South Woods Baptist Church

Why Do We Baptize Disciples?

Acts 2:37-41

August 22, 2004

Why do we make a fuss over baptism? Admittedly, the baptismal waters contain no magical power. No merit is added through baptism. If regeneration took place in baptism, then a large portion of the world would be converted since hundreds of millions have submitted to some form of baptism. Some traditions even teach baptismal regeneration, that is, through the act of baptism one is granted new life. Additionally, everywhere the subject of baptism arises controversy and disagreement follow. Probably all of us have close friends or relatives that differ with us on this subject. Couldn't we just get along much better if we dropped the whole practice of baptism since no saving power resides in it?

On the other hand, there are plenty that have anguished over baptism. Some struggle because they have not been baptized since professing faith in Christ. "Do I, or do I not submit to baptism? Can I just accept my baptism as an infant or my baptism prior to genuine conversion?" So often, it seems that mental calculators ring out formulas for avoiding baptism. Others cannot identify the precise time of their conversion, so struggle with the order of their faith in Christ and baptism. Some remember very well their baptism but admit that they lack the qualities called for in disciples of Jesus Christ. Still others live faithfully as Christ's disciples yet do not know if their baptism came before or after true conversion.

Baptism can be a very uncomfortable subject! So, in the spirit of everyone getting along with others, why not just drop it altogether or spiritualize baptism, as is the practice of some groups? Or why not just accommodate everyone's preference in baptism as an effort to get along? Though I think we can offer many different answers to these questions, there is one that overrides them all. We must follow the teaching of Scripture regarding baptism. Why do we baptize disciples? If your answer is, "Because we're Baptists and not another denomination," then you are incorrect. The teaching of Scripture alone must determine our practice of baptism or any other issue in church life. So, why do we baptize disciples? Consider a few things with me as we see how baptism was practiced in the early church.

I. Relationship of baptism to the gospel

Peter had just preached a gospel message on the Day of Pentecost that established Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and only Savior and Lord. He explained that the death of Christ came according to "the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God," and yet was perpetrated by the very audience listening to his sermon. While sinful men intended to rid themselves of Jesus Christ, God intended to put "an end to the agony of death" by raising Jesus Christ from the dead! As he closed his sermon, Peter summed up the accountability that all had before God. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified."

Luke's description shows the effect of the Holy Spirit accompanying the proclamation of God's Word. "Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart." The Greek is more terse, "But hearing their hearts were stabbed," i.e., by the message of the gospel. Penetrating, both their minds and emotions, the hearers responded with their wills. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones remarked, "The first thing the Holy Spirit does to people when He comes upon them in this powerful manner is to make them think" [Authentic Christianity, 51]. "They... said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"" They thought about their plight. Their desperation in realizing the weight of guilt upon them for their sin and rebellion against God moved them to deliberate the right course of action. Notice that the law and gospel proclaimed by messengers and applied by the Holy Spirit did the work necessary to awaken the conscience to respond. So how were they to respond? "Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Notice that the context for explaining baptism is in reference to a proper response to the gospel of Christ.

1. Accompanies the gospel

We are not to be confused by what has been stated. Baptism is not the gospel. The gospel refers to the good news of God's Son, Jesus Christ, dying on the cross as a substitute for us before the wrath of God, and then being raised from the dead by God to put the agony of death to an end. The gospel points to Christ, who He is and what He has accomplished on behalf of sinners. But baptism is not the gospel; it only accompanies the gospel as a demonstration of one who has responded to the invitation of the gospel. It is further shown by the statement in verse 41, "So then, those who had received his word [that is, believed the gospel message proclaimed] were baptized."

Paul was quick to point this out to the Corinthians who were making much of who baptized them. "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 1:17). Then he launched into the centrality of the cross of Christ demonstrating the power and wisdom of God in the salvation of sinners. But he distinguished the gospel with its focus upon Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection from baptism.

The language of Peter's command in verse 38 demonstrates this as well. "Repent" is the call for urgent action on the part of the hearers in response to the gospel. As they now felt the weight of their sin holding them guilty before God, and had seen the provision of God through Christ for forgiveness, they were to repent. Repentance has two sides to it. We normally think of it as turning away from sin. And it is that. But repentance also implies turning to God. F. F. Bruce points out that repentance "involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness" [The Acts of the Apostles, 97]. Acts 20:21 explains the concept as "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." It involves turning away from sin and the selfishness and rebellion that characterizes us apart from Christ. It implies detesting your sin because of the realization of its offensiveness to God. But you do not turn in a vacuum. You turn to God to receive by faith His provision for repentant sinners. Repentance and faith go together. Intellectually, the sinner perceives and understands something of his guilt before God. Emotionally, he feels the piercing conviction of the Holy Spirit that leads to godly sorrow. Volitionally, he turns away from sin with a new disposition to trust, obey, and follow after Christ.

