Why don't you perform water baptism in your church?The short answerBecause once the Holy Spirit got into the act of baptism, He put all the water fellas out of a job. But don’t worry; I’ll explain. The explanation does not rely on Church history or what other churches and denominations are doing … but is based only on what the Bible has to say. Two kinds of New Testament baptizingNow the central figure when it comes to water baptism in the New Testament is a man named John the Baptist. So let’s begin by hearing from John the Baptist the moment He laid on eyes on Jesus: Joh 1:29-34
Take careful note of what John the Baptist says here. He mentions two kinds of baptizing. John the Baptist was sent to “baptize in water”. Jesus is the One who “baptizes in the Holy Spirit”. So here we have two kinds of baptism. Keep this in the forefront. When it comes to baptism and everyday people, there are two kinds in the New Testament: water and Spirit.
The church is different from IsraelNow, the next thing we need to keep in mind is that the church is different from Israel. One major difference is the unique ministry of the Holy Spirit to the church. It’s a ministry that was never provided to Israel. When the Holy Spirit starts this new ministry to the church, we find in the New Testament that a new program, a new administration, a new dispensation, is revealed to the saints. And the chosen vessel to set forth the previously hidden truth about this new program was the Apostle Paul. Gal 2:7-8 Make no mistake: with the arrival of Paul and his apostleship to the Gentiles, a new administration had dawned, along with a new set of revelation concerning Christ and His body, the church. Eph 3:1-10 You can also find this in Rom 16:25-27 and Gal 1:6-12. Now if you don’t accept this concept of dispensations you will find yourself in great difficulty about many many things that are in the Bible. You will be looking for bulls to sacrifice when you sin, and stones to throw at rebellious teenagers. We are members of the Body of Christ, not the nation of Israel. So while the whole Bible is for us, the teaching directly addressed to us is to be found in Paul’s epistles. Ok, so now we see that the church is different from Israel. God has instituted a new program for the church that is contained in the writings of the Apostle Paul. So with that, let’s return to our subject of baptism. Recall that the New Testament presents two kinds of baptism for the everyday people: water baptism, and Spirit baptism.
What was the purpose behind water baptism?What does the New Testament tell us about water baptism? Why was it practiced? The New Testament identifies two reasons. First, water baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the people of Israel. And second, water baptism was done to manifest Christ to Israel. Notice that both reasons have to do with Israel. Not the church. Israel. So water baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the people of Israel. Mar 1:4-5 Act 13:23-24 But all the water in the world cannot really take away one sin. Through the revelation given to Paul, we Christians understand that our sins have been forgiven on the merits of the blood of Christ. Eph 1:7-8 Second, water baptism was done to manifest Christ to Israel. Joh 1:29-31 John was sent to baptize the people of Israel with water in order to reveal their Messiah and King, Jesus Christ. So the New Testament tells us that water baptism had two purposes. Both purposes were for the nation of Israel, and neither purpose remains in effect for us today. Shadow and substanceNow, the gospel passages that describe the purpose of water baptism also tell us something else. They tell us that water baptism was a temporary ritual that would be replaced by something greater: Spirit baptism. The shadow would be eclipsed by the substance! This point is made again and again in the New Testament when water baptism is discussed. Mat 3:11 Mar 1:7-8 Luk 3:16 Joh 1:33-34 In the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus Himself tells the disciples the same thing: Act 1:4-5 So water baptism had two purposes. Both were connected to the nation of Israel. We are not part of the nation of Israel. We are members of the body of Christ, the church.
Baptism for the churchSo what do the instructions to the church, found in Paul’s letters, say about baptism? Paul never once commands us to be baptized with water. Paul never commands any leaders to baptize. If water baptism were a required ordinance for the church, you would expect Paul to explain that in his letters. Again, there is not one command or exhortation in Paul’s letters to be baptized with water. What’s more, Paul also tells us that there is only one baptism for the church. Eph 4:4-6 For the body of Christ, the church, there is ONE baptism.
The one baptism for the Church is Spirit baptismBut is this one baptism for the church water baptism or Spirit baptism? John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit! And Paul, God’s chosen vessel to reveal the program for the church, does tell us that all of us have been baptized by the Spirit! 1Co 12:12-13 What’s more, at the beginning of this first letter to the Corinthians, Paul also makes this statement about his ministry: 1Co 1:13-17 Paul thanked God that he baptized almost no one. And then he said that Christ did not send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Paul could never have said these things if he were under the command issued by Jesus to the eleven: Mat 28:19 Paul understood that the ordinance of water baptism had been superseded by the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. Paul realized that he had a different commission from the earlier one issued by Christ to the eleven. Once it became understood that the ordinance of water baptism was fulfilled in Christ, and the Holy Spirit was now baptizing believers into the body of Christ, the practice of water baptism was ended. The Holy Spirit had put the human water baptizers out of a job!
Identified with and placed into Christ by the SpiritThe term baptism itself does not even refer to water. It means to be identified with and placed into. We see this in Romans 6. Rom 6:1-7 This is not water baptism. Water does not have the power to place us into Christ. God does that. The Holy Spirit does that. This is Spirit baptism! We were placed in, and identified with, the death of Christ. Nowhere in Scripture is it ever said that water baptism had the effect of uniting the believer with Christ in the likeness of His death. This is Spirit baptism, done not by the preacher, but by the Holy Spirit. The one baptism of Eph 4:5 is the spiritual baptism of 1Co 12:13. It is performed by the Holy Spirit at the moment we first believe in Christ. It is performed without water. Gal 3:26-27 The Holy Spirit performs an amazing work for us the moment we believe in Christ. He takes us out of Adam and places us into Christ, thereby identifying us with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. And He makes us members of the body of Christ. This is completely the work of God. Man has no role. In fact, it would be dishonoring to the Lord to try to add any importance to the actions of a man. That would take away from the glory of the finished work of Christ. And it would be inconsistent with grace. We are all baptized by the same Spirit. There is one body. One Spirit. One Lord. One faith. And one baptism: the baptism of the Spirit.
Until the next time, we’re all …. In His grip, Pastor John If you found this helpful, please pass it on! Post it on Facebook, or tweet about it!
|