A Bible History of Baptism

by Samuel J. Baird

In the great commission, as recorded by Mark, Jesus said to his disciples, “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. Dr. Dale denies that ritual baptism is here referred to.—“We accept the real baptism by the Holy Spirit as the sole baptism directly contemplated by the passage; in general, because it meets in the most absolute and unlimited manner, as a condition of salvation, the obvious requirement on the face of the passage, having the same breadth with belief, and universally present in every case of salvation.”[^[122]] To this view the objections are obvious and conclusive. (1.) The clause which the author has emphasized with Italics, is inaccurate. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is not “a condition of salvation;” but is the very salvation itself. It is the casket in which are bestowed repentance, faith, remission of sins, justification, adoption, sanctification, the resurrection and eternal life. (2.) The interpretation would not only make this baptism a condition of salvation, but puts it in the position of a co-ordinate but secondary condition with faith.—“He that believeth and is baptized.” Whereas faith, as just remarked, is one of the immediate phenomena of this baptism. (3.) The text as thus explained represents the Lord Jesus as commissioning his ministers to offer salvation to sinners upon conditions one of which is to be performed by them; but the other belongs to his own peculiar prerogative, to which, in no circumstances, can they assume an efficient relation. It interprets the message to be preached thus: “Whoever believeth shall be saved; provided I, Jesus, shall see fit to baptize him!”

The text is a statement to the apostles, and through them to the ministry in all ages, of their duties and the results of their labors. With baptism as a ritual ordinance of the gospel they had been familiar from the beginning of John’s ministry, and of Christ’s in coincidence with it. They had been fully instructed, as to the baptism of the Spirit, which Christ was about to dispense, and which they were to await; and as to the typical relation to it which the ritual ordinance sustained. They are now commanded to go forth and preach that gospel; not, as heretofore, to Israel, only, but to every creature, in all the world; and whereas, until now, none could be baptized,—none could receive the token of the covenant, except those who were, by circumcision, identified with Israel after the flesh,—he indicates the removal of that restriction,—“Go teach all nations, baptizing them.” Baptizing them with water, which, only, they could administer; and in token of that profession of faith, of which only they could take cognizance. It is in view of these things, that the declaration is made, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The repetition shows that the emphasis of the passage rests on believing. “You are to preach, and baptize those who profess to believe. But let all, both preachers and hearers, beware of trusting in the baptismal shadow. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. But he that believeth not,—his baptism will not avail,—He shall be damned.” Assuredly, had the Lord Jesus been stating conditions of salvation, as concerning baptism, he knew how to set it on both sides of the alternative.

Section XCII.—The Formula of Baptism.

It is proper and necessary that such words be used in the administration of Baptism, as shall give an intelligent announcement of the nature and intent of the ordinance. For this purpose nothing can be more appropriate than the formula in universal use, in all the churches. But the question arises whether the words thus employed were given to be uttered as a formula necessary to the rite.

1. There is nothing whatever in the language of the Lord Jesus, on the subject, to give countenance to the suggestion in question. “Go ye, and disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” We have already seen that “baptizing into the name” means, not the utterance in the baptism of any words or formula; but instruction and consecration to the faith and service of the Triune God, identified with the baptismal rite and signified by it. But if such be the meaning of our Savior’s words, it excludes the idea in question. “Baptizing them into the name,” then, means something very different from “uttering the name.” In fact, the more carefully the language in question is examined, in itself, in its immediate connection, and in its relation to the general scope of the gospel and its history, the more evident will it appear that it was not words that were present to the mind of Jesus, or by him put into the mouths of his ministry, but the great doctrine of baptism, in which the whole gospel is summed,—that doctrine which was heralded by the baptist, and expounded by the Lord Jesus in his discourse and prayer at the supper. One who should teach that the Holy Spirit is not a coequal Person of the Godhead, or that the Lord Jesus is not the eternal and coequal Son, might administer the rite, in the use of the formula. Yet would it not be baptism in the intent of Jesus as here set forth.

