“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 3:21

Even though God did restore Jerusalem and its temple after their destruction under the Babylonians, nothing was ever the same. The kingdom of Judah was gone, and the throne of David was left vacant. After the Persians conquered the Babylonians, Cyrus the Great permitted Jews to return to Jerusalem and even granted them royal funds to rebuild the city and the temple, which they did. Yet even with the city and temple reestablished, they remained a providence of the Persian Empire rather than being their own sovereign state. Soon God’s Word would cease even cease to be spoken to them by the prophets. Malachi, the final prophet, concluded his oracles with a promise of Yahweh’s coming to deliver His people from evil once for all. In light of that coming, he admonished God’s people to remember God’s law through Moses and to look for the coming of Elijah to prepare Judah through repentance for the LORD’s arrival.

Then for four hundred years, God’s Word was silent. As with their ancestors’ time of slavery in Egypt, God’s people groaned under the cruel hands of wicked kings who proudly set themselves against the God of David. So they waited, and they cried to God for a deliverer, a new Moses and a son of David to deliver them and subdue the nations as God had so often promise to do.

Finally, after four centuries of waiting, Elijah came. No, John the Baptist was not a reincarnation of Elijah, but that might be easy enough to assume. Clothed in camel’s hair and dwelling in the desert, John was unmistakably carrying on the prophet’s mantle. But unlike Elijah, John did not call down fire from heaven; instead, he called everyone who heard him to be washed in waters of the Jordan River as they repented of their sins. Just as priests were required to wash themselves before entering the present of Yahweh in the temple, Yahweh was coming down to His people, and they were to make themselves ready for Him by confessing their sin and their need to be cleansed by Him. Indeed, John openly acknowledged that his baptism was in preparation for the true immersion with the Holy Spirit that Yahweh would bring with Him.

Sometime later, Jesus was Nazareth came to John to be baptized. After a short protest, John submitted to his Lord, and when Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and God spoke audibly again, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Yahweh Himself had come, taking on humanity as the Son of David. Soon He would drown the Pharaoh’s of the world and rule over the nations with a rod of iron. The true and better exodus had begun.

THE SCOPE OF THIS SERIES

At the end of 2021, I preached a three-part series on the Lord’s Supper, during which we began the practice of observing the ordinance on a weekly basis. The completionist in me knew from the start of that series that I would need to do a corresponding series on baptism eventually. I intended to do so at the beginning of 2023, but the Lord had other plans. Coming back around to baptism in this new year, here is the layout for this series. In this first sermon, we will address the nature of baptism and what is its purpose in salvation. In the second sermon, we will study what baptism inwardly signifies to every baptized believer, while the third and final sermon will focus on what baptism outwardly signifies.

Texts such as 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 and Ephesians 4:4-6, which will be the focus of the third sermon, indicate that baptism, like the Lord’s Supper, ought to be a visible display of the church’s unity in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly, baptism is often an incredibly divisive subject among Christians, and that division is a difficult one to overcome. While baptism itself is not a first-tier doctrine, it is a highly important secondary doctrine. Among Scripturally-rooted churches, the meaning and purpose of baptism is essentially acknowledged to be the same; we disagree over recipients (babies or believers) and mode (immersion or sprinkling). While those disagreements are not matters of orthodoxy and heresy, they are not insignificant either. As I have noted before, I believe creeds and confessions offer a path to unity. The more clearly we each know what we believe, the better we will be able to see our vast agreements and acknowledge respectfully our disagreements.

Through this series, I aim to focus on the nature and purpose of baptism upon which we should be able to agree with our brothers and sisters in other churches and denominations. Of course, as we discuss the biblical texts relating to baptism, I will occasionally pause to note why Scripture leads me to be a credobaptism and believer in baptism by immersion. However, do not expect extended and thorough refutations against infant baptism and sprinkling, that is not my intention with this series.

WHAT IS BAPTISM?

