THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM

 

  There are two controversial doctrines that divide Christians: one is Calvinism (reformed Christianity) and the second is Campbellism (restored Christianity). The first is about “election” and the latter “immersion.” A subset of the latter is affusion or immersion forms of baptism.

  By definition “baptism” means immersion, and anything short of that is not baptism. The four types of “baptism” are affusion (pouring), aspersion (sprinkling), partial immersion, or full immersion. None but full immersion is truly “baptisimo.”

  Baptism is representative of the circumcision of the heart. I’ll stop right there because some will say that this commentary is counter to Scripture. Whether a person believes that baptism is called an “ordinance” or a “sacrament,” the baptized person, if it is done correctly and with a faithful heart, is still baptism. The key to baptism is that there is a change in the person who is baptized, not by his or her own works, but through the power of the Holy Spirit.

  A problem arises with short-circuiting the process. Baptism without contrition, repentance, and trust in the propitiation of Jesus’s blood on behalf of you, the sinner, is merely washing dirt off the person and him or her becoming merely a clean sinner. Unfortunately, if the focus is on baptism rather than rebirth, then the Church of Christ (the invisible, universal Church) will be nothing more than a denomination of wet sinners. Circumcision of the heart is paramount. That is where the “heart” changes.

  Nowhere in scripture does it say, Marvel not; ye must be baptized.  The only “must be” in the Bible is in three instances, and they all point toward rebirth. “Marvel not; ye must be born again” (John 3:7) exemplifies that one, must be. Neither does it say, Marvel not; ye must be saved. “Born again” is the beginning of salvation; to wit: “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11). “Salvation” is downstream from now. When is salvation” The salvation of the soul is at death, but salvation of the body is at the rapture — when Jesus comes to snatch away those both dead and alive in Christ. Who are those in Christ? They are those who have been born again.

  There is only one efficacious baptism, and that is immersion of those already born again who have been totally immersed. However, there are not three versions of baptism as theologians have it: (1) the baptism of John, the baptism of Christians, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost; there are only two: John’s and Jesus’s baptisms. The “Holy Ghost” is the invisible Jesus — the “Ghost” of Jesus (Mark 15:37).

  John’s is baptism of “repentance of the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). Thus, John’s baptism is contrition, or the admission of guilt. That is except for Jesus who had no guilt. For Him and Him alone, it was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). Jesus did not need to repent, and was ready to receive God’s peculiar Spirit, in bodily shape (Luke 3:22). That Spirit of God was specific to Jesus and would be shared with those who were chosen and peculiar people (1 Pet 2:9). What was peculiar about them? They had been baptized with the Holy Ghost of Jesus.

  On the other hand, Jesus blood was for the actual remission of sins: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:28). John’s was a baptism of repentance, but Jesus’s spilled blood for remission. The baptism of repentance was what the sinner does. The baptism of remission is how Jesus responded. “Baptism” has two activities: repentance and remission; the former by you and the latter by Jesus. He redeems those who have repented.

  “Repentance” is denial of self-godhood; that you are neither God nor as God. You are only a pretender. That idea was transmitted by Jesus Himself, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Moses lifted-up the lifeless brass red serpent on his “tree.” When the Hebrews exalted Jesus and diminished themselves, they were kept safe in the wilderness. It was the “blood” on the dead fiery serpent that protected them from death. They denied their ability to save themselves and trusted God to do that for them by grace.

  Not by coincidence, Satan in Judas, hanging dead in his tree was the vicarious death of Satan; he was as well as dead!

  “Born again” is understanding that you cannot save yourselves, but God can. It is understanding that God killed the Serpent by His death, and you did not. You must repent that you ever thought that way. John’s baptism signifies that trust lies in Jesus, and not yourselves. Denying oneself is spiritual cleansing, and like the serpent pole, it is not the physical thing that gives birth but understanding that the blood of Jesus is the true baptism; that blood was not shed for repentance but for remission of those things repented as in Matthew 26:28.

  Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost, and not by water, but fire (Mat 3:11). Sure, you also shall be baptized, but not by water, but with fire. Remember that the Earth was saved in the time of Noah by water? That was never to occur again. The next time God saves the Earth, it will be by fire (2 Pet 3:7). Salvation is by fire and not by water.

  Now examine the argument that baptism is saving: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). Damnation is death by fire. “Salvation” is saved from the fires that cleanses the Earth to regenerate it and is also salvation from the fires of Hell. Christians will face neither!

  There are two conditions to be saved from damnation (fire).  Christians are to fight fire by fire as implied in the Bible (Rom 12:20). To overcome damnation, it is by fire. The first condition is belief. That is addressed by John 3:14 — trusting the blood of Jesus to kill the Serpent.

  The second is baptism. Yes, baptism seems to be a sacrament… but which baptism? John’s or Jesus’s? My proposal is that baptism of the Holy Ghost is Jesus fighting fire with fire. Water, no longer efficacious with the coming of the Holy Ghost, relies on the “Ghost of Jesus.” Just as the blood of Jesus “baptizes” to cleanse sinners from sin, His Holy Ghost baptizes with fire, as is written:

  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  (Acts 2:1-3)

  The baptism of the eunuch by Philip was not Jesus’s Baptism. It was John’s. The Holy Ghost had come to those who had been baptized previously by John, but not so with the eunuch. He was only baptized with water. The baptism of Christ is the same as the baptism of the Holy Ghost because they are one and the same… for the remission of sins, not John’s baptism of repentance.

  When does the baptism of the Holy Ghost occur? From Acts 2:1, it is when “they were of one accord” and that means with each other and with Jesus. “The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him” (Acts 5:32). What is obedience? “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15)  — to love one another, or to be of one accord. Thus, a Christian repents, is redeemed by the blood, has the heart “circumcised” of hatred, leaving only love, and then baptism of the Holy Ghost, or baptism with fire, not by water.

  Perhaps, and it is not for certain, water baptism is always John’s mode of baptism and is for repentance, and a testimony to that.

  Is it clear what “baptism” has to do with salvation? To be honest, both doctrines make good points. I make different points in this commentary, but if one is baptized by water and the Spirit, salvation should be obtained. Who baptizes is of no consequences because both John’s and the Holy Ghost’s baptisms were ordained by God, one as a testimony of repentance and the other as communion with Jesus. To be saved, requires communion with the one who can save, and He is Jesus and only Jesus. He was on the Holy Cross alone. None of us was there with Him.

  Let us all be more tolerant of doctrinal difference… and yes, baptism as saving, is doctrinal. It is Campbell’s doctrine for certain, but whether it is the Doctrine of Christ is debatable. Marvel not; ye may see many from different denominations in Heaven. Marvel not, if ye are born again, ye may be part of the universal, invisible Church of Christ!