Following up on yesterday’s post about what I don’t believe about baptism, here are some things that I think we need to keep in mind as a church:

We need to remember that baptism…

• …is really important. That should go without saying, given the number of times baptism is discussed in the New Testament. Still, I’m part of a group that is very reactionary. We’re given to pendulum swings, black-and-white discussions, extreme responses to errors of the past. Because of that, since some in our group made a legalistic overemphasis of baptism in the past, many in later generations are almost embarrassed to talk about baptism. When we do, we tend to downplay its importance.
• …isn’t the most important. We mustn’t fall back into the mindset that says the only thing that matters is whether or not people have been dunked. (I’m intentionally putting that in vulgar terms) I’ve been in campaign situations with preachers who only wanted another notch in their belt; they had little interest in what the person believed nor what they would do going forward. They just wanted to record another baptism. Baptism is part of the disciple making process, according to Matthew 28, but the goal is to make disciples, not baptize.
• …needs to be seen as more than a social event. We’ve gotten into a funny habit in many churches, where baptisms are scheduled almost like parties. “Let’s see, we’ll be on vacation the next couple of weeks. Then we have VBS at church. Let’s have the baptism a month from now when everyone can be here.” It’s great to have family and friends present when someone is baptized. I love to see baptisms done in the presence of the whole church. But we must not lose the focus. This person is dying with Christ, leaving behind their old life, and beginning a new life. They are also becoming a part of God’s people, but that’s not the only aspect. There was a sense of urgency about baptism in the New Testament; we need to recover some of that.
• …isn’t about the one doing the baptizing. I touched on this yesterday, but it needs to be said again. I’ve heard young people plan their baptism for a certain event when a famous preacher will be present, just so they can say they were baptized by that man. I’ve been in foreign countries where people from the States were asked to do the baptizing to honor them and give more “importance” to the baptisms. I want the person who is baptized to know they were baptized by the Holy Spirit; I don’t want them focused on the person whose hands helped them under the water.
• …is an appeal from a sinner to God. I say that because we sometimes feel that others need to validate or approve someone’s baptism. I’ll teach someone what the Bible says about baptism. If they feel they’ve done what the Bible says, that’s good enough for me. As I tell people, my saying they are okay or not okay won’t make one bit of difference in the end. God has the final say.
• …is a beginning, not an end. It’s a new birth. The beginning of a new life in Christ. It’s not the goal; it’s merely an important step on our path to the goal.

Again, not an exhaustive list. What would you change, omit, or add if you were making a similar list?

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?