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Have you considered becoming a member of God's family at this church? To be a member here takes no more or no less than what it takes to become a Christian - a member of the body of Christ. Members of this church are those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as God's Son and their Savior, have repented of their sins, and been baptized into Christ.
Though we do not claim to know or follow God's Word perfectly, our authority and pattern for becoming a Christian is found in the Bible. So we seek to practice baptism biblically.
WHY BE BAPTIZED?
It is Needed
Jesus commanded it: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). In John 3:3-5, Jesus said that we must have a new birth into God's family. One cannot enter God's kingdom "unless he is born of water and the Spirit." Baptism is not the giver of life, any more than birth gives life. In baptism, one is translated from one kingdom to another. It is a beautiful privilege that every believer ought to welcome.
It Is an Identification
Baptism is an immersion in water that identifies a believer with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-8). This new person then, by the power of the Spirit, seeks to reproduce the life of Christ in his/her life. All "of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:27). Baptism brings us into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), not just one local fellowship. We are baptized into Christ, not into a particular church.
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It Is a Mark of Unity
We seek to keep the unity the early church had, expressed in Ephesians 4:4-6. "There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Baptism was a unifying experience. But today's believers have different experiences of baptism. Our aim is simply to return to the pattern we find in Scripture.
It Offers Assurance
Baptism, when combined with faith and repentance, offers assurance of salvation. We can know for certain that we have followed God's way.
WHAT ABOUT BAPTIZING BABIES?
Perhaps you are struggling with this question, wondering: Should my child be baptized? Should I be re-baptized as an adult? Did I do it the right way and for the right reason? When one speaks of whether or not children should be baptized, it touches a very sensitive nerve for many people because it involves matters of faith, family traditions and strong feelings. But our primary concern should be: what does the Bible say? We cannot debate personal experiences--we can only deal with what God has said.
Why We Practice Believers' Baptism
*There is no record of infant baptism in Scripture.
The New Testament never tells us to baptize babies, nor is there even one example of an infant being baptized. If it were so important, wouldn't we see at least one mention of it? But no, the Bible says nothing about the human inventions of sprinkling, christening, confirmation, or limbo (a kind of blissful place where the souls of unbaptized children go, but they are denied entrance into heaven).
History tells us that infant baptism was introduced long after the New Testament was written. It didn't even become officially approved by the Catholic Church until the Council of Ravenna (1311). Notice what the Encarta Encyclopedia [Microsoft Encarta '95] says:
"During the late 4th and 5th centuries, Saint Augustine laid the foundations for infant baptism...According to him, people are born with an affinity for sin and, as descendants of Adam and Eve, share in the guilt of original sin."
But are children truly born guilty of sin? The evidence of Scripture seems to support the position that we did inherit a sinful nature from Adam & Eve, that is, a "bent" or propensity toward sin, but not that we are born with the guilt of others' sins. Sin is defined as something you willfully do to rebel against God's commands, such as in 1 John 3:4: "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." Likewise, Romans 6:23 says "the wages of sin is death." A wage is something you deserve because you personally earned it!
When you stand before God, you'll have no one to blame for your sin but yourself--not great-great-great-great grandpa Adam and grandma Eve. Ezekiel 18:20 clearly says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son."
Listen to what Jesus says: "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14). I believe Jesus is saying here that small children already have a free pass to Heaven! They don't need to be saved, because they're already in God's Kingdom.
Some teach that baptism under the New Testament replaces circumcision under the Old Testament. But nowhere does the New Testament teach that--there are too many difference for it to be a parallel ceremony. The sign and seal of our adoption into God's family is not baptism, but the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 1:13.
*Those who were able to believe were baptized in Scripture.
As soon as one places faith in Christ, he ought to be baptized as soon as possible. Baptism is not the cause of salvation--it is God's grace which meets faith at baptism. If we are saved by grace through faith, then baptism apart from faith is meaningless.
Acts 8:12 provides an example: "But when they believed Philip as he preached the Good News...and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." Some try to point to the household conversions in the book of Acts, such as the Philippian jailer's family and Lydia's family, claiming that if their entire families were baptized, there must have been a baby or a young child present. But most households do not have toddlers. Besides, it says that the jailer's whole family had come to believe in God after hearing Paul's message (Acts 16:34). Do babies respond to messages? Romans 10:17 says that "faith comes by hearing the message," not by passive receiving. I know some claim that God gives babies the ability to believe, but I don't see that claim backed up by Scripture. And I have to ask: why would God give faith only to the babies of believers and not others?
Baptism requires personal faith--not parental proxy. It is not a ritual, but an "appeal" or a "pledge" to God, according to 1 Peter 3:21. But an infant is not appealing to God during baptism. They have no say so at all. They're baptized whether they like it or not. It seems to be the same thing as dragging someone off the street and throwing them into water, and saying, "You are now being baptized into Christ!" Is he truly baptized? Of course not! He had no choice in the matter.
