Baptism ~ God, You , and Brethren
By Bob W. Lovelace
To
begin with I’m going to give you an account of a brother’s predicament he found
himself in. It was my privilege to be able to help him in any way that I did.
Dear reader his situation was not unlike that of others I’ve known through the
years.
This brother was stationed in the military here. He’d had problems with
alcohol. Everything was falling apart. He took off for
Having asked if we could get together and talk he began coming over when
he could, bringing his boys and visiting. He was a fine man. I remember that he
had to work long hours, but he was very faithful and he spent his days off with
his two small sons.
He
talked to me one day about his recent life. Then he said, “Bob I could come
forward and confess my sinfulness, and I would be willing to do that without
hesitation, but I don’t think that’s what I need to do because I’ve never been
a Christian” (His words not mine). He explained how when he was a boy they had
a preacher who was skilled at getting boys together, doing things with them,
and then persuading them to be baptized. And so, he said, “I was one of those
boys.”
First of all I could appreciate his honesty. Moreover he’s asking
“himself” the right question: What must I do to
be saved?
He
was saying when it came to his baptism there were some important essentials
that were missing! And based upon that, and the fact that he’d never been
faithful, he said he knew that he needed to be baptized again.
I
can be pretty understanding of someone in his
situation. First, because I know that those essentials must be met. Second,
because I don’t know what he was thinking when he was baptized I believed him.
Thirdly, because of the relationship baptism sustains with God who commanded
it, with the person themselves who must obey from the heart, and with brethren
who will accept one as belonging to the church when they are baptized. These
are brethren with whom the individual is to work.
It Is God Who Commanded Baptism.
Here are some simple
questions that belong with this consideration:
1. Who Gave Baptism?
Answer: Jesus did (Matt. 28:18-20; Mk.
2. When was the baptism
of the New Covenant given? Answer: same verses above.
3. When was it first to
be preached? Lk. 24:47 answers
that.
4. What Is Baptism?
Answer: baptism is a command (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts
5. What is the scriptural
mode of baptism? Answer: by
definition baptism is the word “Baptizo” and means to
plunge, submerge, immerse. Baptism is not “sprinkling” (Rhantizo)
and it is not “pouring” (Cheo) i.e., having some water
poured on one’s head. How important is it to know that? Very! If one is
sprinkled or poured then they have not obeyed God’s command.
6. What is the reason
for being baptized? People today baptize for many different reasons,
but let’s look at the Lord’s reason. Baptism is for one’s salvation (Mk.
7. Is Repentance
necessary before baptism? Answer: Acts
One
more thing concerning God who gave baptism: Acts 2:47 says, “Praising God, and
having favour with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily such as should be saved.” The Lord added to the church
daily such as “should” be saved which means “those who were being saved,” but
He does not add those who are baptized yet have not repented and turned to God
in obedience from the heart (Cf. Rom. 6:16-17, 3-6).
Let’s Look At “You” Who Should Be Baptized.
Question: Who
Should Be Baptized? Answer: those concerned with what they need to
do to be saved knowing that they are lost. Our example is the jailer in Acts
16:30, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
What precedes baptism?
There are five steps to obeying the Gospel:
1. One must first HEAR the word: Mk.
2. One must BELIEVE
prior to baptism (Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 8:35-36).
3. One who has REPENTED
(Acts
4. One who has CONFESSED
Christ with the mouth (Acts
5. One willing to OBEY IN BAPTISM “from
the heart” (Rom.
6. Finally, one baptized before but not into
Christ’s Body: I Cor. 12:13; read Acts 19:1-7. To put it another way one whose
prior baptism was not right.
Your
Baptism And Your Brethren.
When should we consider another to be a Christian? Has God not told us?
Indeed He has in Acts 16:14-15. We have that scripture to emphasize what we
discern and act upon in accepting one as “faithful to the Lord.” Read it
carefully and you will notice that
At
what point to does church discipline apply? I Cor.
I
would never want my judgment to override one’s understanding that one or more of
the necessary elements essential to “their” salvation was missing, though they
had been baptized. See the above list again. It is the Lord who adds and He
knows! I know they are to obey from the heart. And they know if they did or if
they didn’t!
About Discipline And When It Applies.
The
rules of discipline apply when one is “named” a brother. What if they stay for
a while and then walk off? And as they leave they say something like, “Well, I
didn’t do it for the right reason anyway so you can’t consider me to be a
Christian.”
Maybe they didn’t! Maybe they did but are falling away! Either way I
still have to respect God’s law that states discipline is to be applied when
one is “named” a brother at baptism. In a court of law when one commits perjury
and then later says “I’m not lying this time,” the judge is prone to say the
evidence is not permissible this time!
Do
you see now why “discipline” applies at the point when one is baptized? (Acts
16:14-15; I Cor. 5:11)