Personal
Evangelism Handbook
CHAPTER IX
Water Baptism
The Roman Catholic Church, the
Church of Christ, even some Lutheran churches, and a few
Baptist churches teach that a person must be water
baptized (as well as have faith in Christ) or he cannot
be saved. As a soulwinner, you should know what the
Bible says on the matter and how to answer this
"objection" to trusting Christ alone for
salvation.
In order to understand the
Scriptural teaching regarding baptism, you must know
what the word means. The Greek words translated
"baptize" and "baptism" are "baptizo,"
"baptisma," and "baptismos." Even if
you are not a linguist, you can see from the above that
the word "baptize" is not really a TRANSLATION
of "baptizo" at all. The translators simply
replaced the "o" with an "e." This
is called a TRANSLITERATION not a translation, because
in true translation work the meaning of the word is
carried over from one language into another. In the case
of the word "baptize" or "baptism"
this was not done.
The result of this is that
every time someone reads or hears about baptism, he
automatically thinks it must mean WATER baptism. So,
when such a person reads in Acts 2:38, for instance,
"Repent and be baptized . . . for the remission of
sins," he erroneously concludes that one must be
dipped in water to be saved . . . because the verse does
say you have to be baptized to receive God's
forgiveness. Much harm and confusion has resulted from
not understanding the real meaning of baptism. It means
"to whelm (engulf or cover) and to cleanse."
When Scripture refers to WATER baptism the context
ALWAYS makes this clear. When water is not mentioned in
connection with baptism, we need to use utmost care in
our study of the passage so that we will recognize what
kind of "baptism" (cleansing or whelming) is
being spoken of.
KINDS OF BAPTISMS IN
SCRIPTURE
There are at least six
different kinds of baptisms spoken of in the Bible:
(1) The baptism of John
(Matthew 21:25),
(2) The baptism of repentance
(Mark 1:4),
(3) Baptism or cleansing into
death (Romans 6:4),
(4) Baptism in water (Matthew
3:11),
( 5 ) Baptism in the Spirit
(Matthew 3 :11; I Corinthians 12:13 ), and
(6) Baptism unto Moses (I
Corinthians 10:2).
The above is sufficient to
cause us to think twice before assuming that baptism
must always refer to water.
THE BAPTISM NECESSARY FOR
SALVATION
Mark 16:16 says, "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned." Obviously,
therefore, there is a baptism that is necessary for
salvation. We cannot assume, however, that this refers
to WATER baptism. Scripture clearly tells us what kind
of baptism it is that is necessary for salvation.
John the Baptist,
differentiating between his baptism and Christ's
baptism, said, "I indeed have baptized you with
WATER: but He (Christ) shall baptize you with the HOLY
GHOST" (Mark 1:8). After Christ's death, burial,
and resurrection, Paul came upon some of John's
disciples who were not saved, even though they had been
baptized by John in water. They had not as yet received
the baptism (cleansing) of the Holy Spirit. When they
did, they were saved (Acts 19:1-7; compare with Romans
8:9). It is the SPIRIT'S baptism that is essential for
salvation . . . not WATER baptism.
The Lord Jesus Christ never
baptized anyone with water the whole time He was on
earth. If water baptism were necessary for salvation,
then Christ would have been withholding salvation from
everyone He dealt with.
Ephesians 4:5 says that there
is "one baptism" which God recognizes today.
And I Corinthians 12: 13 describes it clearly: "For
by one SPIRIT are we all (no believers excluded)
baptized into one body . . . and have been all made to
drink into one SPIRIT." Notice that the "one
Spirit" and "one baptism" of Ephesians 4:
4, 5 parallel perfectly with the "one Spirit"
and "one body" of I Corinthians 12:13. THIS is
the baptism (or cleansing) necessary for salvation. This
baptism is performed by God, not by man.
HOW AND WHEN THE BAPTISM OF
THE SPIRIT IS RECEIVED
For you to be a child of God
you must have the Holy Spirit for God says, ". . .
Now if any man have NOT the Spirit of Christ, HE IS NONE
OF HIS" (Romans 8:9). John 1:12, 13 tells us we
become children of God, born of Him, WHEN we receive
Christ by faith. And WHEN we receive Christ, we also
receive the Spirit.
