Understanding Baptism (Church Basics)

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Book Review

Understanding Baptism (Church Basics) by Bobby Jamieson is a short book that answers the following questions: What is Baptism? Who Should be Baptized? What about infant baptism? Including common arguments for and against infant baptism. Why is Baptism required for membership? When is Baptism not “Baptism”? And how should churches practice baptism?

The book is written from a Baptist perspective so it will argue for the view of believer’s baptism. I believe that the book is organized well and written in a way that is easily understandable for lay people. The book is also short. One can easily finish the book in one sitting and get a good grasp of Baptist view on Baptism. It covers topics that are rarely taught in churches but important such as the discussion between infant baptism and believers baptism, as well as why baptism is required for church membership, and how a church should practice baptism.

This book is specifically written to readers who are discerning on whether they should get baptized. I would recommend this book to anyone who’s considering baptism and I believe it would help them in their discernment. This book is also good for anyone who wants to get a quick overview of the debate between infant baptism and believer’s baptism, and baptist’s view on baptism and church membership.

Book Notes

What is Baptism?

Baptism is a church’s act of affirming and portraying a believer’s union with Christ by immersing him or her in water, and a believer’s act of publicity committing him or herself to Christ and his people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world.

  • Church’s act

    • Jesus gave the local church authority to Baptize
      • Matthew 16, 18, 28:18-20
      • Where two or three are gathered
    • In a place with no believers, then the believer there itself is the local church, because there’s no church
    • The Church acts through a representative

  • The church affirms and portrays a believer’s union with Christ

    • Rom 6:3-4, Gal 3:25-27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Rom 6:4, Col 2:11-12

  • By immersion

    • John 3:23, baptizo, Acts 8:36, 38-39, Rom 6:1-4

  • Believer’s act

    • Acts 2:37-39, 41

  • Public Commitment to Christ

    • Matthew 10:32-35
    • 1 Pet 3:21
      • Baptism does not save, it is the faith that Baptism expresses that saves

  • Commitment to Christ’s people

    • Eph 2:1-10, 2:11-22
    • 1 Cor 12:12-26, Eph 1:23, Col 1:18, 1 Pet 2:10

  • Baptism does not save

    • only saved by faith ()
    • Simon went to hell, even though he was baptized
    • The thief on the cross when to paradise though he wasn’t baptized

  • Baptism isn’t a human tradition

    • Ordained by Christ

Who Should Be Baptized

  • The Great Commission commands that believers of Jesus are to be baptized

    • In Acts whenever someone believes they get baptized (Acts 3:38)
    • NT writers assumes that all believers are baptized (Gal 3:27, 1 Cor 1:13, Col 2:12)

  • Benefits of baptism

    • Confessing faith strengthens faith
    • Baptism is an opportunity to evangelize

  • Opposition to baptism

    • Why make a big fuss? Can’t my faith be private? Isn’t it enough to trust in Jesus?
      • Jesus commands it
      • There will be no private Christians (Matt 10:32-35, Luke 9:26)
    • I have been a Christian a long time, and haven’t been baptized
      • Better late than never
        • Mat 21:28-32
      • repent of your sin
    • Don’t know where to get baptized
      • Find a good and healthy church
    • I was baptized as an infant

What About Infant Baptism

  • 3 views
    • RC
      • Imparts saving grace
      • the faith or consent of the baptized is not important, the act alone is effective
    • Luther
      • Infants that were baptized does actually have faith
        • (But where are the evidence of faith?)
    • Reformed
      • Covenantal Case
      • Acts 2:38-39
      • God established His church in the days of Abraham and put children into it. They must remain there until He puts them out, He has nowhere put them out. They are still then members of His church and as sch entitled to its ordinances. B.B. Field1

The Case Against Paedobaptism

  1. Paedobaptists applies the sign of union with Christ, with those who are not united with Christ. Divorced the sign from reality
    • If Baptism is to be a sign of what has happened to the person internally , then infant baptism takes away this meaning
    • Rom 6:1-4, Col 2:1-12
    • Col 1:13
    • Eph 2:1-3
  2. Paedobaptists confuses being born of Christian parents with being born again by the Spirit
    • the practice confuses it, not their mind confuses it
    • The practice of infant baptism communicates that children born of Chrisitan parents have something different in them, as oppose to just different environmentally
  3. Paedobaptists mistakes God’s forming His New Covenant Community the same way as His Old Covenant Community
    • The Old Covenant community was formed through lineage, being born from the line of Abraham. And signified by circumcision of the male members
    • But the people failed to obey God, they needed a circumcision of the Heart
    • God promised that in the New Covenant, his people will have a new heart (Jer 31:31-34)
      • v. 32 This will be different from the Old Covenant
    • Ezek 36:26-37
    • The New Covenant community will have a heart change, something inside them will change
    • The new covenant community is not expanded by familial descent, but rebirth. So only those who have been reborn of the Spirit are apart of it
  4. Paedobaptism undermines the Church’s saltiness and lightness
    • by incorporating people who aren’t reborn into the Church. The church’s saltiness and lightness is jeopardized
  5. Paedobaptism dissolve two crucial differences between circumcision and baptism
    • Circumcision marks off God’s people as a distinct ethnic group
      • Baptism marks off people by those who have been reborn
    • Circumcision points toward Israel’s need to have a circumcised heart. (Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Gen 17:11-14)
      • Baptism fulfills that by being a sign of “I have been united with Christ, I have a circumcised heart” (Rom 6:1-4)
    • Paul equates circumcision in the old testament with circumcision of the heart in the New Testament (Col 2:11-12)
  6. Paedobaptism makes God’s promise less of a promise
    • How can Acts 2:38-39 be a promise, if most infants who gets baptized don’t have evidence of faith later?
    • Isn’ the New Covenant promise suppose to cover the gap of being in the Covenant and fulfilling the covenant? Unlike the Old Covenant, where they’re in it, but they can not fulfill it.

