Baptism

Baptism

Today I would like to look in great depth at a subject which is hardly understood by most professing Christians today as well as a subject which is most dividing amongst Christians today.

Lets start with John the Baptist. In Mark 1:1-15 we see John the Baptist baptizing Israelites “for the remission of sins”. If an Israelite wanted his sins forgiven he had to be baptized by John, which was a sign (1 Cor. 1:22) of his repentance (Matt. 3:11, Mark 1:4). Every Jew that came to be baptized understood that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand (Matt. 3:2) and that this Baptism was a (Num. 8:5-8) ceremonial washing which was required for all Priests to do prior to their priesthood and since in the Millennial Kingdom they all would be a Kingdom of Priests (Ex. 19:6; Isa. 61:6; 1 Peter 2:9) they understood and submitted to baptism.

The next thing we see is Jesus coming to be baptized of John (Matt. 3:13-17). It is important to point out that Jesus had no sin to repent of and in these verses we see why He was baptized…”to fulfill all righteousness”.

Next we see Jesus calling out His disciples and then baptizing (John 3:22-28).

I think it is important at this time to notice what John the Baptist's message was and what Jesus’ message was….."repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:1-3; Matt. 4:17)

Next we see Jesus commanding His disciples to continue to baptize in Matt. 28:19 and we know they did continue to baptize because we see in Acts 2:38 Peter preaching the same message that John the Baptist was preaching. Notice the order….Repent, Baptize…for the remission of sins, and then receive the Holy Ghost.

This message and order continued till the stoning of Steven. It is important to note that after the stoning of Steven no miracles happened in Jerusalem and the next thing we see is Saul (later named Paul) being called out by the risen Lord.

Before we look at these verses concerning Paul it would be wise for us to look and understand at who God was primarily working with. John the Baptist preached “the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel” (Acts 13:24). Jesus was “not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24) and Jesus sent His disciples “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”(Matt. 10:5) and also told them the message to preach “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”. So we can clearly see that up until this time, God’s primary and exclusive concern was with the nation of Israel. The Gentile nations were to be blessed thru Israel’s rising.

Now as we look at Saul's (Paul) conversion I want to point out the order of God’s new plan with mankind. (Acts 9:15) Yes, God started a new program aside from the program he had with Israel. We see Paul calling this “new program” “The Mystery”, “A Secret” (Rom. 16:25). It was called this because it was never prophesied in the Old Testament. He learned his message from the risen Lord, and the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned Paul to go to the Gentiles, for he was named the apostle of the Gentiles.

The next thing we see concerning baptism is Peter and his vision of the sheet filled with all manner of “unclean beast” and the salvation of Cornelius the Centurion. God permitted this for Peter to see that God had changed his program with Israel and now was going to deal with the Gentiles apart from Israel. (Acts 10:23-48)

I want you all to understand the issue here. Remember that Peter was waiting for Christ's return to set up His Kingdom. Peter fully understood the order of the events that needed to take place if someone was to be saved. As we have seen in Acts 2:38, it was to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” However in Acts 10 we don’t see that order at all here. We see a new order of salvation starting to arise and it we would be in error not to point this out. Notice with me in verses 38-43 how Peter told this household of Cornelius about the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As soon as this household believed the fact that those who trust in the Death and Resurrection would receive remission of sins, they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit “while he yet spake”. Notice Peter didn’t even get to the part about the Holy Spirit since baptism would have been the next order concerning “his gospel message”. We might consider this a moot fact, however notice that Peter and the Jews that witnessed this event “were astonished”. I want to make it very clear at this point that it wasn’t Peter who got things out of order, for he continued with the order which Jesus commanded him to keep. It was God who was showing Peter, as well as the other Jews which were with Peter, that He was changing the order and was going to deal with the Gentiles on an entirely different plane and with an entirely different plan.

It is very clear that since Israel had rejected God’s plan for Israel by rejecting the Holy Spirit and blaspheming the Holy Spirit by stoning Steven, a man proven to be a mighty man of God “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8) they have rejected God. So God has placed this “old program” on hold. He set this “program” aside and now would start a “new program”. This “new program” would be apart from Israel and would include both Jew and Gentile.

In this “new program” remission of sin would be received by grace through faith and not of works (Eph. 2:8). Baptism was a Mosaic rite which was incorporated into the gospel of the coming Kingdom on Earth. Water baptism was only one of the many practices which accompanied the Kingdom program, along with Kingdom sign-gifts such as miraculous healing, tongues, raising the dead, cleaning the lepers, and handling of snakes. These practices passed with the complete setting aside of Israel (Romans 11:11-15).

Today, in the Dispensation of the Grace of God, we understand that the “One Baptism” in Eph. 4:5 is the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. When a sinner places his trust in the finished cross work of Jesus Christ, at that very moment, the Holy Spirit baptizes that believer “in Christ” (Eph. 1:13, Romans 6:3-4, 1 Cor. 12:13, Gal. 3:27, Col. 2:12)

It is very clear as to which baptism is meant in Eph. 4:5. 1 Cor. 12:13 teaches us that we are put into the Body of Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Rom. 12:5 teaches us to be in the Body of Christ is to be in Christ. Rom. 8:1 teaches us that if we are in Christ there is no more condemnation. Eph. 1:13 teaches us that upon believing we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.

Since there is only One Baptism, which scriptures clearly teach us, which is operational today, one must conclude it is the Spirit Baptism into the Body of Christ and not baptism of water otherwise we must reject the Spirit Baptism and produce “the signs” of our salvation as was also required.

One issue we need to deal with is “why did Paul Baptize”? Some make this issue larger than it needs to be. It was a simple fact that Cornelius was baptized because it was the Jewish program of the time to do so, but his baptism held no weight for his salvation or remission of sin was very clear since he had already been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Paul also circumcised Timothy for the same reason that God permitted the Gentiles to have the same gifts of healing and tongues as the Jews did. Why you ask? The answer is found in Acts 16:1-3, 1 Cor. 1:22 and 1 Cor. 14:22 They were simply a sign to the unbelieving Jew.