"And in Him you Gentiles
also, after listening to the message of the truth, the
good news of your salvation-having believed in Him-were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit . . ." (Eph.
1:13, Weymouth trans., 3rd ed.).
Jesus said in John 7:39,
"But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that
believe on Him should receive...." The Holy Spirit
is given to believers at the moment of salvation, and He
indwells them forever.
"What? Know ye not that
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in
you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own?" (I Cor. 6:19) The letter of I Corinthians was
written to ALL believers (1:2), so then, ALL BELIEVERS
are indwelt by the Spirit and have received His baptism
or cleansing.
PASSAGES SOME PEOPLE THINK
TEACH WATER BAPTISM FOR SALVATION
Acts 2:38, "Then Peter
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
You will discover what this verse means if you keep
these important things clear in your mind:
(1) To be "baptized"
means to be "cleansed."
(2) These unbelieving Jews were
pricked in their hearts
when Peter reminded them that
they had a part in
crucifying Jesus. And Peter
tells them to be
CLEANSED of this sin "IN
the NAME of Jesus
Christ"-the very One they
helped crucify.
(3) Peter said to be
"baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ." Some
assume that Peter meant for these people to be baptized
in water, and as they were being baptized, Peter would
say over them, "I baptize you in the Name of Jesus
Christ." However, this is not what God has
recorded. It is what men have added. GOD says these
people were cleansed in CHRIST'S NAME. Remember, His
Name means "God who saves, keeps, satisfies,"
etc. There is cleansing power in His Name!
(4) Notice, when these people
were cleansed in Christ, they received the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, this is another verse showing
that the baptism or cleansing that accompanies salvation
is of the Spirit -not of water.
(5) Notice, it says the GIFT of
the Holy Spirit. If you
needed water baptism for
salvation or to receive
the Holy Spirit, neither
salvation nor the Holy Spirit
would be a GIFT of God, but of
the works of man.
( 6 ) When "baptism"
refers to water, it means to be
made fully wet; when it refers
to salvation, it means
to be fully or completely
cleansed by the Spirit.
Acts 2:41 records that 3,000
trusted Christ as the
result of Peter's message. If
the baptism here were
referring to WATER baptism,
where could Peter baptize 3,000
people? He and all the people
were in the Temple area, and there
was NO WATER THERE except for a
small laver in which the
priests washed their hands and
feet before entering into the Holy
Place. But verse 41 says that
these 3,000 souls were added to
the disciples that "same
day." In the entire passage water is not
mentioned even once.
Literally translated, Acts 2: 3
8 could read, "Then Peter said unto them, Change
your mind, and be CLEANSED every one of you in the Name
of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Mark
16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Please notice four things about this verse:
( 1 ) Only unbelief condemns.
Being water baptized or not being water baptized has
nothing to do with it.
(2) The baptism here is Spirit
baptism, not water baptism.
(3) He that believeth and is
cleansed shall be saved. We do the believing, and God
does the cleansing. "And such were some of you: but
ye are washed; but ye are sanctified; but ye are
justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11 ).
(4) The passage in Mark 16,
"from verse 9 to the end (of the chapter) is not
found in the two most ancient manuscripts, the Sinaitic
and Vatican, and others have it with partial omissions
and variations. But it is quoted by Irenaeus and
Hippolytus in the second or third century" (Scofield's
note 1, by Mark 16:9) .
John 3:5, "Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God."
Some people think this verse is
referring to water baptism because it says you must be
"born of water." But let me ask you a
question. Are BIRTH and BAPTISM the same thing? Of
course not! If Christ wanted to say, "You must be
baptized of water," He would have said so. But He
said, "born of water," and Jesus knew the
difference between the two.
