It is well to remember that this is a time of confusion and difficulty; and therefore, that which at the beginning was clear]y enough understood, is not now so readily apprehended, but often involves the giving up of many long cherished thoughts which have been instilled into the mind, perhaps from childhood.
Besides this, there is ever a tendency to go to extremes; and many, on discovering that what they had received and held was wrong, and that men had perverted and abused what God had given, go to an opposite extreme, and give up what is right in itself, though connected in the systems of men with what is wrong. I believe this is the cause of much of the difficulty as to baptism felt by many.
The only safe way is to take up the Scriptures without seeking to uphold what we prefer, or may have been holding, perhaps very tenaciously.
Let us now turn to Scripture, and seek to ascertain from the various passages where baptism is alluded to, what its teaching is in reference thereto.
In the first place we must inquire what baptism is, and, in connection with this, we will notice briefly what it is not, though asserted by many to be.
Baptism then is not the obedience of a Christian to a command as circumcision was the obedience of a Jew to a command. How often one hears it said: We have the plain command of Scripture "Believe and be baptized;" this is the stronghold of many, and yet there is no such expression in the Word, nor indeed any command to he baptized. The command in Matt. 28 is to the apostles, to "disciple all nations, baptizing them, etc.;" and in Mark 16 to "preach the gospel to every creature," and then a statement by the Lord as to the consequences to all who heard it. This is very different from a command to be baptized.
I would say at once, that to set forth baptism as a command, in the manner referred to, is entirely unscriptural. It is bringing into Christianity the legal principle of obedience to ordinances as a means of blessing, and genders to bondage; it is, in fact, entirely opposed to the spirit of Christianity.
Again, baptism is not a sign or public confession that we are already dead and risen with Christ. Scripture nowhere says so, nor does it anywhere state that baptism is a sign or symbol of something previously true of the person baptized.
Turning now to what baptism is, we find, in the first place, that Scripture presents it to us as reception on to Christian ground from amongst Jews or Gentiles (I do not speak of John's baptism here, which was quite distinct from Christian baptism, though in principle much the same. That was connected with, and constituted a professedly repentant remnant inside Judaism; this, with a remnant separated by it from Judaism, to which others from amongst the Gentiles were afterward added). It constitutes the person baptized a Christian, as to his position here on earth, and introduces him into the outward privileges of Christianity.
The 2nd of Acts proves this clearly, and we will now consider it. The apostle by the Holy Ghost, had just been bringing home to the Jews their guilt in the murder of their Messiah. They had rejected the One in whom all the promises and blessings were centered, and now, instead of being regarded in a position of favor and privilege, they are proved to be under guilt and condemnation. This is brought so vividly before them, that 3,000 of them are thoroughly convicted and cry out "What shall we do?”
From Peter's reply we may plainly gather the meaning and purpose of baptism in the way he directs them to act; first, "repent," i.e. judge themselves and the ground they occupied before God as identified with the apostate nation, and then be received on to new ground altogether; and this evidently by baptism, as he adds, "and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
To quote this as a proof that baptism is a command, is to propound the error that a sinner receives forgiveness by obedience to an ordinance, which is false doctrine, for clearly they were sinners and not saints whom the apostle was addressing.
We must remember that in their minds judgment and blessing were associated with God's government on the earth; and what they were awakened to was, that their position was no longer one of favor and blessing, but of guilt and judgment in the government of God, and they desired to escape it. But how were they to do so, and what was the new ground on to which they were to be brought?
Two chief points in Peter's discourse, besides the question of their guilt make this clear, namely, the exaltation of Christ and the coming down of the Holy Ghost. He says in verse 36, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." This at once opens up Christian ground—a new thing, outside earth. Evidently in this chapter baptism brought them on to it; there was no longer to be forgiveness of sins in Judaism, or in connection with their sacrifices nor was the Holy Spirit given to the Jews as Such. All this was outside them completely; and the only way for a Jew now to escape being identified with the nation and sharing its judgment, was by being brought on to Christian ground. Peter urges in verse 40, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Notice what they are here told to save themselves from; it is in keeping with what we have just been saying, and with the tenor of the whole chapter. Notice also verse 39, which is closely connected with verse 38, and indeed forms part of Peter's reply to their inquiry: "What shall we do.”
