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\u201cWe were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.\u201d (Rom. 6:4 NIV)<\/p>\n
\u201cI know believers\u2019 baptism by immersion appears to be the New Testament model, but I don\u2019t want to upset my parents who had me baptized in good faith as an infant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t it great?\u00a0 I go to a church that doesn\u2019t make a big deal out of baptism.\u00a0 So it can\u2019t be divisive.\u00a0 If you want to have your babies baptized, you can.\u00a0 If you want to be immersed as a believer you can do that to.\u00a0 But no form of baptism is a prerequisite for membership.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been baptized in any way, shape or form.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve followed Jesus since I was six and now I\u2019m thirty-six.\u00a0 Baptism wouldn\u2019t make any sense for me now, would it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Have you ever heard these or similar comments?\u00a0 I seem to hear them more than ever these days.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0is<\/em> good that Christians aren\u2019t killing each other over the forms of baptism practiced, as occasionally happened after the Reformation.\u00a0 It\u00a0is<\/em> important to take one\u2019s parents feelings into account in religious matters even after one becomes an adult, wherever one can.\u00a0 And it\u00a0is<\/em> true that the New Testament regularly associates baptism with the point of coming to faith, not something that is done decades later.<\/p>\nBut in our age in which tolerance so often seems to trump truth, we need to return to passages like the first four verses of Romans 6 again and again.\u00a0 Although theologians continue to discuss what\u00a0might<\/em> be implied by household baptisms in the New Testament and to what extent parallels between circumcision as the initiatory rite in the old covenant and baptism as the counterpart in the new\u00a0might <\/em>justify infant baptism, it remains undeniable that the only\u00a0unambiguous<\/em> examples of people being baptized in the New Testament are of those who are old enough to believe.\u00a0 And a passage like Romans 6:4 makes sense only when immersion is assumed.\u00a0 Just as people are laid out \u201csix feet under,\u201d the baptizand lays down under the water, but then like Christ rises again to symbolize his or her new spiritual life.\u00a0 And the Great Commission commands this be done to all disciples (Matt. 28:19).<\/p>\nI don\u2019t for one minute want to argue for baptismal regeneration\u2014the belief that you must be baptized to be saved.\u00a0 But I do want to insist that, if not\u00a0normative<\/em>, believers\u2019 baptism by immersion as soon as feasible after conversion was the\u00a0normal<\/em> practice of the New Testament church and it should be ours also.<\/p>\nMy concern in this blog, however, is not so much to debate those friends of mine who practice infant baptism, not for salvation but as a ritual on the part of parents and a congregation indicating their intentions to do their best to raise a child as a Christian, while recognizing that some day he or she will have to confirm it for themselves with their own saving faith.\u00a0 Most Baptists believe that should be done too, and many even dedicate babies with almost the identical theology that paedobaptists use at infant baptism.\u00a0 The only debate is whether the water should be applied earlier, in small drops, or later, in larger doses!<\/p>\n
My concern here is rather the inordinate number of young adults (and a few older ones) I meet these days who seem to think baptism is just no big deal.\u00a0 And if they weren\u2019t raised in a church that prescribed a certain way for it to be done, they may never have been baptized at all.\u00a0 And if they have had faith in Christ for many years already, it really seems to them to be unnecessary.\u00a0 Or, if they do go through with baptism, it is just, they say, \u201c because Christ commanded it and we need to obey him.\u201d\u00a0 But they can\u2019t give any particular reason for why he should have commanded it.<\/p>\n
What a striking contrast from believers out of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and other religions in various parts of the world today who are completely ostracized by their families, not if they show an interest in following Jesus but if they \u201cseal the deal\u201d by means of baptism!\u00a0 What a striking contrast from believers past and present who occasionally have become targets for martyrdom, not if they merely profess some kind of commitment to Christ but only after their public testimony in baptism!\u00a0 What an insult it is to their sacrifices to take this ordinance of our Lord so lightly!<\/p>\n
With or without words, baptismal immersion testifies to our identification with the crucified and risen Christ.\u00a0 With words, with the appropriate \u201cpledge of a clear conscience toward God\u201d (1 Pet. 3:21), produced by already existing saving faith, baptism includes a promise to follow Jesus all the days of our lives.\u00a0 If and when doubts assail us as to whether we truly believed \u201cway back when,\u201d we can point to the vows we recited at our baptism.\u00a0 If and when temptations come to turn our backs on Jesus and\/or turn to some other religion, philosophy or world view, others have the right and responsibility to ask us, \u201cAre you a person of your word?\u00a0 Are you a promise keeper?\u00a0 You made a sacred oath; are you the kind of person that can be trusted even when the hard times come to be faithful to your covenants?\u201d<\/p>\n
When one studies church history and sees what Christians have endured for their faith, even to the point of martyrdom, and what many still endure in our world today, the reasons pampered Westerners give for reneging on their baptismal vows are just plain pathetic in comparison.\u00a0 \u201cThe church hurt me.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGod didn\u2019t give me the kind of life I was counting on.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI just didn\u2019t feel him nearby for the longest time.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSkeptics gave me arguments that I couldn\u2019t answer.\u201d\u00a0 And so on,\u00a0ad nauseum<\/em>.\u00a0 As if no one in other times and places ever had these kinds of experiences before but remained faithful nevertheless.<\/p>\nA strange expression recurs on websites that describe people\u2019s \u201cdeconversion\u201d from Christianity, particularly to atheism.\u00a0 Over and over I\u2019ve read that so-and-so \u201cmanned up\u201d and faced the facts.\u00a0 For one thing this is astonishingly sexist.\u00a0 Worse still, it\u2019s exactly the opposite of what it really means.\u00a0 People actually \u201cwimped out\u201d when the going got tough.\u00a0 They reneged on their promises instead of showing their true grit.\u00a0 Remind me never to trust such people with anything I couldn\u2019t bear to lose.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t be faithful to the commitment that is the most important one anyone could ever make now or for eternity, why should I trust their word in any less significant context?<\/p>\n
As for baptism, are there really any good reasons left to disobey Jesus and remain unbaptized?\u00a0 C\u2019mon ,\u201cman or woman up to it\u201d!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Craig Blomberg, a friend of mine from way back, wrote this piece at the Denver Seminary blog and another friend (HT: NH) passed it on to me, and I\u2019ve swiped the whole thing for discussion here. What is your theology of baptism? How big of a deal is it for you? Baptism\u2019s No Big Deal, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>What is your theology of baptism? How big of a deal is it for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n