Consider the context. The first
time Jesus told Nicodemus of the new birth, He said,
"Except a man be BORN again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God" (verse 3). Nicodemus thought
Christ's statement was referring to another physical
birth. In fact, he asked, "How can a man be born
when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his
mother's womb, and be born?" (verse 4)
We KNOW that the BIRTH OF WATER
in John 3:5 cannot mean water baptism. There are at
least three things this could mean within the context
and without contradicting other parts of the Word of
God:
( 1 ) Some Bible scholars
believe that being "born of water" refers to
physical birth. Notice Christ's reply to Nicodemus that
a man has to be BORN (the subject throughout is BIRTH,
not baptism) of water and the Spirit. Christ was saying,
"Nicodemus, you must be born of water (physical
birth) and the Spirit (new birth)." Why is it said
that being "born of water" refers to physical
birth? Because of Christ's clear explanation in the very
next verse, "That which is born of the FLESH is
flesh; and that which is born of the SPIRIT is
Spirit" ( v.6). Jesus then said, "Marvel not (
don't be surprised ) that I said unto thee, "Ye
must be BORN again."
( 2 ) Other Bible scholars
believe that being "born of water" refers to
the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Gospel of John water is
used as an illustration to point to Christ as the giver
of "living water," as in John 4:6-14. Christ
asked the woman at Jacob's well for a drink of water and
also told the woman that He could give her water as
well.... But the water He gives is not
"H20".... The water that He gives is a
"well of water springing up into everlasting
life" (v. 14). In John 7:39 Christ gave this
explanation of "living water": "But this
spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him
should receive...."
The Greek word for
"and" in John 3:5 is "kai." Quoting
from Strong's Concordance, #2532, we find that this word
is a "primitive participle, having a copulative (
joining together) and sometimes also a cumulative
force." Besides being translated "and" it
is also translated "indeed, likewise,
moreover," etc.
To paraphrase John 3:5, then,
it could read, ". . . except a man be born of water
(the living water Christ gives), indeed, by the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
(3) Still other Bible scholars
believe the birth of water in John 3:5 is speaking of
the "washing of the Word" as is mentioned in
Ephesians 5:26 and Titus 3:5.
The important thing for us to
know is that salvation is always and only by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and this passage in John 3:5 in
no way suggests water baptism for salvation.
For someone to conclude that
John 3:5 is referring to WATER BAPTISM, he would have to
ignore completely the entire context of the third
chapter.
I Peter 3:21, "The like
figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not
the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience toward God) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ."
This verse isn't even speaking
of salvation of a person's soul, but of being saved or
delivered from a guilty conscience of not obeying God.
(In this case, obeying God by being water baptized AFTER
salvation!)
However, those who believe
water baptism is essential for salvation often use this
verse, so we will go into some detail on its
explanation. (But in all the times this verse has been
used, I have never yet had a single person quote more
than the first part of the verse-"The like figure
whereunto even baptism doth also now save us....")
It is as if Satan has put
blinders on these people, for they fail to see that the
verse goes on to state clearly that this salvation is
not a salvation which in any way puts "away the
sins of the flesh." Notice how emphatic the Lord
is: "NOT the putting away of the filth of the
flesh...." Yet time and time again when I have
pointed this out to those who think this verse teaches
baptismal regeneration, they act as if they had never
seen the last part of the verse before. But the Lord put
it there to keep us from being confused.
But someone will say, "The
verse does say 'baptism doth also now save us.' "
Yes, it does, and the Word of God tells us what it saves
us from.
The verse itself, with the
context, answers the question, "what does baptism
save us from?" Verse 20 says that "eight souls
(Noah and his family) were saved by water." The
word "by" literally should read
"through" the water. You can check this
yourself in any number of other good
translations-American Standard Version, Williams,
Weymouth, New English Bible, etc.
It is certainly clear when you
read of the flood in Genesis, chapter seven, that people
were not saved BY the water. They were condemned and
killed BY the water. But the eight believers who were in
the ARK (a type of being in CHRIST) were saved THROUGH
the water, by the ark. Literally, verse 20 reads
"eight souls were saved through the water."
When verse 21 says,
"baptism doth also now save us," we need to
understand that there are different kinds of
"salvation" just as there are different kinds
of "baptisms."
Some examples of different
kinds of salvation in Scripture are:
James 5:15, "the prayer of
faith shall save (protect, deliver) the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up...." Here it is not
speaking of salvation of the soul, but deliverance from
physical illness.
Acts 27:31, "Except these
abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." Saved from
what? Saved from drowning. Suppose I began a new cult. I
might call it the "Shipites," and I could use
this verse as my divinely given authority that people
had to live in ships to be saved. But how many people do
you think would be saved if you had to live in ships for
salvation?
