|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction
Faith and repentance
Can babies be
baptized?
Does original
sin exist?
Baptism is performed
by immersion in water
With baptism
one receives the remission of sins
. . . and the
gift of the Holy Spirit
Baptism is the work
of God
Baptism saves
Why does baptism save?
Baptism and
tradition
Conclusion
The word "baptism" is a transliteration of the Greek term "baptisma" that means "immersion". The first Christians, in fact, administered baptism by immersion to everyone that, having believed in Jesus, had repented from their old ways and had decided to change their life by putting it in God’s service.
All of this is understood from the teachings and the examples in the New Testament, the second part of the Bible in which God spoke to humanity through Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:1-2):
In the Gospel According to Matthew chapter 28: 18-20, Jesus, after his resurrection, turned to his disciples and said:
« All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . . »
In the parallel passage of the Gospel According to Mark chapter 16: 15-16, we read:
« Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned»
Faith, repentance, and baptism are therefore three parts of the this unique process of conversion that allows sinners to be reborn into a new life and be renewed by the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel According to John chapter 1: 12-23, we find written:
« But as many as received Him, to them He (Jesus) gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God »
Jesus himself, speaking with a certain Nicodemus, teacher of the Law, connects this « new birth» to the Holy Spirit and the water of baptism:
« Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God» (John 3:3)
One is born again, or from above only if born of water and the Spirit, as Jesus specifies immediately after:
« Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God» (John 3:5)
Here are a few examples from which we can see how these teachings of Jesus were put into practice by the first Christians:
From the examples that we have examined up to now we see clearly that baptism was conferred only to adult people who had believed and repented.
The first christians that were baptized in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost displayed their faith in the measure that by listening to Peter's speech « they were cut to the heart» and asked Peter and the apostles what they had to do. To answer their question, Peter invites them to repent and be baptized. Here it should also be noted that the Greek verb "metanoèsate ", translated in English "to repent " has a meaning much wider than "repent". It means, in fact, to change mentality, to change the very way of life, to distance oneself from sin, to transform one’s orientation, and to change one’s mind. This is typical of the type of Christian conversion that doesn’t consist of just a simple repenting from a life of sin, but of the decision to have a new orientation of one’s very life, placing it in the service of God. This is supported in that Paul in a letter written to the Romans says clearly: «Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind ... » (Romans 12:2).
Such a commitment can’t refer to innocent babies, but is the privilege of an adult person who has reached the age of reasoning and has the ability to decide and choose. A baby is by definition innocent, not able to believe or repent because he/she has not committed any sin.
The so-called " original sin" is just a human invention to justify the baptism of babies and does not find any support in the Bible. In fact, Jesus, turning to his disciples, said the following about babies: « Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these » (Matthew 19:14). The prophet Ezekiel speaking about personal responsibility says clearly that «the son will not share the guilt of the father » (Ezekiel 18:19-20), but is responsible only for his own conscious acts. This is supported in that at the end, we will be judged not by the sins of others committed before us, but by our personal sins committed knowingly during our lifetime. «For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is do him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad » (II Corinthians 5:10). « So then, each of us will give an account of himself unto God » (Romans 14:12). We have inherited from our ancestors Adam and Eve not the responsibility, but only the consequences of their sin...death and evil desire, that is, the predisposition to sin which is manifested by the adult age: «but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death» (James 1:14-15).
BAPTISM IS PERFORMED
BY IMMERSION IN WATER
In the case of the Ethiopian, it clearly says that when he and Philip reached a place with water, that they descended into the water and after the baptism they came out of the water. These events would be incomprehensible if baptism was only done by pouring a few drops of water on the person's head.
some baptismes by immersion in water at Nepi Camping near Rome
WITH BAPTISM ONE RECEIVES
THE REMISSION OF SINS
With baptism one receives the remission of sins. Peter says clearly: « Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins» (Acts 2:38). This is also confirmed when Ananias urges Paul to not wait any longer, but to be baptized, to be « cleaned» of his sins (Acts 22:16). It can’t be said that Paul didn’t have faith after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, but it was still necessary to add baptism to his faith so that his conversion would become effective.
... AND THE GIFT OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The apostle Paul added: « ... And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit» (Acts 2:38). The gift of the Holy Spirit is the final touch which God uses to work in the repented believer, the regeneration that makes him become a new creature, renewed in mind and spirit. Peter writes to other Christians: « For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and the enduring word of God » (I Peter 1:23). In addition, the apostle Paul writing to Titus says: «He (God) saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing, rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life » (Titus 3:5-7).
