This entire series on looking at baptism in the book of Acts was getting WAY too long.
The discussion on baptism in the book of Acts is nearly 4000 words already, and the section on baptism in the book of Acts was well on it’s way to becoming 6000 words or more. Yikes! That is too long, especially when I want the chapter to be less than 10,000 words.
So, as has happened frequently in the process of writing Close Your Church for G00d, I’m cutting almost everything I have written so far about baptism in the book of Acts, and am summarizing it with the following:
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Baptism in the Book of Acts
In the book of Acts, every time the Gospel is preached to a new segment of humanity, it is symbolized through water and spirit baptism. The water baptism precedes the Spirit baptism, and the coming of the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders is the outward proof to Peter that God truly has accepted this new group of people into the family of God.
But after this initial preaching of the Gospel and water baptism followed by Spirit baptism, the baptism of the Spirit comes immediately upon a person believing in Jesus for eternal life, whether or not they get water baptized, and most often, this Spirit baptism is no longer accompanied by signs and wonders. The initial door was opened, and Peter witnessed and testified to it, but once it is opened, no more physical manifestations of the baptism of the Holy Spirit were necessary to prove that God had indeed accepted a new group of people into His family.
Water Baptism at that Time
In the case of water baptism, every single instance appears to follow the widely practiced method of immersion under water which was practiced by nearly every religion of that time. In every religion, including Judaism, water baptism symbolized the loss of the person’s previous identity, and the birth of a new identity. Water baptism represented a death to the past and a new life for the future. This was practiced by nearly every religion at that time, and everyone knew what it meant.
So when the news spread that a person had been baptized, their family, friends, and neighbors would ask why they had been baptized, what their new identity was going to be, and how it would look in the future. And then, of course, they would watch to see if these changes truly took place.
Water Baptism Leads to Life Change and Evangelism
In the case of new converts to Christianity being baptized into Jesus Christ, the new believers would explain to their inquiring friends and family who Jesus was, what He taught, and what had happened to Him in His death and resurrection. The person would say that now that they had fully identified themselves with Jesus through baptism, they were going to try to live their life in a way that reflected His teachings, His values, and His life.
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Such a summary clearly doesn’t say everything about baptism, but this is only a small chapter in a much longer book. Writing more would require an entire book on the subject of baptism alone… which is a good idea for a future book. But not for now.
Oh, I do actually have one more thing to say about baptism in Acts, which I will post tomorrow when we look at the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch.
“In the book of Acts, every time the Gospel is preached to a new segment of humanity, it is symbolized through water and spirit baptism. The water baptism precedes the Spirit baptism, and the coming of the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders is the outward proof to Peter that God truly has accepted this new group of people into the family of God.”
Hmm…just an observation. In Acts 10, the baptism of the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius’ household before they were water baptized….
I agree with the general premise of this section, but didn’t want to let this slip by. 🙂
Jeremy, I wanted to add that I really have enjoyed this series on Baptism. I have learned a few things.
I haven’t commented much anywhere lately – dry spell, but I have been reading and enjoying. 😉
Jeannette,
Great catch on Acts 10! I made a major mistake there. I will correct it in the chapter. Thank you very much!
The reason for this, I would argue, is that Peter had to be convinced that the Gospel of the Kingdom was for Gentiles also. What do you think?
Peter definitely needed convincing, but I also think it may show that the water baptism was not so important to God as the heart baptism..?
But after this initial preaching of the Gospel and water baptism followed by Spirit baptism, the baptism of the Spirit comes immediately upon a person believing in Jesus for eternal life, whether or not they get water baptized, and most often, this Spirit baptism is no longer accompanied by signs and wonders. ?????
Is this true? I don’t know as I should read the scriptures more, but sings and wonders, I thought, are always a sing of the Kingdom of God.
Signs and wonders are indeed a sign of the kingdom, but so are love, forgiveness, gentleness, self-control, and other fruits of the Spirit.
Acts is transitional, and so we cannot really take the “order of events” in baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit as normative.
Other passages in the New Testament seem to indicate that the Spirit regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and seals a person immediately upon their belief in Jesus for eternal life. Some Scriptures used to teach this idea could be 1 Cor 2:11-14; 12:13; Titus 3:5-6; Rom 8:9-12 and others. I will eventually deal with this topic more when I get back to my series of working through (and questioning) the theology I was taught in Bible College and Seminary.
Jeremy, been reading the baptism posts. I think your talent for thinking outside of the box is resulted in you forgetting that sometimes boxes are useful.
9 conversions in the book of acts, 9 water baptisms.
When we are baptized we “put on Christ”. The most obvious “act” of conversion has become the most divisive in our modern time. Acts shows us how to do it, Romans explains why it was done. Rom 6 & Rom 10 is demonstrated in Acts 8:37, and Acts 22:16.
Preach the gospel, and when one is ready to become a Christian ask them to use the good confession and immerse them into Christ. This was the Biblical pattern. To not do so creates weird things like “Baptist Churches” that don’t baptize. . .
Johnny,
I see your point. I will begin writing today about “Baptism today” and why I think water baptism is a good practice in some situations, but there might be better alternatives in other situations.
I do like to challenge the boxes, but agree that sometimes boxes are good.
Jeremy,
You have some interesting ideas on the subject, I ran across this blog while researching a class I’m teaching on the conversions in the book of Acts. I noticed you said,
“But after this initial preaching of the Gospel and water baptism followed by Spirit baptism, the baptism of the Spirit comes immediately upon a person believing in Jesus for eternal life, whether or not they get water baptized” I must loving tell you this isn’t what the bible teaches about baptism. In fact there are many cases in the word that teaches the opposite.
Here is one, Acts 19 1-5 a group of disciples were asked by Paul have you received the Holy Spirit since you BELIEVED? They didn’t even know there was a holy spirit, he asked them if they were baptized and they said yes John’s baptism (which was for repentance and belief on Jesus) verse 4. Then Paul Baptized them in the name of Jesus, (Water Baptism) afer this they received the Holy Spirit. Water Baptism is a simple act of obedience in faith, understanding, and belief, that Jesus paid the price of sin for us and only through this his blood can we gain heaven. Question, God commanded that Noah build an ark from gopher wood, why who knows, if Noah had built it a different way would he have been saved? The Bible clearly teaches water baptism is necessary to be saved John 3:3-5 which Jesus says Water and Spirit Romans 6: 3-4 and many many more places you are right about some of the things baptism represents but please take a closer look at why all the conversions in Acts involve water baptism. Even Jesus himself showed us by example in His baptism by John what we must do. I’m not saying that we can do anything by our own actions, God has done it all through Jesus, but God does want us to be obedient to his word. When Philip In Acts 8 had finished teaching the Ethiopian Eunuch about Jesus from the old testament till the present moment why did Philip baptise him with water if all it took was belief in Jesus? Please don’t take this wrong let us both continue to study God word. Iron sharpens Iron
Heath,
Yes, there are some different things going on in Acts. This post is just part of a long series on baptism. In a previous post I talked about the transitional nature of Acts, and how Peter uses the Keys of the Kingdom to open the door to various people groups, the Jews, the Samaritans, and the Gentiles, and in each case, the Holy Spirit comes later. But once this process is finished, and all the doors have been opened, the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs immediately upon belief because now the door of the Gospel has been opened to all.
Most commentaries on the Book of Acts will show this progression if you are curious to read more about it. When I get around to writing my commentary on the Book of Acts, I will include a better explanation as well.