It may be well to remark that chapter 3 presents a different character of blessing to chapter 2, and, as it helps to the understanding of both to notice this difference, we will briefly refer to it.
There, too, the guilt of the nation is pressed on them, but they are addressed as a nation, and called to repent as such, and told that God would send Jesus, etc. whereas in chapter 2 it is that the Holy Ghost had been given, and Jesus exalted on high, and made both Lord and Christ; a new thing, as we have already noticed outside the nation as such, and in connection with which we have repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and also the exhortation. "Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”
But it may be said that baptism is only thus used in connection with the Jews and their special guilt; we will therefore now consider the case of Cornelius and his company (Acts 10), who were Gentiles, and we can hardly fail to see that it is used with the same thought and for the same purpose, namely, receiving on to Christian ground those who were outside it; and the means of reception is the same for the Gentile as for the Jew. It is not a question of the nationality, nor age, nor condition of the person baptized, but of the object of baptism, and where it puts those who are the subjects of it.
Cornelius and his friends had received the Holy Ghost (and were therefore, as to the state of their souls, in a very different condition from the 3,000 in Acts 2) and it is because Peter sees this that he cannot refuse their admission to the position and privileges of Christianity. This is the force of his remark to his companions of the circumcision, "Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized, etc.?”
Clearly baptism was connected with privilege in his mind, or else his words have no meaning; but it was not admission to the privileges of Judaism, or he would have said: "Can anyone forbid circumcision." Thus I may say, baptism supersedes circumcision as Christianity supersedes Judaism.
Here again it is not the obedience of those baptized to a command, but the reception of persons whom Peter saw ought to be received. God had already owned them and given them the greatest gift, making no difference between them and the circumcision, and thus the way to their reception was clear; Peter owns it, and says as it were, to those with him (for his remarks and directions are addressed to his companions of the circumcision), "Bring them in, they ought not to be kept outside," and this they did by baptizing them.
In these instances it is quite clear there was no thought of giving, a public or private testimony that they were dead and risen with Christ; for who would say it was true of those in Acts 2? And what did Cornelius and his friends know of this truth, which was only taught by Paul after thousands had been baptized?
But again, baptism is "unto Christ"—not Christ as Messiah on earth, but exalted after going into death. God has made Him Lord and Christ, and this is owned in baptism. This owning of Christ as Lord is only in connection with Christianity during this present dispensation or church period. The Jews rejected Him and reject Him still; the Gentiles were outside everything positionally and sunk in idolatry; both Jews and Gentiles were enemies to God and guilty before Him; both, too, had united in rejecting and crucifying Christ; but God had raised Him up and glorified Him, and sent down the Holy Ghost to witness of Him. Thus Jesus is Lord of all, and baptism is always to Him as Lord (see 1 Cor. 10, "baptized to Moses"), and the one baptized is brought on the ground where His authority is acknowledged, and, as baptized to Him, is responsible to own it practically.
Of course where there is no work in the soul, there will not be loyalty to Him; that, however, is not the point we are now considering, but what baptism is, and does, for those who are the subjects of it. It is "unto Christ.”
It is also "unto His death," Rom. 3. Not into His death, but unto it. It is a Christ who has died to whom we are baptized, and not a Messiah on earth. It is only by His death we can have what is presented and enjoyed in Christianity. Therefore the apostle goes on, in Rom. 6, to say: "We are buried with Him by baptism unto death." Thus (we are learning from Scripture) baptism is burial to death, not a figure that I have been buried, but "buried by baptism"; this is what scripture says. It does not say risen by baptism, but "buried.... unto death"; Col. 2 says the same, but inasmuch as the Holy Ghost is there setting forth the believer as dead and risen with Christ, he adds, "in which (or, in whom) also ye are risen with Him through faith of the working of God, who raised Him from among the dead." Here we have, connected with and following baptism, faith in the operation of God, and being raised through it, but burial by baptism.
