The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum baptism sprinkling

What are we talking about here when we talk about baptism? Simply, here’s a definition: it is a ceremony by which a person is immersed into water. That’s what it is. It’s a ceremony by which a person is immersed into water or "dunked," they used to say, in fact, there were people who baptized this way were called "dunkers." So, this is simply a ceremony by which people are immersed in water; that’s it. And, right behind me here and under the floor, there’s a pool of water where that is done every Sunday evening.

Now, we do this because it’s instructed in the New Testament—we’ve already commented on the fact that the Great Commission’s all tell us to baptize and Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, told those who heard and believed, to be baptized. Let me go to the Word so we give you an understanding of this. There are two Greek verbs that are used in the New Testament with regard to baptism—they are translated baptism": bapto and baptizo—bapto is the less common, used only four times in the New Testament and it means "to dip into." "To dip," "to dip into," in fact, it was used for "dyeing" when you immerse something in a dye. It’s the word "immerse’…bapto.

Baptizo is an intensified form of bapto—the Greeks had ways of sticking in a few extra letters and intensifying a word. Baptizo is used many, many times in the New Testament; many, many times. It means "to dip completely" and it’s the Greek word for "drowning’; that shows you how complete the dipping is, potentially. It’s the word "to submerse" or "immerse"—in fact, the Latin equivalent is immersio (sp.) or submersio (sp.). The noun "baptism"—baptismas—is used always in the book of Acts to refer to a Christian being immersed in water…it’s always used to refer to a Christian being immersed in water. So, that is what baptism is: it’s a ceremony by which a person believes the gospel and is then immersed into water.

In fact, the terms bapto and baptizo, the verb, and baptismas, the noun, could have been translated "immerse" and probably would have solved a lot of problems, but the translators chose to transliterate the Greek baptizo into "baptise." They transliterated it rather than translate it because it had become such a technical term for "immersion." So, they just transliterated it across, but that doesn’t change the meaning—it means "to immerse."

In fact, the Greeks had a different word for "sprinkling" and that word rhantisanti is used of "sprinkling or splattering with water"—it’s a different word altogether. We’re not talking about "sprinkling"—there’s no such thing as a ceremony of sprinkling in the Bible, or pouring or any application of water to the individual. Whenever you find "baptism" in the Bible, it is the word "immerse" or "submerse" and it means "putting the person under the water." Every New Testament use these terms, requires or permits the idea of immersion. This is so obvious that even John Calvin, who basically came down on the side of infant sprinkling or infant baptism, says this, he writes, "The word ‘baptize’ means ‘to immerse.’" No linguist can come up with anything else. Calvin says, "The word ‘baptize’ means ‘to immerse’; it is certain that immersion was the practice of the early church." There really is no argument, there’s no debate at that point.

The verbs—bapto, baptizo—are never used in the passive. That is to say, water is never said to be baptized on someone such as sprinkling or pouring or touching with water which is done in a great, great portion of the church today. They sprinkle, they pour, or they dip and just touch the water to the forehead or to some other part of the head. Never are those verbs used in the passive sense of water being placed on someone. They’re always used in the sense of someone being placed in water. Whenever you read in the New Testament about a baptism—an actual occasion of baptism—immersion is the only possible meaning.

Matthew 3—look at it…or just listen to it—Matthew 3:6, John the Baptist, "They were being baptized by him in the Jordan River." They were being baptized in the Jordan River. They came down into the river and they were baptized there. The river was not taken to them; they were taken to the river. Matthew 3:16, "After being baptized, Jesus," having been baptized, "went up immediately," literally, "out of the water." Jesus went down into the water…came up out of the water. Again, that clearly indicates that He went down into the water in order that He might be placed into that water and that’s the use of the word baptism…means immersed in that water.

In John 3…when John the Baptist was doing this baptism, he picked a place at the Jordan River that was deep. It says in verse 23 of John 3, "John was baptizing in Anon, near Salem." Of all the spots you could stop along the Jordan River, he picked that one because "there was much water there" which is simply another way of saying the water was deep. There was enough water there to get people under it—that was the whole point. In Mark, chapter 1, verse 5, same thing, "All the country of Judea was going out to him and all the people of Jerusalem, they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River"…"in the Jordan River." You remember in Acts, chapter 8, when Philip came across the Ethiopian eunuch, you remember the statement in verse 36, "Look; water! What prevents me from being baptized," verse 38, "he ordered the chariot to stop, they both went down into the water, and he immersed him."

