Dr. Rodney Plunket

 I went through the Broadway Bulletins this week and discovered that, out of the seventeen published so far this year, only six of them do not report a baptism.  And most of 2003’s Bulletins report more than one baptism.  In fact, altogether they report 22 baptisms.  Several of these baptisms have taken place quite recently, since Rockcleft, our annual summer youth retreat.

The number of baptisms that have taken place this year and the hope that there are more who are ready to submit to the saving power of God generated the focus for this morning’s worship assembly.  We are focusing on baptism, and I hope this morning’s sermon will do two things.  I hope that what I say this morning will awaken those who have not been baptized; I hope it will awaken you to the power of God’s work in baptism; I hope it will encourage you to surrender your lives to the Lord by dying with Christ through baptism.  I also hope it will cause all of us who have already been baptized to be even more open to the power to which God connected us through our baptism.

The New Testament (NT) has much to say about baptism, and I will not have time to say it all.  I want to note only three points that the NT teaches about this important experience of Christian faith.  I want to spend the majority of our time on the first point.  Let’s start at the beginning.

The first thing that our NT’s teach us about the baptism of Jesus is found early on in all four Gospels.  Please look with me at Mark (Mk) 1:4-9 and follow along as I read:

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

This story is told in slightly different ways in all four Gospels.  You can find the parallels in Matthew 3:11-17; Luke (Lk) 3:15-22; and John (Jn) 1:24-34.  Two of the accounts, Mark and Luke, report that John’s baptism was “for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4; Lk 3:3).  All four accounts report the statement of John the Baptist that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  All four accounts also refer to the fact that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove.  Notice that the report that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism serves to support John the Baptist’s statement that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  It follows rather naturally; since Jesus received the Holy Spirit when He was baptized, those who come to Jesus also will receive the Holy Spirit.

Now please turn to Jn 3:25-36 and follow along as I read that passage:

Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.  They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”  John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.  You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’  He who has the bride is the bridegroom.  The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.  For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.  Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true.  He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.  The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

First, we need to be aware that the person referred to in verse (v) 26 as “the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified” is a reference to Jesus, as the preceding verses make clear.  Second, note that the discussion begins as a discussion of purification and the fact that “all are going” to Jesus to be baptized (see verses [vv] 25-26).  Now notice especially what we read in the second half of Jn 3:34.  It is made clear that Jesus “gives the Spirit without measure.”  Again, in a discussion of Jesus and baptism, we have a statement concerning the giving of the Holy Spirit by Jesus.

Now please go with me to the Book of Acts.  Look first at Acts (Ax) 1:1-5 and follow along as I read:

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.  After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.  While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.  “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Here Jesus makes clear that He also said of Himself what John the Baptist said of Him.  Jesus also made clear that the difference between His baptism and the baptism of John the Baptist is that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Allow me to note quickly that the statements contrasting Jesus’ baptism and the baptism of John the Baptist could make it sound as though Jesus’ baptism did not involve water at all.  Acts 8:38 and 10:47-48 make very clear that Jesus’ baptism does involve water, but what these passages declare loudly is that what set the baptism of Jesus apart from John the Baptist’s and what made Jesus’ baptism so very special was the Holy Spirit.

Now please look with me at Ax 2:38-39.  These verses report the words of the Apostle Peter at the conclusion of his sermon on the day of Pentecost.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

This is the first report in the NT of people being urged to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  Notice the promise accompanying that call.  They are told, “ . . . you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  They are also told that this “promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”  That means that the gift of the Spirit is not just promised to those who were baptized back then.  It is for “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

Turn next please to Ax 8:14-17.  These verses report what happened after many Samaritans were brought to faith by the preaching of Philip the Evangelist.

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).  Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

It seems to me that there is room for different opinions on why Peter and John had to come and lay hands on these Samaritan disciples before they could receive the Holy Spirit, but I suspect it was because of the difficulty that the Jewish disciples had in accepting Samaritans into the community of God.  I suspect that the prejudices were so strong that only the “hands on” approval and authentication of Peter and John would cause them to accept it.  But the text does not say.  For our purposes, however, we should notice that again believers who recently have submitted to the baptism of Jesus have the Holy Spirit given to them just as soon as Peter and John can get there.

