A Matter of Believer’s Baptism

I’d like to invite you to take a Bible—and you’ll find that there are Bibles around you in the pew—and I would encourage you to turn with me initially to the third chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. And when I conclude reading a few verses from Matthew 3, you will find it helpful this evening to keep your Bible open on your lap. I hope that will be largely the case always, but I want to turn you to a number of passages of Scripture in the course of our study, and I think you will be helped by being able to turn your gaze to them as I read them.

In much the same way as these last two occasions have been spent considering the nature of biblical instruction on the matter of church discipline, I determined that this evening, it would be helpful for us to consider the nature of the biblical instruction as it relates to baptism—and expressly because, according to my own records, which are fairly accurate, it is some three years since I actually, in a baptism service, laid out for the listeners exactly what was taking place. And since there are a number of people who have come in the last thirty-six months and are unaware of what we do, what our practice is, and some who have come just this evening as a result of the invitation of someone who’s being baptized, and you really have got no context whatsoever for what is going on—in light of all of these things, I determined that I would, as succinctly and as clearly as possible, delineate our understanding of the biblical parameters for baptism itself.

And I want to begin by turning to the baptism of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 3:13:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, 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. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Few individuals who have any knowledge at all of church and its practice will be devoid of some understanding or awareness of baptism as a rite, as a sacrament, as a function. But unless they have been instructed by the Scriptures, the chances are that the picture is clouded for such an individual by superstition on the one hand and, along with that, confusion. And the only way to realistically tackle the issue is to look—and we can’t do it comprehensively or extensively this evening, but nevertheless, to endeavor to look—at what the Bible itself has to say concerning the subject.

When the Reformers spoke about the exercise of church discipline and the celebration of the sacraments, they were very clear that none of these things should ever take place absent the preaching of the Word of God. In other words, they never imagined a baptism service where people simply found some water and had a baptism and went away, or a Communion service where a few people simply gathered and broke bread and drank wine and went away, or the exercise of church discipline isolated from the instruction of the Bible.

Now, the reason for this was and is very, very important. Augustine described the sacraments—namely, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or baptism and Communion, or baptism and the Eucharist, whatever word you are most familiar with—he described these sacraments or ordinances of the church as visible words of God.[1] Visible words of God. And what Augustine meant by that was simply this: that it is only in light of the scriptural teaching that we’re able to confirm and support the role of the sacraments in pointing to the work of Christ, so that in Communion, we have had provided for us material elements—namely, bread and wine—and in baptism water so that we might distinguish between the ordinance and the reality to which the ordinance points.

That helps us, then, to understand that there’s nothing magical about the water, nor is there anything peculiarly significant about the bread, which was purchased from a local baker, or the juice or the wine, which came out of very normal bottles from the shelves of the grocery stores. Those who do not understand the Bible will be tempted to assume that all of the significance is in the sign. But the sign is only significant in light of that towards which it points. And we’re able to understand that towards which it points by a careful reading of our Bibles.

The Precedent for Baptism

Now, we began in Matthew chapter 3 with the baptism of the Lord Jesus. And as you would note, John the Baptist was a picture of consternation, because he recognized the incongruity of it all. He had already said to his disciples concerning this Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[2] And John the Baptist, exercising his prophetic function, points to the one who is the Savior. Now, off the Judean hillside comes this very Savior, walking up to John and saying to him, “Would you please baptize me?”

It is the baptism itself which is of significance and certainly not the individual who’s doing the baptizing.

His protestations are met by the response of Jesus, who makes it clear that it is necessary for him to baptize to do the right thing before God. In other words, it is right for him to identify himself with those he has come to deliver, it is right for him to consecrate himself publicly to the work of deliverance, and it is right for him to be baptized, for in his baptism he foreshadows and portrays his death and his resurrection. It’s hardly surprising, then, that we discover that Jesus, himself having been baptized, continues from the outset of his preaching ministry to authorize his disciples to do the same.

