the idea of sprinkling as a mode of baptism. Sprinkling with water does not so clearly depict our burial and resurrection with Jesus as does immersion.
Third, just as numerous religions in the days of Jesus and the apostles practiced various forms of baptism and ritual washings, the same is true today. Numerous religions still practice ritual washings and baptisms by which they symbolically cleanse themselves in water. Hindus immerse themselves in the Ganges river, Orthodox Jews undergo annual Mikvahs, and Muslims perform various ritualistic washings for themselves and for the dead.
Why Water Baptism Should Cease Today
And yet, these same three reasons to continue water baptism today are also three reasons why water baptism should cease. Traditions are wonderful, but over time, traditions often lose their meaning and significance, and we perform them simply because we always have. I fear that this is exactly what has happened to baptism.
While the deep symbolism of baptism is still present in the ritual, it is not naturally understood or comprehended by the average Christian, let alone the person who knows little about Jesus and Scripture. Originally, the symbolism of baptism was immediately and universally understood. That is what made it so powerful. But today, we have to explain the symbolism, which causes the symbol to lose force.
And regarding the fact that other religions practice forms of baptism and ritualistic washings muddies the water even more. In most other religions, the baptism or ritualistic washing is required as a way to approach their god. Failing to do so may result in strict and severe punishment. In these other religions, the water rituals are required, and it is taught that they actually spiritually cleanse and purify the person. But this is not true in Christianity.
For the Christian, baptism does nothing for the soul or spirit, but simply gets the skin wet. It is a washing of the body, and nothing else. It removes dirt from the flesh, but does nothing to remove the stain of sin on the soul (1 Pet 3:21). For spiritual cleansing, we look to Jesus Christ alone. But many Christians do not realize this basic fact, and believe that God has further requirements for us, with water baptism being one of them, which makes us acceptable and pleasing to God. Some of this, I fear, is due to the influence of religions like Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam which are based on works, not on faith.
We Need New Symbols
So the main reasons to keep baptism around are also reasons to give up the rite of baptism. But this does not mean we give up the symbolism altogether. There are modern equivalents to baptism which have the same significance, but which do not carry all the traditional and religious baggage.
I am all in favor of having an outward symbol which reflects the inner spiritual change.
Symbols are like visual sermons, and we need more of them. But for symbols to work, they have to be immediately understood by those in our surrounding culture. Though water baptism is a great and wonderful symbol, it is not immediately understood by our surrounding culture as it was in New Testament times.
Today, most people (including most Christians) just think it is some slightly odd religious ritual that we do for the sake of tradition. And for most, that is exactly what it has become.
Baptism needs to die and be raised again to new life in the form of new symbols. I will begin to suggest some tomorrow.
hmmmm I wonder what you will suggest….I don’t know about baptism but I’d like to exchange bread and wine for cheezits and diet dr pepper for communion.
One suggestion is out today!
https://redeeminggod.com/dont-get-baptized-cut-your-hair/
I can only agree.
Jeremy, I get what you are saying but i don’t think for a moment that those requesting baptism from the church can’t differentiate between the water ceremonies of the Hindu, Jews or Muslims.
In our Church and most of the C of E Churches the whole family, including the God parents attend a pre baptism course so they all know exactly what is happening.
I’m not saying that from that time on, the whole family and the babies and children are going to become Christians or continue to grow in their faith. Unlike the other religions mentioned, the Christian Church allows us to make choices to either follow or not.
I’m reading a book by Philip Yancey called What’s so Amazing about Grace?. In the first few pages he says he has found very little Grace in all the Churches he has been to, which I assume has been in New York.
Grace like Faith is something we all expect to receive from Church but the reality is that all Churches vary as they have frail human beings in them. It is so easy to criticise the Church in being less than perfect as it tries to enfold all that enter it’s doors.
To me a Church is where we, the members, endeavor to teach and live out The Truth of what Jesus taught us by His words and actions. That includes the rituals of Baptism, Marriage and Funerals. The services include the Communion where we share in the remembrance of Jesus last meal with his disciples when we break bread and drink wine as he did.
I found lots of Grace when I first came to Church as well as ungraciousness. I also found some faith but also faithlessness. I met believers and the uncertain. I have been in the same Church for 31 years and we have all grown together. Sad to say none of us have reached perfection yet.
But I would rather be here in this imperfect place than outside where I see Grace disappearing, where most have lost faith in the world that pushes it’s children into employment where money, power and influence is the only road to happiness, where dog eat dog is the Tag Line which tries to conceal avarice by saying The Wealth creators help the poor as it eventually trickles down.
Tell that to the unemployed and the homeless. It’s an old saying but as the rich get richer the poor get poorer, nothing changes until our attitudes change.
