Baptism

“…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19 NIV).

   Today is my 26th spiritual birthday and I am grateful to God!  I did something great last year during this week – I got baptized in water as a believer in Jesus.  Quite unusual for a person who had been following Jesus for 25 years and who does vocational ministry work.  Yet I was totally blessed.
   My parents had me baptized as a wee infant.  They were not Christians at the time, but considered it a proper cultural practice.  Twenty-two years later, on April 15, 1990, I truly believed in Jesus, receiving Him.  Later that year I worshiped in a church near my home.  One Sunday the minister baptized two adult twin brothers, an act I had never seen, having only witnessed an infant baptism.
   Watching the caring minister baptize those two young men, I had an urge to be baptized.  But I was familiar with the Nicene Creed which was recited frequently in the Anglican church I attended in the months preceding my conversion.  That historic creed includes the statement, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”  Thus I figured you were not supposed to get baptized again.  And only a few months later I returned to that church which had been a blessing for me before I turned to Jesus.  I ended up committing there for over six years, yet I never forgot the baptism urge I had as a new Christian.
   As I grew in the love and knowledge of Jesus in my early Christian years, I became convicted from the Bible that water baptism should be the personal choice of a person who believes in Jesus.  Yet I remained in the same Anglican church and accepted my infant baptism.  I still tried to be an influence for correct doctrine, which brought some strife in my church life.  It finally came to the point after I started serving as a youth pastor that when the minister performed infant baptisms, which was infrequent, I would leave the sanctuary of my church and pray in the foyer, not making a scene.  But several times I was vocal in expressing my conviction, once to a bishop I admired in that denomination.  He actually took my conviction better than many.  I realize now I brought hardship upon myself remaining so long in a community which did not better fit my doctrinal convictions.  I am thankful that when I was in churches of that denomination, I was loyal to my brothers and sisters, and I still love them though I have left.
   What I did not realize was infant baptism is a practice extremely rooted in Christian history because of it’s solidification by Bishop Augustine.  That man advocated all infants should be baptized in water because his Biblical interpretation was a person needs to be baptized in water in order to be saved from hell.  Thus in order not to leave out children, which was caring, he advocated infant baptism.  Questions then arose: How do we know if an infant is truly going to believe?  What about the infants who are not baptized because their parents are not Christians?  Augustine then injected his doctrine of predestination saying everyone’s salvation is totally in God’s hands since God predetermined before time who would be saved and who would be designated to hell, so we do not need to worry about the details, rather just try and baptize all the infants you can. (1)  The crazy thing is I was a Christian for many years before learning about all this.  I also learned from the same book that John Chrysostom was not in agreement with Augustine concerning the predestination doctrine.  Though Augustine’s doctrine was not the sole doctrine, his writing was the most influential down through all these centuries, and he is still influential today.
   Yet I am in utter agreement with many followers of Jesus throughout the centuries and today who interpret the Bible to teach that the atonement of Jesus was unlimited.  Jesus Christ died for everyone!  And He gives us the free will to decide as to whether we want to receive His gift of salvation.  And I am in agreement with many followers of Jesus who interpret the Bible to teach salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  There is nothing more you need to do to be saved.  All believers should be baptized in water, but that is not what brings salvation.  For the person who believes in Jesus, he or she is then forgiven of his or her sins, and then that person is baptized with the Holy Spirit by Jesus (John 1:33)!  Baptism by the Holy Spirit should precede baptism done by a human, since water baptism is meant to be an outward sign of what has spiritually taken place in a person’s heart.
   To complete my personal story, one summer day I was invited by a friend to view a baptism carried out by his church at a nearby river.  I had never seen folks baptized in a river and it increased my longing to be baptized.  The final kicker was when I took “Introduction to Theology” at Colorado Christian University.  After writing an eight page paper on baptism, I enthusiastically committed to be “re-baptized.”
   After being turned down by two people who I asked to baptize me, because both thought they had no such authority since they were not vocational ministers,(which I do not agree with), the time finally came in a big way.   Four days after my 25th spiritual birthday, in a church which has numerous students worshiping on any given Sunday during the school year from Cornell University and Ithaca College, I was baptized in water.  All candidates at that church must give a testimony.  I was so emotional I had to read what I wrote rather than just saying it from memory.  I was so emotional, several times I had to restrain myself from crying.  It was a powerful.
   I requested to be baptized in a forward manner, since for years I had been nervous watching people immersed backwards, which is a long story.  Plus most of them hold their nose.  Going forward I did not need to hold my nose.  And in some denominations, such as the Brethren, forward baptizing is the standard practice.
   The bottom line is it was a great day.  I was on a cloud the entire week after being baptized.
   Jesus Christ died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone.  He was the substitutional sacrifice for the wages of sins which is spiritual death.  If you believe in Jesus, you will have everlasting life with Him, the One who was resurrected from death for evermore.  Your salvation is not dependent on an act done by a human.  However, if you have not been baptized in water, you should do so.  It was a commandment of Jesus!  And Jesus baptized people in water Himself (John 3:22)!  If you are a believer in Jesus and you were baptized with water as an infant, it is my Biblical interpretation you can accept that infant baptism, though a number of ministers disagree, however I assure you a decision to be re-baptized will be a blessing you will treasure always!  And being re-baptized will be a big witness to others who need to know Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and best Friend.
Hunter

Only if you want to see my baptism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ubsCidqcU

(1) Christopher Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2002), 152-153.