The question, what is baptism?, seems to be the best place to begin our short series on this subject. Here are two definitions:

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life. ()

The 1689 London Baptist Confession 29:1

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

The Baptist Faith and Message, VII

Baptism is one of two ordinances or sacraments within the church. In Baptist circles of Christianity, the word ordinance is typically used, and though I do not think it is incorrect to use the term sacrament, I do believe that ordinance is a superior term. Samuel Waldron is right to say that:

If sacrament to us is just a reverent and convenient way of speaking about the only two ordinances of Christ which make use of physical emblems, then we may find it a useful word. As long as we mean the right thing by using this word (or by not using it), then we should not argue about it.[1]

That is certainly true, and we should not argue over words. However, I do think that using the word ordinance can lead to less confusion and is, therefore, the better word to use. For example, we should note that Roman Catholics believe in seven sacraments, while Protestants acknowledge only two: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. One of the Catholic sacraments is marriage, and while studying through Mark’s Gospel, I read this paragraph by G. Campbell Morgan:

The Roman and Greek Churches count marriage a sacrament. I wonder whether they are not right. The Roman Church calls it a sacrament, the Greek Church calls it a mystery. I pray you remember that Paul also called [marriage] “a mystery.” What is a sacrament? That may raise a great controversial question, and there is nothing further from my mind than a desire for controversy; but if indeed a sacrament be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, then I affirm that marriage is supreme among the sacraments.[2]

I think Morgan is right. There is something sacramental-y about marriage because it is an earthly metaphor for a far greater spiritual reality. The word ordinance, however, emphasizes something that has been ordained by Christ. And although we might call marriage a creation ordinance (alongside the Sabbath), it is not a church ordinance. Although only God’s people understand the true meaning of marriage and observing a day of rest, all of mankind can practice and benefit from those practices. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, however, are church ordinances that our Lord Jesus directly commanded His disciples to do until He returns, and as visible and physical proclamations of the gospel, they have no meaning or benefit for anyone outside of Christ’s church.

Indeed, it is important to note throughout our study that while baptism and the Lord’s Supper both have typological similarities to Old Testament practices, they are most fundamentally, as the 1689 says, ordinances “of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ.” These are new signs for the New Covenant. For the Lord’s Supper, we see this in both Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:24, where Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus ordains baptism in Matthew 28:18-20, saying,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Thus, the greatest argument for why a Christian should observe and revere the ordinances is simply because Jesus has ordained them for us and commanded us to practice them. Indeed, being a disciple of Jesus is necessarily connected to observing what He commands because a disciple is a student who is learning to follow in the footsteps of his teacher. A disciple of Jesus who doesn’t want to do what Jesus commands is a contradiction of terms. Clearly being baptized into the name of our triune God is an important enough element of being a disciple of Jesus that it made it into the Great Commission.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BAPTISM?

Ironically enough in Baptist and in other credobaptism circles of Christianity, baptism does not often receive the prominent attention that it deserves. Just as the Lord’s Supper is often relegated to being observed only four times a year so that much of the congregation begins to forget the table of remembrance, so also is baptism often treated in a light-hearted and non-reverential manner. I believe the main culprit behind our hesitancy to emphasize the importance and the seriousness of baptism is likely our fear of accidently implying that baptism is necessary for salvation, which is an understandable fear given what many Christians have and do still believe about baptism.

Here is what Augustine taught on baptism is context of discussing the forgiveness of sins to those who were about to be baptized:

In three ways then are sins remitted in the Church; by Baptism, by prayer, by the greater humility of penance; yet God does not remit sins but to the baptized. The very sins which He remits first, He remits not but to the baptized. When? When they are baptized. The sins which are after remitted upon prayer, upon penance, to whom He remits, it is to the baptized that He remits.

Is Augustine wrong or right? Does God only remit or forgive the sins of the baptized? Before you immediately say No, consider again what the 1689 said about baptism.

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.

Or consider the Nicene Creed, which states, “I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin.” But most importantly, let us consider what the Bible says. In Acts 2:38, Peter declares, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Or in Acts 22:16, Paul recounts that Ananias said this to him following his conversion: “And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.” Or Mark 16:16, where Jesus says, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” Or John 3:6, where Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Or maybe most pointed is 1 Peter 3:21, which says, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

I do not believe that any of those verses or even the creed and confession that we cited teach that baptism itself forgives sin. The reference to water in John 3:6 is very likely not baptism, since Jesus admonishes Nicodemus for not understanding clearly what He meant. Jesus is most likely referencing Ezekiel 36:25-27, which is God’s promise to take our salvation into His own hands:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

From our study of Mark, you may remember that I do not believe verses 9-20 of chapter 16 to be original to the Gospel, but even if they were, it is notable that the verse ties belief and baptism to salvation but only unbelief to condemnation. As we shall see in a moment, baptism is a crucial expression of belief, but it is unbelief, not being unbaptized, that condemns.

