“What Baptists Generally Teach” (Part 3)
The first article in this series dealt with a major difference between Baptists and the Scriptures. Baptists do not agree (generally) that baptism is “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) and therefore essential to a person being saved (Mark 16:16). They believe one is saved first; then they will baptize him.
The second article, based primarily on the descriptions presented in the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia (1975 edition), examined the case for and against baptism being immersion. In this particular view, the Baptists are correct. Sprinkling or pouring water on infants does not constitute baptism, according to the Scriptures.
But how committed to this point are Baptists? They believe that immersion is the only legitimate form of baptism, but they also believe that salvation occurs before baptism. So, what do Baptists think about those who have grown up Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Lutheran? Those groups also believe in salvation by faith only, but they sprinkle infants. If they are never immersed, then, are they saved or lost? Baptists would clearly argue that those sprinkled have never been baptized; but are they saved anyway (by their faith)?
In fact, this was the fifth argument the encyclopedia made to prove the validity of infant baptism (by which they mean water was sprinkled or poured upon an infant). Their reasoning is that most who claim to be Christians were “baptized” as infants (including Catholics). The majority cannot be wrong; therefore, infant baptism is legitimate (468). This is a logical fallacy, known as Argumentum ad Populum.
This illustration will (hopefully) show why this kind of thinking fails. Most Bible students are aware that after Solomon died, the kingdom split into two parts. The southern (and smaller) portion was usually known thereafter as Judah (although it could still be called Israel). The much larger northern kingdom was known as Israel (occasionally Ephraim). Jeroboam got rid of the Levites, who took up residence in Judah, and made priests of men from just any tribe (who were not authorized to be priests, as per Hebrews 7:14). He also made two golden calves, setting them up in Dan and Bethel.
Was it wrong to worship the golden calf on the day that Jeroboam set it up? Yes. Was it wrong the next day? How about after a century had passed? Was it still wrong 200 years later during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II? Well, then, could not those living in the northern kingdom say, “The vast majority of the Israelites have been worshiping the golden calf since the reign of Solomon.” If the majority is our standard, then worshiping the golden calf is as valid as sprinkling infants. The fact is that longevity does not turn something wrong into something right. Neither does standing with the majority. Jesus taught that they will be lost (Matt. 7:13-14). Some will be spiritually-minded (7:21-23).
“Are you saying that those who have been sprinkled as infants are lost?” God is the judge—not us—but the Scriptures teach one must believe first and then be immersed (Mark 16:16)—not sprinkled and then believe later. To those who believed Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost, who asked what they should do, the apostle told them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38). He did not tell them to be baptized because they were already saved.
The Scriptures teach that there is a dividing line between being lost and being saved. Where did those on Pentecost think that line was? “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that same day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). The line between lost and saved is immersion. When did the Ethiopian eunuch rejoice? He did so after he was baptized (Acts 8:35-39). The Philippian jailer also rejoiced after he was baptized (Acts 16:34).
The reason is that, when one is washed (cleansed or baptized), he is sanctified and justified at the same time (1 Cor. 6:11). When one dies to sin, he is buried (in water); when he is raised up, he is a new creation (Rom. 6:3-5; 2 Cor. 5:17). For that reason, converts in the New Testament rejoiced after their sins were washed away. So, it does not matter what the majority of mankind thinks; what matters is what the Scriptures teach.
And the longer people keep making a faulty argument about “sprinkling,” instead of obeying the gospel as taught in the New Testament, the more generations are going to grow up being taught error. Imagine, if immersion had been restored in the 16th century! There would have been 500 years during which people might have obeyed the truth! It is never the right time, whether then or now, to perpetuate falsehood. Only truth can save (John 8:31-32; 2 Thess. 2:10).
Believers’ Baptism
One more point remains from the encyclopedia concerning Baptist theology. The reader may regard the following comments as being a little odd.
The hallmark of the Baptist view of Baptism, however, is not immersion—as is popularly supposed—but the restricting of the ordinance to believers. In insisting on believers’ baptism…Baptists differ from other Christians (466).
