Understanding Baptism

There is a long history behind the use of baptism as a symbol for starting a new life.

Old Testament Times - a baptism for outsiders

God chose the Jews to be his representatives to the world. Although the vast majority of Jews were born into Judaism, it was possible for a Gentile outsider to become one of God’s people. There was a system for such ‘proselytes’ to be inducted into Judaism and become fully fledged Jews. This induction required three separate steps, ‘Milah’, ‘Tebula’ and ‘Corbin’.

‘Milah’ or circumcision was the first step. It was not an easy step to take. It reminded them that they were sinful in their very nature. That’s why the foreskin was removed as sinners give birth to sinners, generation after generation. Adam had been separated from God because of sin and all his descendants have been tainted ever since. Circumcision reminded them that they were both sealed to be God’s people but also that they had a sinful nature from birth.

‘Tebula’ was baptism by immersion in water. In the Old Testament Noah was saved from God’s judgment when he built and entered the ark at God’s command. His world was then destroyed in the flood but Noah and his family started a new life. The children of Israel later escaped from captivity in Egypt by passing through the waters of the Red Sea and so began to live as free people. Forty years later they entered the Promised Land and had to pass through over the Jordan. This was the beginning of life in the promised land. There was therefore a great link between water, salvation and starting a new life in the Old Testament.

The English word ‘baptize’ comes from the Greek ‘baptizo’ which literally means to totally immerse or drown. It indicated a complete change of life - death to the old godless Gentile life and the start of a new life with a new family. It also signified forgiveness, the washing away of sin. Jeremiah was very clear that outward ceremonies of circumcision and baptism were not all that God wanted - he wanted people’s hearts.

“This is what the LORD says . . . ‘Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts’ . . . ‘wash the evil from your heart and be saved.’” Jeremiah 4:4 and 14

David wrote a remarkable Psalm after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba. It is a plea for forgiveness:

“Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:2, 5

‘Corbin’ is a Hebrew word for animal sacrifice. The blood of a sacrificed animal was sprinkled on the man to remind him that he still needed cleansing from his daily sin and that a life must be sacrificed to symbolise this.

So to join God’s people a person had to admit their sinful nature, make a new personal start by dying to the old life and being reborn as one of God’s people, and then recognise that they still needed a substitute, a sacrifice to pay for their sin. Although the initiator of the covenant was clearly God, it had to be sincerely accepted and acted on by the recipient.

There was no such thing as a a quiet slipping in through the back door!

John’s Baptism - a baptism for nominal believers

John the Baptist’s role was to prepare people for the coming of God’s Chosen King, Jesus. The title Messiah is a Hebrew word and means the same as the Greek word ‘Christ’. Both mean ‘anointed’ and are the title given to God’s Chosen King. John knows that the Christ will himself be holy and will demand righteousness from his people. So he preaches the need for people to be holy. His message was,

“Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.”

He was teaching that the coming of God’s chosen King was imminent so turn from your sin and prepare for him. His listeners were largely members of God’s chosen people, yet clearly this was for most an external religion without a personal commitment. They were nominal believers only, and therefore unsaved.

John required people to be baptised by immersion in the river Jordan. This was an important sign that a new beginning had been made. This would have been particularly humbling for them because, as Jews, they thought they were already members of the covenant community and accepted by God because they had been physically circumcised and the sacrifices were still being made on their behalf. John was emphasising that the outward signs of circumcision and the sacrifices must result in changed hearts as otherwise they were meaningless. Luke records the effect of this teaching on people’s understanding. It is significant that the religious thought they were good enough because of their outward religion.

“All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptised by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John.” Luke 7:29-30

The reason so many people flocked to hear John and respond to his message was that they recognised that though Jewish racially they were still disobedient and apostate to God and needed a spiritual rebirth. They needed to be washed of their sins. They would also need a sacrifice that would be permanently effective so that they could be brought into a permanent relationship with God. This is why these word’s of John the Baptist are so significant:

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Jesus, God’s Son was entering the world to be that ultimate sacrifice. All the symbolic animal sacrifices that had been offered to God over the years were significant because they pointed to this one final sacrifice.

A Jewish proselyte at his baptism was saying,

‘I deserve to be separated from God because of my sin. I want to rise to a new life and join God’s people.’

At John’s baptism the Jew is saying,

‘I deserve to be separated from God because of my sin. I want to rise to a new life and be ready for the Messiah.’ Although the initiator of the covenant was clearly God, it had to be sincerely accepted and acted on by the recipient.

Jesus’ Baptism - a unique baptism

Why did Jesus get baptised? He lived a perfect life so he didn’t need to be forgiven any sin. John the Baptist was understandably reluctant to baptising Jesus, saying,

“I need to be baptised by you.” Matthew 3:13

Jesus made an interesting reply,

“It is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Matthew 3:15

What does this mean? How did Jesus fulfil the righteousness of God? He did this by dying on that cross. There he took our sin on himself so that we could be given his righteousness. So Jesus’ baptism indicates his future death as a substitute for each of us. Jesus is saying that Christian baptism symbolises his own death and resurrection.

Two verses in the gospels make it clear that Jesus regarded his baptism to represent his death and resurrection for people. Just before his final trip to Jerusalem to be killed he said,

“But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed.” Luke 12:50

Why did he not say ‘I have to be killed’ or ‘I have to be sacrificed.’