Hebrews 5:7 mentions that the
Father was able to save (or deliver) Jesus from physical
death. But Jesus gave His life voluntarily (John 10:18),
and even though He knew He would suffer in the flesh, He
endured the cross for the joy of seeing souls saved
through His payment for their sin.
The Greek word in I Peter 3:21,
and elsewhere in the Bible, translated "save"
is "sozo" and means "to be saved,
protected, or delivered." You must always read the
context to see what kind of protection, or deliverance,
or salvation is being spoken of.
I Peter 3:21 is clear as to
what kind of salvation and deliverance is meant here.
Notice the words carefully: "baptism doth also now
save (protect, deliver) us (NOT the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God)...." As children of God by faith, we
should follow Christ's command to be water baptized
after we are saved, and when we obey this command we
have a clear conscience. We are delivered from a
conscience which condemns us (Matt. 28:19; Acts 8:36-38;
Acts 10: 47, 48).
In I Cor. 1:17 Paul said,
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel...." If water baptism were necessary for
salvation, then Paul, in effect, would be saying,
"For Christ sent me not to see that people were
saved, but to preach the gospel...." Anyone can see
how ludicrous this would be. In I Cor. 1:14 Paul would
have been saying, "I thank God that none of you
were saved, but Crispus and Gaius." This would
completely nullify the entire purpose of Paul's whole
ministry.
Water baptism NEVER cleanses or
washes away sin. ONLY CHRIST'S BLOOD can do that
(Ephesians 1:7). Salvation comes through our faith.
The ordinance of communion is a
type of our salvation by the death of Christ. The
ordinance of baptism is a type of our service by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Service comes through our
obedience, and as believers we should obey God's Word,
following His commands to the best of our ability. In
this obedience, water baptism should certainly be
included. It is a testimony to others that we are now
walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
HOW TO WITNESS TO THOSE WHO
BELIEVE IN WATER BAPTISM FOR SALVATION
(1) As is true in most
witnessing situations, the issue is "grace versus
works" (water baptism). Use Ephesians 2: 8, 9 or
Romans 4:5.
(2) Instead of arguing over
"baptism" passages, give the plan of
salvation, emphasizing clear salvation verses like John
6:47. It is necessary to interpret unclear verses by
clear verses, and never the other way around.
( 3 ) Ask questions about the
salvation verses so the meaning will become crystal
clear to the person. For instance: "Who has
everlasting life, according to John 6:47?" Answer:
"He who BELIEVES on Christ." Question:
"Well, if you HAVE everlasting life by trusting in
Christ as your Saviour, what more do you need?"
Answer: "Nothing!"
Water baptism doesn't help you
to get saved. It has nothing to do with your salvation.
(4) Often people who believe in
water baptism for salvation also think other
"works" are necessary for salvation as well.
They say there are other conditions for salvation
besides belief, and you have to read the entire Bible to
find out what they are. To answer this type of
objection, simply turn to Bible examples where
unbelievers were told exactly what to do to be saved:
Christ told Nicodemus just to believe and receive
everlasting life (John 3:16-18). Paul told the
Philippian jailor just to believe and be saved (Acts
16:30, 31). Paul told the Jews just to believe and
receive forgiveness of all sin (Acts 13:26, 38, 39).
None of these people mentioned
above had the whole Bible to go through. They wanted to
be saved then and there (especially the Philippian
jailor who was about to commit suicide). Do you think
Paul or Jesus told them only PART of what they had to do
to be saved? Half a truth, in this case especially,
would certainly be a lie! Would you, yourself, be that
careless and heartless? What could be more clear than
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou SHALT BE
SAVED!"
The thief on the cross didn't
come down and get water baptized, but he went to heaven.
(Heaven and paradise are the same place according to II
Cor. 12:1-4). Paul thanked God that he didn't baptize
very many people (I Cor. 1:11 21). If water baptism were
necessary for salvation, then Paul would be thanking God
he didn't see that many were saved! Unthinkable!
Not only that, but Christ never
baptized anyone with water. If water baptism were
necessary for salvation, then Christ withheld from those
He dealt with, salvation. But He came to "seek and
to SAVE!"