They go on to contrast that with baptizing infants who, of course, have no faith. The Bible does not teach that believers (referring to those who are saved) should be baptized. This would conflict totally with the idea of baptism being a burial. The Bible has those who have died to sin being buried (Rom. 6:3-4). But Baptists bury newborn children, which is awful.
“What? How is that possible?” Someone might ask. It is not difficult to understand the implications of “faith only” salvation. Baptists reject the notion of baptism having anything to do with one’s salvation. They believe that faith is the only response man needs to make to God in order to have salvation initially. They will baptize someone later on but insist that such a future act has no bearing on his salvation. In other words, they teach that one is saved at the point of faith. When he believes, he is saved, period. Therefore, anyone they baptize must first be a believer.
What do the Scriptures teach? We find people who hear the gospel preached, and they believe the message—like those on Pentecost, but this does not make them believers. Does that sound contradictory? It is not, so long as we understand that becoming a believer is a process. On Pentecost, did they believe the gospel that Peter preached? Yes. Were they believers? No. They first needed to repent and be baptized.
Consider a case that is clearer. Did Saul of Tarsus unexpectedly meet Jesus on the road to Damascus? Yes. When Jesus identified Himself, did Saul believe what He had to say? Yes. Was Saul a believer at that point? No. How do we know that? The answer is that he was yet in his sins, and Ananias told him to arise and be baptized in order to wash away his sins. Could he be referred to as a believer after he was baptized? Yes.
Let’s examine a conversion where the matter is stated explicitly. If any passage from Acts is ever quoted by Baptists, it is Acts 16:30-31. After an earthquake set Paul and Silas free, the jailer where they were imprisoned at Philippi fell down before them and asked one of the most important questions that any mortal can ask: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” From the praying and singing the two men had engaged in throughout the evening, he knew they had the answer.
Paul and Silas answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Someone might respond, “Well that’s not what Peter said; he told the multitude to repent and be baptized.” No, it is not. But they had already been convinced to believe in Jesus. Many of Peter’s words are recorded. He showed them that Jesus had been raised from the dead. He has already proclaimed that God had made that same Jesus whom they crucified both Lord and Christ (which prompted their question and Peter’s answer that followed).
But Paul had not yet proclaimed who Jesus was and what He had accomplished to the jailer. So, he begins at the more basic level of telling the jailer and those with him that they needed to believe on Jesus. Probably the next question that was asked was, “Who?” Maybe they had heard something all the way over in Philippi (a long way from Jerusalem); maybe they had not. But the point is that identifying who Jesus is to them was his starting point—not his conclusion. When Baptists quote Acts 16:31, they act as though this was the conclusion of Paul’s message rather than his opening.
Notice what the next verse says: “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house” (verse 32). We do not know precisely what Paul taught in those next minutes, but we know it was the truth, and we know that it pertained to salvation. Now, remembering that it was after midnight (Acts 16:25), we can assume that Paul presented the most pertinent facts concerning the gospel. He could have just talked about faith, but the indication was he talked about more than that.
After Paul spoke, the jailor washed their stripes (which many have construed was an act of repentance on his part). Then verse 33 adds: “And immediately he and all his family were baptized.” If baptism is not essential to salvation, why did Paul and Silas baptize everyone in the middle of the night? And where did they get the idea that they should be baptized anyway? They could not have come to any such conclusion unless Paul had taught them that baptism would wash away their sins—just as it had washed his own sins away.
But now notice the reason we have been scrutinizing this passage. After they were all baptized, the jailor brought them into his house, “and set food before them,” which was very kind of him. Here it is: “and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his house” (Acts 16:34). When, in the text, does it say he rejoiced? After he was baptized. When, in the text, does it say he believed? After he was baptized. Did he believe in Jesus as the Savior before he was baptized? Yes, or he would not have obeyed the gospel. But it is after he has repented and been baptized so that his sins could be removed that he is said to believe. Now he is a believer.
The encyclopedia represented the Baptists correctly in their beliefs: 1) They do not baptize for the forgiveness of sins; 2) They do teach that baptism is immersion; 3) They only baptize believers. The Scriptures teach, however, that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins and is what allows a person to be called a Christian and a believer.