That's the primary command in response to the gospel. Baptism follows.

2. Follows repentance and faith

The command to repent, calls for specific action on the part of those hearing the gospel. We would do well to think about this in our own relationship to God. Have we who have heard the gospel message repented of our sin and turned to God by faith in His Son?

But having repented, what are we to do? "And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." The passive voice indicates that one does not baptize himself in the same way that he himself repents and believes. This is called a passive of permission. It is something done to you. More literally, it implies let each one of you that has repented submit to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. In this case, baptism follows repentance and faith; it is an outward, visible, and public response to what one has done inwardly in responding to the gospel. Again, verse 41 makes this clear. The three thousand added to the church that day "had received his word" and then "were baptized." To receive the word means that they had welcomed the gospel with all of its saving promise and power. Having received the word, they belonged to Christ. Now, in outward obedience to the gospel, they were baptized.

The same pattern is shown throughout the book of Acts. When Peter preached in Samaria, Luke records, "But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike" (8:12). They believed, and then were baptized. The same was true of the Ethiopian Eunuch who believed and was thrilled to find water enough to be baptized (8:36-38). The Holy Spirit fell upon the household of Cornelius in Caesarea. Peter asked, "Surely no on can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" (10:47). Having received the Holy Spirit, very clearly meant that they were now Christians (Rom. 8:9). Baptism followed these believers just as it did the Philippian jailer and members of his household who had believed the gospel message, and believers in Corinth and Ephesus (16:31-34; cf. 18:1-8; 19:1-7).

"Each of you" specifically calls on all those repenting and believing the gospel to be baptized. Each of you who have heard the gospel and responded with repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, each of you is to be baptized. So, if you ask me the question as a Christian, should I be baptized? I will tell you, absolutely. That is the command given to each one that believes. "But what if I was baptized before I repented and believed in Christ?" Then you need to be obedient to Christ by submitting to water baptism as did your brethren in the early church. Unless one retreats to the use of creative interpretation, the order is quite clear in the New Testament. Baptism always follows repentance and faith.

3. Identifies with the promise in the gospel

Notice the beauty of baptism as it identifies with the promise in the gospel. "And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." To be baptized in Christ's name means that God is called as witness to this outward act. You have believed in Christ, so now you bear testimony to His death, burial, and resurrection through baptism. The genuineness of your faith is stamped publicly in baptism. "Baptism is the Christ-ordained way of openly identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ," writes Don Whitney. "It marks you as one who belongs to Christ" [Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church, 32-33].

But the identity is more precise when we consider the little preposition "for." Does Peter mean that we are to be baptized in order to have the forgiveness of sins and gift of the Spirit? Some have interpreted it in this way and have built entire theologies upon this text. This three-letter word in our text and in the Greek (eis) is better translated here as because of the forgiveness of your sins. Don Whitney gives a clear explanation of this.

When you see a poster that says: "WANTED: John Doe for Murder," that doesn't mean John Doe is wanted for the purpose of murdering someone, but he is wanted because he already has murdered someone. Likewise, the Bible teaches here that those who have repented of their sin and believed in Jesus Christ for the remission of sins should be baptized because their sins are now forgiven. It affirms the repenting believers are given the gift of the Holy Spirit when they repent and believe [36].

So as you descend into the baptismal waters and emerge as one now baptized in the name of the Triune God, you are openly confessing that you know the joy of forgiveness and the indwelling of God's Spirit. This further shows that for baptism to have biblical significance we must know the reality of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit through the gospel of Christ prior to our baptism. It is a testimony of forgiveness and new life by the Holy Spirit.

Is your baptism in proper order, as we've seen so clearly in the book of Acts?

II. Place of baptism with the saved

Whenever we find the New Testament addressing baptism, it is done with reference to believers. Some state that the baptism of infants is inferred from this text. But I think that it is quite clear that this is not the case. Consider two issues raised about the place of baptism belonging only with the saved.

1. Primary focus

As we've noted already, baptism is not the gospel. Peter was not on a crusade to see how many baptisms he could achieve. Instead, his aim, along with the other apostles, was to see people saved. "And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation"." Peter's sermon and exhortation was much longer than the few verses Luke records. The text uses a comparison between what has been recorded and what Peter continued to proclaim. Luke tells us that it was "with many other words" that Peter made his solemn witness and exhortation.

The Apostle did not say, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation." There was nothing that they could do to deliver themselves from the twisted corruptness of human nature. "Be saved" uses language that implies salvation is outside of us. The answer to the human dilemma is not within; it is outside of us as we look to God through Christ.

