1.
Can anyone give an example in the Bible of one Christian
immersing
another in water?
If so, please share it with the rest of us.
But no assumptions.
2.
Since we believers are furnished unto all good works, may we not safely conclude
that if water baptism is a God ordained ritual for the body of Christ, that
nothing pertaining to its performance will be left to speculation, imagination,
assumption, supposition or personal opinion?
3.
The reader may be interested to know that there
are a number of verses in the Bible that pertain to baptism where water is not
involved:
Matt. 3:11
-
Baptism of the Holy Spirit – NO WATER.
Matt. 3:11
-
Baptism of fire – NO WATER.
Luke 12:50
-
Christ’s death on the cross referred to as a
baptism – NO WATER.
Gal. 3:27 -
Our baptism into Christ – NO WATER.
1 Cor.
10:1-2
-
Israel’s
baptism “unto Moses…and in the sea” – NO WATER.
1 Cor. 12:13
-
“By one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body....” NO WATER.
Romans
6:4
-
Baptized WITH Christ (not like him) into His
death – NO WATER.
Col. 2:12 -
Baptized with the arm of God, NOT the arm of a
preacher – NO WATER.
Mark 16:15
Verse on the so-called “great
commission.” (Matt. 28:19)
NO WATER
4.
WHERE DOES PAUL (or any other writer of the Bible) tell us that water baptism is
an outward form of an inward work of grace – whatever that means. Evangelical
Fundamentalists often point to Romans 6:4 to furnish the answer but that
reference very clearly states that we are “buried WITH” Christ, not LIKE Him.
The words, “with Him,” refer to our
identification with Christ in his death. In other words, as Paul declares in
Gal. 2:20, “I am crucified WITH (not LIKE) Christ.”
Do you see that?
5.
If Evangelicals ar right that Christ sent out
His apostles to preach and baptize in water (Matt. 28:19 with Mark 16:15), as is
being taught in their schools, how could Paul have said, “Christ sent me
not to baptize in
water (1 Cor. 1:17)?
Was he lying?
Ring the water
out of
Matt. 28:19 & Mark 16:16,
however, and the discrepancy is erased!
6.
WHAT
spiritual blessing
CAN WATER BAPTISM GIVE THE CHILD OF GOD THAT HE DOESN’T ALREADY HAVE IN CHRIST?
Have we not been “blessed with
all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”? Eph. 1:3
Are we not “complete in Christ? Col. 2:10 Is
not our life “hid with Christ in God”? Col. 3:3
Were we not made “heirs and joint heirs with
Christ” the moment we were saved?
Rom. 8:17.
Were we not made “complete” in Christ upon
receiving Him as Lord and Saviour? Col. 2:10 Have we not been clothed with
Christ’s own law-fulfilling righteousness? Rom.3:22?
Shall we exchange this enormous spiritual
heritage for a dead ritual that has its roots in abolished Judaism? Eph.
2:14-15.
7.
Compare
organized religion’s “baptismal testimony to the world” that we are disciples of
Christ,
with
God’s unmistakeable proof that we are. For example, John 13:35.
“By this shall all men
KNOW
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” And what of the
“fruit of the Spirit” that the Lord has implanted in the hearts of His people:
“love, joy, peace, longsuffering…” etc.? Gal. 5:22-23. Surely there can be no
more convincing evidence to a warring, scrapping, self-destructing world that we
belong to Him who is our life.
Yet, we’re
still being told that
water baptism is a testimony to the world
that we have received Christ
as Saviour and Lord.
Then what shall we say of counterfeit,
pew-filling “Christians,” that the world knows all too well, who,
for ulterior motives of
their own,
readily submit to denominational standards for membership (even to falsely
confessing Christ as personal Saviour and going down into the waters of baptism)
in order to join the church of their choice?
Even the Christ-hating world, in its blindness of heart and carnal wisdom, knows
that anyone can render lip service, join a denomination, be immersed in water,
partake of the Roman Catholic or Protestant supper, open the purse, contribute
time, energy, and talent to a religious program, and call himself a Christian.