Romans does not look at believers as risen with Christ at all; so that to quote Rom. 6 as is so often done, as a proof that baptism is a symbol of our being dead and risen with Christ, is, along with the rest, ignorance of the scope of the epistle.
Next, baptism is "putting on Christ". Gal. 3:2727For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27), states this definitely. It is not by faith, but by baptism that Christ is put on. The previous verse puts faith in its proper connection, "Ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus"; and these two verses must not be confounded together, as though they conveyed one and the same idea, or else the point and force of both are destroyed. When rightly understood they help much to a proper conception of what baptism is, and its scriptural idea and place, and further prove what has been already advanced that baptism is connected with an outward place on earth; while faith has to do with the state of the soul before God, and our relationship to Him and to Heaven, to what is unseen and eternal. With these baptism has nothing whatever to do.
The Galatians were going back to law, which was only again bringing them into bondage—into the place of servants; the Holy Ghost, therefore, presses on them they are sons not servants, "Ye are all the sons (not children here) of God by faith in Christ Jesus," not by baptism in any way, is the force of the apostle's reasoning. He then goes to their baptism, and says as it were, "You have put on Christ by your baptism (as many were baptized) and what do you want to put on Moses for?" They were outwardly identified with Christ by their baptism—had put Him on. Just as of old Israel were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All were baptized to him—men, women, and children—and therefore outwardly connected with him, and under his authority. How they might act afterward was another thing, and whether they had faith or not remained for the wilderness to prove.
This epistle is written to those who had faith, but the point now before us is not whether they had faith or not when baptized, but what their baptism was—"putting on Christ", not a sign they had put Him on previously.
In Rom. 13 we have, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," which is quite another thing. It is what those at Rome are exhorted to do, though they had been baptized previously, and therefore had "put on Christ," according to Gal. 3:2727For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27). But in Rom. 13 it is the practical manifestation of Him (hence His full name) in our walk here on earth.
A person may put on the regimentals and be a traitor at heart, and opposed to the spirit of the captain; but he is always responsible as one who has put them on, and stands on a different ground to those who were never thus professedly put under subjection to the captain.
In connection with this, I would refer to 1 Cor. 15:2929Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? (1 Corinthians 15:29), a verse which many do not understand. The figure here used, is of an army exposed to the attack of the enemy, who were cutting them down—killing them; but others were constantly stepping in and filling up their place in the ranks. The apostle asks, as it were, "What's the benefit of doing so if there be no resurrection, better be out of the army, better not put on the regimentals at all, but enjoy the world: Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die". But the verse proves that their baptism put them in this place—connected them with Christ, and separated them professedly from the world—they had put on Christ. We shall see afterward how this applies to the family of Christians.
I now go on to 1 Peter 3, where it is said "baptism now saves us", and this requires our careful examination.
We must remember that here as elsewhere, we are not getting an exposition by the apostle of what baptism is, but it is brought in by the way in connection with the subject before him, because it relates to that subject. We must first see what the subject is where the reference occurs, or else we shall be making it of private interpretation.
In Peter's epistles the government of God, the various effects of that government, and the subjects of it, are brought before us.
In the first epistle it is His government in connection with the righteous, and in the 2nd as regards the wicked, we have not there the truth of the believer being dead and risen with Christ, though the above verses have sometimes been quoted to justify that view, instead of letting their views be formed by Scripture.