Now, you need to turn forward a couple of Gospels, to John’s Gospel—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. If you’re unfamiliar with the Bible, just track along. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John 3:22: “After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.” And we read there that simultaneous baptisms were taking place. John the Baptist was baptizing, and Jesus was also baptizing. That led to a little bit of a contretemps.[3] You can read of that yourselves.

In 4:1: “The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.” Little point of clarification there on the part of John: It wasn’t Jesus who was actually functionally performing the baptisms, but rather, he had his disciples do it. You can understand the wisdom that there would be in that, if for no other reason than to prevent people saying, “Who baptized you?” And some would say, “Well, I was baptized by James,” and they said, “Oh, well I was baptized by Jesus,” and thereby assuming that their baptism would be more significant on the basis of the individual who conducted the baptism. We try and make that really clear in our baptism class: that irrespective of which of our pastors or elders is involved in the baptisms, it is the baptism itself which is of significance and certainly not the individual who’s doing the baptizing.

After Jesus had risen from the dead, he commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples …, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”[4] So, if Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize those who became disciples, it follows that those who become disciples are to be baptized. And if that is the case, then we would anticipate that when we read the history book of the church, we would find that that is actually the pattern which unfolds. And that is exactly what we find.

Turn to Acts 2, and what we have here is the minute book, if you like, of the early church. This is the historical record of the early days of the church, written by Luke, who also wrote a Gospel—the Gospel of Luke—and he wrote this early history of the church as well. And in Acts 2:38, Peter is responding to the question which comes at the end of his sermon. He has preached a sermon focusing on Jesus—who he is, why he came, what he’s done, and the need for people to respond to this. And the folks cry out, “cut to the heart”—verse 37—and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, 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.’” And then we read in verse 41, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

The Recipients of Baptism

Now, I want you to notice something there and then see if it follows. It’s very clear here in Acts 2 that faith precedes baptism—that they accepted his message and then were baptized. It was not that they got baptized and then, further on on the journey of their lives, they came to understand the message. No, they understood the message which called them to repentance and to faith, and on the basis of that, they then were baptized.

Now, if you turn forward to Acts 8—and I’m just going to give you one or two illustrations (some of you are very familiar with this material, but a refresher course never did anybody any harm): Philip, in an encounter with a treasurer from the government of Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia, having explained to him again the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who is prophesying concerning, again, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man is concerned about this. He asks the question, in verse 34, “Who is the prophet talking about …?” Philip replies, and then—verse 36—Luke records for us, “As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’”

Those of you who are very alert will notice that verse 36 is followed by verse 38, if you’re using a pew Bible. Those of you who have already gone to sleep are now feverishly grabbing for a Bible to see this amazing mystery, which you have missed by not obeying my earlier exhortation. Where is verse 37? It’s down at the bottom of the page. Why is it down at the bottom of the page? Because verse 37 is not found in the oldest, closest manuscripts, and it is more than likely that it was a creedal assertion—that a scribe inserted it. It’s not unbiblical, you will see. The verse says, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”—which is, of course, in direct keeping with all that we find in the New Testament. The issue, though, is that faith preceded baptism.

When you come into the ninth chapter of the Acts, you have here the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And without going into the details of all of that—which, of course, are dramatic—you discover in Acts 9:18 that when the “scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again,” “he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” You’ll notice the process: He has an encounter with Christ, he discovers that he’s in the wrong with Christ, he discovers that Christ came to put him in the right, he bows in humble repentance and faith and acknowledges that, and as soon as he is removed of his discombobulation as a result of the loss of his eyesight, he doesn’t have a meal and then talk about the possibility with Ananias about getting plugged into the next baptismal service, but he “arose, and was baptized,”[5] and then he went and had a meal.

He obviously had understood what was involved in baptism: that baptism wasn’t this sort of postgraduate qualification for people who had really been making a very good go of their Christian lives. And there are a number of people who are here tonight, and the reason you’re unbaptized is because you’ve determined that you’re not ready, and you’re waiting to be very ready. And I, frankly, don’t know what in the world it is you’re waiting for. Because you will never be more ready than you are on the day that you repent and trust in Christ. That’s the readiness for baptism. And if you’re waiting to become a special kind of Christian so as to make baptism seem obviously applicable to you, then you have invented your own process, and it is not the pattern of the New Testament.