On another occasion Jesus said to James and John, who ambitiously wanted to sit on his left and right sides when he entered his kingdom:

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?” Mark 10:38

Again why didn’t he say, ‘or killed in the way I will be killed?’ Jesus was using picture language. He saw his death as baptism - analogous to being immersed under water.

Jesus wants us to see his death as an immersion. He wants us to see that his baptism is a picture of his death as a sacrifice, where our sin was paid for permanently, and a picture of his resurrection, to give us assurance and to remind us that a new power is available to us so that we can live as God wants.

So Jesus recognised that in submitting to baptism he is acknowledging that John the Baptist’s message is God’s message and he is associating himself with fallen humanity, but he is primarily saying that his baptism is a picture of his coming sacrifice for sin. He would be buried for us under the waves of divine judgment and rise to give us new life and power. His baptism was a one sided statement by God about the gospel.

Christian Baptism - a baptism for all

A Jewish proselyte was baptised to signify that he was a sinner, a rebel against God, who needed to start again as God’s person. Those who heard John the Baptist recognised that God required sincere repentance and demonstrated this by being baptised. Similarly those who become Christians are formally admitted into God’s kingdom using the same sign of baptism. They recognise who Christ is and what he has done for them on the cross and willingly submit to his rule and this is demonstrated in the act of baptism. Christians don’t need the animal sacrifice for ongoing sin as the proselyte did as Jesus has now made the one final sacrifice for us.

“. . . and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Have you wondered why the Bible talks so much about the ‘blood’ of Jesus instead of saying ‘his death’? People used to ask, ‘Have you been washed in the blood of Jesus?’ Surely it is for this symbolic reason. The blood of the sacrifices in Old Testament times was used to remind people that a substitute for sin was needed. Christ has now permanently provided that blood. It is his death that saves us.

So when a new Christian is baptised it is not primarily them saying ‘I’ve decided to live a new life, I’m turning my back on the old ways of living and I am rising out of the water, washed, to live a new life.’ No, that puts us in the centre. It is primarily saying, ‘The Lord Jesus came and died for me to pay for my sin, he rose again to give me new life and to give me a new power to live for him. I am associating myself with the Lord Jesus and it is his death and resurrection for me that I am enacting.’ This emphasis is important. It puts the focus back on Jesus and away from me. Paul emphasised this, it is his death and his resurrection we celebrate:

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We are therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the deadthrough the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:3-4

In baptism we are aligning ourselves with the Saviour of the world who died, or went through a baptism, for us. This is why it is wrong for someone committed to Christ to say, ‘I’m not ready for baptism.’ Baptism symbolises the beginning of life with Christ: our sin is washed away, eternal life is a gift to us simply because we have recognised who Jesus is and welcomed him as our Lord.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection he commanded his disciples and his subsequent church to continue his work.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

Note how Jesus confirms who he is: he equates himself and the Holy Spirit with God the Father. God clearly sees that a public acknowledgment of him is an important part of becoming a member of God’s eternal kingdom.

We can see that baptism has always been associated with the washing away of our sin so that we can be acceptable to a Holy God. The need for forgiveness is fundamental.

Someone who is investigating the Christian gospel said,

“I admire much of what you Christians do in society but I am unhappy with your emphasis on sin. Why is this so central in what you teach?”

He was then asked if he had sinned,

‘Well, yes I have.”

“Then you. like the rest of us need to understand how you can be forgiven. Jesus and the whole Bible stress that sin is the greatest problem individuals have. Our sin separates us from God. The Christian message is essentially how we may find that forgiveness and, having been forgiven by God, how God then wants us to live as his people.”

Near the beginning of Luke’s record of the gospel, John the Baptist is introduced:

“He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:3

At the end of his record Jesus says something very similar, with the addition that he starts with his own death and resurrection as this is the means by which people can be forgiven through becoming associated or having faith in him.

“Then he (Jesus) opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Luke 24:45-48

It is therefore clear that the message of the Bible is consistent from beginning to end, with Jesus stressing that instead of animal sacrifices he had come to die as the final definitive sacrifice so that any-one might be saved. People of all nations must respond to him with genuine repentance if we are to be forgiven our sin and so be given eternal life.

Other religions

How different this is to the teaching of most other religions. These give rules or guidelines by which people should live with the hope that they will have kept them well enough to merit God’s blessing. The ancient Greek philosopher taught, ‘Character is destiny’ and it is still widely taught that what matters is how well we live.

You hear people say, ‘I am better than most’ and seem to think that this will satisfy God.

The Bible’s teaching is very different, it reminds us that we are all sinful in God’s eyes and therefore all spiritually dead. Without a Saviour we have no hope. To receive the forgiveness that God’s Saviour can give us requires repentance, which means a turning back to him, to Jesus Christ, as our Lord. Jesus himself was adamant,

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

The apostles were equally clear when they were arrested for healing a man in the name of Jesus. They were arraigned before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body that had had Jesus crucified a few weeks earlier, but there they had no hesitation in saying,

“Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands healed. . . . Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12

It is for these reasons that a public commitment to Christ is vital for our eternal salvation but this must reflect an inner belief. Paul wrote,

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and so are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and so are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

The gospel tells of a two sided covenant, initiated by God himself, which must be responded to by genuine faith, shown by our actions.

BVP

Aug 2017