Baptism Sprinkling, Pouring, or Immersion? Good morning and welcome to another Berean Break. My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you could be with us today. Pull up a chair, pull out your Bible, and let's learn some truth from the word of God. But first let's go to God in prayer: Great God in heaven, we thank You for this day in our lives. May we use this day to draw closer to You. As we study together this morning, help us to shed the man-made doctrines that are in this world and to accept Your will. May each of us now open our hearts to You and obey You with our lives. In Jesus' Name, AMEN!! So far in our series of lessons dealing with baptism, that is, water baptism as Jesus commanded in what we call the Great Commission, in the New Testament, we have seen that baptism is essential to salvation. Jesus said in Mark 16:16 (NASB) "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. When those who were present on the day of Pentecost asked Peter and the other apostles what they must do to be saved, Peter told them in Acts 2:38 (NASB) "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Consider also Ananias' words to Paul, as Paul recounts it in Acts 22:16 (NASB) And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.' But even after establishing the necessity of baptism as a condition of salvation, questions sometimes remain. Is baptism to be in the form of immersion of the lost believer or pouring water on them or
sprinkling water on them? Should infants be baptized? Is there ever a reason for a person to be baptized a second time? This lesson will deal with the first of these questions, "Is baptism to be in the form of immersion of the lost believer or pouring water on them or sprinkling water on them?" First, consider the Koiné Greek words for baptize and baptism. These Koiné Greek words are "baptizo" and "baptisma." The words "baptism" and "baptize" are not actually translations of these words; they are transliterations. That is, the letters in the Koiné Greek words are simply replaced with their English equivalent letters. In order to confirm the actual meaning, we can go to several sources that are helpful in understanding the Koiné Greek language. Before we look at these I want you to understand what a lexicon is designed to do. Lexicons are a multi-language dictionary, they take a word in one language and define it with a word in another language. Let s say you were going to Mexico on vacation, you may pick up an English-Spanish lexicon. In this book there will be a section that lists the English words and then gives the Spanish word that is its equivalent. Then there will be another section where it lists the Spanish word and it give the English word. That would be a very basic lexicon. When we study Koiné Greek words we use Greek- English lexicons. First, Thayer's Greek-English lexicon defines "baptize" as "to immerse, plunge, or dip." So does The Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words indicates baptism consists of the processes of immersion, submersion, and emergence. There is not any standard Greek-English lexicon that defines the Koiné Greek word "baptizo" as sprinkle or pour. It is important to keep in mind that the words baptize and baptism are simply transliterations of the Koiné Greek words, not translations. They were transliterated, rather than translated, in order to avoid offending those persons who practice pouring or sprinkling. But when these words are translated into English, they can only mean "to immerse," or "immersion." But someone might ask, "What about our modern English
dictionaries? Don't they define baptism as sprinkling, pouring, or immersion?" Yes, in some instances they may. But these dictionaries reflect the common usage of these words by people in our day and time. They do not indicate the meaning of the word "baptism" as it is used in the Bible. In order to know exactly what was meant by Jesus and his apostles when they spoke of baptism, we must look to see how this word was used at the time of Jesus and his apostles. If they had wanted to say that a person needed to be "poured upon" they would have used the Koiné Greek word "cheo" or some form of it. For sprinkling they would have used a form of the word "rhaino." But nowhere in the Scriptures are these words used when referring to the baptism that is a part of God's plan of salvation. In order to further determine whether baptism consists of sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, we can consider the figures of speech that are used to describe baptism. Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-4 (NASB) Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Consider also Paul's words from Colossians 2:12, (NASB) having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Which one of the following actions, sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, is a burial? Which one of the following actions, sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, is a likeness of his resurrection? It is obvious that only immersion, followed by coming up out of the water, fits Paul's description of baptism. Consider the following writings of men, which are not given as authoritative proof on baptism being immersion, because the Bible alone is that authority. These are given to show that even followers of man-made religions can understand that when the Bible speaks
of baptism it is referring to immersion not sprinkling or pouring. In his commentary on Colossians 2:12 Adam Clarke, a Methodist, wrote, "Alluding to the immersion practiced..." John Wesley, also a Methodist, commenting on Romans 6:4, spoke of, "the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion." J. Cunningham, an Episcopalian, wrote, "Baptism means immersion; and it was immersion. Unless it had been so, Paul's analogical argument about our being buried with Christ in baptism would have had no meaning. Lightfoot, also an Episcopalian, wrote, "Baptism is the grave of the old man and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins; as he emerges thence he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and a new life. This baptism is an image of his participation both in the death and resurrection of Christ." Tholuck, a Lutheran, wrote, "in the early days of the church, persons, when baptized, were first plunged below and then raised above the water." To this I would add that the church, that is the Lord's church still plunges people below and raises them above the water. Brenner, a Catholic, wrote, "For thirteen hundred years baptism was an immersion of the person under water." Every one of these men, being members of their various denominations, held to numerous points of error in their theology. Yet they all understood that the baptism of the early church consisted of immersion, even though their various denominations practice sprinkling or pouring today.
Since these writers all affirm that immersion is the only form of baptism taught in the Bible, why do so many people accept sprinkling or pouring as "baptism?" Many of these people make the mistake of assuming that apostolic commands and examples are not binding. Human wisdom may sometimes alter specific Bible teaching in what they call "rites" or "customs." Basically they have replaced the Word of God with the word of men. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day for making the same mistake. Note the following from Matthew 15:1-9,(NASB) Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." And He answered and said to them, "And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? "For God said, Honor your father and mother,' and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.' "But you say, Whoever shall say to his father or mother, "Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God," he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'" This same teaching is recorded also in Mark 7:1-13. These people made the mistake of laying aside the commandments of God, keeping instead the traditions of men. By keeping certain traditions, they neglected to keep the commandments of God. When a person practices pouring water on a person or sprinkling water on a person today in place of immersing that person, they are keeping the traditions of men, rather than the commandments of God. They are invalidating the commandment of God, to be baptized, that is immersed, for the sake of their traditions. These people may be sincere, yet they are still wrong. One cannot be right unless he is doing God's will. Check out what Jesus said in
Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB) "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' Love for Jesus is manifested by keeping His commandments as Jesus Himself says in John 14:15 (NASB) "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. As a final consideration, notice the baptism of the Ethiopian as recorded in Acts 8:35-39, (NASB) And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."] And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. Did you notice? Both Phillip and the Ethiopian went down into the water. After the Ethiopian was baptized, they, Phillip and the Ethiopian, both came up out of the water. The Ethiopian's baptism demonstrates an immersion. Since we have seen in previous lessons that baptism is essential to salvation, in Love I ask Have you been baptized? What about your baptism? Was your baptism like the one described in Acts 8:35-39? If you had water sprinkled or poured on you, you kept the tradition
of man, not the commandment of God. If you have not been baptized, that is, immersed in water, as commanded by Jesus and His apostles, then you have not had your sins forgiven as we read in Acts 2:38. You have not yet put on Christ as Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-27. We would love to help you obey the gospel. This Berean Break is brought to you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Ave. in Mitchell SD. You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday Mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study, also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to study God's Word. If you have a comment or a sincere Bible question, please phone us at 605-770-5555. We want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, "KNOW YOUR BIBLE" on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. This is George A. Sinkie for the Lord's church, here in Mitchell, good-bye for now, Remember that we care about you and may God bless you as you do His will. All quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the: New American Standard Bible. 1986 (electronic edition.) La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.