Baptism and Understanding

We have just finished studying baptism in our Sunday morning class. With some of that discussion still fresh on my mind, I ran across the follow from Patrick Mead. Patrick's blog is entitled Tentpegs where he answers questions that his readers send him. (I might try that... if I ever get readers.) I thought he handled the question pretty well. Of course, I find myself more in agreement with what other people write when I have no time to write something of my own! Hey, my blog is both good and original. Today it is good; tomorrow I might try to write something original!

I’ve recently had someone tell me that one must understand certain things about baptism to be baptized. I’ve always felt the strongest argument is that we follow Christ, He was baptized, it makes logical sense for us to follow him in baptism. I’ve heard a lot of things that make me think people believe that being baptized except for certain specifications makes it invalid. Is there a question in there? Yes!! You being much smarter than I can sleuth it out right? My question is this: how does one know if one’s own baptism is valid. If someone tells me they’ve been baptized is it my job to question them further?

We’ve answered this question before, but we’ve been doing this so long that it is inevitable that some repetitions will come along. I come across people who question their baptism from time to time. The outward form was good and right but they are afraid they “didn’t know what I was doing” and, therefore, God considers their baptism invalid. It needs to be firmly stressed that that is not a biblical way to view baptism.

Baptism isn’t based on our knowledge, but on our heart. Simply put, your baptism is valid if you wanted to belong to Jesus forever, realized that you needed a Savior, and were declaring your allegiance to Him. There is no need to search for a magic formula (some fear their baptism was invalid because someone didn’t say “for the forgiveness of sins”) and there are no set words that have to be said. Before you write in saying “what about ‘in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’?” let me remind you: to do something in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit doesn’t require their names to be mentioned. You are acting by their authority. I greatly prefer mentioning their names and encourage others to do so but we cannot afford to be dogmatic about this. If I were a police officer and knocked on your door with a warrant in my hand, I would not be likely to say “open up in the name of the law.” I COULD if I wanted to because I am acting in behalf of the legal system, but the possession of the warrant, badge, and gun is sufficient to show in whose interests I am acting.

I would add to the above two more things that must be present: a lot of water and an adult. There is no biblical warrant for the baptism of children or for replacing immersion with sprinkling, pouring, etc. Baptism is a very important part of the Christian walk; a walk that begins with sacrifice and the sign of burial and resurrection — baptism.

To recap: if you were old enough to know what was going on, and if you were desirous of walking with Jesus forever, stepping into line as one of his disciples, and if you knew you needed forgiveness and a Savior, and then you were immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… your baptism is valid. Your knowledge base doesn’t have to be very wide at all. It is a question of God acting on His promise when He sees your heart. I believe He keeps His promises, including those to save imperfect (in morality and knowledge) people like us.