Now please turn to Ax 9:17-19.  These three verses come at the end of the story of the conversion of Saul the persecutor.  Saul, who eventually adopts his Greek name and becomes Paul the Apostle, has been blinded by a light from God.  God sends a Christian named Ananias to minister to him.  Please follow along as I read.

So Ananias went and entered the house.  He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored.  Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Ananias arrives and tells Saul that Jesus had sent him so that Saul would see again and “be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Scales fall from Saul’s eyes, and he is able to see again.  Ananias then baptized him.  Notice that Ananias did not say that he came to baptize Saul.  He came so that Saul might “regain [his] sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Notice that the text then reports that “something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored.”  That is the fulfillment of the first reason that Ananias was sent to him.  Next it reports Saul’s baptism.  The text does not ever explicitly report that Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit.  However, it does report that Saul was baptized.  It seems likely that the reference to baptism is to be taken by the reader as a clear and certain indication that Saul was indeed filled with the Spirit.  That is why Ananias was sent, and since the giving of the Spirit is so closely connected with baptism in the Book of Acts that would be the natural location of that filling.

Please turn to Ax 10:44-48.  These verses come at the end of the report of Peter’s trip to meet with a Roman Centurion and his household.

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.  The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.  Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  Then they invited him to stay for several days.

If I am reading correctly the report of Peter and John laying hands on the Samaritan disciples to be an indication of the Jewish disciples difficulty at the incorporation of Samaritans into God’s covenant community, then it would seem to follow that this story is an indication of even the Apostle Peter having a problem with idea of accepting this Roman Centurion and his family.  At least the Samaritans were part Israelite.  They may have been a mixed breed, but at least a part of that mix connected them back to Abraham.  To convince Peter to make this trip, God had to send him the same compelling dream, not once, but three times.  And, instead of apostles coming to authenticate through the laying on of hands, this time God had to send the Holy Spirit prior to baptism without any human agency in order to convince those Jews present that these Romans were indeed to be baptized and accepted into the family of God.

But that news was a bit hard to swallow back in the Jerusalem church.  Please look with me at Ax 11:1-3:

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.  So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

Look with me at the final portion of Peter’s answer.  It is found in Ax 11:15-18:

“And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.  And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”  When they heard this, they were silenced.  And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Again we read that statement found in all four Gospels and in Ax 1:5, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  The focus of Jesus’ baptism is the Holy Spirit.

Now please turn to Ax 19:1-7 and follow along as I read:

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.  He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”  They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?”  They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”  Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied—altogether there were about twelve of them.

I need to say very little about this passage.  The connection between baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit is again made clear.

Now please look with me at one final passage which connects the baptism of Jesus to receiving the Holy Spirit.  Please look with me at 1 Corinthians 12:1-13:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Please focus on v 13 where we read, “in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”  The little preposition “in” can just as easily be rendered as “by.”  In fact, that is the rendering chosen by both the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version.  It can also be rendered as “with,” but I do not know of any English translations that have made that translation choice.  What I want you to see is that Paul declares here that we have been “baptized into one body” in, with, or by “the one Spirit.”  Again, the Holy Spirit and Christian baptism are clearly connected.

I know that I have taken a long time to make one point.  I have done that because my experience is that most Christians rarely stop and notice how emphatic the NT is with regard to this connection.  Too many of the arguments that I hear regarding baptism concern the way it is done.  The relevant Greek term was used to refer to immersion, so I am committed to doing it that way.  But I am concerned that we have expended so much time on the way we baptize that we have not spent nearly enough time on what the NT declares is the most distinctive attribute of Jesus’ baptism.  What makes water baptism in the Name of Jesus so special?  It is not the fact that it involves water; the baptism of John the Baptist involved water.  It is not the fact that it is by immersion, the baptism of John the Baptist was by immersion.  It is not the fact that it is “for the forgiveness of sins.”  Both the Gospels of Mark and Luke make clear that the baptism of John the Baptist was “for the forgiveness of sins.”  No, the NT is clear.  What makes water baptism in the Name of Jesus so special/so distinctive is the fact that it connects the believer to the Holy Spirit of God; in fact, it baptizes us in that Spirit.

