http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1232
Is Baptism a Symbol?
The design of water baptism in the New Testament is unquestionably to
allow for the sinner’s sins to be removed by the blood of Jesus. This
purpose is variously described as “to be saved” (Mark 16:16), “for the
remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), to “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27), to
“enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5), to “wash away your sins” (Acts
22:16), to place one “into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13) and “into
Christ” (Romans 6:3). These are parallel expressions that pinpoint the
same design.
In an effort to avoid the clear import of such verses, some theologians have concocted the notion that water baptism is a
post-salvation action that
follows
the forgiveness of sins. Christendom, almost in its entirety, insists
that remission of sin is imparted to the sinner at the very moment the
sinner “believes” (i.e., accepts Jesus as personal Savior). This
reception of Christ is an internal, mostly intellectual/mental decision
in which the individual makes a genuine commitment to receive Jesus as
Lord.
In his book
How To Be Born Again, Billy Graham articulated the
viewpoint espoused by the bulk of Christendom: “All you have to do to
be born again is to repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus as
your personal Lord and Savior” (1977, p. 156). He stated further:
“Faith is trust, an act of commitment, in which I open the door of my
heart to Him” (p. 160); “It means a single, individual relinquishment of
mind and heart toward the one person, Jesus Christ” (p. 161);
“Conversion occurs when we repent and place our faith in Christ” (p.
162). Near the close of his book, Graham summarized the prevailing view
of when forgiveness occurs:
Make it happen now. …If you are willing to repent for
your sins and to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can
do it now. At this moment you can either bow your head or get on your
knees and say this little prayer which I have used with thousands of
persons on every continent: O God, I acknowledge that I have sinned
against You. I am sorry for my sins. I am willing to turn from my sins. I
openly receive and acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Savior. I confess Him
as Lord. From this moment on I want to live for Him and serve Him. In
Jesus’ name. Amen. …If you are willing to make this decision and have
received Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior, then you have become a
child of God in whom Jesus Christ dwells. …You are born again (pp.
168-169, emp. in orig.).
Mr. Graham leaves no doubt as to his view of when forgiveness of sins
occurs, and that it occurs before and without water baptism.
Another popular Christian writer, Max Lucado, expressed the same viewpoint in his book,
He Did This Just for You:
Would you let him save you? This is the most important decision you
will ever make. Why don’t you give your heart to him right now? Admit your need. Agree with his work. Accept his gift. Go to God in prayer and tell him, I am a sinner in need of grace. I believe that Jesus died for me on the cross. I accept your offer of salvation. It’s a simply prayer with eternal results (2000, p. 50, italics and emp. in orig.).
Lucado then followed this statement with a “response page” that
provided the reader with the opportunity to make the decision that he
(Lucado) has just advocated. The page, titled “Your Response,” includes
the statement, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living
God. I want him to be the Lord of my life,” and is followed by two blank
lines, one for the reader to sign his or her name, and the other to
record the date (p. 51).
These two widely recognized figures are sufficient to establish the
point: most within Christendom believe that salvation occurs
prior
to water baptism. The Protestant world has insisted that water baptism
is a secondary and subsequent action to salvation. But if this is the
case, what then is the purpose of baptism? Various religionists have
maintained that it serves as “an outward sign of an inward grace.” That
is, since a person already has received the saving grace of God by which
sins have been cleansed, baptism serves the purpose of providing an
outward demonstration or public declaration that the person has already been saved. The claim is that baptism is a
symbol—a visible expression of the forgiveness already received at the point of faith.
Perhaps the reader would be shocked to find that the Bible nowhere
articulates this unbiblical—albeit provocative—concept. It is the
figment of someone’s vivid imagination that has been taken up and
repeated so often that it “sounds biblical,” even when it is not. When
Ananias prodded Paul to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins,
calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16), he said nothing about an
alleged
symbolic (versus actual) cleansing or
post-forgiveness
washing. He uttered not one word that would lead the unbiased reader to
even remotely conclude that Paul’s sins were washed away
before he was baptized in water.
