"BAPTISM, its MODE"
Larry Yarber
"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. ..." (Acts 10:47-48).
There can be no doubt but that the baptism of the great commission was/is a baptism of water (Mark 16:15-16 and Matthew 28:18-20). As seen above, the baptism which was taught after the crucifixion of our Lord and during the infancy state of the church was/is a water baptism. When Philip preached Jesus unto the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Eunuch responded in obedience to the gospel by saying, "... See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ... 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. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the Eunuch saw him no more: ..." (Acts 8:35-40). Due to time and space, we will only cite these two examples in order to illustrate the practice of water baptism in keeping with the commandment of the great commission.
Baptism is not affusion, "The act of pouring or sprinkling liquid upon, as for baptism" (WEBSTER, p. 20). Some of our Greek scholars define baptizo and bapto, the Greek words from which we get our English word baptism; "baptizo, bap-tid-zo; from a der. of bapto; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet); ..." and, "bapto, bap-to; a prim. verb; to whelm, i.e. cover wholly with a fluid; ..." (STRONG, pgs. 129 and 21). Vine defines baptism, "baptisma, 'baptism', consisting of the process of immersion, submersion and emergence (from bapto, 'to dip'), ..." (VINE, p., 50). Baptism is repeatedly referred to in scripture as a burial, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: ..." (Romans 6:4) and, "Buried with him in baptism, ..." (Colossians 2:12). We can no more bury a person in the watery grave of baptism by affusion than we can bury our deceased by pouring a handful of earth on them or by sprinkling them with dirt. Baptism is a burial. In order to be scripturally baptized a person must be completely immersed.
Affusion was introduced to the religious world by Catholicism. Novatian, a critically ill man, expressed the desire to be baptized while on his death bed. Since no facilities were available, water was sprinkled or poured on him. This practice became known as clinical baptism and eventually found its way into the church. Although this practice was introduced by Catholicism, the Roman Catholic Church admits that immersion was the original practice and the Greek Catholic Church testifies that immersion was the original practice, and continues to practice immersion unto this day. Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church, said, “Baptism is a Greek word, and may be translated immersion, as when we immerse something in water, that it may be wholly covered”. John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian Church said, “The word baptize signifies to immerse, and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church”. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist faith, said, “We are buried with Him” – alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion (Wesley’s notes on Romans 6:4). The Methodist Church approves of immersion and immerses those who request it. The Church of England (The Episcopalian Church) admits that immersion was the original practice as well. Affusion is not synonymous with baptism as many of the early religious leaders have pointed out.
If you would like to submit a Biblical question for our consideration, please call: 417 – 962 – 5229 or 417 – 247 – 0017, or write: Larry Yarber -2534 – Oak Ridge Drive – Mountain Grove, Missouri – 65711. We look forward to studying God’s Word with you.