But realistically, the Bible answers the question No, baptism is not for everyone. For example, Jesus said in John 8:24, “…except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” It wouldn’t matter how many times you dunked an infidel, it would do him no good whatsoever spiritually. Baptism is not for infidels. It’s not for unbelievers.

Even if one believed in Christ and refused, like some of the Jews of Jesus’ day, to confess Him (for fear of being put out of the synagogue was their problem), it would do them no good to be baptized, because, “…with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” Romans 10:10.

But one could even believe and confess his faith in Christ, and baptism still would not be for him if he were unwilling to repent of his sins. To repent means, “to change one’s mind, and then to conform one’s life to that change of mind.” A penitent thief has to decide to quit stealing, and then he has to quit stealing. And so with the adulterer, with the murderer, with every other kind of sinner. On the Day of Pentecost, as Peter was still preaching his sermon, he was interrupted, according to Acts 2 and verse 37, by those who where “cut to the heart” or “pricked in their hearts” the King James says, I believe, to such an extent that they cried out and said, “Men and brethren, what…shall…we…do?” That is a confession of their faith. They would never have asked that question had they not been brought to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But that was insufficient for them to be saved. Peter’s answer is in verse 38: “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

And so, unless one is willing to believe in Christ, confess his faith in Christ, and repent of his sins, that person is not to be baptized. But, even beyond that, unless one, of his own heart and mind and will, has determined that he will make this response to God and to Christ, he is not ready to be baptized. One should never be baptized against his own will or just to please some human being.

You’ll notice on Pentecost, those people were told to repent and be baptized, verse 38, and then verse 41 tells us, “They then that received his Word (you see, their hearts were in it; their wills were involved) were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.” In Romans, chapter 6, beginning in verse 17, Paul is reminding the Romans of the time when they obeyed the Gospel and became Christians. And he says, “God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form (or “pattern”) of doctrine (or “teaching”) which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” [verses 17 and 18]. You see, their obedience came from the heart, and that’s where it must always come from to be genuinely obedient to Christ. Someone whose will and heart is not really in this act—he’s just doing it to please a wife, or she’s doing it to please a husband, or they’re doing it to please a girlfriend or a boyfriend, or whatever—they’re not ready to be baptized until they do…it…for…themselves!

Moreover, one is not ready to be baptized if he does not understand the Scriptural purpose of baptism. One must not only have his heart and mind in it, one must know why he is being baptized according to the teachings of Scripture.

Now, when I made this point 25 or 30 years ago in a sermon, I would be thinking of those outside the body of Christ who do not comprehend this. Now we must direct it to some of our own. In about 1984, our erring brother, Rubel Shelley, wrote some bulletin articles. In one of those bulletin articles, he said that baptism was Scriptural as long as one did it in order to obey God. Well, of course, one ought to be wanting to obey God—that ought to be a motivation, but has there been anyone who, when through an act of immersion as a religious act, did not think they were obeying God? Is that all it takes, to just think that you’re obeying God? Why, of course not. That’s not talking about the purpose of baptism; that’s talking about one’s own personal motivation for being baptized—to obey God.

Rubel Shelley said in another article that baptism was Scriptural as long as it was for “a Scriptural reason.” “A” Scriptural reason. By that, I think he was talking about purpose rather than motivation. But he got it wrong there, too. He implies that there is more than one Scriptural purpose of baptism, but there is not. There is one and only one Scriptural purpose of baptism. It is stated in several different ways, but they all add up to the same Scriptural purpose.

Baptism is the line that God has drawn between the world and the church. It’s the line that separates those who still have the guilt of sin, and those who have been forgiveness of sin. It’s the line the Lord has drawn between darkness and light, and you can make several other contrasts, but that is the line that He has drawn through His Son. And so, that is THE Scriptural purpose of baptism.

In abut 1991, a brother who has erred on this same subject, Jimmy Allen of Searcy, Arkansas, wrote an entire book advocating this idea that one need not know the Scriptural purpose of baptism. His book is titled Rebaptism. And if we follow what he taught, we would have millions and millions of brethren that we have never recognized before, who have been immersed, thinking they were obeying God, and having no more idea than a goose what the purpose of baptism was or even denying its Scriptural purpose in the very act they went through. Rubel Shelley wrote the back-cover endorsement on that book.