Now, that is what baptism is. That’s what baptizo means. Baptism is a ceremony by which a person is immersed into water. That is the only kind of baptism the New Testament knows anything about—it doesn’t know anything about sprinkling, pouring, touching with water, and particularly doesn’t know anything about baptizing infants. I’m going to address that issue because it is an important issue and some of you will remember I made a presentation of that at a past Ligoneer (sp.) conference—there is one here this week, by the way, and that was completely coincidental that, in my preaching schedule, that this issue came up at this time. Many of the people who will be at the conference, of course, would affirm the things that I am teaching. Next Sunday morning, I think, I may do it next Sunday—I may postpone it a week, I’m not sure yet—I want to address the issue of infant baptism from a biblical perspective. You’ll find a very, very fascinating discussion.

But, as far as the New Testament is concerned, there is no such thing as pouring, sprinkling, touching with water, or baptizing infants. It was an act by which an adult person was placed into water. It had great spiritual significance and the significance of baptism can only be depicted in immersion. The significance of baptism, the spiritual significance, can only be depicted in immersion—I’ll say more about that later.

Now, when you look at baptism in the New Testament, you’re going to come across some other baptisms that are not water baptisms—there are times when the word baptizo is dry. There are times when the word baptizo isn’t talking about water at all, but we use it that way. We talk about people going through a baptism of fire, right? We mean, by that, that he was immersed in a very difficult situation. John the Baptist talked about a baptism of fire in John, chapter 3. What he was talking about was the immersing of unbelievers in the full fury of God’s fiery wrath.

There is a baptism by Christ, with the Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ, I Corinthians 12, "We’ve all been baptized with the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ." When you became a Christian, you were immersed into the communion of the redeemed. You were placed in the union with every other believer so that he who that is joined with the Lord is one spirit with every other believer. So, there is the immersing of the believer into the body of Christ. There is the immersing of the unbeliever into the full fury and wrath of God under which he is completely submerged.

In I Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 2, it says, "The children of Israel were immersed into Moses." It’s talking about solidarity. They were joined unto Moses in his leadership. What he did, they did. What he said, they followed. They literally…he was their leader and they were immersed into Moses. Where he went, they went. Solidarity, union, communion—the word then can have that sort of metaphoric meaning where it means being immersed into something. You could say, "I was immersed in my work. I was immersed in thought." Those kinds of expressions don’t necessarily refer to water, but they refer to using the idea of water as a metaphor for being engulfed in something. So, there are times in the New Testament, when you read about a baptism, that isn’t a baptism by water; there are other times when, of course, it is as we’ve seen—a baptism by water.

We’re going to focus on the issue of the baptisms that have to do with water. This water immersion, commanded of every believer, is basically not negotiable. We don’t have an option with this. This is a command; it is a reiterated and repeated and obeyed command in the New Testament. It is in itself, a simple act, and were it no more than just to put somebody in water and take them out, we could say it was nothing but a dunk. It was nothing but a cleansing, it was nothing but a refreshing…nothing more.

But, there is much more because it is an object lesson. It is a depiction—it is a picture—it is a symbol—it is a physical analogy of a great spiritual truth that is profound—and it is crucial, if you understand what baptism signifies, to stick with the New Testament mode. If you change the mode of immersion, you then confound it’s symbol. God has designed that this simple ordinance teach us most wonderful truth—the most wonderful truth of all, the truth of personal salvation. It’s all wrapped up in this act of baptism.

And, of course, any student of the Bible knows that God teaches with symbols. In the Old Testament…all kinds of symbols and analogies and types and pictures and ceremonies…depicting a spiritual truth in some physical way. Certainly, in the New Testament, Jesus did that with His parables and His analogies…The apostle Paul does it with his illustrations. So we have long seen God dispense truth to us in sort of abstract terms, but connected with very concrete, pragmatic, tangible things which can graphically illustrate the truth…and baptism is one of those. It is an external, physical, symbolic act which depicts a profound and deep and essential spiritual truth. Now, let’s go to the second question. We know what baptism is.