The epistle is written to believing Jews, whose minds were formed by God's known ways in government on the earth, who were familiar with them, and were accustomed to look for blessing, peace, and deliverance on earth as the portion of the righteous—of those who acted with a good conscience. Now they had become Christians with a good conscience, in the full confidence that it was God's mind that they should treat Judaism as apostate and condemned, no longer under His favor, but with His wrath hanging over those still in it; that is, wrath on earth under His government; of which we have an example in the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. It was a national thing, involving their families as well as themselves, even as they had said: "His blood be on us and on our children.”
But, though as Peter says, "Baptism now saves us," this was not so apparent to them then, as they were enduring persecution and suffering from their own nation and others; hence they were perplexed, and their good conscience demanded the explanation—"Why is this.”
(Note here the difference between a good conscience and a purged conscience, a most necessary distinction for understanding this scripture.)
In chapter 3 Peter alludes to these sufferings, and then refers to their baptism, which had separated them outwardly from the nation, and saved them from the governmental wrath and judgment to which we have alluded, bringing them into the place where the forgiveness of sins was known, and the power of the Holy Ghost manifest. He then seeks to encourage them in this position, and shows them how the circumstances they were in were consistent with their present place and connection with Christ, during the time in which God was waiting in longsuffering grace with the unrepentant; for though judgment was sure for those who remained so, yet God was now showing His longsuffering through them. While God was thus waiting, these righteous ones (though going through suffering under God's governmental ways) need not fear being overwhelmed by judgment, as though they were suffering through God's wrath; for this was not so; but, as in the case of Noah, who, in his day, passed through, and was saved through the flood, and was finally brought beyond it all; so they, though now suffering in the government of God, had the assurance in and by the resurrection of Christ of complete deliverance out of all they were then passing through, which had come upon them since their separation from Judaism by baptism.
They had thus escaped, and been saved from the wrath and judgment of the nation, and had been identified with Him, who, having passed through suffering and death, had been raised up from the dead, and all power given unto Him. The case of the flood is thus brought in as an instance, both of the long suffering of God when the Spirit of Christ (by Noah) preached to those, whose spirits are now in prison, and as exhibiting God's wrath and judgment on the unrepentant, as also the salvation of the righteous (and of his family in the government of God). But these were saved through water, which was the instrument of ruin and death to the others.
In that case the water of the flood came on all at the same time, and Noah was saved through it. In the time when Peter was writing, while the principles of God's government were the same, yet the righteous were going through the trial before the judgment fell on the ungodly, and during the time of His long-suffering with these; but, though thus suffering and tried, they need not fear as though it were wrath from God; they might rest assured of full and final deliverance from all even as Noah was saved through water, "the like figure, whereunto baptism doth also now save us... by the resurrection of Christ." (Note. I read the intermediate words in this verse as a parenthesis, in which he gives the negative and positive as to baptism, and I connect "the resurrection of Christ, etc.", as given above.) What encouragement and assurance there was for these suffering Jewish believers in all this. The righteous were saved through the trials and sufferings of God's governmental ways (which is the meaning of the expression—"if the righteous scarcely be saved"); but when all this was over, and their deliverance out of all the difficulties was accomplished, "Where should the ungodly and sinners appear?" While God's ways in government may change, the principles of His government remain the same.
They had these principles set before them for their guidance and assurance, though now "judgment must first begin at the House of God;" but the end of God's dealings are the same. The waters of death in Noah's day only lifted him above all and brought him into a typically new creation; and now for them Christ is raised, and not only so, "gone into heaven, at the right hand of God, angels being made subject to Him." What then need they fear? Here is the answer to every demand of conscience—a demand or inquiry resulting from their baptism, which brought them into the place of suffering, about which they were perplexed and required an explanation. Resurrection is the answer to every demand or question.
