Matthew 28:18-19, Jesus said, “All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: …” (NKJV) These verses, along with verse 20, are known as ‘The Great Commission.’ It is called great because of the extent it was to be carried out, that they were to present this most blessed news to every nation on earth. Southern Baptists have long taken this commission seriously, having faithfully supported both foreign and home missions almost from their beginnings.
In this commission, Jesus told His followers to make disciples, and immediately afterwards to ‘baptize them’. In other words, once someone was converted, they were immediately to be baptize. This is one of only two ordinances found in Scripture that Jesus has required His followers to observe, the other being the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is a one-time event in the life of a new believer that testifies to the world that the one being baptized has been buried with Christ into His death, and raised to walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4).
Because Baptism follows immediately upon the conversion, it is known as ‘Believers Baptism.’ Baptists have always held that believer’s baptism is the only type of Baptism found in the Scripture and that a credible profession of faith is always a prerequisite to baptism in the New Testament. Because it comes immediately on the heels of salvation, it also represents acceptance into the body of Christ and that the completion of this ordinance signifies his/her entrance into fellowship as a member of the local church.
The word ‘baptizing’ found in Matthew 28:19 is translated from the Greek word, ‘baptizo’ and the word literally means ‘to immerse’, or ‘to submerge.’ This is why Baptists totally immerse, because this is what Jesus commanded and it is the only mode of baptism found in the New Testament. This is also why we do not baptize infants, because it is only to be performed after a credible profession of faith, something infants are incapable of.
We know from early church history that all baptisms appear to have been performed this way, as churches early on constructed elaborate baptistries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to be used for this purpose. By the 3rd century AD, many began to teach that baptism is essential to salvation and, because of that, began to baptize infants, Over the centuries this became accepted in the local church and is still performed by Roman Catholics, Methodists and Presbyterians, to name a few. But even when baptizing infants, it was always performed with full immersion.
It is also known that, no later that 250 AD, a substitute mode of baptism was introduced, ‘sprinkling’, as opposed to immersion. It possibly began because of the belief that one must be baptized to be saved, and sometimes, when a dying person was converted, it was either too late or impossible (for some other reason) to immerse them, so sprinkling became an ‘acceptable alternative.’ To make a long story short and to cover all bases, by 1400, the sprinkling of infants became ‘the accepted practice’ in Christendom.
But by this time, groups began to arise who, because of a conviction that it violated Scripture, rejected this practice and new sects were born: like the ‘Ana-Baptist’ (meaning to ‘baptize again’) and later the ‘Baptists’. Many of them were persecuted by the established churches. Some were burned at the stake. Others were drowned (in mockery of this practice). But because they were convinced that obedience to the word of Christ was more important than obeying man, they separated from the established churches and covenanted together as either ‘Baptists’ or ‘Ana-baptists’. Space does not permit me here to differentiate between the two groups.
Today, many of us do not think that the ‘mode of baptism’ is a hill worth dying on. But they did, because, to them, it meant obedience to Christ’s commands. So, the question for us is this: is there anything being taught today, that we would be willing to give our lives for, in obedience to Christ? It might be worth us taking some time to think about.
For God’s glory and His alone,
Pastor Terry.