Blake Long

Baptism has been on my mind a lot in lately. One of my pastors preached a great sermon not simply on why and when you should be baptized, but the joy experienced through it. Baptism is a beautiful ordinance established by God, and we should think more about it.

There are many questions concerning baptism that believers have debated for centuries—how should you be baptized, when should it happen, and who should be baptized?

The biggest question, to me, is one concerning if baptism saves a person. Is there something in the water that causes a person to be regenerated? Does God bestow a salvific blessing on a person when he or she comes up from the water?

These are good questions to ask, but I think the answer is pretty simple. Before we answer the ultimate question, let’s talk about what baptism is. Of course, denominations answer this question differently. The Presbyterian answer, for example, will be different from the Southern Baptist answer; and both of those answers will be different from the Lutheran answer! With my cards fully on the table, I will be explaining what baptism is in the Southern Baptist view.

The view I will be referring to is specifically called credo-baptism. This particular view is summed up succinctly in the Baptist Faith & Message:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

For a baptism to be biblical, two things must occur.

One, the baptism must be by immersion, which, like shown above, symbolizes the Christian’s death to sin (down into the water) and then the resurrection to newness of life (coming up out of the water). If a Christian is not immersed, it is not a biblical baptism. The evidence for immersion is seen foremost in Jesus’s baptism in Matthew 3:13-17, which specifically states He “came up out of the water.” There’s more than that, but that’s one example.

Two, baptism must take place after conversion. If someone gets baptized who is not actually a believer—someone who is possibly self-deceived—then their baptism was no more than getting wet. Many professing Christians get baptized before their conversion because, mistakenly, they believe that baptism is what saves them.

Let me state it as plainly as I can: baptism does not save you. There’s not something in the water, contrary to what Carrie Underwood says.

Perhaps you might have objections to that. What do you do with the couple of verses that seem to indicate baptismal regeneration? Let’s look at both briefly:

Acts 2:38

“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The confusion in this passage is erased quickly when we understand what the word for means here. It’s not saying you must be baptized in order to receive forgiveness, as if there is some type of salvific transaction taking place. The word for is to be rightly translated as because of. When read properly, the text is saying you ought to be repent and baptized because you’ve received the forgiveness of sins.

My former pastor always made this insightful analogy. It’s like when someone goes to prison, and that person says, “I’m in prison for [fill in the blank.” The inmate is not saying he or she is in prison to receive something, but because of something.

Therefore, being baptized isn’t the cause of forgiveness, but the result of it. It’s the same as simply being obedient to God. We do not strive for obedience to obtain salvation, but because we’ve already received it. We don’t obey for God’s favor, but from it.

1 Peter 3:21

“Baptism, which corresponds to this, 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,”

Those who hold to baptismal regeneration point to this passage as proof of said doctrine. They say, “See, it says ‘baptism saves you’”! The only problem, of course, are the words before and after that. Like we’ve all heard before: context matters.

And so, contextually, this verse is not a proof text for baptismal regeneration. It’s not saying one has to be baptized in order to be saved. (Thief on the cross, anyone?) First, this verse is making a parallel between baptism and Noah’s ark. Second, baptism is symbolized as a purifier of sorts.

John Piper explains:

Peter has just referred to Noah’s flood and the rescue of eight people in the ark. And then he says, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you [notice how he qualifies this], 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” (1 Peter 3:21).

In other words, the waters of baptism are like the waters of Noah’s flood. We are saved from that judgment. How? Peter clarifies and qualifies, lest we think it’s the actual physical enactment of passing through the water that saves. He says salvation happens “not [a big not] as a removal of dirt from the body,” and then he gives baptism a particular slant: “but as an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21). This appeal is an act of the heart looking away from itself and from all human instruments and calling on God, appealing to God, for grace to save.

In the end, we understand that though baptism is extremely important to the Christian faith, it has no bearing on one’s salvation. Scripture is abundantly clear: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9).

Does someone have to be baptized to be saved? Absolutely not. Just look at the thief on the cross! Should a person be baptized if he or she has been saved and has the opportunity to? Absolutely. In fact, I would be concerned if someone was apathetic toward being baptized. Remember, to be baptized is a command of the Lord! But it’s also a beautiful testimony to what God has done in your life.

We must always stand by the free grace offer of salvation to those who believe. We don’t need to perform any acts, walk any lines, jump through any hoops to be saved—including baptism. One must simply believe upon Christ and repent. Amen.