A Study
By Robert L. Cheek Jr.
Baptism is one of those great subjects that have divided professing Christians for centuries. Since we are dealing with a subject that men have debated for hundreds of years, we need to begin by establishing our final authority on the issue. We are not vain enough to think that we are any smarter than others or that we have knowledge above those who would disagree with us. But eventually, something or someone has to be the ultimate authority on this or any subject.
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2 Timothy 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Every Christian has a choice to make with respect to final authority. Either God and His Word are the Final Authority, or man and his word are the final authority. Both cannot be the final authority.
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
We are going to take the position that the Bible is the Final Authority on all matters of faith and practice. It does not matter what men believe or teach. What matters is what God teaches and how much of His Word we believe or reject. That is the position we will take from the beginning of this study; that God and His Word are the Final Authority in the matter of Baptism.
We must begin with the foundation of faith in God’s Word if we are to understand truth. The reason Pilot died and went to hell was because he did not know where truth could be found. He made the statement to Jesus Christ, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). We know that God’s Word is truth and that is where we must start. Next, we must be born again children of God in order to understand truth. It is one thing to know where truth is, but it is another to understand truth. In order to understand truth, we must have the Spirit of Christ in us.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
That verse proves that we get the Holy Spirit at the very moment of salvation because if we do not have the Spirit, we do not belong to Jesus Christ. Once we receive the Spirit of God at the moment of salvation, the Bible says we can then understand truth.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Knowing where truth is and understanding truth as revealed in God’s Word by His Spirit, sets us free from the opinions of men.
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
With the Bible as our Final Authority and the Spirit of God as our Guide and Teacher, we can discern the truth about the subject of Baptism. That truth teaches us that Baptism must be by immersion if it is to be biblical. It cannot be by any other method to be of God. I want to give you four reasons why baptism must be by immersion.
1. Definition Proves Baptism by Immersion
The English word baptize comes from the Gr. word “bap-tid’-zo” which means, “to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet);”. That word comes from the Gr. word “bap’-to” which means, “to whelm, i.e. cover wholly with a fluid;”. The word “whelm” means, “To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides;” Please understand that the word baptize gets its meaning from the word whelm. In other words, they are synonyms; they mean the same thing – to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides.
The ordinance of baptism has been defined and taught in several ways in every denomination, but the definition of the word baptize has only ever had one meaning. It means to immerse or cover wholly with water so that the water envelops on all sides.
It is amazing how much effort is spent by various denominations trying to show that pedobaptism (the baptizing of infants), aspersion (sprinkling), affusion (pouring) are all acceptable methods of baptism. They do their best to justify these methods with a word that has never once meant any of those things. To baptize has always meant by definition, to immerse.
I don’t want to bore you with Greek words and definitions (I am no Greek Scholar at all), but I think it is important to know how people try to justify baptism by another means other than immersion by using the Gr. word.
I want to quote the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (a public domain work) because it appears that the article is obviously against immersion for baptism. I also chose this because it is typical of how some misconstrue the facts of the Word of God, which ought to be our Final Authority. I will quote and then comment on the quote.
“The words commonly used in the New Testament to denote the rite are the verb baptizo, and the nouns baptisma and baptismos; but none are employed in this sense alone. The verb is used to denote the ceremonial purification of the Jews before eating, by pouring water on the hands (Luke 11:38; Mark 7:4); to signify the sufferings of Christ (Mark 10:38-39; Luke 12:50); and to indicate the sacrament of baptism. It is the intensive form of baptein, “to dip,” and takes a wider meaning. The passages Lu ke 11:38 and Mark 7:4 show conclusively that the word does not invariably signify to immerse the whole body.”
Here is what they are saying. Because Luke 11:38 and Mark 7:4 both use the same Greek word that refers to baptism, they say that baptism does not always have to be by immersion. Let’s look at those two verses.
Luke 11:38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
The word washed in the Greek is the same word [bap-tid'-zo] that is translated baptize in every text that deals with baptism in the New Testament.
Mark 7:4 And when they come from the market, except they wash [bap-tid'-zo], they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing [bap-tis-mos'] of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
Here is what they are doing. There are two verses in the Bible that refer to washing of the hands. The Gr. word for washing of the hands in those two verses is the same Gr. word that the Bible uses to identify baptism [bap-tid'-zo]. What they are doing is taking the exception and trying to define the rule, when they ought to be taking the rule to figure out the exception.
The Gr. word bap-tid’-zo is found 65 times. Sixty-three of those times refers to baptism. Two of those times refers to washing the hands (Mark 7:4 and Luke 11:38). So they take the two times it refers to washing the hands and claim that the 63 times can mean pouring. They then define baptism as pouring by using the two exceptions. Instead of using the exception to identify the rule, why not take the rule and identify the exceptions? Doesn’t that make more sense? Instead of questioning the rule, let’s question the exception.