Think what a “turn-off” this has been to a doubting world over the centuries!
Obviously, water baptism and church membership prove nothing!
CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING REFERENCES IN THE LIGHT OF
PHYSICAL ORDINANCES BEING URGED ON US TODAY!
COL. 3:1
– If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God; set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth.”
Notice:
This verse points
us away
from physical ordinances to our position in the heavenlies and to “God which
worketh in you both to will (makes you willing) and to do (enables you to do) of
his good pleasure.”
Phil. 2:13.
2 COR. 5:17
—“Wherefore, henceforth,
know we no man
after the flesh”...one
can hardly baptize another in water without knowing him after the flesh.
ACTS
17:24
– “God dwelleth not
in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men’s hands...”
Clearly, hands have nothing to do with worshipping God in Spirit and in truth.
John 4:24.
JOHN
6:63
–
“It is the Spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothng;
the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.”
How can a watery ritual profit us spiritually? Will it make us more
Christ-centered…a better testimony…
a
stronger Christian… a better student of the Word…a
more serious soul winner?
GAL. 3:3
–
“Having begun in the Spirit,
are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
– i.e.. is there anything we can do in the flesh of a religious nature that
would help us to mature spiritually?
I don’t think so.
PHIL. 3:3 –
“We are
the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh.” The
Christian who has no confidence in the flesh (physical worship), would have no
reason or desire to engage in earthly ordinances!
2 COR. 5:7
- “For we walk by faith; not by
sight.”
Physical ordinances are wholly in the realm of sight, while faith follows where
reason and logic fear to go.
EPH. 4:5
-
“THERE IS ONE BAPTISM…”
(please read context, vss.
3-6)
In view of this statement, we must decide
between ritual or spiritual baptism. Gal. 3:27
One brother interpreted it this way, “baptism of any
kind occurs only once, and is never repeated.
In that sense, then, there is only one
baptism.”
But this hardly befits the text. Who needs to
be told that there is but one body of Christ and that it cannot be repeated.
Or, one Holy Spirit who cannot be repeated, or
one hope which cannot be repeated, etc. The idea is wholly out of step with the
principle involved here – “the unity of the Spirit.”
But Eph. 4:3-6 comes together and makes sense when we
accept the fact that there is but one body of Christ, not two; that there is but
one Holy Spirit convicting men of sin; that there is but one hope (or coming
rapture) that should be preached; that there is only one Lord Jesus Christ Who
died and rose again; that there is but one faith, “the faith once delivered to
the saints;” (Jude 3) that there is but one baptism (with its many facets) that
God will accept
- the one He performs, not man - (see Col.
2:12)
and “there is but one God and Father of us all.”
Vs. 6.
“Baptism of any kind occurs only once, and is never
repeated.
In that sense, then, there is only one
baptism.”
I should like to ask the author of this
statement, in what sense in Eph. 4:4-6 is there but one body, one Holy Spirit,
one church, one hope, etc.
Too, “…the unity of the Spirit” of verse 3 invalidates
the idea of
the unity of the flesh and
Spirit,
which it would have to be if this baptism of Eph. 4:5 is by water??
COLOSSIANS 2:6 – “AS YE HAVE THEREFORE RECEIVED
CHRIST JESUS THE LORD, SO WALK YE IN HIM,
ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM, AND ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH.”
What truly born individual would claim salvation by
means of water baptism?
Not one!
Were you to inquire by what means he
was
saved, he would quickly tell you that it was by believing and accepting the
truth of the gospel. And Paul, in effect, is saying here in Col. 2:6, All right,
then, walk that way; walk as you have received him, walk apart from any and all
ritualism, from here on into eternity. Why? Because that’s how you received
Christ.
Now stay the course, says Paul.
Sad to say, preachers and their congregations have
for centuries
either ignored, or willfully disobeyed, this command.
