Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20050109.htm

APPLYING OUR CHURCH'S STATEMENT OF BIBLICAL FAITH
Article III, Part IX Of The Nepaug Bible Church Bylaws: The Ordinances
B. Why We Hold The Ordinance Of Believer's Baptism To Be Only For Believers And By Immersion
(Acts 8:26-36, 38; Mark 1:10; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-6)
  1. Introduction
    1. A variety of beliefs exist in Christendom on baptism: some hold it is for infants where others assert it is for knowledgeable Christians; some view the mode of baptism to be baptism by sprinkling, others by effusion (pouring) and still others such as ourselves by immersion.
    2. Article III, Part IX of our Church's Statement of Faith reads: " . . . Jesus Christ ordained and commanded baptism as a symbol of identification with the Lord Jesus Christ that was previously obtained by faith in the Gospel. It is not a means of gaining merit or salvation before God. It is for believers only as a one-time act. We believe that the proper mode of baptism is by immersion, for it outwardly pictures the believer's inward faith in Christ's death, burial and resurrection."
    3. We view the Scriptures on these assertions to clarify why we believe as we do (as follows):
  2. Why We Hold The Ordinance Of Believer's Baptism To Be Only For Believers And By Immersion.
    1. God has not ordained baptism for infants, but for those who have first believed in Christ (as follows):
      1. Romans 6:3-4 teaches that water baptism for Christians pictures one's personal spiritual identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, a position that is true only of one who is already spiritually in Christ as his Savior from sin according to 2 Corinthians 5:17; thus, we hold one must be a Christian before being baptized with Believer's Baptism, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, footnote to Romans 6:3.
      2. [Similarly, when John the Baptizer who baptized with the baptism of repentance, he refused to baptize any who had not previously repented as was evidenced in the "fruits" of changed lives, Matt. 3:5-8.]
      3. Now, Ephesians 2:8-9 with Romans 3:23-28 and 1 Timothy 2:5-6 teach one becomes a Christian not by works or merit of his own, but as a gift of God when he trusts alone in Christ alone for that salvation.
      4. We thus believe one must first trust in Christ's Gospel to be saved and thus be spiritually identified with Him in His death and resurrection before the believer is baptized with Believer's Baptism.
    2. We believe the proper mode (method) of Believer's Baptism is by immersion for the following reasons:
      1. Due to the teaching of the Levitical laws on purification, in Jesus' day, Hebrew teachers held a convert to Judaism from Gentile origins needed to be baptized by immersion to be acceptably cleansed:
        1. The Hebrews of Jesus' era "who had contracted Levitical defilement were to immerse before offering sacrifice," (emphasis ours) A. Edersheim, The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah , i, p. 273.
        2. Thus, it was felt that Gentile proselytes to Judaism were to be immersed into at least 40 seahs (about 70 gallons) of water so every part of their bodies were touched by water to picture the "removal of moral defilement, corresponding to that of Levitical uncleanness," Ibid., p. 273, 746; H. Danby, The Mishnah, 1974 ed., p. 733f (Mikwaoth 1.7-2.2); Zon. Pic. Enc. of Bible, v. Five, p. 917.
      2. Similarly, John 3:23 shows John baptized fellow Hebrews in Aenon since there was much water there, implying he practiced baptism by immersion in accord with the practice promoted by the Mishnah.
      3. When Jesus was baptized, He came up out of the water as though He had been immersed, Mk. 1:9-10.
      4. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch first descended into the water only to come up out of it when Philip baptized the eunuch with Believer's Baptism in Acts 8:38-39; this looks like baptism by immersion.
      5. Finally, as Romans 6:3-4 implies baptism pictures one's identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, and baptism by immersion best illustrates the posture of death and resur rection of the various modes of baptism, we hold Believer's Baptism by immersion to be the right mode to practice.
Lesson: As Believer's Baptism signals spiritual union with Christ in one's symbolically being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection, and as this practice was then viewed to be at least as significant in the Early Church as was Hebrew proselyte baptism by immersion, and as there is evidence that John the Baptizer, Jesus and the Early Church leaders all held to baptism by immersion, we believe we are to practice Believer's Baptism for believers only, and that by the mode of immersion.

Application: May we uphold faith in Christ as the basis for receiving Believer's Baptism by immersion.