Responding to Paedobaptist Objections

  1. God still deals with families as a unit. Household Baptism in NT ^45ed66
    • If the head of a household gets baptism, everyone gets baptized
    • Paul shared the gospel first, which means that everyone present would be able to understand the gospel.
    • Baptized along with everyone who believed.
    • If it is the case that “God deals with families a unit”, then why doesn’t the Paedobaptist baptize the unbeliving spouse of a couple? and what about teenager or adult children?
  2. Paul tells the children to obey their parents “in the Lord” (Eph 6:1) and calls the believing parent’s children “holy” (1 Cor 7:14). This assumes that they are covenant members.
    • “in the Lord”
      • Paul is not concern on whether the children is believe or unbelieving, or whether they’re a covenant member. Paul is addressing children as beleivers to obey their parents as believer
    • 1 Cor 7:14
      • Doesn’t address baptism
      • Paul also describes the unbelieving spouse as “holy”
        • So argument here for paedobaptism must also argue for non-beliving spouse baptism
  3. Roman 4:11, Paul says that Abraham received the sign of
  4. circumcision as a seal of righteousness by faith
    • Abraham was righteous by faith before circumcision
    • Paul was talking about how God gave Abram the seal of circumcision to signifies his righteousness by faith that he had previous, not talking about others
    • Also doesn’t address baptism, or how this relates to baptism
  5. To Reject paedobaptism is to kick children out of the church
    • Paedobaptist accuse credobaptism of kicking out children that belong out. But they have takin those who are suppose to be out in
    • Baptists, also include chilren in their worship services, and they also strive to raise their children up in the Lord
  6. To Reject Paedobaptism is to fracture the unity of God’s Scripture and God’s plan of salvation
    • Paedobaptists stress continuity between Old and New, but there is also discontinuity. The key is to find the right balance.

Why is Baptism Required for Membership

  1. Baptism is where faith goes public
  2. Baptism is the initiating oath sign of the New Covenant
  3. Baptism is the passport of the kingdom, and Kingdom citizen’s swearing-in ceremony
  4. Baptism is a necessary criterion by which a Church recognizes a Christian
  5. Baptism is effective sign of church membership
  6. The Lord’s Supper is also another effect sign of church membership
  7. Without baptism, membership doesn’t exists
    • Marriage without the vow, you can’t have membership without baptism (the vow)

But won’t this exclude true Chrisitans from membership?

  • It’s like having the boarding pass, but forgot about it at the gate
  • It’s sad to have faithful Christians to be rejected membership because of infant baptism. But it’s worse to change what Jesus commanded of his church.

When is Baptism Not “Baptism”?

  • To know what something is, you have to know what it isn’t
  • If you were baptized as an infant
  • If you were baptized as a believer, but not a believer
    • if baptized as a professing believer, but strongly believe that they weren’t a Christian at the time
      • Depend on own conviction and talk with church leader
      • baptism should be done once, and shouldn’t be repeated over mere doubts
  • If the church that baptized you denies the Gospel
  • If the baptism has no connection whatsoever to a church

How Should Churches practice baptism?

Mode

  • Immersion
  • Biblical support and symbolism

Administrator

  • Done in the authority of the Church
  • Normally a church leader, elder/deacon
  • But not strict to only a church leader, but if someone else, then choose wisely

Result

  • Baptism should result in church membership

Context

  • baptizing with the church present is better than just a small subset of the church
    • Since the church is there to authorize and affirm the person’s a Christian
    • the person is also publicly professing he’s Christian

Timing

  • All biblical example shows that Baptism should happen soon after conversion
  • But in the West, it’s wise to go through “baptism class” so the person knows what they’re getting into (Christ as Lord…), and to let the church know the person more
    • A dis-service to baptism anyone that wants to get baptized, just for them to disappear.
  • In other places such as Muslim countries, since people can be disowned by their families if they profess faith in Christ. The situation is different, it would be fine to baptism them, since they know what they’re getting into

Footnotes

  1. B.B. Field Studies in Theology, 408 ↩