I believe in baptism…
…of adults
…in water
…by immersion
…as part of saving faith
…for the forgiveness of sins
…accompanied by the reception of the Holy Spirit
…to enter into the body of Christ
Just in case you were wondering.
He’d made a journey of over one thousand miles in a chariot. One thousand hot, dusty miles. He was an Ethiopian who had converted to Judaism and made the trip from his homeland to Jerusalem to worship. He had traveled all the way to Jerusalem to visit the temple. And he when he got there, he couldn’t get in.
You see, this man was a eunuch. He had been castrated. According to the Law given to Moses, no man in that condition could enter the temple. One thousand miles, to be told “No” at the door. Maybe he knew that. Maybe he had accepted his fate before going, being willing to just gaze on God’s temple from the outside. We don’t know. Still, it had to be more than a bit frustrating.
Now he’s reading in the book of Isaiah as he travels back home. That in itself is amazing, giving the scarcity of books in ancient times. He must have paid a good bit of money to have his own personal copy of a portion of Scripture. Maybe someone had recommended Isaiah to him; Isaiah 56 had to be a favorite among eunuchs, where we read these verses: “For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.” (Isaiah 56:4-5) Someday, they would have a place within the temple.
But this eunuch wasn’t reading that chapter. He was reading chapter 53—“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.” (Isaiah 53:7-8) Such words would have spoken to him, especially after his trip to Jerusalem: oppressed, afflicted, without descendants. The words intrigued him. When Philip appeared alongside and asked him if he understood what he was reading, the eunuch readily admitted that he didn’t.
Philip explained the passage to him, explained the good news of Jesus. Somewhere in that good news, Philip mentioned baptism. Baptism. New birth. A new start. A new life. But the eunuch knew what was coming, so he asked the question: “Here’s water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Go ahead, Philip. Tell me the bad news. I’ve already faced it at the temple. I’ve faced it for years. Tell me what it is this time. I already know. This good news isn’t for eunuchs. What hinders me? My mutilated body. Or my nationality. Or… what is it this time?
Maybe the answer went unspoken. Maybe Philip shouted with joy, “Nothing! Nothing at all.” Maybe the eunuch could see it in Philip’s grin or the look in his eyes. Maybe the tradition that the King James quotes is actually true. Whatever it was, the eunuch learned that there was no hindrance this time, no barrier, no “No Eunuchs Allowed” sign. His path was clear, clear to the water, clear to new birth and new life, to the cleansing Jesus offers. “What hinders me?” Absolutely nothing.
I can’t help but think of the words from the beautiful old hymn: “My path to life is free.” Amen! What hinders me? Nothing. Nothing at all.
Recently, another brother wrote the following in his blog:
How do we deal with the fact that Paul wrote—
(1 Cor. 1:17) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For all the many scriptures that support the traditional position of the Churches of Christ, there is no explaining this passage in light of what we’ve traditionally taught. How can the greatest evangelist in history say — by inspiration — that Jesus did not send him to baptize?
Don’t we send our missionaries out to baptize? Don’t we expect reports from them as to numbers of baptisms? Can you imagine a Church of Christ missionary saying that he wasn’t sent to baptize?
I expressed disagreement in my comments and would like to address the subject here. As one who has been a missionary and is often in missionary situations today, I echo Paul’s statements. The act of physically putting someone into the water is not what I was called to do. I will do it when necessary; as recently as March I baptized several people. But I am not looking for notches on my revolver nor feathers in my headdress.
I preach that people need to repent and be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the Holy Spirit. [I, for one, feel that repent is as much a part of what leads to that result as be baptized is.] However, I have seen the dangers of people being baptized by the visiting celebrity preacher. I’ve heard them say, “I’ve got the photo that shows I was baptized by _____.” It’s a danger that we need to work harder to avoid; part of that would happen if we quit giving “credit” to the person who physically immerses the other. It doesn’t matter who puts the person under the water. Look at John 4:1-2:
“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.”
Paul preached baptism as part of faith in Christ; we see that in Acts 16. He says in 1 Corinthians 12 that all of the Corinthians have been baptized, so that wasn’t the question. In chapter 1, Paul is dealing with the problems that had arisen based on preacheritis in Corinth: I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Peter. He says, “I am thankful that I didn’t baptize many of you.” Note what he doesn’t say:
He says, “I am thankful that I didn’t physically put many of you under the water, for that would have added to this preacher cult problem you have.”
Remember… context is our friend. Out of context, we can use Paul’s words to say that he didn’t highly emphasize baptism or that he separated baptism and faith, placing faith above baptism. In context, all we can say is that Paul did not feel compelled to be the one to physically immerse someone. He would teach that person that they needed to be immersed, but it did not have to be by his hand.
Personally, I hope that more of us learn that lesson. Someone asked me the other day, “Who baptized you?” I do know the man’s name, but there was no real significance to his participation. He was the deacon in charge of our youth camp. I don’t know that I ever heard him teach a lesson. I don’t know where he is today. And I’m glad.
Who really baptized me? The Holy Spirit, thank you very much. Someone helped me be immersed so that He could do that work.
I would encourage all missionaries to say “I was sent to preach, not to baptize.” I would encourage it of all preachers. We do baptize and will baptize. But we care more that the person be baptized rather than whether or not we do it by our own hand. We learned that from Jesus’ own example and Paul’s words here.