Post by ambassador on Apr 17, 2009 22:46:00 GMT -5
Got Water, or the “Dry Baptism?”
Some Christians are told that the Lord left two ordinances for the Church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Is this true? Growing up in Baptist churches for many years, I often heard the expression: “Baptism is the first step of obedience after salvation.” Does the Bible support this claim? Without attacking anyone, and presenting this article in pure love, I want to show you FROM THE SCRIPTURES that water baptism has nothing to do with believers today! NOTHING! If you want to disagree, please do, but I would rather believe the Bible than religious tradition. You can still be saved and disagree with me, but I refuse to compromise the Bible for the sake of pleasing man.
Firstly, we ask this question: why did John the Baptist water baptize Jesus? Was Jesus setting an example for us, as so many people claim today? God’s whole purpose in calling Abraham was to create the Nation Israel through his son Isaac. Israel would evangelize the lost world in a Kingdom, with Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. Nearly 500 years after Abraham, Moses, under the command of the Lord, leads the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage. As the Nation is assembled around Mount Sinai, the Lord God instructs Moses to tell the Nation Israel (Exodus 19:3-6 KJV):
“Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar [special, intrinsic] treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Keep that phrase in mind: Israel was to be a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Old Testament priesthood in Israel, I will take the time to explain it. The Tabernacle was the proto-Temple, and once a year (the Day of Atonement; Leviticus 16), the Lord commanded Israel’s high priest to offer blood sacrifices for Israel’s sins. The holy presence of the Lord God was in a special room of the Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies. It was here on the “mercy seat” (the lid of the Ark of the Covenant) that the Israeli high priest would sprinkle animal blood. Israel’s priests, the Levites (also known as the sons of Aaron), would have to wash with water before coming into the presence of the holy God in the Tabernacle.
In the Tabernacle courtyard (the outer part of the Tabernacle), there was a brass laver (tub) filled with water, in which the priest would wash his body before dressing in the ephod (priest’s clothing). See Exodus 30:17-21. In Exodus 19, God intended the ENTIRE nation of Israel to become priests, to then evangelize the world in a Kingdom run by Jesus Christ. When Christ finally makes His appearance, John the Baptist is water baptizing repentant Jews (see Matthew 3:1-6). Christ, Israel’s King, was finally in Jerusalem, and John the Baptist was warning Israel: “repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why was John the Baptist baptizing people? To prepare them for that Kingdom (which Christ was offering during His First Advent), and these Jews needed to be ceremonially cleansed in order to qualify as PRIESTS of Jehovah! This water baptism did not surprise Israel; they knew of the water baptism their priests practiced all the years before John!
In John 1:31, John the Baptist says: “And I knew Him [Jesus] not: but that He [Jesus] should be made manifest to Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water.” Jesus was water baptized to IDENTIFY with His people, the Jews, to encourage them to do the same, and for God to set them apart from the pagan Gentiles. Jesus did not set an example for us today, because Jesus was ministering to Jews under the Law (Matthew 10:5-7; Romans 15:8). The Body of Christ would be a Pauline revelation years later.
According to one church, “Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life.”
However, this water baptism in the name of the three Persons of the Godhead is only found in Matthew 28:19, which were the words of the Lord Jesus to His twelve JEWISH APOSTLES under the Law! God does not instruct us Gentiles to water baptize today. And if you notice, this church claims that water baptism is an ORDINANCE—legalism is filled with ordinances. We need to clear up this confusion, and rid ourselves of denominational teaching! Some denominations pervert the Gospel of Grace by making water baptism part of your salvation; this is serious error to say you have to be water baptized in order to be saved!
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4-6 (KJV) seven distinct principles we Christians need to recognize today:
“There is one body [the body of Christ], and one [Holy] Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Today, various Christian denominations practice many types of baptism: baptism with the Holy Spirit like that on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, water baptism by immersion, water baptism by pouring, water baptism by sprinkling, x times forward, x times backward, in a river, in a pool, in a baptismal, by a pastor, by a priest, et cetera. What a confusing mess because these people are ignoring what Paul wrote! There is ONE BAPTISM today according to Ephesians 4, and it has nothing to do with any of those baptisms mentioned above.
That one baptism to which Paul is referring is found in 1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV):
“For by one [Holy] Spirit we are all baptized into one body [the body of Christ], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
I want to pay special attention to the first part of that verse. Who is doing the baptizing: a pastor, a priest, a pope? None of them. It is the Holy Spirit taking a lost person and placing s/he into the Body of Christ the INSTANT they place their faith in the Gospel of Grace of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. If you have trusted exclusively in that Gospel for your salvation, you have already been placed in the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit! You already have that one baptism that you need, and you need no other baptism.
