As Christians, we know that our hope and our joy is in the Lord.  The bible tells us that we are all sinners in need of a savior, and God has provided us a Savior in Jesus Christ.  He temporarily gave up his seat on the throne in heaven to come to earth, live a perfect life on this earth, and then died the cross, becoming the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  So when God looks at those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, He no longer sees our sin!  Instead He sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.  This is our source of hope and joy because we know that we do not have to earn our way into heaven.  Because of God’s unending grace, those who trust in the Lord will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The bible also tells us that during our time on this earth we will endure many trials and frustrations.  For example, many Christians spend a lot of time agonizing over our friends and family who do not trust in Jesus Christ, because we know that faith in Christ is the ONLY way to God the Father.  In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Another example is the fact that the vast majority of people in the world today are not Christians.  Because of this, most Christians are looked upon as outsiders who are out of touch with the way of the world in today’s culture.

One frustration that almost all Christians have when they first give their lives to Christ is that there are so many different teachings and opinions within Christianity.  The town of De Smet is a perfect example of this.  In our little town of roughly 1,100 people, there are six different churches.   While each of these six churches agree on some things, they disagree on several things as well.  Hence the perceived need for so many different churches in such a small town.  

Some of the different issues that Christians disagree on include but are not limited to communion, baptism, women in ministry, gifts of the spirit, how to conduct a worship service, styles of music acceptable for worship, the authority of scripture, the extent of the atonement, end times, and so on.  These issues (and many more) have divided churches and denominations for centuries.

The issue that I have chosen to write about in this blog post is baptism.   This is an issue that many people in the church today are passionate about, myself included.  Before we get started, I want to mention that this issue can be very complex.  However, the purpose of this blog post is to make this as clear as possible, so I will attempt to keep things as simple as possible.

In the overall church today, there are two main types of baptism: Infant baptism and believer baptism.  Infant baptism is the practice of baptizing babies, usually in the first six months or so of their lives.  The method of infant baptism varies from church to church, but the most common practice (in this part of the world at least) is to sprinkle water on the forehead of the child.  The basic idea is that Christians parents will bring their babies to the church to be baptized and in this process the child becomes a child of God.  Infant baptism is seen as an extension of the covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis 15.  

The main biblical passage used to support infant baptism is Acts 16:25-34.   There are others for sure, but this is the one I hear used most often in defense of infant baptism, so this is the one I will address.  In this passage we see that Paul and Silas are thrown in prison for preaching the gospel.   During the night God caused an earthquake which caused all of the doors of the prison to be opened, and everyone’s bonds to be unfastened.  When the jailer woke up and saw all of this, he thought the prisoners had escaped and knew he would get in trouble for this, so he drew his sword to kill himself.  But Paul stopped him from doing this, and then shared the gospel with him.  The bible tells us that after this the jailer was baptized, he and his family.  So many Pastors, churches, and denominations point to this passage (and several others that describe the baptism of entire families) as biblical evidence of infant baptism in the bible, because they say there were almost certainly babies in the families that were baptized.  The obvious problem with this is that the bible doesn’t actually say that, does it?  In fact, there is no direct mention of baptizing babies ANYWHERE in the bible. The bible either mentions the name of the person being baptized directly, or says that an entire family or group of people was baptized.  So the best we can do in trying to find biblical evidence of infant baptism is to assume that there were infants in the families or groups that were baptized.  I don’t know about you, but I am hesitant to make assumptions about the meaning of God’s Word.  Especially when the bible consistently talks about baptism in the same scenario over and over again in the New Testament.  More on that in a moment.

The other type of baptism is believer baptism, which is the practice of baptizing people when they are old enough to make the decision for themselves.   Believer baptism usually (but not always) happens shortly after a person gives their life to Jesus Christ.  Like infant baptism, the method of believer baptism can vary from church to church.  However the most common method of believer baptism is immersion, meaning the person’s entire body is lowered (immersed) into the water.  The symbolism is that when we are lowered into the water it represents dying to our sins and our old way of life, and being raised out of the water represents our new life in Christ.  The basic idea of believer baptism is that baptism is an outward sign of our inward faith in Jesus Christ.

Without exception, baptism in the New Testament is tied to the repentance and faith of the person being baptized.  There are several passages of scripture that support believer baptism.   I will give you just a few.

Mark 1:4 says, “John (the Baptist) appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance.”  We see almost the exact same thing in Luke 3:3 which says, “And he (John the Baptist) went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  As you read all 4 gospel accounts, you’ll see that the main purpose of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for Jesus Christ.  In John 1:23 when John the Baptist was asked about himself he said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”  The way that John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord was to preach a message of repentance, and after the people repented of their sins, he would baptize them.  This is very clearly spelled out for us in all 4 gospel accounts.    