Before leaving this I would again notice that the epistle is addressed to true believers, who were "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," and therefore the resurrection was to them more than the witness of mere deliverance from the Judgment of the nation on the earth; faith looks beyond that and waits for blessing hereafter; they looked for this, for "a salvation ready to be revealed," but needed to be prepared for, and encouraged in, the path of suffering here; suffering because of being identified with Christ, and suffering for righteousness sake during the time of God's long-suffering with the wicked in His government; all ending in the salvation of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked; the seal of the former was the resurrection of Christ and His present glory, the seal of the latter they had in God's past judgment—as in Noah's day. But these Christians had nothing to fear, either here or hereafter; they were not only baptized but were righteous—being believers, and it is important to bear this in mind, and that their baptism is only brought in by the way. The question as to who should be baptized is not raised, nor is it intimated in the passage directly. We have not yet come to that question, but only what baptism is, and does, for those who are the subjects of it.
I now go to Acts 22, 16. Here we find baptism is washing—the washing away of sins. Clearly this is not a case of the conscience being purged or the soul saved, or the person being accepted in Christ and His finished work. All this is through faith in His blood: "The blood cleanses from all sin." I do not wash myself, but He washes me, (see Rev. 1, 5, and 1 Cor. 6:1111And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11); etc. This is all blessedly true and simple but the other (Acts 22) is true also; and it is no thought of washing in a figure; or a sign, or figure, or confession of being already washed, as so many quote it and explain it. We do not wash a thing as a figure that it is clean, or to confess that it is clean, but to cleanse it.
Saul of Tarsus was a Jew—a bitter enemy of Christ and His people—sharing in the guilt of murdering Stephen, etc. In his blind zeal for Judaism he was a leading opponent of Christianity; but grace over-abounded, and brought him down at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth. He revealed Himself in glory to Saul, who was to be a chosen vessel thenceforth. This was God's purpose, and when He had wrought repentance in him Ananias is sent to him that he may receive his sight and the Holy Ghost; but not as a Jew. He must be brought off that ground to where forgiveness of sins was known, and the Holy Ghost was dwelling. He must clear himself of identification with the guilt that was his as a Jew, and a persecutor of Christ, and be brought on to Christian ground—become a Christian as to his place; and this by baptism.
Until baptized the guilt and sins that were his accrued to him as to his place on earth, and in that sense he was—until baptized—unwashed and unforgiven.
Hence baptism, which is a symbol of Christ's death, is that which washes in a governmental way. It was when Paul gave the account of his conversion before the Jews that he relates the above direction given by Ananias; intimating that cleansings and washing connected with their system were no longer of any avail, and that the true ground for any one who wished to be a vessel of God here, was to get clear of their relation altogether: owning the Lordship of Christ, which is only done in Christianity during the present Church period, and by baptism as that which brings a person on to that ground.
We have now gone over what baptism is, namely, reception on to Christian ground from either Judaism or Heathenism, the sphere where Christ's authority is owned and to the responsibility connected with this place. (By heathenism is meant all outside of Judaism and Christianity; all who are neither circumcised nor baptized—see Gal. 3, 8, and 1 Cor. 10:3232Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (1 Corinthians 10:32).) It is therefore "unto Christ," but if to Him, to His death, and is a symbol of it. It is also "burial to His death"; Rom. 6 states this, it does not say already dead and therefore buried by baptism but "buried unto death," and following it is responsibility to walk in newness of life. It is owning His death, and the one baptized is, by it, buried to His death.
Next it is "putting on Christ," which is again connected with His Lordship and authority, and positional identification with Him an earth; for baptism relates entirely to our position on earth under God's government; and Peter, when speaking of that government, says to those to whom he wrote, "baptism also now saves us... by the resurrection of Christ." In the same connection baptism is the washing away of sins on earth; for whatever a person may be by faith in Christ, and according to the purpose of God in grace (and where there is faith there is everything for eternity), yet as to God's government on earth he is neither washed nor saved till baptized. He is not a Christian at all as to his ostensible place on earth—but either Jew or Gentile.
The government of God is a subject about which it is very important for souls to be clear; and the principles involved in it, when apprehended, help much to understanding rightly the question of baptism, and indeed many parts of Scripture as well. But we must now consider who are the proper subjects for baptism.