Real Baptism
Roman Catholic Claim
Because of original sin, we are born without
grace in our souls, so there is no way for
us to have fellowship with God. Jesus became
man to bring us into union with his Father.
He said no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless he is first born of ‘water and
the Spirit’ (John 3:5)—this refers
to baptism.
Through baptism we are born again, but this
time on a spiritual level instead of a physical
level. We are washed in the bath of rebirth
(Titus 3:5). We are baptized into Christ’s
death and therefore share in his Resurrection
(Rom. 6:3-7).
Baptism cleanses us of sins and brings the
Holy Spirit and his grace into our souls (Acts
2:38, 22:16). And the apostle Peter is perhaps
the most blunt of all: ‘Baptism now
saves you’ (1 Pet. 3:21). Baptism is
the gateway into the Church.
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Christian Response
First, Rome’s
axiom that the word “baptism” must always
refer to the sacramental application of water in Christian
baptism must be refuted. If the axiom falls, the Roman
argument loses all its force. Let us begin with John
3:5. Was Jesus referring to Christian baptism when
He said, “Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God” (John 3:5, KJV)? The answer is No, for
a very simple reason:
Jesus was addressing
Nicodemus in the context of what Nicodemus should
have known from the Old Testament. “Art thou
a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?”
(John 3:10, KJV). Where in the Old Testament could
Nicodemus have learned about a Trinitarian baptism?
Jesus could not have been chiding Nicodemus for not
knowing something that Jesus would institute after
His resurrection. He was appealing to something Nicodemus
should have already known, i.e., from the Old Testament
scriptures. The meaning of “water” in
v. 5 must therefore be derived from them.
We note from Isaiah
44:3 that God promises to pour out water and His Spirit;
Ezekiel 36:25-26 speaks of sprinkling water in the
context of giving a new heart and placing God’s
Spirit in the believer; Jeremiah 4:14 commands Jerusalem
to “wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved,” not “wash thy bodies”
but “wash thine heart”; and Psalms 51:2,7,10
speaks of washing from sin in the context of creating
a clean heart, and renewing a right spirit “within
me.” Because the Old Testament overwhelmingly
associates “cleansing of the heart” with
water and spirit, the allegory in John 3:5 must speak
of rebirth, and not Trinitarian Christian baptism.
As can be seen, with this the testimony of the New
Testament overwhelmingly agrees.
1 Peter
3:21
Peter wrote, “The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save
us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21,
KJV.) Rome uses this to prove that baptism saves.
We agree with the statement, but not Rome’s
definition of “baptism.” In fact, Peter
rules out water baptism entirely: “not
the putting away of the filth of the flesh.”
Of what, precisely, is Peter speaking if not water
baptism? He is speaking of “the answer of a
good conscience toward God,” and that is regeneration.
Consider the weighty scriptural testimony that it
is a “sprinkled heart” and not a “sprinkled
body,” a “pure heart and mind” not
a “pure body” that results in the answer
of a good conscience:
“Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water.” (Hebrews 10:22, KJV).
“Now the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned:” (1 Timothy 1:5, KJV).
“Unto the
pure all things are pure: but unto them that are
defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even
their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus
1:15, KJV).
In that light, and
given Peter’s explicit denial that he is speaking
of water baptism in 1 Peter 3:21, what else can "the
answer of a good conscience" be but regeneration
by “hearts sprinkled” (Heb 10:22) rather
than by "bodies sprinkled"? Thus, 1 Peter
3:21 maintains a “wall of separation”
between the figure or the sign, and what the sign
signifies. The water of the flood is the sign/figure
of baptism (v. 20), but the baptism that saves is
what the water signifies: regeneration.
Colossians
2:12
The context of this
verse is quite telling. The two preceding verses make
clear that Paul is not going to be talking about water
baptism: “And ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power: In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
(Colossians 2:10,11, KJV). What, precisely, is the
circumcision made without hands, and what are its
fruits? Circumcision without hands is “circumcision
of the foreskin of the heart” as in Deuteronomy
10:16, and the result is that we are “no more
stiffnecked.” That is the context of what Paul
is about to say next—he appeals to the Old Testament
as preface to the recent regeneration of the believers
in Collossae, and he cites their “being no more
stiffnecked” as evidence of rebirth (cf. Col
1:6). Paul in vv. 10-12 was saying we are complete
in Him though circumcision of the foreskin of the
heart which, making us alive, leads to “putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ.” The “circumcision of Christ”
is “the circumcision made without hands”
which is circumcision of the heart, or rebirth. The
two are co-identified as rebirth. He continues, and
having already twice clarified that he is speaking
of a transformation of the heart, then clarifies three
more times that he is writing of an inner transformation
of rebirth and not something done with human hands
or even by water: “Buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God,
who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians
2:12,13, KJV).
Baptism in Colossians
2:12 is therefore clearly identified with the Old
Testament practice of circumcision. But Paul is clearly
speaking of “hearts baptized”
just as Moses had been speaking of “hearts
circumcised” (Deuteronomy 10:16) and as Jeremiah
had been speaking of “hearts washed”
(Jeremiah 4:14).
Romans
6:4 and Titus 3:5
Likewise, Paul,
in his letter to Titus spoke of the “washing
of regeneration” (3:5) not the “regeneration
of washing.” This is none other than that of
which Jeremiah had been speaking, namely “washed
hearts.” And finally, in Romans 6:4, Paul speaks
of baptism in precisely the same way he did in Colossians
2:12, specifically as rebirth to newness of life.
Compare:
“Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead.” (Colossians
2:12, KJV).
“Therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4, KJV).
We note in both
cases that Paul is writing of walking in newness of
life due to “circumcision made without hands”
(Colossians 2:11) and “circumcision of the heart”
(Romans 2:29).
This renewal of
the heart, according to the consistent testimony of
David, Ezekiel and Isaiah, is an operation of the
Spirit of God, which is rebirth or regeneration. And
since Paul identifies the baptism of the Spirit as
the means of entry into the Body of Christ.
“For by
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;
and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 12:13, KJV).
We therefore conclude
with him that rebirth “is the gateway into the
Church,” not “water baptism,” and
rebirth is precisely what Jesus was speaking of in
John 3:5, as was Peter in 1 Peter 3:21, Paul in Titus
3:5, Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6:4.
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