In Acts chapter 2 we see one of the greatest and most effective sermons of all time.  At the beginning of chapter 2 we see that the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  Many of the people who witnessed this thought that they were drunk!  So Peter stood up and delivered a powerful sermon, using several Old Testament texts.   He finished this sermon in verse 36 saying, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”  The bible tells us that the people who heard this were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles what they should do.  In verse 38 Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Notice once again that baptism is directly linked to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.   

Now just for fun lets return to Acts 16:25-34, which is a passage that is often used to support infant baptism.  Let’s take a closer look at that passage.  Let’s take a look at what happens immediately before and after the jailer and all his family were baptized.  In verse 32 it says, “And they (Paul and Silas) spoke the word of the Lord to him (the jailer) and to all who were in his house.”  So BEFORE they were baptized, they had the word of the Lord preached to them by Paul and Silas.  Then after they were baptized the bible tells us, “And he (the jailer) rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”  So this passage tells us that the jailer and his household heard the word of the Lord preached to them, BELIEVED what they heard, and then were baptized.  Once again we see that baptism is directly linked to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.   Also, I believe it is worth pointing out that all of the people being referred to here that were baptized were old enough to not only HEAR what was being preached to them, but they also made the decision to BELIEVE what was preached to them.

I could keep going, but I will stop here for the sake of avoiding overkill.   I believe that these passages, and several others just like them, show a clear link between baptism and faith and repentance.  Infants do not have the capacity to repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ.   Therefore I believe we can conclude that the bible teaches us baptism should be reserved for those who have the capacity to repent of their sins and believe the good news of Jesus Christ.

At this point I want to pause for just a second and point out that I have several friends who believe in infant baptism, and we have chosen to remain friends!  This is NOT an issue Christians should be divided over to the point that they no longer speak to each other or associate with one another.  There are several Pastors that have my full respect who subscribe to infant baptism.  The one that comes to my mind most often is R.C. Sproull.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I learned from him, and how much of my core beliefs are a result of his teaching.  He went to his grave believing in infant baptism, yet remained friends with people like John McArthur and John Piper, who are very outspoken supporters of believer baptism.  My point here is that even the most distinguished bible teachers of this time period do not allow the issue of baptism to divide them, and you shouldn’t either.

However, I want to end this blog post with a stern warning to all who are considering their own belief concerning baptism.  One school of thought that is very prominent among those who practice infant baptism is that if a baby dies who has not been baptized, that baby will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  To be perfectly blunt, the belief is that if a baby dies before they are baptized, they are going to hell.  

In response to this, I want to quickly draw your attention to John chapter 3.   The passage begins with a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and teacher of the Jews.  His religion was VERY legalistic.  He subscribed to the belief that a person must earn their way into heaven by following the law of God, as well as the rules and regulations set forth by the Pharisees.  Not only did Nicodemus teach this, he lived it.  To put this into perspective, Nicodemus would not even pluck a gray hair out of his beard on the Sabbath, because that would be considered working on the Sabbath.

So when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, he directly contradicted the belief that a person can earn their way into heaven.  He started out by saying that unless a person is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of heaven.  What he was saying here is that unless you are acted upon by an outside force, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  The outside force, obviously, is GOD!  The bible tells us that ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God.  That NO ONE is righteous, not even one…not even you!   There is nothing any of us can do on our own to be seen as righteous in the eyes of God.  We have to be SAVED from the penalty of our sins by an outside source.  And that outside source is God.  Jesus uses the analogy of rebirth because NO human being has anything to do with their own physical birth.  We are just there.  Physical birth is NOT something we participate in, it is something that happens TO us.  Our spiritual rebirth is the same way.  So Jesus is telling Nicodemus YOU can’t get into heaven on your own strengths and abilities.  You have to be CHANGED BY GOD.

Jesus goes on to say that same thing in a few different ways, and it all leads up to the passage that EVERYBODY knows.  “For God SO loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  So we could actually read this section of scripture like this… “There is NOTHING any of us can do on our own to be seen as righteous in the eyes of God.  In order to enter into the kingdom of heaven, your heart needs to be transformed by God the Father Almighty.  For God SO LOVED the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will NOT perish, but have eternal life.”

So in light of this passage of scripture, let me ask you 2 VERY important questions about baptism.  I’m not going to answer these questions here.  I’m going to let you answer them for yourselves in the privacy of your own mind.

Question 1.  If there is NOTHING that ANY of us can do on our own to be seen as righteous in the eyes of God, than how is it possible that sprinkling a little water on a baby’s head is going to ensure that that person is going to heaven?

Question 2.  If it is true that God loves you SO MUCH that he sent his ONLY Son into this world to live a perfect life without sin, and then suffer and DIE on a Roman cross so that YOU don’t have to die, but will live FOREVER in HIS presence and HIS glory…then how is it possible that that SAME God would send a baby to hell simply because their parents didn’t have a little water sprinkled on their heads?