Bobby Jamieson - Understanding Baptism

Copyright 2016 by Robert Bruce Jamieson and 9Marks

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-8887-4

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 265.1

Subject Heading: BAPTISM \ CHURCH MEMBERSHIP \ SACRAMENTS

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ( hcsb ), copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Also used: English Standard Version, ( esv ) copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv Text Edition: 2007. All rights reserved.

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CHURCH BASICS SERIES PREFACE

The Christian life is the churched life. This basic biblical conviction informs every book in the Church Basics series.

That conviction in turn affects how each author treats his topic. For instance, the Lords Supper is not a private, mystical act between you and Jesus. It is a meal around the family table in which you commune with Christ and Christs people. The Great Commission is not a license to head into the nations as Jesus witness all by oneself. It is a charge given to the whole church to be fulfilled by the whole church. The authority of the church rests not only with the leaders, but with the entire assembly. Every member has a job to do, including you.

Every book is written for the average church member, and this is a crucial point. If the Christian life is a churched life, then you, a baptized believer and church member, have a responsibility to understand these basic topics. Just as Jesus charges you with promoting and protecting his gospel message, so he charges you with promoting and protecting his gospel people, the church. These books will explain how.

You are like a shareholder in Christs gospel ministry corporation. And what do good shareholders do? They study their company, study the market, and study the competition. They want the most out of their investment. You, Christian, have invested your whole life in the gospel. The purpose of the series, then, is to help you maximize the health and kingdom profitability of your local congregation for Gods glorious gospel ends.

Are you ready to get to work?

Jonathan Leeman

Series Editor

Books in the Church Basics series:

Understanding the Great Commission, Mark Dever

Understanding Baptism, Bobby Jamieson

Understanding the Lords Supper, Bobby Jamieson

Understanding the Congregations Authority, Jonathan Leeman

Understanding Church Discipline, Jonathan Leeman

Understanding Church Leadership, Mark Dever

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to this brief book on baptism. I might even call it a booklet. You can call it whatever you like. Would you like to come in and take a seat? I can show you around before we get started.

But first, let me tell you a little bit about you, or at least, who I expect you to be. If we were doing this in person, Id ask you about yourself instead of telling you about yourself. But were doing this in writing, so the best I can do is guess. My best guess is that there are basically three kinds of people who will read this book, all of them Christians.

If youre not a Christian, Im glad this book found its way to you, but there are lots of other books about Christianity Id encourage you to read first! Start with the four Gospels, and Greg Gilberts book Who Is Jesus? (Crossway, 2015). And Id encourage you to get together with a Christian friend to talk about the Bible and what it means to follow Jesus.

In any case, the first kind of person I expect to read this book is someone who believes in Jesus but hasnt yet been baptized. Maybe you dont really know what baptism is. Maybe you know what baptism is, but you arent sure why you need to be baptized. Maybe you wonder if your baptism really was a baptism. You were an infant or were so young you dont know if your profession of faith was real. This book(let) will address all these questions. My goal for you is that, if youre a Christian who has not yet been baptized, this book will convince you to take the plunge. (Since its impossible to write a book on baptism without at least one groan-inducing water pun, its best to get it over with.)

A second group I hope will read this book are Christians who are simply interested in learning more about baptism. Surely there are at least a few of you out there. Youve already been baptized, but you want to think more about this command that Jesus gave his church. Maybe you want to know better how to explain baptism to new believers or non-believers. I hope this book will provide biblical answers to questions youre askingand even questions youre not asking but maybe should be.

A third kind of person I expect to read this book is a church leader, especially a pastor. By Gods grace, pastors are often in the position to baptize new believers, and they also strongly influence how their church practices baptism and what their church recognizes as baptism. Pastors also set the pace for whether their church requires baptism for church membership, an increasingly debated issue.

I dont expect you will agree with every jot and tittle in this book. There are so many issues here that Christians disagree about. Nonetheless, I hope you will find it a useful resource for your members even in those places where you and I might disagree. And who knows, maybe Ill even persuade you! I have found it useful to give away books to church members even when I dont agree with everything in themand Ill say sojust to get them thinking about the topic at hand.

Throughout the book I have all three audiences in mind. We begin with the question, What is baptism? in chapter 1. Chapter 2 asks, Who should be baptized? Chapter 3 biblically evaluates the practice of infant baptism. In chapter 4 I demonstrate why the Bible requires baptismthat is, believers baptismfor church membership. Chapter 5 examines a few scenarios in which something Christians are calling baptism actually isnt. And chapter 6 offers some practical guidance for how churches should go about baptizing believers.

Before writing this little book, I wrote a heftier one called Going Public: Why Baptism Is Required for Church Membership (B&H Academic, 2015). That book aims more directly at church leaders and focuses tightly on the question implied in its subtitle. I borrow heavily from Going Public in chapter 4, moderately in chapter 6, and sparingly in a few other places. My thanks to the publisher for permitting this borrowing.

My thanks to you for taking the time to read this book. I pray it helps you follow Jesus and help others follow Jesus.

CHAPTER 1

What Is Baptism?

What would you do if you were wading in a swimming pool and a friend came up behind you and dunked you under the water? You could simply forgive your frienda solidly Christian move. You could retaliate in kind. You could even escalate the aquatic conflict, waiting until your friend got out and dried off before shoving him or her back into the pool. So, which will it be?

Take two: what would you do if your friend sneaked up behind you, dunked you, and then said, Now youve been baptized! Even if you know little about baptism, my guess is youll have a strong suspicion that, in addition to being slightly odd, your friend is wrong. You havent been baptized; all youve been is dunked.

But what would it take to turn this dunking into baptism? It seems obvious that youd have to lose the element of surprise and participate knowingly and willingly. But dont some churches baptize infants? Babies dont consent to be baptized. What about the one doing the dunking? Would your friend have to be a pastor? Would it have to take place in church rather than a swimming pool?