#94 Baptism Myths (4 Myths Examined)
Baptism Myths - Working Towards Baptism?
Some people believe that baptism is something that you need to work towards. Perhaps you become a believer and then you decide to wait to be baptized until you are more mature. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There is prudence in waiting until you are ready. If a child comes to faith at age five or ten their parents may have the child wait several or more years until they have reached maturity and fully understand the commitment they are making. In the same way new believers may choose to wait. Yet waiting to be baptized is not the biblical example that we are given.
In Acts 8:36-38 we read about the Ethiopian eunuch who came to faith and was immediately baptized. Again in Acts 16:31-33 there is the Roman guard who was baptized the same day that he became a believer along with his whole household. The steps are pretty clear: believe and then be baptized. “They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.”
The error that we fall into if we assume we need to work towards baptism is that we can ever be good enough. We can never escape our sin nature in this life. But baptism is a commandment, and a sign of our salvation. It is obedience in the right direction. Our salvation was never dependent on us being good enough and neither is our baptism. The one exception to this role would be that a pastor may choose not to baptize you if he is unsure of your salvation, and that should scare you.
Acts 22:16
“Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”
Baptism Myths - What Baptism is
1 Death to Old Self
Romans 6:3-4
“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Baptism is into the death of Christ. Therefore our sin nature has been buried with Christ and we also are raised with Him.
1 Peter 3:20–21
“Who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”
Peter describes baptism in comparison to the flood. The flood washed away the sinful from the world. They did not survive the flood because they were sinners. Noah and his family God caused to survive because they were righteous. Baptism today is in the same manner. Baptism is to bury or kill our sin nature, leaving only the righteousness behind. This does not mean we are better people after baptism but that we have symbolically been tied into the nature of Christ.
2 Sign of Salvation
In baptism our sin nature is replaced with Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 3:27
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
In baptism our sin nature is replaced with Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
“Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
When we are baptized our sin nature is replaced with the Holy Spirit!
3 Communal Acknowledgement
1 Peter 3:21
“Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”
When we are baptized with an audience it is like a marriage. We publicly proclaim our faith in God. With a good conscience we go to be baptized, and with a good conscience the congregation agrees, and with a good conscience the pastor baptizes you. All present truly believing in your salvation.
Baptism Myth - Baptism Necessary to Salvation?
There are several examples of people going to heaven without baptism in the Bible. The best example of course is Christ on the cross and the man next to Him who comes to believe in Jesus and is told “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). From this we can conclude that baptism is not necessary. Furthermore the normative approach throughout the New Testament appears to be that first you believe, then you are saved, and then you are baptized.
Baptism is good though. Through baptism we die to our old self and put on Christ and the Holy Spirit. But regardless we are meant as Christians to follow Christ’s example. 1 John 2:6 says “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” When we live like Jesus we do the things He did, and that includes baptism.
Baptism Myths - Baptism as a “Work”
No person can work towards their salvation because it is the free gift of God. Salvation is the free gift of God. Yet that free gift comes with commitments on our part. Not obligations that we can’t get out of. But rather things that ought to follow naturally if we are truly saved. If we are truly saved we should desire to live the way that Christ lived. To maintain the sabbath, communion, and to be baptized. We should become better people living like Christ lived. All of these things are “works” if you will but they do not bring you any closer to being saved but they may bring you closer to God.