But what about Peter’s statement that baptism saves you? Thomas Schreiner gives an excellent answer:

[Baptism] does not save mechanically or externally as if there are magical properties in the water. Peter comments that the mere removal of dirt from the body does not bring salvation, demonstrating that the water itself does not save. Baptism is only saving if there is an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, baptism saves only because it is anchored to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The waters themselves do not cleanse as is the case when a bath removes dirt from the body. Indeed, the objective work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection does not save unless there is a subjective element as well. The one receiving baptism also appeals to God for a good conscience, which means that he asks God to cleanse him of his sins on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection.[3]  

Of course, even in the explanation that Schreiner gives, we are still left with the reality that baptism does, in some fashion, save. Such a statement shouldn’t entirely catch us off guard. After all, James 2:14-26 tells that the good works are in a sense necessary for salvation, since a saving faith will always be expressed through doing good works. Or perhaps we should remember what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:15 of women: “Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” Paul is clearly not saying the new birth in Christ comes to women through the act of childbearing, but that there is a significant work of sanctification that can only come to women through bearing children (but only when done so through faith, love, holiness, and self-control).

If we look again at the two verses that we cited from Acts (as well as the other references to baptism in Acts), we find that the apostles clearly expected baptism to go hand-in-hand with repentance, belief, and calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Baptism is fundamentally tied to repentance, faith, and prayer. Indeed, I believe that is exactly what Peter means by calling baptism “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” The people who were baptized by John the Baptist were appealing to God for a good conscience through their baptism. Being plunged into the waters of the Jordan was a visible confession of sin and proclamation that forgiveness was needed, that a far greater spiritual washing would need to come through the long-awaited Messiah. And that is precisely what John promised that the Christ would bring. He would not merely baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit, but He would also continue the practice of baptizing with water. Acts 19:1-7 gives us a glimpse at the relationship between the baptisms of John and Jesus:

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

Notice that there is continuity between the two baptisms. Both are baptisms of faith and repentance in Jesus. However, John’s baptism was an appeal to God through anticipation, expressing a yearning for Christ’s revealing. Thus, when John’s disciples began to follow Jesus, John said, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decease” (John 3:29-30). Jesus’ baptism superseded John’s baptism because it was not merely an appeal through anticipation but through resurrection. Again, that is what Peter said, “an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

As Question 45 of the New City Catechism rightly says, baptism with water is not the washing away of sin itself; there is no magic infused in the water. “No, only the blood of Christ and the renewal of the Holy Spirit can cleanse us from sin.” Our conversion, regeneration, and new birth happen the moment that we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, not the moment we are baptized. We are saved through calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation (Romans 10:13), that is, confessing and repenting of our sin and looking to Christ alone for our forgiveness and righteousness. As Piper notes,

Baptism saves in the sense that it is the outward expression of an inward appeal to God, not as a mere water ritual. It saves the way the confession of the lips saves in Romans 10:9 – insofar as the confession of the lips is an expression of the faith of the heart.[4]

Baptism is a visible sign of confession, repentance, and an appeal for a cleansed conscience. And it is a trustworthy appeal because it is rooted in the resurrection of our Savior who nailed the debt of our sin through His own body to the cross.

Indeed, as we come to the spiritual banquet before us in the Lord’s Supper, let us briefly note its relationship to baptism. This Table is also rightly called Communion because it is a meal of fellowship with one another and with God Himself. This bread and cup are weekly reminders of our continued need for our Lord’s grace to keep us and sustain us. Yet the warnings that go before this meal are appropriately frightening. What confidence do we have for being able to share a fellowship meal with the Holy One?

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:19–22

Baptism is the visible proclamation of that truth. Most Christians do not experience the sudden and dramatic conversions of Paul, Augustine, or Luther. Some of us know well the date of our salvation, but most of us do not. In His grace, the Lord gives baptism as a tangible display of our repentance and faith in Him and of His washing us clean with the cleansing of His Spirit. That is why I believe that the Lord’s Supper should only be received after baptism. The sign of fellowship is received after the sign of forgiveness and rebirth.

If you have not yet called upon the Lord to forgive you of your sins, today is the day to do so, for none of us are guaranteed another opportunity to repent tomorrow. If you are a disciple of Christ who has not yet been baptized, refrain from observing the Lord’s Supper until you have done so. For those who have been baptized, receive this bread and cup as a sign of communion with God with full assurance that your sins have been washed away, not with physical water, but with the Holy Spirit. You were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The same God who received you in baptism now receives you at His Supper. Come, taste and see the goodness of eating and drinking with our King at His own Table.

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[1] Samuel Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Confession, 338.

[2] G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Mark, 223.

[3] Thomas Schreiner, “Baptism in the Epistles” from Believer’s Baptism, 70.

[4] Infant Baptism and the New Covenant Community | Desiring God