“What Is Baptism?”

Why would someone ask the question, “What is baptism?” The answer is that many people are confused—so much so that it turned out to be the 42nd most commonly-asked religious question of Google. So, let’s take a look at what the Bible says in order to find a Scriptural answer.

Naaman the Syrian

First, the words baptize, baptized, baptizing, and baptism do not appear at all in the Old Testament. The concept of baptism, then, is a New Testament teaching. However, the Bible student finds an interesting event that occurred in the Old Testament, although it does not involve sin or salvation. It concerns a Syrian commander named Naaman, “a mighty man of valor” (2 Kings 5:1).

Unfortunately, he was a leper. An Israelite servant girl said to her mistress that a prophet who lived in Samaria could heal him (5:2-3). Having heard this wonderful news, Naaman told the king of Syria the news, and he volunteered to write a letter to the king of Israel, asking him to heal him (5:4-6). The Samaritan ruler asked, “Am I God?” to be able to do such a thing. He tore his clothes and concluded that this request was just a pretext to go to war (v. 7). However, Elisha volunteered to handle the situation (v. 8).

When Naaman came to the prophet’s house (v. 9), Elisha sent out a messenger to tell him, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean” (v. 10). Naaman’s initial reaction to this news was not good; he was, in fact, furious, and he went away. He complained: 1) that Elisha did not come out to meet him, as he thought he should, call on the name of his God, or heal the leprosy (v. 11); and 2) that the rivers in his homeland were cleaner, and if mere water could cleanse him, he could have bathed there instead of making this journey. He “went away in a rage” (v. 12).

Fortunately, his servants were able to reason with him, saying that “if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” (v. 13). The commander thought that over, went to the Jordan, dipped himself seven times, “and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (v. 14).

“So, what does this have to do with baptism?” The reader will have to make that judgment for himself after reading further information, but for now the point is that this is the only event in the Old Testament that relates to any individual being immersed in water for a special purpose—in this instance, to have his leprosy removed. Now we want to go to the first usage of baptism in the New Testament.

John the Baptizer

The first New Testament references can be found in Matthew 3:6-7, 11; Mark 1:4-5; Luke 3:3, 7, 12, 16, 21; and John 1:28, 31. They involved a man who is referred to as John Baptistees, which is usually rendered “John the Baptist,” which is a transliteration (making the Greek word into an English word without translating it). A correct “translation” would be John the Baptizer, as the American Standard Version (1901) has in Mark 6:14, 24. The Revised Standard Version (1954) has those two verses, plus Mark 1:4 as John the Baptizer. John is rightly called “the Baptizer” because he baptized people. In fact, the Scriptures teach:

Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins (Matt. 3:5-6).

A second, similar thing to notice is that the word baptize also is a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo. Strong provides the definition for the word [907] as “to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to plunge (of vessels sunk).” Some may wonder, “Does the New Testament support this definition?” Yes, it does. But what about those who have been sprinkled? The fact that John baptized people in the Jordan serves as a clue. No one would need to be in the Jordan if sprinkling or pouring water on someone constituted baptism.

Furthermore, John 3:23 points out that on one occasion John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, “because there was much water there.” In the Book of Acts, when Philip overtook the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, they studied Isaiah for a while, and Philip “preached Jesus to him.” When the eunuch saw some water along the side of the road, he said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Did Philip sprinkle a few drops on the man’s head. No. The text says:

So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him (Acts 8:38, emph. gws).

Afterward, they both “came up out of the water” (v. 39, emph. gws). Baptism clearly involves immersion in water, just as the definition indicates.

One other bit of confirmation relates to what Paul taught in Romans 6:3-4. He explains how that those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” A person dies to sin, is buried with Christ in His death, and is then raised up.

