For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' Acts 22:15-16

We made a passing comment on Friday’s blog post about baptism. The subject deserves more attention!

Very shortly after Paul (then Saul) was born again—hours, at most a day or two(?), when he was healed of his blindness and commissioned, he was also told, “Arise and be baptized.”

There have been times in the Church’s history when there were more people who were baptized than were saved. Face it, throughout the medieval ages (a thousand years or so), virtually every infant born in Europe was baptized shortly after birth. There was no connection in the vast majority of people’s minds between baptism and rebirth or conversion.

Now the disconnect between baptism and conversion swings the other way. There are untold numbers of people who profess faith in Christ (whether they are born again or not), of which a small percentage have been baptized in water baptism. Why? The answer is somewhat complex and beyond the scope of this blog post, so a cursory answer will have to do in this space. Many Christians do not know the Bible and if they do, they do not think they need to obey the Bible. We’ll call this “autonomous* Christianity.”

The plain biblical fact is that believers are commanded to be baptized as an outward physical symbol of the inward spiritual reality of having been born again and spiritually baptized into Christ.

Baptism is different from the Lord’s Supper in that baptism is the initiatory sacrament that is ideally administered only once to new believers soon after being born again. The Lord’s Supper, on the other hand, is a continuing sacrament that is to be administered (and received) regularly and frequently for the rest of the believer’s physical life.

We know there will always be people who are baptized and not saved. But why in the world would believers not be baptized?! If you are a believer and have not been baptized, please contact me so we can plan for your obedient baptism soon!

Footnote:
* autonomous (adjective)

Not controlled by others or by outside forces; independent.
Independent in mind or judgment; self-directed.
Independent of the laws of another state or government; self-governing.