Because the Churches of Christ believe in "Baptism," the members of the Church receive many questions about what baptism is. The ministers of the University Church concluded it might be helpful to write a personal Bible Study on Baptism so that anyone interested could study the matter for her/himself. My co-ministers drafted me to write such a study, which is what you have before you.
What is baptism? Webster tells us baptism is "the ceremony or rite of admitting a person into a Christian Church." Within the Churches of Christ baptism consists of publicly affirming belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God and being placed under water, i.e. immersed, for the "forgiveness of sins." That definition and description, however, fails to evoke the powerful emotional and Biblical roots of baptism. Thus what I have written here is a very personal statement of my reflections on my own baptism, followed by a series of Scripture references with questions about the Bible passages that I have found most helpful in understanding the question, "What is baptism?" I have tried to be personal, not so you will identify with me, since my circumstances are different than your own, but rather to suggest the personal relationship with Jesus suggested by the event of baptism.
My own baptism roots me in "history." I made my decision to be baptized at a Sunday evening church service in early December 1959. Somehow when I entered the church building that evening I knew that I was going to answer the preacher's "invitation" at the close of his sermon to be baptized. And I did.
I still remember the event vividly. I sat on the aisle, near the front, by my good friend Gilbert Hayes. The minister, Bob Carey, finished his sermon and offered an "invitation" to anyone who would like to be baptized to come forward as we sang an "invitation" song. I was glad we stood to sing the song because it made me a little less self-conscious when I walked forward and asked to be baptized. Everyone sat down after the song and "Brother" Carey told the congregation of my decision. I was glad he did it for me because I was exceedingly nervous. We went back into a room behind the front of the church auditorium and I changed into some "baptismal clothes," a white shirt and white pants. Brother Carey said little, but was encouraging and soft spoken. He wore a fisherman's pants over his suit pants. I had always wondered how the preacher stayed dry during baptisms. When we were out in front of the congregation and the curtains to that baptistry at the front of the auditorium had been drawn, he asked me if I believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I affirmed I did, and he baptized me in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost for the remission of my sins. The baptism was total immersion. The cold water covered me entirely, chilling me. I arose from the water both relieved and excited. The moment has stayed with me always. (I understand better now that Jesus designed baptism to be that kind of overwhelming, memorable experience.) When I arose from the water, everything was the same; yet everything was different. I was still Michael Gose, but from then on I was also a Christian.
Over twenty years later, I more fully appreciate the significance and symbolism of that event. In looking back at myself, I am somewhat proud I had the courage to put myself through that "ordeal" of facing my own self-consciousness and fear to affirm publicly Jesus as Lord. The event profoundly affected all my life. Even now as I write these words, my baptism recalls that specific time and place that somehow roots me in both history and eternity. In ways I still do not fully understand, that immersion into the water binds me to that original cold death and triumphant resurrection of Jesus. And it also binds me to all those others who have shared that common, profound, historical experience of baptism. I have witnessed many baptisms, not only in baptistries, but in pools, oceans, rivers, tubs, and most recently a Jacuzzi. The details vary. My experience was unique to me in every literal detail. But if you have been baptized or decide to be baptized, I expect you will find the experience will be profound, will root you in history, and will identify your Christian life with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
In the many pathways taken since my baptism, my own moments of indecision, doubt, and crisis often bring me back to that experience. In moments of self-consciousness, fear, and the need for affirmation, I am reminded that God intervened in history through His Son and that I, too, am rooted in that same history, through Jesus, through my own baptism. That thought, that sense of history, reassures me and sends me onward.
The impact my experience had on me recommends baptism by immersion. However, my personal experience is not a reason I would hold valid as the determiner for your choice. The assumptions I hold true, assumptions common to those identified with Churches of Christ, suggest your own study of the Bible should guide your decision about baptism. I find it very easy and convenient to organize my thoughts in such a way that I rationalize what I want to believe. Recognizing this danger, and recognizing the tendency of groups to diverge further and further from their original roots and meanings, I am very responsive to the "restoration" call to, as best as possible, restore the New Testament principles for Christian living, to "assure" myself I am rooted in a substantial, Christian heritage. I believe the best way to gain this "assurance" is to then look back to our most original and time honored source, the Bible. I invite you to continue the study, which now turns to those Scriptures that concern baptism as you wrestle with your own conscience, with your own pursuit of value and meaning, with your commitments to yourself, your significant others, your history, your God.
The study that follows focuses on the passages of scripture in the New Testament that pertain to baptism. I have added some questions about each passage as an aid to your reading. The questions I have asked suggest larger questions about why baptism, who is to be baptized, and how to be baptized. I will also discuss these larger questions briefly at the end of the study. God bless your study.
A. Jesus' own baptism is the first example of baptism in the New Testament. Please read Matthew 3:13-17.
B. After Jesus' resurrection, but before his ascension to heaven, Jesus gave his disciples a commandment about baptism. Read Matthew 28:18-20.
C. Peter spoke of baptism at the end of his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. This sermon was after Jesus' ascension and was a central event in the beginning of the Church. Please read Acts 2:36-39.
D. Philip, one of the apostles, taught an Ethiopian Official about Christ. Please read the account of the Ethiopian's conversion in Acts 8:26-40.
E. Paul and Silas were jailed because of a mob stirred up by the owners of a slave girl. Paul and Silas had freed her from a demon that had made her able to tell fortunes. Read Acts 16:25-34.
F. Jesus' disciples and the early Christians baptized people by putting them all the way under the water. Romans 6 explains the meaning and symbolism of this baptism by immersion. Please read Romans 6:1-4.
G. Baptism was a central part of Saul's (also known as Paul) conversion. Please read Paul's account of his own conversion in Acts 22:6-16.
H. In his Galatians letter Paul discusses baptism in the context of its relationship to faith and unity. Please read Galatians 3:26-29.
I. In I Peter, Peter discusses another aspect of the symbolism of water in baptism. Please read I Peter 3:18-22.
There are other references and stories of baptism in the New Testament. Acts 10 records a long story of a relationship between Peter and Cornelius and an ultimate realization by Peter that not only Jews, but Gentiles as well could become Christians. And there are other references to baptism you might want to look up in a Bible concordance. But the examples we have read already suggest to me the significance of baptism. Jesus was baptized by John (Matt. 3). Jesus directed his disciples to baptize others (Matt. 28). Peter initiated Pentecost with the baptism of new believers (Acts 2). Baptism is open to all, the Ethiopian (Acts 8), the Greek (Cornelius, Acts 10), the jailer (Acts 16), the Jew, (Paul, Acts 22). The detailed examples of baptism indicate that those to be baptized went down into the water (Acts 8) and were "buried" (Romans 6) in baptism. Emerging from the water recalls the resurrection of Christ from death (Romans 6). The baptism is in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28), and as suggested by the example of Paul, is "for the remission of sins" (Acts 22).
In keeping with our goal of restoring first-century principles for Christian living, members of the Churches of Christ emphasize examples of the First-Century Church as reported in the New Testament. We are, as a rule, apprehensive about under or over interpreting the Scriptures. We take Jesus' direction to baptize literally, and we think the examples of baptism in the New Testament clearly indicate the rightness of baptism through symbolic burial (i.e., through immersion) in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the remission of sins. If you would like to study the Bible further, or if you find these assumptions about our spiritual "roots" and the Scriptures you have read persuasive, and you would like to be baptized by immersion, please let one of us at the Church know. We would especially appreciate the opportunity to study and learn and, if you choose, share your baptism with you.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Gose