For our final two points I want to look at one more NT passage.  Please turn to 1 Peter (1Pe) 3:18-22 and follow along as I read:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.  He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.  And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

This is a notoriously difficult passage.  Who are “the spirits in prison” to whom Jesus preached?  That question is not easy to answer.  How does the salvation of eight persons in an ark “prefigure” baptism?  The ark kept those eight persons from drowning in the water while baptism involves actually being pushed under water.  There are answers to this question that seem likely, but I doubt that we find that connection a natural one.  What I want us to acknowledge is that this is a difficult passage, but I believe it has a message that is so important that we must dig away even though the digging may be tough going.

We do not have time to work on the entire passage; we will focus on v 21, which is the verse most germane to the topic of baptism.  Please look with me again at the first two clauses of v 21.  Peter writes, “And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body . . .” the phrase translated by the New Revised Standard Version as “dirt from the body” is more literally rendered as “the filth of the flesh,” a phrase which directs our attention to moral defilement rather than being soiled physically.  It is unlikely that anyone in Peter’s day believed that baptism saved because it removed physical dirt, so it is highly unlikely that Peter is addressing such a viewpoint here.  It is much more likely that Peter is addressing the notion, not uncommon in the ancient world, that moral defilement adheres to a person’s physical body and needs to be removed through a purification bath.  Peter is making clear that such is not what the baptism of Jesus does.  This negative statement regarding an understanding of baptism that would focus a person on a person’s external self, leads Peter to then focus on the inside.

The third clause of v 21 in some translations refers to “an appeal to God for a good conscience,” while others render it as “a pledge of a good conscience.”  The evidence seems to favor the second reading, but interpreting what that reading communicates is still difficult.  I take it to mean that baptism is a pledge to God that comes from a good conscience.  The word “conscience” here is being used more like we use the word “heart.”  In other words, I think Peter is here placing emphasis on the fact that real baptism flows out of a pure, a sincere, a genuine heart.  If that reading is correct, then 1Pe 3:21 is letting us know that authentic Christian baptism is a way of “saying” to God that I sincerely put my faith in You and the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  That means that the focus of baptism is on the inside of the person being baptized and not the outside.  I think we focus too much on the externals of baptism.  This passage focuses instead on the internals, on the conscience/the heart of the person being baptized.  It places emphasis on the pledge to God which that person is expressing.

Now please look follow along again as I read v 21 in its entirety.  This time I will read it as I have suggested it should be translated.  Please pay special attention to the final phrase in that verse:

And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of the filth of the flesh, but as a pledge to God of a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . .

I take the phrase, “. . . through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” to be stating the actual means of salvation to which God connects a person who is baptized.  The little Greek preposition rendered as “through” here could also be rendered as “by,” which is the rendering you will find in the New International Version.  Such a rendering makes it clearer that the means of salvation is the resurrection.  What I think we are being taught here is that the power by which baptism saves us is not the water; it is “the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Why would any believer not desire to be baptized?  It clearly is connected in Scripture to receiving the Holy Spirit?  1 Peter 3:21 teaches us that it is an expression of our sincere pledge to God, and that same verse also makes clear that it saves us “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”  Why would any person of faith not joyfully run to the waters of baptism?

Many of you will have seen the movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”  You will remember the scene when a large group of people are streaming through the woods and walking into a river that flows through those woods.  They are singing the song, “Down in the River to Pray.”  Upon arriving at the banks of the river, they form two lines and are baptized one after another.  The three central characters of the movie are watching in bewilderment as all of this is happening.  But one of them starts to get it.  After just a short time of watching these baptisms taking place, he cannot contain himself any longer.  He runs and jumps in the water and goes to the front of the line to be baptized.  He comes out of that water with great joy.

That is how I think we should receive the New Testament’s teaching on baptism.  I think we should jump up and with great eagerness seek to be baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We should long for the power of the Holy Spirit.  We should long to give our sincere pledge of commitment/of faithfulness to God.  We should long to be saved “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

If you are here this morning and do indeed long to receive the baptism of Jesus, please come now as we stand and sing.

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