The grammar that the Holy Spirit selected by which to express Himself
is very often a key to allowing the Bible to interpret itself. In Acts
22:16, the grammar militates against the denominational interpretation
that so often is placed on Paul’s baptism. The Holy Spirit utilized two
participles and two verbs in verse 16 that clarify His intended meaning:
anastas is an aorist active participle: “having arisen” or “rising”
baptisai is an aorist middle imperative verb: “get yourself baptized”
apolousai is also an aorist middle imperative verb: “get your sins washed away”
epikalesamenos is an aorist middle participle: “you will have been calling”
An adverbial participle is a participle that is used as an adverb to
modify the verb. “Calling” is an adverbial participle of manner. It
shows the
manner in which the main verbs are
accomplished. The verbs (“baptized” and “wash away sins”)—joined by the
coordinate conjunction “and” (
kai)—are “causative middles”
(Robertson, 1934, p. 808) in the aorist tense, and so relate to the
aorist middle of the participle that follows (“calling”). Hence, a
literal translation would be: “Having arisen, get yourself baptized and
get your sins washed away, and you will have been calling on the name
of the Lord.” In other words, Ananias was telling Paul that the way to
accomplish “calling on the Lord” was to be baptized and have his sins
washed away.
But doesn’t the Bible teach that baptism is, in fact, a
symbol?
Doesn’t baptism have “symbolic” significance? Yes, the Bible assigns
symbolic significance to baptism in regard to at least three distinct
features.
ROMANS 6:3-18
In a context dealing with the power of the Gospel to counteract sin
(5:20), Paul addressed the potential misconception that some may form in
thinking that the continued indulgence in sin might be justified in
order to allow grace to flourish (6:1). When the Romans became
Christians, they died to sin (vs. 2). Thus, they should no more have
continued a sinful lifestyle, than a physically deceased person could
continue living physically. In arguing his point, Paul informed the
Romans that water baptism symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus. He used the term “likeness” (and later “form”) to pinpoint
this symbolism:
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For
he who has died has been freed from sin (Romans 6:3-8).
When the believing, penitent non-Christian allows him or herself to be
lowered into the watery grave of baptism, a parallel to Christ’s
redemptive work is taking place. Baptism is into Christ’s
death
because that is where He shed His blood on our behalf. The atoning
activity of Christ was achieved in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Consequently, the alien sinner taps into that redemptive power in the
act of water immersion. The “newness of life”
follows—not
precedes—baptism (vs. 6). The “old man of sin,” the “body of sin,” is
eliminated in the waters of baptism. Being immersed in water— “buried in
baptism” (vs. 4)—is equivalent to “you obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine to which you were delivered” (vs. 17). Only
then,
i.e., in the act of emulating Jesus’ atonement in the waters of baptism,
is one “set free from sin” (vs. 18). To summarize, notice that seven
significant achievements occur at the point of water immersion: (1)
baptized into Christ; (2) baptized into Christ’s death; (3) newness of
life; (4) united in His death; (5) old man/body of sin crucified/done
away; (6) no longer slaves of sin; and (7) freed from sin.
COLOSSIANS 2:11-13
A second depiction of baptism as a symbol is seen in Paul’s
identification of a link between baptism and the Old Testament practice
of circumcision. God introduced the rite of circumcision into His
covenant relationship with Abraham (Genesis 17:10ff.). This surgical
procedure was strictly a
physical feature of the Abrahamic covenant sustained by God with the
physical descendants of Abraham, i.e., the Israelites. In this sense, it did not pertain ultimately to one’s
spiritual
standing with God (1 Corinthians 7:19). In contrasting and comparing
Christianity with various unacceptable religions and philosophies, Paul
used the physical rite of Jewish circumcision as a parallel to water
baptism:
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also
were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him
from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him,
having forgiven you all trespasses (Colossians 2:11-14).
One must be very careful to allow the text to express itself with
regard to the intended symbolism, refraining from drawing unintended
points of comparison. The point that Paul was making is the idea that as
skin was cut off in the act of circumcision, so sins are cut off at
baptism—
skin vs.
sin!
Paul underscored this meaning by alluding to the fact that baptism in
water involves a burial followed by a resurrection—being “raised” (vs.
