What's the Problem With Baptism?

The word "baptism" crept into the English language as an Anglicized form of the Greek word "baptizo," which is itself a rewriting of the Greek font with English letters. So we start with a Greek word in a font most of us can't read, change it to English letters that mimic the pronunciation, and rewrite that into a form more like an English noun and we have "baptism." What we don't have is a translation.

The translation of the Greek word, baptizo, is immerse or submerge in verb form, or immersion or submersion as a noun. Baptism is one of the very few words in the New Testament that was never translated, but merely rewritten to look English. For that reason, for the rest of this article, we will use the word "immersion," or its verb form, "immerse." What follows is a contextual discussion of as many of the occasions in the New Testament when the word "immersion" appears as this format will allow.

In Mark 16:16 Jesus said, " He that believeth and is immersed shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned." The structure of Jesus' statement is identical to, "He that eateth and digesteth food shall live, he that eateth not shall die." If a person does not eat, that person will not digest. There is no need to mention digestion, it has become a moot point. If one does not believe, there is no need to mention immersion, it has become a moot point. In Mark 16:16, Jesus indicates that immersion is a part of salvation.

In Acts 2:38, Peter tells some believing sinners that they must, "Repent and be immersed, . . . in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins . . ." In verse 41, we read, "Then they that gladly received his word were immersed: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." So when believers repent and are immersed in the name of Jesus Christ they will have their sins forgiven (remitted.) The Greek word "eis" which here is translated "for" means "in order to" [obtain the remission of sins.] Peter indicates that comes about when repenting and being immersed in Jesus name. Immersion is as much a part of the process as repenting is. The rest of these verses make it clear that (about 3,000) people who accepted what Peter preached were immersed and added to the group that the apostles were part of, the group of people that were saved, verse 47.

In Acts 8 is the story of Philip meeting the Ethiopian treasurer who was reading from Isaiah 53. Philip took advantage of the situation and the Bible tells us in Acts 8:35 that Philip "began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be immersed?" From this we must infer that teaching about Jesus (the only topic the Bible says that Philip preached) includes teaching about immersion.

In Acts 22:16, Saul, soon to be the apostle Paul, was told, "arise, and be immersed, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Saul, who now believed and showed signs of repentance, was told he needed to be immersed and have his sins washed away. Immersion is connected to the washing away of sins here by Ananias just as it was in Acts 2:38 by Peter. The analogy between water being an agent that washes dirt away and water washing sins away is intuitive.

But it is not a one-to-one correlation. In 1 Peter 3:20-21 Peter weighs in on this concept. " . . . the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was [being prepared], wherein . . . eight souls were saved by water. In a similar figure immersion doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Greek word 'dia', translated "by" (water) means 'because of” water. It is interesting that the Bible here tells us that Noah's family was saved by the water. not as many assume, saved from the water by the ark. Read Genesis 6 to see that God was saving Noah from the sinful world in which he lived. The water destroyed the sinful world, thus saving Noah from it.

Immersion is a similar figure, according to Peter in these verses, because it also saves us by water from sin. Peter (actually the Holy Spirit who was guiding Peter in his writing) knew people would have a problem with assigning some magical qualities to the water because he is quick to point out that is not the case. He says, "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh." In other words there is nothing happening here because of the properties of the water. "But the answer of a good conscience toward God." The 'magic' here, if that is what we want to call it, is totally because and through the fact that we have submitted ourselves to the will of God. That is the only way we can have a good conscience toward God.

The same thing is true of the immersion of Jesus by John in Matthew 3. When Jesus came requesting John to immerse Him, John at first refused (in verse 14.) But in verse 15 Jesus said to John, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Jesus is allowing that there is nothing special about the water. Jesus has nothing to repent of, and no sins to wash away. But this immersion is something appointed by God, and His righteous requirement will not be fulfilled without it. The similarity with 1 Peter 3 is strong.

We should not leave 1 Peter 3:21 without emphasizing the last phrase: "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Without this consideration, the whole point of immersion is lost. Paul gives a master lesson on this topic in Romans starting in chapter 5, but we only have time for chapter 6. Verse 3 tells us that immersion is not just immersion. Rather it is an immersion into the death of Jesus Christ. “ . . . as many of us as were immersed into Jesus Christ were immersed into His death.” Question: Where/when/how does one connect with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Actually that was three questions but they all have the same answer - in immersion.

“ . . . we are buried with Him by immersion into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection . . . our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin,” Romans 6:4-6.

Paul spells out that it is in immersion that we are buried (submerged in water) with Christ. Paul then makes it clear that our coming up out of the water is a likeness of Christ coming up from the tomb. Then he states that as Christ was resurrected by the glory of the Father, we are raised from the water to walk a new life, one in which we should no longer serve sin. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are the form. Our repentance, immersion and coming forth from the water are a replica of the form. That is where/when/how we are connected with Christ in His redemptive work.

Paul says in verse 17-18, “ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” What is the form? Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. How did they obey that form? They were immersed. What change took place? They were made free from sin and became servants of righteousness.

It seems to me that we have learned that immersion is a major element of God’s graceful offer of salvation. It washes away sins, not physically, but through a good conscience of fulfilling God’s righteous requirement. It is the only way offered in God’s word by which we can connect with Jesus Christ’s sacrificial redemptive offering on the cross. It allows us to be in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. It destroys (makes us free from) our old man of sin, and is the point at which we become servants of righteousness.

It is my desire to say nothing other than what the Bible says. If you think what I have said is different than what the Bible says then I beg you to show me where and how I am missing God’s message. You can reach me through the comment section below, or by an e-mail sent to “jeff@tryingtowalk.com”. I hope we will all study to learn and do God’s will.