Confirming Repentance and Salvation with Baptism
Jesus commands newborn believers to die with Him to sin and rise to new, holy, eternal life, by means of the ceremony of baptism.
Click the explanation you want now, of why and how Jesus commands us to baptize, and why we must not add non-biblical requirements for it:
A. Baptize New Believers in Obedience to Jesus
B. Confirm Salvation with Baptism without Excessive Delay
C. Assure Newly Baptized Believers of Jesus’ Presence and the Indwelling Holy Spirit
04A. Baptize New Believers in Obedience to Christ
Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 4.
When Jesus had risen from the dead, he came to his disciples and said:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
The purpose of this chapter 4 is to explain why our Lord Jesus Christ commands us to confirm repentance and salvation with baptism, and why we must not add non-biblical requirements for it. He requires newborn believers to die with Him to sin and rise to new, holy, eternal life, by means of the ceremony of baptism.
Mr. 'Traditionalist' worries, "Do not baptize that new believer so soon! He may just fall away!"
Mr. 'Foresight' disagrees, "He will more likely fall away, if we delay baptizing him as long as you want us to! It would discourage him!"
The apostle Peter told the seekers at Pentecost, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38
Find in Matthew 3:4-10 and Luke 3:10-14, below, what kind of people John baptized--those who felt they were good enough to deserve it, or bad enough to need it?
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:4-10)
"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.
John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
"Don’t collect any more than you are required to," he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely-be content with your pay." (Luke 3:10-14)
Find in Acts 8:26-39 who was baptized, how soon, and by whom:
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. who can speak of his descendants? for his life was taken from the earth." the eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?"
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?"
Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may."
The eunuch answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." and he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Please take a moment now to think about arranging baptisms and who are those who have repented, who should be baptized.
04B Confirm Salvation with Baptism without Excessive Delay
Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 4.
Inexperienced pastors often delay baptism out of mistaken caution. They want to be careful. But if safety and care are our concern, let us rather be careful that new believers obey Jesus without delay. Delaying obedience in order to follow man-made rules sends a completely wrong message. The apostles baptized both Jewish and gentile believers without delay in Acts 2:41; 8:12, 36-38; 10:44-48; 16:14-15, 29-34; 18:8; 22:12-16. They had no other practice.
New leaders often worry too much that weeds will be harvested into the church along with the wheat, if we baptize too soon. Satan laughs at this, because he knows that baptism is the best screening process that God has given us. No man-made screening process, including waiting a long time, is as effective. Satan is expert at making counterfeits. Our strictest precautions with baptism and addition to the church will not stop him from making counterfeits. To keep the church pure, instead of requiring a long time of probation for baptism, we should practice church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20). God himself did the first act of church discipline (Acts 5:1-11). Jesus and Paul taught that the church itself is to take responsibility for maintaining purity (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). Delaying baptism and therefore neglecting church discipline, forces new believers to be disobedient to Jesus’ command and invites legalism.
Some leaders consider it spiritual to delay baptism until new babies in Christ are living a perfect life. They keep them officially outside the church body, until they can prove that they merit entry into the church. They call it being 'careful.' Patterson reports, "One of these ‘careful’ pastors criticized us, 'Oh, we could fill our churches also if we baptized just anyone like you do, without straightening out their lives first!’ But our pastors helped far more sinners straighten out their lives than this one did. We brought the newborn spiritual babies into the body of Christ where the Holy Spirit gave them power them to work out their salvation."
Jesus instituted baptism to confirm one’s salvation. Especially in new fields, we must not introduce man-made decision rites from other cultures to confirm it. The invitation of the apostles, for example, was not to raise one’s hand or to "come forward." They simply told those who trusted in Jesus to show their repentance by being baptized (Acts 2:38; 22:12-16). The decision-making rituals that man has devised to replace baptism to confirm salvation has had a dismal record for determining who are sincere. The follow through, or conservation of new believers, has always been much higher when we confirm their repentance the New Testament way.
The church planting task group that went with Peter to Cesarea baptized the new believers as soon as they saw that they had received the Holy Spirit. They did not use baptism as a graduation ceremony following a long time of indoctrination. Peter considered it disobedience to God to delay baptism when he and his companions saw that Cornelius and his people had been received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48).
We must never delay baptism so long that new believers become discouraged. In new fields Christian influences are lacking and new believers consider baptism both as identification with Christ and the confirmation of their acceptance by His people.
Churches that baptize infants do not normally rebaptize them when, as adult believers, they repent and receive Christ. Rather, they go through a process of Confirmation. The confirmation must be meaningful, to assure the new adult believers that God and His people have received them. Confirmation must not become mechanical.
If you have been delaying baptism for legalistic reasons, plan now to correct this.
04C Assure Newly Baptized Believers of Jesus' Loving Presence and the Indwelling Holy Spirit
Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 4
Baptism in the Bible is more than the moment of the ritual with water. It includes the continued new, eternal life in the risen Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:13). We should assure new believers, when baptized with water, of Jesus’ presence in their hearts, and the Holy Spirit’s spiritual baptism, sealing, and sanctifying.
Some task groups serve with a mission organization that is not itself a church and therefore do not baptize. They should separate new churches from the parent organization in order for them to baptize and serve as "mother" churches to start new ones.
Please take a moment now to think how you and your coworkers will assure newly baptized believers of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.