Water baptism is an option, but actually Paul never instructs us to be water baptized. We find Paul write in 1 Corinthians 1:17 (KJV):
“Christ sent me NOT TO BAPTIZE, but to preach the Gospel....”
Why would Paul write that Christ did not send him to water baptize, yet Christ sent His twelve apostles of Israel to water baptize in Matthew 28? Today in the Dispensation of Grace, the Holy Spirit is performing the only baptism—the supernatural baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13, the one unrelated to water. The water baptism of Jesus and the water baptism of John the Baptist was God dealing with Israel in the Dispensation of Law, but now God is dealing with us (non-Jewish) Gentiles under a different set of circumstances. We do not need Israel’s water baptism today because God is doing something differently with us in the Body of Christ. Today, we are not being baptized WITH the Holy Spirit like they were on the Day of Pentecost; we are being baptized BY the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. That is why I have not been water baptized, and I never will be because I already have that one baptism I need, the dry baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Furthermore, many people do not realize that the word “baptism” in the Bible does not always refer to water. For instance, Romans 6:1-5 is NOT water baptism (contrary to it being misused to force water baptism), but rather refers to the “dry”/waterless baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13: those who have been placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit have already been identified with His death, burial, and resurrection—this is exactly what Romans 6:3 says. If someone claims you need to be water baptism to either complete your salvation or to prove your salvation, they have no Pauline Scripture for support for either. You prove your salvation today by proclaiming the Gospel to others, not by being water baptized like Israel did in times past.
In Matthew 20:22-23, Jesus makes reference to a “baptism” He has yet to be baptized with. Now we know Jesus was already baptized with water in Matthew 3:13-17. So, in Matthew 20, Jesus referred to His death on the cross as a “baptism.” In Matthew 4:11 alone, there are three “baptisms”: John’s water baptism, baptism with the Holy Spirit (a reference to Pentecost in Acts 2), and baptism with fire (alluding to the judgment and wrath of God during the Tribulation).
If you want to be water baptized in order to become a member of a local church, you can. If you do not want to be water baptized, you do not have to be. You are under NO commands from God to be water baptized as a means for professing salvation. Do not let someone force anything on you and try to make you a member of their church just to increase funds. The important thing to remember is as long as you are a member of the Body of Christ (and have been baptized supernaturally by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ), that is the one baptism you need that will count for all eternity.
Some Christians are told that the Lord left two ordinances for the Church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Is this true? Growing up in Baptist churches for many years, I often heard the expression: “Baptism is the first step of obedience after salvation.” Does the Bible support this claim? Without attacking anyone, and presenting this article in pure love, I want to show you FROM THE SCRIPTURES that water baptism has nothing to do with believers today! NOTHING! If you want to disagree, please do, but I would rather believe the Bible than religious tradition. You can still be saved and disagree with me, but I refuse to compromise the Bible for the sake of pleasing man.
Firstly, we ask this question: why did John the Baptist water baptize Jesus? Was Jesus setting an example for us, as so many people claim today? God’s whole purpose in calling Abraham was to create the Nation Israel through his son Isaac. Israel would evangelize the lost world in a Kingdom, with Jesus Christ ruling and reigning. Nearly 500 years after Abraham, Moses, under the command of the Lord, leads the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage. As the Nation is assembled around Mount Sinai, the Lord God instructs Moses to tell the Nation Israel (Exodus 19:3-6 KJV):
“Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar [special, intrinsic] treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Keep that phrase in mind: Israel was to be a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Old Testament priesthood in Israel, I will take the time to explain it. The Tabernacle was the proto-Temple, and once a year (the Day of Atonement; Leviticus 16), the Lord commanded Israel’s high priest to offer blood sacrifices for Israel’s sins. The holy presence of the Lord God was in a special room of the Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies. It was here on the “mercy seat” (the lid of the Ark of the Covenant) that the Israeli high priest would sprinkle animal blood. Israel’s priests, the Levites (also known as the sons of Aaron), would have to wash with water before coming into the presence of the holy God in the Tabernacle.
In the Tabernacle courtyard (the outer part of the Tabernacle), there was a brass laver (tub) filled with water, in which the priest would wash his body before dressing in the ephod (priest’s clothing). See Exodus 30:17-21. In Exodus 19, God intended the ENTIRE nation of Israel to become priests, to then evangelize the world in a Kingdom run by Jesus Christ. When Christ finally makes His appearance, John the Baptist is water baptizing repentant Jews (see Matthew 3:1-6). Christ, Israel’s King, was finally in Jerusalem, and John the Baptist was warning Israel: “repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why was John the Baptist baptizing people? To prepare them for that Kingdom (which Christ was offering during His First Advent), and these Jews needed to be ceremonially cleansed in order to qualify as PRIESTS of Jehovah! This water baptism did not surprise Israel; they knew of the water baptism their priests practiced all the years before John!