Infants have no choice either. Their parents decide for them. Someone has insightfully pointed out that God has no grandchildren--He only has children, those who have decided to follow Jesus, not grandchildren whose parents have made that decision for them. Children are old enough to become baptized believers when they become accountable to God. He does not hold us accountable for sin until we are old enough to understand personal sin and faith.
When is the Age of Accountability?
The Bible is not clear on that question. It certainly has to do with each individual's maturity level. When does a person understand there is a God to whom they are accountable? When do they understand that doing something wrong is wrong because God has said it is wrong? When is a person able to experience the guilt that comes from doing wrong? It varies based on intellect, upbringing and opportunity.
Some children who grow up in Christian households are taught God's Word from the time they are very young, and will tend to reach that age of accountability sooner than others. Other children grow up never hearing the Bible or about God, but still develop a moral conscience that they eventually will rebel against at some point, and recognize they have disobeyed the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, even if they don't know Him personally. Some who are mentally challenged may grow up and never reach an age at which they become accountable. They are still innocent in God's eyes because they don't understand what sin is!
Many parents have their newborns baptized as a public dedication to raise the child to know God. Baby dedications are fine, but because we don't believe that a young child has sinned, he doesn't need baptism. That will come later when he is old enough to make that faith decision on his own.
Why Be Baptized by Immersion?
The question of children being baptized is tied into the nature of baptism itself. What is a baptism?"
The word "baptize" (baptizo in Greek) means "to immerse."
The New Testament was written in Greek, but nowhere do we find the words for "sprinkling" (rantizo) or "pouring" (cheo) used for baptism. If only Bible translators would actually translate the word from the Greek instead of just transliterating it, there would be no controversy. The vast majority of Bible scholars admit this, even if they don't practice it.
The only sprinkling we participate in is an inward one, as Hebrews 10:22 makes the distinction between having our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed: "...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." These two events occur at once as we are immersed in pure water, and have our souls forgiven by Christ's sacrifice--his blood is applied to our hearts as a cleansing agent for sin.
Can we afford to take it upon ourselves to redefine a word that Jesus and the apostles used repeatedly, and claim, "Yes, that's what it meant then, but that's not important now?"
Baptisms in the Bible were described as immersions
Note two examples: "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water..." (Matthew 3:16); "...then both Philip and the man went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water..." (Acts 8:38-39). Sprinkling does not fulfill these. That's why passages like John 3:23 and Mark 1:9 talk about baptizing where there was much water.
Immersion best represents a burial and resurrection
Colossians 2:12 refers to this, "...having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." Only immersion gives us the picture of a dying and rising with Christ.
** FURTHER QUESTIONS **
If I get immersed, won't it cause a problem with my parents who had me sprinkled as a baby?
Maybe. Will it make it seem like you are turning your back on them? Not if you explain that you are grateful they did what they believed was right in good faith, but that you have studied the Scriptures for yourself and are convinced this is what God says to do.
Isn't being immersed a judgement on my past?
No. If you have been following God's will to the best of your ability, then when you encounter something in the Bible that you know you should do, a willing heart is ready to do it. You don't have to admit you've never been saved, but that you have not fully understood God's plan. Now that you do, you're ready to take a step of faith and commitment that shows you have a humble heart toward God.
Is it really necessary that I be immersed?
We can't change the Bible, or the covenant Christ offers. I would hope no one would ever try to sit on God's judgement throne and say someone who sincerely accepts Jesus in good faith but does not get immersed is condemned. Faith is absolutely essential for being saved. It is conceivable that one could be saved without baptism, but not without faith.
In those instances where a believer honestly desires to be baptized, but is prevented from doing so for some reason (confined to a hospital bed, a prison, a foxhole), it's reasonable to assume that God takes the will for the deed. But that's not an excuse for everyone else not to be immersed. I also think God looks at the "Godly unimmersed" who don't know any better or have been taught incorrectly by trusted pastors, differently than He looks at someone who knows what the Bible says, but refuses to do what it says.
Wouldn't you want to be sure and receive the promises given in baptism? Immersion brings a sense of assurance and completeness in a way that other methods do not. Call on the Lord to do for you whatever he has not done already. From this point on you will know for sure.
WHY NOT BE BAPTIZED?
While we acknowledge that not all may agree with us in this matter, we request that all who desire to be members here follow the practice of the "one baptism" of the early church. If you have not allowed this pattern for baptism, we hope that you will joyfully seek to do so. Please understand that church life here is open to all - anyone may worship, serve, enjoy the fellowship and activities, and all believers in Christ may accept His invitation to share in the Lord's Supper.
Our position is not to judge, but to teach and restore. God knows each person's heart, and takes into account the amount of light that was available to him/her. But now that you have seen what God's Word says, what will you do?
Brett Kays, Christian Standard, 3-2-97; 9-10-00
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