What did Peter mean when he exhorted, "Be saved from this perverse generation"? Salvation is a word that means to be rescued or delivered. Through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, we are rescued from slavery to sin and delivered from the clutches of the devil. We are set free from sin's eternal penalty and delivered from the wrath of God. But salvation also implies a new life. The Lord does not just deliver us from sin but He brings us into relationship with Him, and inhabits us with His holy life. That's what Peter was talking about when he spoke of "the forgiveness of your sins; and ... the gift of the Holy Spirit." Your sins that are as red as crimson, through the bloody death of Christ are washed white as snow. Your sins that leave you condemned before the white-hot wrath of God are gone and you bear them no more. The Spirit of God comes to dwell within you so that you can rejoice with Paul, "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" (Col. 1:27)

None of this is baptism or is caused by baptism. It is the work of Christ on your behalf, received by faith as the gift of God. As those who have been saved, you are now to be baptized in the name of Christ.

2. Subjects of baptism

So this brings us again to the subjects of baptism. This promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit belongs to all that God effectually calls to Himself. "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." He brings us back to the grace of God in salvation that extends far beyond the borders of Israel or to the descendants of that generation. It is for "all who are far off," that includes those far off geographically and spiritually. The Jewish and Gentile worlds are within the sphere of God's electing grace. When the Holy Spirit pierces the heart, as He did with this Jerusalem audience, the inward call of the gospel goes forth and sinners respond to the gospel of Christ. Then baptism follows as the outward testimony of having responded to the inward call of God in the gospel.

We are not told that everyone within the crowd responded to the gospel. But we are told that those who did respond in faith to the gospel message demonstrated their faith - made their open profession of Christ - in baptism. "So then," draws a conclusion to Peter's preaching and the crowd's response. "So then, those who had received his word were baptized." They did not baptize everyone in the crowd. The text narrows the subjects of baptism to "those who had received his word," those who had gladly welcomed the gospel as good news and the message of God. With a crowd so large we can assume that there were plenty of children and babies with them, along with a variety of age groups. But only those that had received the word that Peter preached as truth, who were able to respond to it intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally, were baptized and numbered among the 3000 new converts added in one day. They knew what they were doing when submitting to baptism; they understood that it would be costly to them to follow Christ in an atmosphere that stood in opposition to the gospel. But having received the word of the gospel, they desired to give the public testimony for all believers - water baptism.

III. Testimony in baptism to the world

That's what we are doing today as we observe this ordinance of Christ for His church. Christ has given us two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. We call them ordinances because Christ ordained them, while some refer to them as sacraments. Roman Catholicism teaches that the sacraments themselves convey grace without requiring faith. In order to distance ourselves from the Roman view, Baptists have traditionally used the term ordinance though as long as we clarify that the sacraments do not convey grace but serve only as a means of grace that points us to Christ, we can use the terms interchangeably [see Wayne Grudem's discussion, Systematic Theology, 966].

So as we follow Christ in baptism as believers we make good use of an ordinance or sacrament given to us by Christ as a means for our growth and testimony as a follower of Christ. Tonight, I plan to consider how the Lord's Supper is an ongoing means for growth as demonstrated in this same context.

1. Drawing the line - a demarcation

Baptism draws a line of demarcation. It is a public act that serves to separate us visibly from the old life that we've lived in rebellion against God. That is why immersion pictures this best. We are buried in a watery grave, identifying with the death of Christ; then we are raised up to walk in newness of life, identifying with the resurrection of Christ. "So then, those who had received his word were baptized - literally, immersed, plunged under - and that day there were added about three thousand souls." As all Jerusalem watched while new disciples of Christ were baptized in the ample pools around the city, a line of demarcation was drawn in the city. Now, we are followers of Jesus Christ, they declared in baptism. We no longer trust in the sacrifices in the temple or in our good deeds or in our ability to conform to the multitudinous laws. Our confidence for eternity is in Christ. We stand righteous before God because of the righteous life and death of Christ. We want the whole world to know that we follow Him and will not turn back to the world.

Baptism expresses for each one that as a believer, I am openly drawing a line in the sand of the world - I belong to Christ, I will follow Him for the rest of my days. Each of us would do well to think about the public vows we made to follow Christ at our baptism.

2. Picturing the identity - a declaration

Just as the Lord's Supper declares the sufficiency of Christ's death for us, baptism also declares that the believer has identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. The "three thousand souls" added that day to the body of Christ openly declared the gospel in their baptism. Paul tells us that we are baptized into the death of Christ. "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

Many years ago, I stood on the shore of a lake in Tirana, Albania as a church gathered to baptize new converts. The lake was the centerpiece of a large public park in the capital city, so many onlookers curiously watched what took place as new believers were buried with Christ in baptism and raised up joyfully to follow after Him. Without a sound, the gospel was proclaimed by that church ordinance.

Conclusion

As we witness the baptism of our brothers and sisters in Christ today, let us rejoice in the gospel; let us faithfully pray for and encourage these young believers; let us consider our own commitment to Christ expressed in baptism; and let us go forth from this place proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ the Lord.