In John 1:31, John the Baptist says: “And I knew Him [Jesus] not: but that He [Jesus] should be made manifest to Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water.” Jesus was water baptized to IDENTIFY with His people, the Jews, to encourage them to do the same, and for God to set them apart from the pagan Gentiles. Jesus did not set an example for us today, because Jesus was ministering to Jews under the Law (Matthew 10:5-7; Romans 15:8). The Body of Christ would be a Pauline revelation years later.
According to one church, “Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life.”
However, this water baptism in the name of the three Persons of the Godhead is only found in Matthew 28:19, which were the words of the Lord Jesus to His twelve JEWISH APOSTLES under the Law! God does not instruct us Gentiles to water baptize today. And if you notice, this church claims that water baptism is an ORDINANCE—legalism is filled with ordinances. We need to clear up this confusion, and rid ourselves of denominational teaching! Some denominations pervert the Gospel of Grace by making water baptism part of your salvation; this is serious error to say you have to be water baptized in order to be saved!
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4-6 (KJV) seven distinct principles we Christians need to recognize today:
“There is one body [the body of Christ], and one [Holy] Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Today, various Christian denominations practice many types of baptism: baptism with the Holy Spirit like that on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, water baptism by immersion, water baptism by pouring, water baptism by sprinkling, x times forward, x times backward, in a river, in a pool, in a baptismal, by a pastor, by a priest, et cetera. What a confusing mess because these people are ignoring what Paul wrote! There is ONE BAPTISM today according to Ephesians 4, and it has nothing to do with any of those baptisms mentioned above.
That one baptism to which Paul is referring is found in 1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV):
“For by one [Holy] Spirit we are all baptized into one body [the body of Christ], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
I want to pay special attention to the first part of that verse. Who is doing the baptizing: a pastor, a priest, a pope? None of them. It is the Holy Spirit taking a lost person and placing s/he into the Body of Christ the INSTANT they place their faith in the Gospel of Grace of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. If you have trusted exclusively in that Gospel for your salvation, you have already been placed in the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit! You already have that one baptism that you need, and you need no other baptism.
Water baptism is an option, but actually Paul never instructs us to be water baptized. We find Paul write in 1 Corinthians 1:17 (KJV):
“Christ sent me NOT TO BAPTIZE, but to preach the Gospel....”
Why would Paul write that Christ did not send him to water baptize, yet Christ sent His twelve apostles of Israel to water baptize in Matthew 28? Today in the Dispensation of Grace, the Holy Spirit is performing the only baptism—the supernatural baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13, the one unrelated to water. The water baptism of Jesus and the water baptism of John the Baptist was God dealing with Israel in the Dispensation of Law, but now God is dealing with us (non-Jewish) Gentiles under a different set of circumstances. We do not need Israel’s water baptism today because God is doing something differently with us in the Body of Christ. Today, we are not being baptized WITH the Holy Spirit like they were on the Day of Pentecost; we are being baptized BY the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. That is why I have not been water baptized, and I never will be because I already have that one baptism I need, the dry baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Furthermore, many people do not realize that the word “baptism” in the Bible does not always refer to water. For instance, Romans 6:1-5 is NOT water baptism (contrary to it being misused to force water baptism), but rather refers to the “dry”/waterless baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13: those who have been placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit have already been identified with His death, burial, and resurrection—this is exactly what Romans 6:3 says. If someone claims you need to be water baptism to either complete your salvation or to prove your salvation, they have no Pauline Scripture for support for either. You prove your salvation today by proclaiming the Gospel to others, not by being water baptized like Israel did in times past.
In Matthew 20:22-23, Jesus makes reference to a “baptism” He has yet to be baptized with. Now we know Jesus was already baptized with water in Matthew 3:13-17. So, in Matthew 20, Jesus referred to His death on the cross as a “baptism.” In Matthew 4:11 alone, there are three “baptisms”: John’s water baptism, baptism with the Holy Spirit (a reference to Pentecost in Acts 2), and baptism with fire (alluding to the judgment and wrath of God during the Tribulation).
If you want to be water baptized in order to become a member of a local church, you can. If you do not want to be water baptized, you do not have to be. You are under NO commands from God to be water baptized as a means for professing salvation. Do not let someone force anything on you and try to make you a member of their church just to increase funds. The important thing to remember is as long as you are a member of the Body of Christ (and have been baptized supernaturally by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ), that is the one baptism you need that will count for all eternity.