In the series I’ve done on baptism, I’ve talked about some of the things I believe about baptism. Let me share some of the things I don’t believe about baptism.

I DON’T BELIEVE THAT

• …baptism is merely a formality. I don’t know that anybody truly believes that, but I’ll go ahead and say that baptism isn’t just a way of joining the church, it’s not a mere symbol of something that was done in the past, nor any of the other “just” or “merely” statements that you want to make about it. God is at work in baptism, in a powerful way that goes beyond all of our understanding.
• …baptism is a work. That is, it’s not a human work, in the sense that the word is used in the New Testament. God’s Spirit is at work. It is a physical act, but physical acts can have a spiritual reality.
• …baptism requires perfect understanding. Many have argued, based on Acts 2:38, that the person must know that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins or it will lose it’s effectiveness. Acts 3 says that repentance is also for the forgiveness of sins, yet nobody argues that you have to understand that when you repent or there will be no forgiveness. Fact is, it’s pure human arrogance to claim that we understand every facet of what baptism is and what baptism means. We certainly can’t expect that of a new convert.
• …baptism requires perfect mechanics. Said bluntly, the fact that Susy’s toe didn’t go under the water doesn’t keep her baptism from being an immersion nor from being an actual baptism. If the one doing the baptizing doesn’t say the proper words, that doesn’t keep God from acting at that moment.
• …baptism’s validity depends on the one doing the baptizing. It doesn’t matter who helps us into the water. That’s Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 1. What matters is that we are baptized by the Spirit; the human agent is irrelevant. If my salvation depends on the condition of the one who baptized me, then I also need to know about who baptized them, who baptized that person, and so on. How far back do I have to go?
• …baptism must be performed by a member of a certain Christian group. That goes with the previous statement, but I’ll say it anyway. I don’t have to be baptized by a member of the church of Christ. I don’t have to have studied with a member of the church of Christ. I don’t have to have been to a church of Christ building. (Such ideas aren’t limited to my tribe. A survey by Lifeway Research found that only 13% of Baptist pastors said they would accept a “church of Christ” baptism as valid. (Edit made with updated link to survey – 8:40 a.m.; note that report actually says, “If the prospective new member had been immersed after conversion in a church that believes baptism is required for salvation, 13 percent of Southern Baptist pastors said they would not require baptism.”)

That’s not an exhaustive list. But it’s a start. What would you add to the list?