12). Twelve verses later, he again referred to this rising from the
waters of baptism: “If then you were
raised with Christ…” (3:1,
emp. added). The conclusion is unmistakable: being buried/lowered into
the waters of baptism, and then being raised from those waters, is the
point at which sin is removed from the sinner—in the same way that flesh
was removed from the body in the act of circumcision. In fact, Paul
presented precisely the same case to the Colossians that he presented to
the Romans. Note carefully the points of comparison in the following
chart:
| Romans 6 |
Colossians 2&3 |
| (6:2) “we died” |
(3:3) “you died” |
| (6:8) “we died with Christ” |
(2:20) “you died with Christ” |
| (6:4) “buried with Him/baptism” |
(2:12) “buried with Him/baptism” |
| (6:4) “Christ raised from dead” |
(2:12) “raised Him from dead” |
| (6:4) “Walk in newness of life” |
(3:5) “put to death your members” |
| (6:2) “live any longer in it” |
(3:7) “when you lived in them” |
| (6:4) “Walk in newness of life” |
(3:1) “Seek things above” |
Both passages teach that people are dead in sin and lost until they
access the benefits of the death of Christ by being buried in water
baptism. At that point, a person becomes dead to sin in the mind of God.
Coming up out of the waters of baptism is a type of resurrection that
signals a change in the way that person now lives life.
1 PETER 3:20-22
Peter added a third instance of baptism’s symbolic value.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive
by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in
prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine
longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being
prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through
water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the
removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into
heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and
powers having been made subject to Him (1 Peter 3:18-22).
Peter made a powerful point of comparison. The antediluvian people had
the opportunity to hear God’s will for their lives. Noah preached to
them (2 Peter 2:5), perhaps for over a century (Genesis 6:3). But the
day came when God brought the Flood waters upon the Earth, drowning the
entire human population with the exception of only eight individuals.
Peter noted that those eight people were “saved by (i.e.,
dia—
through)
water,” i.e., through the medium of water. In other words, God used
water as the dividing line between the lost and the saved. The water was
the medium that separated the eight members of Noah’s family from the
rest of humanity. He then compared those Flood waters with the water of
baptism. The water of baptism is the dividing line that God has
designated to distinguish between the lost person and the saved person.
But does that mean that H
20 is the
cleansing agent? Of course not. Such a conclusion would contradict other
clear biblical testimony. Salvation is dependent upon and accomplished
by means of the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross: His death,
burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Likewise, immersion
must be preceded by faith, repentance, and confession of the deity of
Christ. But Peter included this very point in his discussion. When one
removes the parenthetical material from the verse, the interplay between
baptism and Christ’s redemptive activity is clearly seen: “There is
also an antitype which now saves us—baptism—through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.” “Resurrection” is the figure of speech known as
synecdoche in which the part is put in place of the whole.
“Resurrection” includes the entire atoning event of Jesus—death, burial,
and resurrection. Hence, Peter attributed one’s salvation to Christ’s
work on the cross—but the application of this salvific achievement to
the sinner occurs
at the point of baptism.
CONCLUSION
The Bible is its own best interpreter. It teaches that baptism is, indeed, a symbol.
But what does baptism symbolize?
It symbolizes: (1) Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection; (2) the
act of “cutting off ” in circumcision; and (3) the waters of the Flood.
How could anyone get out of this that
baptism symbolizes past forgiveness that was achieved
prior
to being immersed? The honest exegete is forced to conclude that the
Bible nowhere expounds such a notion. The symbolism associated with
water baptism further verifies the essentiality of immersion as a
mandatory prerequisite to forgiveness. We dare not go beyond what is
written (1 Corinthians 4:6), since it is by Jesus’ words that we will be
judged (John 12:48).
REFERENCES
Graham, Billy (1977),
How to be Born Again (Waco, TX: Word Books).
Lucado, Max (2000),
He did This Just for You (Nashville, TN: Word).
Robertson, A.T. (1934),
A Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman).
One
of the first steps to becoming a good student in school is to learn the
basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Students spend hours trying
to master the basics of arithmetic. But it seems that students in grade
school are not the only math masters. A new study indicates that plants
may be exceptional at math as well. Allison Smith and Martin Howard of
the John Innes Center in Norwich suggest that plants perform basic
arithmetic in order to preserve the correct amount of starch during the
night (Ledford, 2013). Heidi Ledford, writing for Nature News,
explained that scientists once thought plants broke down starch at night
time at a fairly constant rate. Experimental results, however, have
shown that plants can vary their rate of starch consumption based on the
number of hours of darkness they experience. Regardless of how many
hours plants sit in darkness, they can regulate their starch use so that
virtually no starch remains when the light returns (2013).