2. The silence of all of the evangelists except Matthew as to the words in question, is wholly inconsistent with the supposition that they were given as a formula. The importance of the rite is of common agreement. And resting as it does as an obligation on every soul that hears the gospel, it is the first and foremost of all the practical duties of those who receive it. If, therefore, the formula was now given as an element in the administration of the ordinance, it is of the first and universal moment. How then is it possible for three of the evangelists to have ignored it, in their several versions of the gospel. Evidently they attached to it no such significance as obtains with those who hold it as of the essence of baptism.

3. The fact that it is not once used or alluded to, in the whole subsequent history and epistles, is conclusive. Those records are a testimony;—as much by silence, often, as by utterance. But, on this subject, they are not silent. On the day of Pentecost, Peter calls upon the inquirers to be baptized “(epi) for the name’s sake of Jesus Christ.”—Acts ii, 38. The Samaritans and the twelve disciples of John at Ephesus were baptized “into the name of the Lord Jesus.”—Acts viii, 16; xix, 5. And Paul distinctly implies that the Corinthians were baptized into the same name. “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or, were ye baptized into the name of Paul?”—1 Cor. i, 13. How these facts are consistent with obedience to Christ’s command we have already seen. The only interpretation which will harmonize the record is deduced from that doctrine of baptism which has been unfolded in these pages. He that is spiritually baptized into Jesus Christ, thereby receives the Spirit and is united in Christ to the Father. He is baptized into the Three.

Here, the doctrine of immersion is radically defective. The form may be administered with the utterance of the names of the Trinity. But its doctrine contains no testimony to the Triune, nor recognition of any Person of the Godhead. It relates altogether to the humanity of Christ, whose burial it represents.

Section XCIII.—The Administration on Pentecost.

On the day of Pentecost, in reply to the cry of the repentant multitude,—“What shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you (epi to ‘onomati), for the name’s sake of Jesus Christ (eis) unto the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.... Then, they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”—Acts ii, 37-41. Dr. Dale denies this baptism to have been ritual, and demands,—“Was there a visible Christian church in existence at Pentecost? Was there any one competent to organize a Christian church before Pentecost? Did not the divine Head of the church himself furnish the materials for a church organization, officers, and members, ‘that day?’ Was there a Christian organization effected, as well as a tri-millenary baptism administered ‘that day?’ Were they organized and then baptized, or baptized and then organized?”[^[123]] These questions, coming with the authority of the learned writer, are entitled to respectful consideration. And although they have, in effect, been answered, already, a few words will here be added, in direct response. The Jewish church, as organized, according to the law of Moses, under the ministry of the elders, was the Christian church, on the day of Pentecost. But as that church had become largely corrupt and apostate, and its rulers had betrayed and crucified the Lord Jesus, her King, a separation had become necessary, and the preaching and baptism of the apostles was the means appointed by Him for eliminating the apostate elements. The one hundred and twenty who remained together in Jerusalem after the ascension were but a small part of believing Israel, even then; for the Lord Jesus was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, after his resurrection. (1 Cor. xv, 6.) But they, or the apostles alone, or one of them, would have been abundantly sufficient as a center for gathering the believing from among the apostate. They stood precisely as did Moses in the midst of the congregation of Israel, at the time of the apostasy of the golden calf, saying,—“Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me.”—Ex. xxxii, 26. Hence the style in which the historian of the Acts writes of the converts of Pentecost. “Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized; and the same day there were added about three thousand souls.”—Acts ii, 41. They are not said to have been “added to the church;” for they were the church, obeying the call of her Head,—“Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.”—2 Cor. vi, 17. They are, therefore, said to have been “added (to them),”—that is, to the apostles; or more literally “associated together,”—joined in one body. By that act, they stood forth, the church of Jerusalem, divested of the unbelieving elements. Accordingly, we read, immediately after, that “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”—Vs. 47. For all the purposes of the occasion, on the day of Pentecost, there was no farther organization necessary than that which existed in the sanhedrim of the apostles, men inspired of the Holy Ghost, and endowed by the Lord Jesus with authority for presiding over his church in this transition period of her history.