Tracy,
You have expressed a question that has been asked throughout church history.
Scripture tells us that God does not change His mind as seen in I Sam. 15:29 “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” and B. Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
In our daily walk as Christians, we seldom think that God would change His mind on such matters as our salvation or whether He will answer our prayers. We can be assured because God has stated here in these two verses that He indeed does not change His mind or His ways. If this is truly the case, then the Creator of the universe does not change His relationship with His children or the vehicle by which we enter and remain in His kingdom. Understanding that God is unchanging, it would be reasonable to assume that He would continue those things He deemed as necessary under the Old Covenant to be necessary under the New Covenant.
God established His covenant as seen in Gen. 17:10 “This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.” This was something, not optional, as seen in Gen. 17:12 “For the generations to come very male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised.” If anyone refused to be circumcised the consequences could be seen in Gen. 17:14 “Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” What God desired can be seen in Jer. 31:33, where we read “This the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.”
We can see here that the old covenant was established prior to the law. Therefore, the law has no effect upon this covenant. What God desired for His people was to have His law written on their hearts. We know that this never happened under the Old Covenant due to the fact that He established a New Covenant. Within the New Covenant the Apostle Paul states in Rom. 2:28,29 that, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is merely outward and physical. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” The question is how is this accomplished? In Col. 2:11,12 Paul writes, “In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ. Having been buried with Him in baptism.”
According to St. Paul, if a person is circumcised only in the flesh, then he isn’t really a Jew. His circumcision must be performed by the Holy Spirit to ratify it. As Christians, we would be considered the true Jews being that the Holy Spirit in our baptism performed our circumcision. Just as God required circumcision under the Old Covenant, He also requires circumcision of the heart under the New Covenant, which renews our fallen nature. Circumcision under the Old Covenant was performed on children on the 8th day and adults becoming Jews. The early church, coming from Jewish roots, historically baptized children on the 8th day and adults becoming Christian.
We can see an example in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus approached John to be baptized John responded in Matt. 3:11,13-15 “I baptize you with water for repentance, He that is coming after me is greater than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. The Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized. John tried to stop Him
saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you?’ Jesus replied, ‘Let it be done now; to fulfill all righteousness.”
Here Jesus approaches John the Baptist to be baptized. There is no doubt what John expected of those coming to him, he required repentance of sins. John found himself in a dilemma when approached by Jesus for baptism. John felt that their roles should be reversed with Jesus baptizing him. So why was Jesus baptized? To fulfill all righteousness as seen in verse 15. Is the righteousness spoken of here for the benefit of the Eternal Son of God? Definitely Not! It is for our benefit. Just as we receive the benefits of the death of Christ on the cross, we also receive the benefits of His immersion into the waters of the Jordan. In faith we accept the death on the cross and in faith we accept the sanctifying powers of the waters of Baptism.
We read in Matt. 28:18-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of he Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
As a man, Jesus received all authority in heaven and on earth. We know that Matthew can’t mean as God, because as God the Son, He had all authority from eternity. So, it must be in His humanity. How are we to go and make disciples? By the sacrament of Baptism, which makes us disciples. Believe comes from the Greek word, PISTEOU, which means to have faith with respect to a person, which has to be Jesus. The formula for baptism is in the name of the Trinity per the words of Jesus himself. Some today hold that we can be baptized in the name of Jesus only. If we understand history, we would know that they are modern Sabellians or Modelist which were condemned at the Forth Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) The Church has taught Her disciples everything the Lord taught His disciples which can be seen in Acts 1:3. Here we read, “being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” These things that Jesus taught, within this 40-day period, were not made known in the Scriptures but have been held to be Holy Tradition. This Holy Tradition was passed down from the apostles to the church after Jesus’ ascension. Even if it isn’t in the Bible, verbal Holy Tradition is valid. We must keep in mind that the Bible, prior to being put into written form, was verbal tradition.
In Mark 16:15,16 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Today these words are used to defend the teaching that only belief in Jesus is required for salvation. But those who teach this willfully leave out the important fact of the sacrament of Baptism. You can’t have one without the other. Just at the last part of this verse states, our lack of belief nullifies the sacrament. Infant baptism is a critical issue, which cannot be ignored. The historic Church has always baptized infants because, having its roots in Judaism, it has always understood what the sacrament accomplishes which will be dealt with later.
In Luke 24: 45-47 “Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Jesus opened the minds of His disciples so that they could understand His Holy Scriptures. Today the Holy Spirit has to open our minds so that we can understand. An interesting point regarding worship can be made here. There is nothing in the Scriptures that outlines how and what should be done in worship. This is because the form of worship of the early Church was established and understood to be the only way to worship. But if we look at the Scriptures with a mind open to the Holy Spirit, we can find many passages that will inform us as to how to worship. The doctrine of worship can be a study itself.
IV. SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE for BAPTISM
A. Acts 2:38 “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Here we find one of the key verses that is used to support the view that baptism is performed in the name of Jesus only. This verse must be viewed in light of Matt. 28:18-20. Peter would not have contradicted Jesus or changed what he was taught by the person he believed to be God in the flesh. Why are we baptized? The answer to this question is found in this very verse. For the forgiveness of our sins. I did not make this up, the Apostle Peter said this himself. If he was wrong here, then he can’t be trusted regarding anything else he said. The historic church always taught this and the understanding of what happens here which is called baptismal regeneration. This means that in our baptism, God restores our fallen nature to its original state prior to the fall. This also means that I don’t have to do anything else but obey God and submit to the Sacrament and God does all the work.
Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day.”
Acts 8:34-39 “The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Why shouldn’t I be baptized?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.”
Acts 16:13-15 “On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a women named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and
and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.”
Acts 16:25-33 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the
prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in household. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds;then immediately he and all his family were baptized.” Note that the entire households of Lydia and the jailer were baptized which would have included even infants and servants.
I provided the above information to help you see how the passage in John 3:5 should be understood.
Christ’s disciples baptized with water unto repentance and remission, which provides evidence that they had the same understanding, which is what they would have been taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not until the reformation that a different view came to be understood for this passage.
I hope this has been helpful. Let me know if you have more questions.
In Christ,
Russ
