Baptism – More Than an
Event
As Baptists, there are several things that I believe we get
right about Christian baptism. New
Testament baptism was always for those who personally embraced the faith
through belief and repentance. While I
respect those traditions who baptize infants, I remain, and will always remain
firmly convinced that believer’s baptism is the New Testament norm. Furthermore, immersion was the mode practiced
by the New Testament and early church.
In contrast to sprinkling or pouring, immersion is the most faithful to
the original Greek word used in the Scriptures, baptizō - meaning “to
dip.” Perhaps even more importantly,
immersion is a richer symbol representing dying and rising with Christ.
But as Baptists, we’ve also had our weaknesses in our
baptismal theology – at least in practice.
We’ve tended to consider Christian baptism as a necessary step of
obedience (it is) and a public declaration of our faith (it is that,
also). But that is where we’ve often
stopped. But such an understanding isn’t
nearly deep and rich enough to capture the full meaning of what the New
Testament teaches about baptism.
The Apostle Paul taught a baptismal theology that impacts
the believer’s life every day: “We were
buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Today, we
will baptize four people. But you will
be brought into the experience as well as we “remember our baptism”
together. The new reality of the
baptized life as taught by Paul gives us power for living in victory over
sin. It doesn’t matter how long ago you
followed Christ in baptism. It was more
than just an event. It is the new
reality in which we are to live.
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