Sprinkling Infants

No one was sprinkled in the New Testament. Neither John nor the apostles ever sprinkled water on anyone and called it baptism; all were immersed in water. Most of the time, in the denominational world, infants are the ones who are sprinkled. This is a longstanding religious tradition. Lutherans have practiced it for 500 years; Presbyterians have done so almost as long. Catholics go back a little further. But the point is that no religious group can go back to the New Testament and say, “Hey! Here it is! Here is where infants were sprinkled.”

Their only course of action is to point to entire households that were baptized, such as Cornelius’, Lydia’s, and the jailer’s. All the text says of Cornelius is that he “called together his relatives and close friends” to hear Peter (Acts 10:24). It is previously noted that he “feared God with all his household” (Acts 10:2), but if there were children in that household, they were not mentioned. Neither were any referred to in Lydia’s household (Acts 16:15)—or the Philippian jailer’s (Acts 16:31-33).

It is absurd to assume that any of these households possessed children; a home with two or three teenagers is still a home. Since when has having babies been a requirement for being a household. Nothing indicates that Lydia was even married. If the jailer and his wife had children, who can tell us how old they were? But there is another reason we know that children were not sprinkled in the New Testament.

Purpose

No sprinkling of infants can be found in the New Testament; no pedobaptist (one who sprinkles infants) has ever or ever will find even one verse in the New Testament to support the teaching. But, second, why are some so insistent to sprinkle infants? They answer that they do so because of Original Sin, a phrase that cannot be found anywhere in the entire Bible, but which has been generously sprinkled all through the doctrine of Calvinism. No one was ever baptized in the New Testament to get rid of original sin.

These truths may be absolutely strange to some—especially if they have been taught error since childhood. People they trusted have taught them these ideas, but they never read them in the Scriptures, and, in fact, may have actually been discouraged from reading the Bible. If that is the case for anyone reading these words, please look at what the Bible says about the purpose for baptism.

John the Baptizer began preaching baptism. What was his purpose for doing so? “John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). For what reason? For the remission (forgiveness) of sins. Notice that nothing is said about “original sin.” Baptism is for removing one’s own sins—not Adam’s.

It is also important to note that baptism would do no good unless preceded by other vital concepts, such as faith. Notice that Jesus places faith before baptism—and both of them before salvation: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). On the day of Pentecost, Peter placed repentance before baptism for those who believed his message: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38).

This is yet another reason why infants are improper subjects for baptism; they do not yet possess the ability to understand and weigh the evidence (John 20:30-31), drawing the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. They have no ability to repent of sins (which they have not committed in the first place).

Objection

“But I’ve always been taught that people are saved first and then baptized because they are saved.” Yes, many have been taught that, but it did not come from the Scriptures. Notice again: John preached a baptism of repentance “for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). Peter preached to those on Pentecost to be baptized “for the remission of sins.” “Yes,” the objection continues, “But doesn’t for mean “because of”? This Greek preposition, eis, does not mean “because of,” but let’s say it did. What do we do with Matthew 26:28, where Jesus told His disciples: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”? Did Jesus shed His blood because people’s sins were already forgiven?

All three verses (Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; Matthew 26:28) are identical in the Greek; in the English they have the same translation. Only a dishonest person would say, “Jesus died to obtain forgiveness of sins for us, but we are baptized because we already have salvation!”

Naaman Again

No, Naaman was not baptized to be saved from his sins; he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan River in order to be cleansed from his leprosy. Can anyone imagine that someone would have told him, “You are healed by faith only. Your leprosy is already gone. You should just dip yourself to show an outward sign of an inward grace”? What foolishness! He was cleansed after he followed instructions—not before. People are saved from their sins when they are baptized—not before. No verse says that it is an outward sign. God designed it as the way for sinners to be cleansed—if they believe and have repented.

Do people need to be cleansed from their sins? Yes. Does faith alone do it? No. Does faith and repentance do it? No. What cleanses us? The blood of Christ does (Rev. 1:5)—when we are baptized in order to have our sins removed. As the sinner, Saul of Tarsus, was told, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins…” (Acts 22:16. Emph. gws).