Paul compares baptism to the crossing of the Red Sea by the Jews when they escaped from Egypt. The entire people in that occasion found themselves surrounded by the waters: «our forefathers were all underthe cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea» and were saved from the fury of Pharaoh that followed them with his army (I Corinthians 10:1-4). Peter saw in Noah’s ark the figure of the Christian baptism. Just like this ark promised Noah and his family safety from the waters of the flood, in the same way, he says baptism can now also save us. Nevertheless, he adds that it’s neither the material act in itself nor the baptismal water that produces this salvation, but « the pledge of a good conscience toward God,...by the resurrection of Jesus » (I Peter 3:21 ).
In both of the important events God intervened directly, and by his work, Noah as well as the Hebrew people found salvation. The incomparable effectiveness of baptism lies, therefore, in the fact that although administered by men, it is in reality a work of God and Christ as we clearly find in Ephesians 5:26, and I Corinthians 6:11.
In the first passage, Christ demonstrates his love for the church sacrificing himself for it « to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water though the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless » (Ephesians 5:26,27).
In the second passage, the reference to baptism is explicit in the words of the apostle Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians saying: « and that is what some of you were (unjust, immoral, idolaters, adulterers, etc.). But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God » (I Corinthians 6:11).
There is no consistency, therefore, in the objection of those who deny the effectiveness of salvation in baptism appealing to Ephesians 2:9 or Titus 3:5. It's not, in fact, about a work of righteousness done by man, but a direct work of God; in the same way that the Ark in which Noah and his relatives found salvation was a work of God, as was the passage through the Red Sea by the Jews guided by Moses. We ourselves, in fact, as new creatures (Galatians 6:15) reborn in Christ, and therefore made in Jesus Christ, are works of God (Ephesians 2:10).
When Peter preached that the crucified Christ killed by the Jews was resurrected, showing in such a way that he was really the Messiah, about three thousand people cut to the heart were baptized that same day and converted to Him. For them, baptism was a combination of conversion and purification of sin (Acts 2:37-40). When Paul was converted on the way to Damascus, he entered blind into the city, and was healed by Ananias. He then heard that he needed to be baptized for the remission of his sins: « and now what are you waiting for, get up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name» (Acts 22:16). After an earthquake, when the Philippian Jailer heard of Jesus for the first time, he and his family believed in Him and « then immediately he and all his family were baptized » (Acts 16:33), once again fulfilling an intimate gesture connected with his own salvation. Referring to these experiences of faith, the apostles therefore could exalt the saving value of baptism. It marked the moment itself of conversion, when faith and the decision to change one's own life arose; and indicated the grafting of the convert to Christ; dead and resurrected.
This salvation is accomplished overall because baptism grafts the believer in Christ:
« having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raise him from the dead » Colossians (2:12)
« for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ» Galatians (3:27)
The immersion in water and the following emergence symbolize death to sin and rebirth into a new life in a very significant way, and are a visible reminder of what God did for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, just as Paul explains to us in Romans 6:3-11...
« Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died he died to sin once and for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus».
As we have tried to demonstrate thus far, our eternal father in his plan of salvation, well preordained and established since the beginning of the world and accomplished by Jesus Christ in the «fullness of time » (Ephesians 1:3-14), has established the fact that one can enter his kingdom, not by faith and repentance only, but also by baptism (immersion in water), to receive the living power of the Holy Spirit ("washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" Titus 3:5).
Many, however, go to the Word of God with preconceived ideas due to teachings received from childhood, of the religion in which they are born, raised and educated. How many, for example, are surprised when they read in the book of Genesis that the forbidden fruit was not an apple, but simply a fruit that isn't identified! How many others are just as surprised when they read in the Gospels about the infancy of Jesus, and they don't find the ox and little donkey that they were used to from the beginning and from stories of their parents!
As long as these preconceived concepts and ideas regard insignificant details like these, it's easy to not worry about them; all that must be done is to take the texts and advise them so they will realize their error.
The problem, however,
becomes more serious when these preconceived ideas,
springing from a mistaken
religious education, regarding the plan predisposed by God for the salvation
of mankind.
It involves secular traditions handed down from father to son that by now are part of life and the same culture in which we are immersed. Family, school, social instruction, images and facts of daily life are continuously contributing more to our convictions of goodness and of truth of the traditions in which we have been brought up.
The same Jesus, when he began his preaching in Palestine, encountered the closed mentality of those who were attached to the "traditions of the fathers" and had even annulled the Word of God. Against such a mentality, Jesus used the same words of Isaiah the Prophet: «these people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men» (Isaiah 29:13). On other occasions, even more explicitly, Jesus said: « you have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men»« And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition » (Mark 7:1-13; Matthew 15:1-20).