CONSIDER:
Did you know that
after 1 Corinthians, not one single, solitary word is written in Paul’s epistles
about water baptism. And not only water baptism but the Lord’s Supper, tongues,
interpretation of tongues, healings, and miracles (including the drinking of
poisons and picking up of death-dealing snakes without harm! - Mark 16:17-18)
Moreover, this epistle
of 1 Corinthians was addressed to the weakest, most divisive, carnal Christians
of the first century. So carnal
were they that Paul had to feed them “with milk and not with meat.” 1 Cor. 3:1-3
Yet, multitudes of professing Christians, and an over-abundance of spiritual
leaders, regard the supper, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings,
miracles, and water baptism, as the apex of spiritual experiences. What a
travesty.
In light of the above references, since there is but
one
baptism in this age of grace, which baptism do you consider valid for today;
which one would you promote in sharing with others – water or spiritual baptism?
9.
EPH. 4:5 -
“THERE IS ONE BAPTISM…”
(please read context)
In view of this statement, we must decide
between ritual or spiritual baptism. Gal. 3:27.
We cannot Biblically have it both ways since
there is but one baptism.
But one brother interpreted it this way, “”baptism of
any kind occurs only once, and is never repeated.
In that sense, then, there is only one
baptism.”
But this hardly befits the text. Who needs to
be told that there is but one body of Christ and that it cannot be repeated.
Or, who needs to be told that there is but one
Holy Spirit who cannot be repeated, and there is but one hope which cannot be
repeated? etc. The thought is ludicrous.
But Eph. 4:3-6 makes sense when we accept the fact
that there is only one body of Christ, not two; that there is but one Holy
Spirit convicting men of sin; that there is but one hope (or coming rapture)
that should be preached; there is only one Lord Jesus Christ Who died and rose
again; there is but one faith, “the faith once delivered to the saints;” (Jude
3) there is but one baptism that God will accept today - the one He performs,
not man;
(Col. 2:12)
and “there is but one God and Father of us
all.”
“…the unity of the Spirit” eliminates the idea of
the unity of the flesh and
Spirit,
which it would have to be if this baptism of Eph. 4:5 is by water??
COLOSSIANS 2:6 – “AS YE HAVE
THEREFORE RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS THE LORD,
SO WALK YE IN HIM, ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM, AND ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH.”
What truly born again, evangelical Christian would
claim to have been saved by going down into the waters of baptism?
Not one!
Were you to inquire, you would quickly be told
by the individual that he or she was saved simply by believing and accepting the
truth of the gospel. And Paul, in effect, is saying, “All right then, walk that
way; walk as you received him, walk apart from any and all ritualism, from here
on into eternity. Why?
Because you received the Lord Jesus apart from
physical ordinances, now stay the course.”
JOHN 4:24 – “GOD IS A SPIRIT; AND THEY THAT WORSHIP
HIM MUST WOR-SHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.”
The Lord Jesus said this to a woman of Samaria
who thought that because her forebears worshipped “in this mountain” that God
could only be worshipped there.
Jesus responded by saying, “Woman, believe me [and
that’s what God wants all of us to do, to simply take Him at His Word] the hour
cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship
the Father.”
And the Lord concluded his brief discourse by
saying, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit
and in truth.”
Indeed, this leaves no room for physical
ordinances throughout the remainder of this age.
THINGS THAT CHARACTERIZED
THE ACTS PERIOD,
It was during Acts that there existed a dual walk of
believers:
(1) The Jewish brethren were observing the law
of Moses (until Eph. 2:14-15 and Col. 2:14)
with God’s blessings, while (2) Gentile
believers had been instructed of God, with His blessings, to refrain from “any
such thing.” (Acts 21:25)
And, lest they offend unbelieving Jews, Gentile
Christians were instructed to observe four don’ts: to “keep themselves from
things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from
fornication.” (Acts
21:25).
But, after the Acts period, and after
Israel had been cut out of God’s favor due to her unbelief, (Acts 28:26-28), the
25 items were removed from the scene
(Eph. 2:14-15 and Col. 2:14), which included
water baptism and the
Supper.
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