The Church is attacked from without and within, but until the doctrine of grace and forgiveness are caught by the world from the Church hopelessness will remain king.
The challenge for the Church is to remain strong and change the world by it’s witness. Paul says be not conformed by the world but be transformed by Gods Spirit.
Lets not argue about the mechanics of Church, let Grace be in all we say and do. The Jews were a great warning to us Christians as their demands to replace God with a King was the beginning of their demise as they then proceeded to circumnavigate Gods laws with their own interpretation by bringing in their oral regulations.
The Church itself has sought to do the same with their regulations and religious claptrap. Jesus was an itinerant preacher, how far away from that have we travelled. The Church was called to free the people from bondage, we, the Church has put the people into bondage.
The Church is imperfect, but lets not destroy it by criticising, let’s change it. To get back to the subject, I don’t see a problem with baptism as long as people understand it. If it needs to be changed, fine. If it’s not broke why try and fix it?.
Clive
Grace, grace, and more grace! I could not agree more!
Regarding baptism, I do think it is somewhat broken, which is why I am trying to fix it.
I do have to disagree here. As far as it being relevant as a symbol goes I don’t think baptism has lost as much in modern times as you imply Jeremy. You discuss looking at burial rituals to consider new ways to present the symbolism of baptism, but regardless of how a society buries it’s dead you will never find a society on earth that isn’t familiar with the concept of drowning; thus death by water has a universal power not limited to any culture. Furthermore, along with death a culture can’t help but value the life-giving property of water, it’s necessity is literally built into our being. This duality is finally rounded off by the cleansing properties of water, you might find a culture that doesn’t understand the meaning of “universal solvent” but nonetheless when you talk to them of cleaning they would think of water.
Thus, while you might have to explain to an outside onlooker watching a baptism the precise theological details of what is intended, they would be able to make multiple different guesses that are all correct aspects of baptism; you’d be hard pressed to find a ritual that symbolically expresses not just part but all that the authors of the New Testament used water to communicate.
I’d also point out that I’m not just talking about a universal, but timeless power to water baptism. Though you discuss it as being something relevant to a particular people at a particular time, asyou have discussed elsewhere, baptism has a history not begun by Jesus or John the baptist but based on cleansing rituals far older. That’s because the associations of water with life, death and cleansing was not a passing fad of their society, Jesus chose a symbol that had always and would always retain it’s meaning.
I certainly agree that there are far too many Christians today who don’t fully “get it,” but like Clive, I believe that the Church should be making sure that those taking part in the baptism know what they’re getting themselves into, not to do away with it.
Finally, I would challenge your ‘just a symbol’ treatment of baptism, something that is quite common among Christians today. You, and many others, emphasize it as a ‘public declaration’ and (when debating with those who believe contrariwise) ‘nothing more’. Yet even when you say that water removes dirt from the flesh but not stain from the soul, the verse that you cite has Peter explicitly state that in the use of baptism we are being delivered by water.
Now I’ve had plenty respond to a statement like that with a bit of indignation at the fact that I’m claiming that my works save me, so I’ll be quick to clarify that I have not doubt at all that we are saved (in a very textbook answer) by grace through faith. But as we all (hopefully) know, faith bears fruits and you tell a tree by the fruit it bears; one is justified not works and not faith alone (yes, I am just stating these pieces of Scripture out of context, but I always encourage rereading them in context before accepting that a biblical quote supports my argument). But it isn’t just Peter (James, and John) but also Paul – we go to great lengths to discuss the sufficiency of God’s grace using Paul’s words, yet he still stubbornly felt it necessary to say that his sufferings filled up what was lacking in Christ’s. These people, knowing it necessary that people that we have been given an undeserved gift of Grace didn’t choose to “keep it simple” but felt compelled to also make sure we were aware: Christianity is shocking in that God loves us so much he was willing to die for us rather than leave us trying (and failing) to impress him on our own; but frankly, people had conceived of such an notion before, the twist is that a God fully capable of saving us has already accomplished all the necessary work to save us but without needing us to do so nonetheless invites us to participate in our own salvation.
So when Jesus says that we must be born of Water and Spirit, and if you believe and are baptized you will be saved, I agree with you that in a strict sense God does the saving and we need only immerse (baptize) ourselves in the grace he offers us, I believe that the statement Jesus made about marriage to be applicable, “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” and echo Peter’s rhetorical question, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
John,
That is a decent point about drowning. Except nowhere in Scripture is baptism every associated with drowning. It is supposed to represent burial in the ground. Regardless, I see your point.
As far as some of the other baptismal passages in Scripture which seem to imply it is more than a symbol, I thought about writing about them, but decided against it for now.
