We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism.
When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to
desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained?
That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be
illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the
spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and
finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he
goes. This changes his course and constitutes in his business life a
reformation, but it does not pay the debt already incurred. He must
liquidate the obligation, or be forgiven the debt by the creditor. Some
may say that this is the difference between the earthly transaction
of men and the dealings of God with His children. God forgives, it
is true, but every blessing is predicated upon a condition, and the
condition is laid down by the Lord; hence it is written in Mark
i:4: "John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins." From this scripture it is
evident that baptism is to follow repentance, and that at least one
object of baptism is the remission of sins.
Let us now examine some statements of Holy Writ which point out clearly
the necessity of this ordinance. "Then cometh Jesus from Gallilee to
Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying,
'I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus,
answering: said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he suffered Him." (Matt.
iii:13-15.) Every thoughtful, God-fearing person must be impressed with
the feeling that if it was essential for the "Only Begotten of the
Father," "who is full of grace and truth," to be baptized, none can be
exempt who have arrived at the years of accountability. It appears also
from the language used in the quotation that without being baptized he
could not fulfill "all righteousness." After teaching His disciples
for three years, being crucified and risen from the dead, He gave to
them this commission: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi:15, 16. ) Also in
Matthew xxviii:19: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost";
and in Luke xxiv:45-47: "Then opened He their understanding that
they might understand the Scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." In
the latter quotation the word baptism is not used, but the same writer
says in Luke iii:3, regarding the mission of John: "And he came into
all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins," thus enunciating the doctrine that remission of
sins is obtained through baptism.
The same writer gives us the following (Luke vii:29, 30): "And all the
people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized
with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the
counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of Him." From
this it is manifested that by receiving baptism they honored and obeyed
God, and that the rejection of this simple yet divine institution
amounted to rejecting the counsel of God, with all the terrible
consequences attendant upon such disobedience.
We read in the eighth chapter of Acts that Philip baptized the
Samaritans and the Ethiopian. In the same book is related the baptism
of Saul, of Lydia, of the Philippian jailor, and of Cornelius. It
is not necessary to multiply quotations to show that baptism was
taught and practiced all through the apostolic dispensation, as being
essential to salvation. As a direct statement of Jesus Himself, to
close this part of the subject, we quote His words to Nicodemus, St.
John iii:5: "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."
The birth of the water can only be accomplished by baptism, and if an
accountable being cannot enter into the kingdom of God without baptism,
then that ordinance must be essential to salvation.
Let us next consider the object of this sacred rite. It is evident that
inasmuch as a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God without the
baptism of water, then his sins must necessarily be remitted through
faith, repentance and baptism from the fact that "no unclean person * *
* hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
In Mark i:4 and Luke iii:3 we read that "John did baptize in the
wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins." On the day of Pentecost, when the mighty power of God rested
upon the apostles and the Spirit bore witness to the multitude that
they were in sin, notwithstanding their devoutness, they cried out,
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?" To this Peter answered, "Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins." (Acts ii:38.)
Paul narrates before King Agrippa his conversion, in Acts xxii:16,
and says that Ananias, to whom he had been commanded to apply, said:
"And now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord." The foregoing quotations will
suffice to show that God instituted baptism for the remission of sins,
but from other passages already quoted. Mark i:4, also xvi:15-16,
and the account of Simon, the sorcerer, in the eighth chapter of
Acts, it is very evident that the result--forgiveness--is not secured
unless baptism is accompanied on the part of the candidate by faith
and a genuine repentance in turning aside from sin. Otherwise there
would be the solemn mockery of administering a sacred ordinance to a
hypocrite. Hence the apostles said to Simon, "Thy money perish with
thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased
with money." (Acts viii:20.) Notwithstanding he had been baptized he
was still in his sins, because his heart was not pure, and he had not
repented. For this reason the apostles said to him, "Repent therefore
of this wickedness. * * * For I perceive that thou art in the gall
of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts viii:22-23.) This
should be a warning to those modern professors whose religion is in
many instances a cloak, hidden beneath which is the depraved heart that
garnishes the sepulchres of the dead prophets but is ready to slay the
living ones.
We now come to that part of the subject which formerly caused so
much dissension among the Christian sects, but which latterly is
smoothed over with the assertion that it makes no difference which
mode--sprinkling, pouring, or immersion--is used; "either will do,"
"let the candidate take his choice; it is immaterial." To these
unwarranted assertions we reply: First, that if either mode will
do, none will do, for still other forms may be added by the whims
of men. Christ established but one true mode, "One Lord, one faith,
_one baptism,"_ and if one is right, the others are wrong. This is a
plain proposition. Again, the dissension and conflict on this point
is proof against the inspiration of the sectarian world, if they have
any, for the reason that the Spirit of God will not lie nor contradict
itself. If, therefore, the Spirit of the Lord teaches me that immersion
is right, it will not teach another sprinkling, and yet another
pouring. This division, then, is because men are guided by opinion and
preference and not by the spirit of revelation from God, which guides
into all truth and brings those who possess it to a unity of faith.
Now as concerning the baptism of Jesus, who is the pattern, we have
Matt. iii:16, which says, "And Jesus when He was baptized went up
straightway out of the water." It is not likely that John would be
baptizing in Jordan and that Jesus would have gone down into the water
if anything less than immersion would have fulfilled the law. This also
agrees with the account of the Ethiopian's baptism by Philip (Acts
viii:38): "And they went down both into the water, _both Philip and the
eunuch,_ and he baptized him." As making still plainer this using a
river of water and going _"down into the water"_ to receive the sacred
rite, we quote from St. John iii:23: "And John also was baptizing in
Enon, near to Salim, because there was _much water there."_ A statement
so plain as the foregoing needs no comment. It speaks for itself. He
was baptizing not only in Enon, but at a certain point in the stream
"because there was much water there." Such a reason could not have been
given if sprinkling or pouring had been a proper mode.
We refer further to the New Testament statements where not only the
mode of baptism is indicated by the language, but the fact that baptism
symbolizes the birth into the world, the death, and the resurrection of
the body. To Nicodemus, Jesus said: "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." (St. John iii:5.) When man comes forth into the
world, he is born or brought out from the watery element, being first
buried in it, and this constitutes his birth. To be "born of water" as
a sacred ordinance would be impossible if the rite of sprinkling or
pouring be the mode employed. Only complete immersion will answer the
ordinance indicated in the language of Jesus to Nicodemus.
Paul also said to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we
are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection." (Rom. vi:3-5.) The foregoing shows that baptism is a
likeness of burial. When the body is laid lifeless in the tomb it is
covered completely; it is not left partly buried and partly uncovered;
and as the body comes forth in the resurrection, immortal, and free
from the conditions of mortality, thus walking in "newness of life,"
so by the remission of sins through faith, repentance and baptism, the
obedient candidate comes forth free from sin, and walks in a new life,
prepared for the birth of the spirit, thus symbolizing in beautiful
similarity the death and resurrection of the body. This is still
farther emphasized by the language, "For if we have been planted,"
etc., thus using a word which implies a complete burial as in planting
seeds in the earth.
Again, we quote the words of Paul to the Colossians, ii:12: "Buried
with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." This
corresponds with the statement before quoted from Romans, and also the
teachings of Christ to Nicodemus.
From the Scriptures already quoted on the necessity, object and mode of
baptism, we may deduce the conclusion that the ordinance established
to follow and go with faith and repentance, and which constitutes
the third principle of the gospel, is baptism by immersion for the
remission of sins.