The apostle Paul also admits to being a slave to these traditions of the fathers; indeed he himself confessed to the Galatians that he was so zealous in these traditions to surpass in Judaism most people of his age and his nationality. His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus radically changed his life and his way of thinking and acting. Through his spiritual rebirth he became a new man, influenced no longer by human traditions, but free to dedicate himself exclusively to Christ and to announcing the Good News of salvation (Galatians 1:14-16). He is without a doubt the most qualified person to put the Colossian Christians on their guard with these words: « See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ» (Colossians 2:8).
Traditions are a privilege of all ages and human generations. Even today our thoughts and culture and influenced by the traditions that have been stratified in the course of the centuries. These traditions are not always negative if they maintain the plan of human values, but if they claim to substitute to Word of God they often twist the meaning and the original purity. This has happened to baptism, which in the course of the centuries has lost its original value as an act that expresses faith and conversion. Instead we find in its place a baptism that acquires value for itself, independent of the will and understanding of the individual. Baptism of babies is an evident example.
Giving too much importance and weight to the act itself has caused baptism to completely lose its deep meaning, which in the apostolic age expressed the desire of the believer to be buried with Christ in order to be reborn with him into a new dimension of life, no longer influenced by human pride, but guided by the will of God.
These traditions are so rooted in mentality and modern customs that it makes the idea that a baby should not be baptized inconceivable. Even our minds that we consider enlightened are not able to escape from these taditions, even though we recognize the foolishness of a ritual that involves some kind of incomprehisible magic that is seen practiced only by the most unadvanced peoples of the earth. It therefore assists the paradoxical behavior of professed atheists and laity determined in their own ideas, who submit themselves to these traditions baptizing their children only for people to see.
The Word of God is so clear and incontestable in this regard that it could not give itself in any way to the support of these traditions. Although, numerous theologist and Bible experts recognize the lack of support of these practices that are not found in scripture, the major part claiming to be Christians, they don't hesitate to perpetuate a human tradition in full contradiction with the apostolic teaching that makes the plan of God for the salvation of man completely vain.
Historic Christianity that is manifested in various churches and human denominations has in this way completely failed in its scope, moving continuously further away from the genuine message of love and hope announced by Christ and his disciples. It has been lost in the maze of ritualism without any inner significance: «having a form of godliness but denying its power» (II Timothy 3:5).
The results of this treason of the Word of God can be seen in the history of this century and in the distressing news of our daily newspaper. Injustice, cruelty, physical and spiritual misery, death, desperation, war, extermination of entire populations, suffering of the weak and the indifference of the powerful are the uncontested rulers in a predominantly christian (by name only) world.
What can we do to remedy this situation? We certainly can't limit ourselves to a simple appeal against such a degenerated Christianity. We ourselves in first person have to begin an interior restoration. We cannot wait until others restore themselves! The change has to begin first with ourselves. We first have to have the courage to take off the old man that is corrupt, following his deceitful passions, and then be renewed in the attitude of our minds, reclothing the new man that was created in the image of God, in justice and holiness that come from the truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24). Like an athlete that takes off his clothes to be freer in movement so that he can continue to break new records, so we must rid ourselves of the habits of our trivialities that keep us from being free to reach the goal that God offers us. (I Corinthians 9:24-26; Hebrews 12:1-3).
Baptism is neither "a sacrament", nor a "testimony of faith". In the context of the Bible it represents something more: it's a foretold sign of reality that reunites past, present and future.
For the past it's a sign of the only salvation given to us by the death of Jesus Christ. For the present it's a sign of our commitment and our task to dedicate our lives to the service of God and our neighbor. For the future it's a sign of our hope for life after death and for the overcoming of earthly knowledge in history and beyond history through the power of the resurrected Christ.
But this reality/symbolic representation of which baptism is a sign, must be accomplished by practices that respect the Word of God and its content. In this age in which language of signs is present more than ever, and has been reevaluated by modern cultural anthropology, there's the need to restore the original baptismal gesture, and for it to be given only to believing adults and converts. This should be done not for the desire to restore a pure archaeological ritual, but for the restitution of a profound, significant act that expresses faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, and that is a proof of our conversion to his ideals of love, peace, and hope.
Baptism will become in this way a "visible word", a language expressed with a gesture. Certain very deep concepts -- Goethe wrote -- can't be expressed in words, but only relived in gestures.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|