Maybe someday…
I will humbly agree with you, and in fact add that, we should ask ourselves questions as follows: 1. Through John the Baptist, people were baptized with water, He said the one coming will baptize with holy spirit and fire, and people were repenting through baptism to prepare for the coming of Mesiah, which means, if you were baptized by John and died, then through Jesus you will be saved.
However if you’re born after Jesus, you are already saved through His death and resurrection. 2. Do we need to be saved from sin through baptism today? I think no. You do not need to go a process to be saved from sin.
I think that when Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and baptize people, He had not saved the world yet, and there fore, was in that context, an indication that the baptismal formula was necessary, since John had already mentioned that, the method was going to change. But after Jesus’ death, everything changed, although they continued to baptize people, I think they were still acting like in the past, and not realizing that they needed to usher people into the grace period, He said it is finished, meaning, He has redeemed mankind and when we fall shot every time, we have a direct pathway to pray for forgiveness to God….
3.And the word became flesh…if Jesus was God in flesh, why would you require a certain process for forgiveness of sin? we must ask ourselves…because in the past even before Jesus death, the context of faith was more practical than belief. People sacrificed in the temple and were forgiven their sins through the high priest, a more reason they called Jesus High priest…it was the formula…when Jesus began his ministry, they began to treat Him like the high priest…but Jesus did not baptize because he was the forgiver Himself, until He died and resurrected, its when the practical baptism stopped, and only confessing Him as lord and savior, and turning from sin and sinful acts grants one forgiveness of sins, thus saved from grace rather than baptism. I think this was the meaning of Jesus death, in order for a sinner to be able to come back to God and seek forgiveness.
4.If at all you wanna stick to water baptism, how the hell will you be able to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire…the scripture says, all that received Him, He made them become children of God. Is this scripture coincidental? I think no, so follows that, every one that confesses Jesus as lord and savior, becomes child of God and receives the Holy spirit, hence baptized into being a child of God, ask your self, what does water add to anyone spiritually on the said traditional baptism? … nothing, but in the past it meant something and it was powerful, but Jesus death completed the cycle…no more formulas
So true.I concur with every word of yours.
Thanks, Jeremy — I disagree with your first proposition, Why Water Baptism Can Be Practiced Today, for precisely the reason you gave in your rebuttal.
Furthermore, there is no indication of Jesus ever performing water baptism; on the contrary — “When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were)”. A similar contrast to 1 Peter 3:21.
Notwithstanding, John 1 makes it clear that the work and Person of Jesus, and that of John the Immerser were vastly different in intent and purpose — John 1:26-30.
Paul’s rejection of water baptism, for what ever reasons, we will never find duplicated in reference to Spirit Immersion, under any circumstances. That’s because receiving the Spirit can only happen to sincere believers; if we received the baptism of the Spirit, we were sincere. The same can’t be said of water immersion.
Therefore, this can serve to add confusion in the minds of those who are actually afraid ‘not’ to be immersed in physical water, thinking that they will engage the wrath of God — and there are many people in that bondage. It easy to say, well, it’s not necessary, it’s just habit; but in reality I have found many people are tormented if they don’t. That torment is not coming from the Holy Spirit.
I have to strongly disagree with you on Baptism. In contrast you make this statement “It removes dirt from the flesh, but does nothing to remove the stain of sin on the soul” in reference to (1 Pet 3:21), however the actual text itself says the exact opposite. It says: to quote, that Baptism now saves you and is NOT the removal of dirt from the flesh, BUT is an appeal to God for a clear conscience. Romans 6 discusses Baptism as our burial WITH Christ, so that as He raises from the dead, so shall we raise from the dead. From that I would say the Baptism is an essential element of salvation – it is how we die and are buried to rise up with Him.
There are too many other verses which support the sound Biblical principle that Baptism coupled with Faith, Repentance and Belief are essential for Salvation. Of course Satan (the father of lies) would have us believe otherwise!!!
Which translation is that? Anyway, Peter is talking about spirit baptism there (cf. 1 Pet 3:18), not water baptism.
I think it probably wiser to drop water baptism altogether. Tradition is an awful guide. Us humans get way to attached to absolutely ridiculous traditions. Northern Ireland comes into its own in respect of this. Jesus as far as I understand was fairly anti tradition. We can get sidetracked holding onto the traditions of men and neglect the commandments of God he said. But on the other hand there is live and let live. If someone wants to get dipped, sprinkled or whatever then go ahead. It will neither do good or bad. Maybe bad in that they might think this is something they need to do to earn eternal life? Me personally I would give it a miss. Though I have been both sprinkled and dunked. What I might suggest is that people focus on the baptism of the holy spirit.. The only baptism for the forgiveness of sin.
You didnt answer my question which is, ¨Is Baptism relevant in todays culture¨