When you read the Bible, usually the focus is on function over form. We know that walking in Jesus’ footsteps involves a distinctive lifestyle, not a specific brand of sandal. We’re told to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2) but not how long a sermon should be. We’re told to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16), but we’re not told whether we should use organs, guitars, or clarinets. The “what” seems to matter more to God than the “how.” Why do Christians get so particular about how people are baptized then?
If the purpose is illustration, the details matter
While it’s clear that the “what” of God’s commands usually matters more than the “how,” we can also recognize some important exceptions. For example, everybody acknowledges that some of the details of the Lord’s Supper are critical. Bread preserves the symbolism of what Jesus is communicating in a way that rice, pasta, or chocolate wouldn’t. It points back to the Passover Meal and Jesus’ claims to be the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and so substituting something else for bread would make the Lord’s Supper something less than what God intended. Similarly, the question needs to be asked whether sprinkling, for example, communicates God’s intention for baptism as effectively as immersing.
The symbolism determines the importance of the details
If the bread of the Lord’s Supper is so important, is grape juice less faithful to the Scriptures than wine? For that matter, since Jesus reclined with the disciples at a low table for the Last Supper, is that the way that we should do it? To answer those questions, we need to ask what it symbolizes and whether the change affects that. The wine of the Lord’s Supper symbolizes Jesus’ death and points back to the Last Supper (1 Corinthians 11:25), the Passover, and the blood that was shed when a covenant was made (Matthew 26:28). Substituting Sprite or Coca-Cola would completely lose those connections. It’s hard to see how the alcohol content of the grape drink would impact the symbolism though. And interestingly, the word “wine” is never used in Scripture to refer to the second element of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, it’s always referred to as “the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:25, 26, 27; Luke 22:20).
What we know about the symbolism of baptism is that it’s connected with a believer’s washing of their sins (Acts 22:16) and union with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3, Colossians 2:12). The way that we practice baptism should reflect that.
If the details are clear, why confuse them?
While the English word “baptize” is a religious term that can mean vastly different things to different churches, the Greek word that it’s based on simply means immerse or plunge. And when baptisms are described in the New Testament, it seems almost certain that’s what’s happening. In Mark 1:5, for instance, people are baptized “in the river Jordan,” not just near it. When Jesus was baptized, it not only says that he was baptized “in the Jordan” but afterward “he came up out of the water” (Mark 1:10). Later when John is baptizing people at Aenon near Salim, the Bible gives the reason: “because water was plentiful there.” Clearly, he didn’t think that a few drops would do.
So, baptize means immerse, the descriptions of baptisms in the New Testament seem to require immersion, and in at least one case, the amount of water is viewed as critical. As we consider what baptism is intended to illustrate, the reason becomes more clear.
There are many ways that the washing away of a person’s sins could be pictured. But with a little water, it could give the impression that the problem of sin is minor, and God’s solution to it is limited. There’s nothing like immersing a person’s whole body in water to communicate the fact that sin affects every part of us, and Jesus’ cleansing is total.
More importantly, only immersion can illustrate the fact that we have died to sin and been raised to new life with Jesus. It’s hard to make any possible connection to this vital truth if you just sprinkle or pour some water on a person.
If someone ate a cheeseburger and a root beer, thought about what Jesus did on the cross, and called it the Lord’s Supper, you’d probably tell them that Jesus had in mind something more specific. I think the same needs to be said about baptism. How you’re baptized matters.
In awe of Him,
Paul