Of course our friends are going to say to us three weeks after our baptism, “Aren’t you the girl that got baptized? Why are you saying what you said?” The answer is “Because in my baptism, I was not made sinless. In my baptism, I was not declaring myself perfect. In my baptism, I was not removing myself from the ruck of normal human existence. I was simply obeying Jesus Christ. I joined the army, and I put on the uniform. Why join the army without the uniform? I got married; I wore the ring. There was a change of ownership; I put up the sign.”

Acts 10:47–48. I don’t want to be tedious; I’ll stop in a moment. But 47 and 48: When Peter has seen the evidences of new birth in both Cornelius and the members of his household, he says, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So “he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” and “they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.”

Now, you can go forward to Acts chapter 16, the conversion of Lydia: “The Lord opened her heart”—verse 14b—“to respond to Paul’s message.” That’s the first thing: She heard the message; she responded to the message. And “when she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.” You see the matter-of-fact way in which it’s laid down. It’s just straightforward! Here’s a lady. She was a very nice lady. She was a prosperous lady. She was a religious lady, like some of the ladies that are here this evening. And indeed, her friends and her family would have said, “You know, Lydia is a fine girl. She has such a lovely home. We love going over there. She’s so gracious in her hospitality. She never cusses or anything. She’s quite a religious person, you know. She’s got a sort of niceness to her that we appreciate. Of all the people we know, Lydia surely is, you know—she must be God’s friend.” And she goes down by the riverside, and the apostle Paul comes in, and he explains the nature of sin and the need for repentance. And religious Lydia says, “That’s me he’s describing. I’m in the wrong. Oh, I know that people think I’m in the right. I know I may look in the right. But I’m in the wrong.” And after she had received the message, then she was baptized.

You find the exact same thing later on with the Philippian jailer, still in chapter 16. “What [will] I do to be saved?” he says in verse 30. Answer in verse 31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” In verse 33: “At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds,” and “then immediately he and all his family were baptized.”

I resist the temptation to get into the whole question of family baptism and the people who want to put up their hands and say, “Well, there must have been children there.” Well, that would be an argument from silence. In the same way, if I said there weren’t children there, that would also be an argument from silence. Neither of us can argue from silence. But if I was converted at this point in my life and all my children were baptized, one of them would be twenty, one of them would be seventeen, and one of them would be sixteen. In other words, they would be able to understand the message, to respond, and to be baptized. The argument from silence takes us nowhere at all. The real question is: With a seventh-grade education, reading the verses that I’m giving you, are you prepared to acknowledge that faith, in the common practice of the New Testament, precedes rather than follows baptism? And if it does, what are you going to do about it?

The sign of baptism points to the gracious act of God in bringing us to new life and also to our penitent response and to our change of allegiance.

The Meaning of Baptism

So, if the proper recipients of baptism are those who turn from all they know to be wrong (which is repentance) and embrace Christ as their only Savior (which is faith), then what is the meaning of what happens in a moment or two in this water here? Well, let me summarize it with these statements.

The sign of baptism points to the gracious act of God in bringing us to new life and also to our penitent response and to our change of allegiance.

First of all, baptism is a confession of personal faith. It is a confession of personal faith. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth [that], ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God [has] raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And if never before, let’s say a person understands the message of the gospel, as did Paul on that day, as did Lydia on that day; and in a very quiet, personal, responsive way, in their heart, they acknowledge their need of a Savior, they embrace Christ as their Savior; what, then, is the most perfect, obvious opportunity for them to make that known to the watching world? Baptism. That’s why an unbaptized believer cannot be found in the New Testament, apart from the thief on the cross. And I don’t think any of you want to go to that extent to avoid being baptized.

It’s a confession of personal faith in Christ; it is expressive of our union with Christ. In Romans chapter 6, Paul describes the baptism pool as being like a grave. It’s a very graphic picture. He says, “Don’t you know”—verse 3—“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.” In other words, baptism illustrates the spiritual union and identification which the believer has with Christ in his death and resurrection.

