What The Bible Teaches About Baptism

Theme: What The Bible Teaches About…
Speaker: Dub McClish, Editor of The Gospel Journal
Date: March 16, 2004, Tuesday Evening Worship Service - (During a Gospel Meeting March 14 Through 17, 2004, at the Northeast church of Christ, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Main Scripture References: Matthew 26:28, 28:19_20; Mark 16:16; John 3:5, 8:24; Acts 2:37-38, 41, 47; Acts 8:36-39; Acts 10:47-48; Acts 16:23-34; Acts 19:1-5; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-4, 20:10; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:22, 10:4; 1 Peter 3:20-21; Revelation 1:5
Centered on the Text 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (KJV)

I don’t know this audience fully tonight. I do not know how many there may be here who are not members of the church of Christ. But I sincerely hope that we have some here who are not. I am not glad that you’re not a member of the church, but I’m very glad that you’re here tonight if you are not a member.

I want to strike a bargain with everyone who is here tonight. I think it’s a fair one. I will do my very best to preach just what the Bible says on this subject this evening. But I’m a fallible human being. I make mistakes. If I preach something that is not according to the Bible, I want you to tell me. I sincerely mean that. You will be my friend if you do—not my enemy. I cannot go to heaven if I do not know how to tell other people how to go to heaven, for sure.

But the other side of that bargain is this: If I preach what the Bible says on this subject tonight and if your life and what you have been taught about baptism is not in harmony with it, will you be willing to give that up in favor of the Truth? I hope and pray that you will.

Baptism has been for centuries a subject of controversy, though it need not be so. But the two particular areas of controversy have centered upon the purpose and the action of baptism. I suppose thousands of books, literally, in the past twenty centuries have been written about baptism. And then, add to that, perhaps, millions of articles that have been written and that have appeared in Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias and in books of various kinds, having to do with baptism.

There is some good to be obtained from studying such works of men. But, we’re not going to study those works tonight. We’re going to see what the Bible says about baptism. That is our concern.

But before we can study that subject, we must narrow the field of study, because the Bible speaks of several different baptisms. There’s the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There’s a baptism in fire. There’s a baptism in suffering. There’s even an Old Testament event that’s described by Paul as a baptism. There’s the baptism of John. There’s the baptism of Jesus, that is, the one under which He went that was a unique baptism, apart from all others. There’s the baptism of the Great Commission. Now, out of all of these baptisms, which one has any application or relevancy to us today?

The baptism we’re studying tonight is the one of which we read in Acts, chapter 8, and beginning in verse 36, where the Ethiopian says, “…what doth hinder me to be baptized?” It is the same baptism that we read of in Acts, chapter 10, verses 47 and 48, where the apostle Peter at the house of Cornelius the Gentile in Caesarea said, “Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized…? And he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ.” It is the same baptism of which that same apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle, 1 Peter, chapter 3, verses 20 and 21, when he spoke of the eight souls that were saved by water in the ark and then said, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God…).” (KJV)

In about AD 62, Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians, chapter 4 and verse 5, he said that there is “one baptism.” Now, about that statement, he did not mean that there had always been just one baptism and that he did not recognize that there ever had be any other baptism, but he meant, there is only one baptism in effect at this time. That’s the baptism we’re studying tonight.

In the Commission that Jesus gave the apostles, according to Matthew’s account, Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20, He said, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: (now listen to this)…and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” As long as this world stands, the baptism Jesus commanded to be taught and administered in that statement is to be preached and administered. That’s why this baptism is just as relevant to us today as it was when those Words came from the lips of our Lord! And if our world stands another 10,000 years, those Words will apply just as much to them.

Jesus is the Author of baptism, not men. Men, in the large majority, have rejected what the Bible teaches about baptism. And so, men did not originate baptism—they would do away with it all together if they had their way. Jesus, as the Author of baptism, and HE has the sole right to determine everything about it—its action, its purpose, its element, its recipients, its duration and any other thing that pertains to it. And it is such things as those that we want to learn tonight from the Bible. We’ll proceed in our study tonight by raising questions that people often raise about baptism, and then seeking their answers in God’s Word.

I want to begin with this question: Should everyone be baptized, or, is baptism for everyone? Well, there are two correct answers to that question.

The first answer that’s correct is Yes. Ideally, the Lord wants everyone to be baptized. Otherwise, He would not have told His apostles to go into all the world and teach all nations, and make disciples of them by baptizing them.