Let me ask a question. How much of the hand gets wet when a person washes their hand? All of it, right? If we are going to wash our hands, we are going to get our hands completely, 100% wet right? That is why the word bap-tid’-zo is used to refer to washing of hands in those verses, because the word bap-tid’-zo means “to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet);”. Now let’s take the definition and apply that to the ordinance of baptism and see which method fits the definition.
Does sprinking make a person fully wet? No it does not.
Does pouring make a person fully wet? No it does not.
Does immersion make a person fully wet? Yes it does.
Does washing the hands make the hands fully wet? Yes it does.
You see, Bible-rejecting theologians try to take the exception and say, “See, you can pour for baptism because people pour water on the hands to wash.” Yes, they do, but their hands get completely wet don’t they? There is not a single denomination that sprinkles every square inch of a person so that they are 100% covered with water (100% wet), as far as I know. There is not a single denomination that pours so much water on a person that they are literally covered 100% with water (100% wet). But there are denominations that immerse 100% of the body so that 100% of the body is wet. Only baptism by immersion accomplishes this and meets the biblical definition of the word bap-tid’-zo.
2. Biblical Examples Prove Baptism by Immersion
Matthew 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
When those Jews saw John the Baptist, they did not think he was John the sprinkler or John the pourer. He was john the baptizer, the one who immerses people in water. That is why he was baptizing in the river Jordan.
Mark 1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
The encyclopedia says that the Jordan river is the major supplier of Lake Tiberius, which supplies over half of the water supply to Israel. The Bible calls Lake Tiberius, the Sea of Tiberius (John 21:1). This is the same sea Peter went fishing in after the Lord was resurrected. The Jordan river is 223 miles long and empties in the Dead Sea. Why did John pick the Jordan river to baptize?
Matthew 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Matthew 3:6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Why not go from city to city and stop off at every well, pull up some water, and either sprinkle or pour water on people? Because baptism by definition means to immerse. Jordan was not the only place that John baptized. There was another place and I find it interesting the reason why John chose this place.
John 3:22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
John 3:23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
Much water is not needed to sprinkle or pour. One can sprinkle or pour with a canteen. But much water would be needed to immerse. Every single biblical example proves that baptism was by immersion. Let’s look at a few.
Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
If Christ came up out of the water, then he obviously went down into the water. He would not have to go down into the water to be sprinkled or poured. But He would definitely have to go down into the water to be immersed.
Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Why does the verse say, “the same day”. Why not say, “The same moment?” Some use this text to prove that they baptized by sprinkling or pouring. How do we know that? Because, they say, there is no large body of water in Jerusalem big enough to baptize all those people. But wait a minute, the text does not explicitly say they were baptized in Jerusalem, it only says that they heard the message in Jerusalem and then afterwards they were baptized. They were baptized and joined the church “the same day.” They could have easily walked to the Jordan river and received believers baptism. Those that John baptized did that.
Mark 1:5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
The crowd that got saved on the day of Pentecost could have easily walked down to the river Jordan and received baptism by the apostles that same day. But wait! There was enough water in Jerusalem to baptize by immersion.
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Smiths Bible Dictionary states that this pool was 360 feet long, 120 feet wide and 80 feet deep with 5 porches that had steps that led down into the water. That’s one big pool of water. It is certainly enough water for twelve men to baptize at the same time 3000 people. That’s only 250 people per apostle. If each apostle baptized 1 person a minute that is 60 and hour. They could have baptized all 3000 people in a little over 4 hours. They could have certainly accomplished it by the end of the day without any problem in a 360 foot long pool. Each apostle could have stood 30 feet apart down the entire pool and had their 250 converts lined up coming down into the water and going back up out of the water. This could easily be done.
John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
The pool was certainly deep enough. If the clumsy and lame people could step down or crawl down into it, 3000 healthy people could have as well. Let’s look at another example.
You know the story of Philip meeting the man of Ethiopia that desired him to show him what the prophet Isaiah meant.
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
This man got saved and Philip obviously instructed him on baptism.
Acts 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Acts 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Let’s ask the obvious question. Why did Philip wait until the eunuch saw enough water to step down in to? Why not lead the man to Christ and immediately take some water from his canteen or water bag and baptize the man right there on the chariot? Why did the man make mention of the water when he saw it? The obvious answer is that they baptized by immersion and that would require enough water to step down into.
There is not one single example of baptism by sprinkling or pouring in the entire Bible. Every single example implies that they went down into water and immersed the believer. We have considered two proofs from the Bible that baptism must be by immersion. In our next lesson, we will present more reasons why baptism MUST be by immersion.