So, in being baptized, I acknowledge that sin deserved death; therefore, I deserve death. On the cross, Christ died my death. So if I now, by faith, am united with him, then I am crucified with him—that in one sense, I died when he died, and I was raised when he was raised; therefore, I reckon myself dead to sin and alive to Christ.[6] And that’s why when someone is put down underneath this water, they are declaring publicly their desire to die to themselves and to rise day and daily to life in the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re not claiming that they’ve got it down to a fine art and they’ve come here to let everybody know by this dramatic display. They’re not determining that by their own endeavor they will be able to make this clear. They are simply obeying the instruction of the Word of God.

And incidentally, only in immersion can this grave picture truly be portrayed, which is something far removed from a small amount of water bestowed upon a small infant with a small result.

Thirdly, it is expressive of our commitment to Christ. It’s expressive of our commitment to Christ. In other words, it’s an act of obedience to his commands, and it is an act of submission to his lordship.

Jesus says in Luke chapter 6, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?”[7] Let me speak just for a moment to somebody who professes faith in Jesus Christ, and to this point in your life, for whatever reason, however good a reason you managed to have come up with, you remain unbaptized. I want to know: As you put your head on the pillow at night, how do you face up to Luke 6:46: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do [the things] I tell you?” And if God speaks to you clearly about that, are you prepared tonight to say, “If I never have another opportunity, I will affirm tonight that I will no longer live with this point of ambivalence”? That’s not to say there are not other areas in our lives that may be equally challenged by the same question. Of course there are, and they will remain so. But tonight, we’re talking about one express issue: baptism. It is an indication of our obedience to Christ, and it is an indication of our submission to his lordship.

Peter refers to it as “the pledge of a good conscience toward[s] God.”[8] Let me conclude with that picture. The word for “pledge” was most commonly used for the signing and sealing of a business contract—the kind of thing that individuals do on a routine basis. So here’s the question: Jesus asks, “Do you accept the terms of my service? Do you accept the privilege and promises? Do you undertake its responsibilities? And will you fulfill its demands?” Let me ask you again the question: Jesus says, “Do you”—forget the person next to you—“do you, as an individual, accept the terms of my service? Do you accept the privileges and promises? Do you undertake its responsibilities? And will you fulfill its demands?”

Now, those of you who are involved in the insurance world will know how dreadfully important it is to get a signature on that proposal form before you leave. For to what end to tell these people about the amazing benefits of your life policy and of the annuity and of the way that it will take care of this and that and have the people sit and go, “Mm-hmm, oh yes, that sounds very nice,” and all the time they’re saying, “I wish he would shut up, and I wish he would leave”? They’re really very foolish, you know, because the individual is talking about the one eventuality upon which we can all agree, because one out of one dies. And so if you have ever been involved in that industry or in others at all, you will have been told it is vitally important that you don’t leave the house without a signature on the bottom of the form.

My job, under God—totally inept as I am, unable to convince the human mind or influence the human will—is to prevail upon you in this moment and in the moments that follow not to leave this building without putting your signature on the form. And all the nodding of the head and all the “Thank you, Mr. Begg” and “Oh, we hear you on the radio” and “Oh, it’s nice to come” will not matter one iota in the light of eternity. That’s why I’ve tried to explain this to you. And I thank you for listening as you have.

Let us pray:

O God our Father, write your Word now in our hearts, we pray, and grant that what we’re now about to share in together may simply confirm the challenge that many of us feel in relationship to faith in Christ and what it means to follow you. We come to you to offer our lives and our resources because you have loved us first.[9] And we rejoice in the privilege as we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

[1] Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2.3.4.

[2] John 1:29 (RSV).

[3] See John 3:25–26.

[4] Matthew 28:19 (NIV 1984).

[5] Acts 9:18 (KJV).

[6] See Romans 6:11.

[7] Luke 6:46 (RSV).

[8] 1 Peter 3:21 (NIV 1984).

[9] See 1 John 4:19.