Sermon Notes: Baptism – Who should be baptized?

NOTE: These notes will probably read easier than making sense of their delivery in the sermon, and that’s likely due to the topical nature of the content and the shape of the notes being more topical and conversational rather than a strict outline of a passage from the Bible. So, bear with the verbal delivery.

The Christian subcultural phenomena of rededication followed by re-baptism emerged as a consistent theme in some of our discussions about baptism this past week. That phenomenon is not unique to us.

Historically this is explainable.

What becomes evident is the loss of biblical and gospel clarity because of canonizing revivalist methodology in hopes of capturing special movements of God.

Example: We lost gospel clarity and understanding of the metanarrative of the Bible (GK Beale) for books on how to do an effective altar call rooted in emotionalism (Charles Finney).

This loss of biblical and gospel clarity replaced by revivalist methodology helped to produce the epidemic of rebaptisms.

The canonizing of revivalist methodology falsely divided conversion and discipleship.

So new Christians never grew in their faith and ability to fight sin with the truth of the gospel. Not growing in faith and lack of gospel clarity to fight sin got folks into the awful cycle of living in sin and rededicating and re-baptizing…multiple times.

You can see evidence of this in the practice of our revivalist invitations and alter calls inviting folks, “to make Jesus the Lord of your life” (NOTE: this invitation has a faulty view of salvation due to loss of gospel clarity.), and this emotional moment led many to question when their salvation occurred because their saving had been tied to some emotional event rooted in a questionable theology rather than the finished work of Jesus.  

Some leaders would suggest re-baptism or agree to re-baptism because someone could never be sure about when they truly believed the gospel and were grasping at straws for some sense of security.  

As you know, and can see, the exaltation of revivalist methodology to the level of normative Christian practice has resulted in confusion about the good news, confusion about baptism, and a lack of confidence in the justifying work of the cross for sinners who repent and believe.

Here is a quick rundown of how we got there:

During medieval times the practice of penance developed within the Catholic Church. Penance was a sort of recommitment. Penance developed into confessing sins to priests around 1200 AD (Pope Gregory called this practice of penance turned to confessing to priests, “confession”.). Thus, we have a first example of recommitting or rededicating to a more holy life.

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century contributed by bringing a renewed focus on personal faith and devotion. This period saw an increased emphasis on individual commitment to faith, often leading to personal moments of rededication among believers.

The modern evangelical movements of the 18th and 19th centuries and the great awakenings in America and Great Britain stressed the importance of a personal conversion experience.

Charles Finney and leaders like John and Charles Wesley in the Methodist movement highlighted the need for ongoing sanctification. This emphasis led to believers regularly rededicating their lives to Christ.

This practice continued in our modern-day evangelical churches. Rededication would be emphasized during altar calls at the end of a worship service or special revival services that were designed to be like the revival meetings of the great awakenings.

We were holding on to the past move of God as a normative structure rather than an exceptional moment to be received for the moment to move us along in the normal and powerful work of disciple-making.

When we hold on to past special movements of God as normative, we canonize the exception and practice it over and above the normal patterns defined in Scripture.

As a result, we tend to study the revivals and writings of revivalists and our favorite theologians more than the Bible.

This leads to us losing gospel and discipleship clarity which leads to us developing an unquestioned practice of winning converts with no emphasis on Jesus’ process of discipleship.

I’m not making things up when I tell you that I have traveled to, spoken at, and attended conferences with pastors in which the central discussion is about the question: “What is the gospel?”.

Some leaders could not answer the question. I would ask them what they told people who wanted to become a Christian, and the answers ranged from some articulation of praying the “sinner’s prayer” to “asking Jesus into your heart” to “giving a cup of cold water to someone in need”. I am not making that up.

As a result, I used to have my students take out a sheet of paper, write the gospel as best as they could understand it, and turn it in. Their answers reflected the spiritual leadership of our churches. Zero gospel clarity.

These experiences helped me to understand how I was so theologically confused as a young man before hearing the good news clearly for the first time at age 20.

Here is the big takeaway: If pastors and ministry leaders are not clear on the good news, then they don’t understand the metanarrative (the worldview) of the gospel, and if they don’t know that, then their understanding of baptism and a host of other downstream issues (in the Bible and our world) is going to be off.

That little history helps us understand why issues like baptism are unclear to us.

Acts 2:14-41 Will lead us to our question: “Who should be baptized?”. Verse 38 will be our key verse because Peter will answer the question as he repeats Jesus from the Great Commission.

We will not stand and read together, but I will read and give a running commentary on the passage until we get to our verses of emphasis, verses 37-38.

The promise Jesus made in John 14-16 of the Holy Spirit is given to his church, and they have been preaching the good news in the languages of the nations gathered at Jerusalem for the feasts.

The giving of the Holy Spirit is so unique and powerful that the hearers accuse the young church of being drunk. So, Peter corrects them and drops the G bomb on them again.

Verse 37 captures the response to the gospel sermon Peter preaches.

Those who heard were “cut to the heart” (Ezekiel 36:24-29), and they asked what they needed to do after their old dead hearts had been wrecked by the gospel.

Peter responds with a simple answer: repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit (whom the young church had just received, and since they received the promises Spirit, so would all who believed).

Verse 38 is often misunderstood. The misunderstanding comes from the preposition “eis” that is translated in our translations as “for”.

We tend to read verse 38 as isolated from the rest of the Bible and Acts and interpret “for” as meaning baptism is necessary and effective to forgive sins. Some people teach this ignorantly.

The problem with this interpretation of “for” is that “eis” is better translated and understood as “on the basis of” because of how the rest of the Bible deals with the forgiveness of sins.

Therefore, the understanding of verse 38 is this: Acts 2:38 (ESV) 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ on the basis of the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That now appropriately shifts our understanding to match the rest of Acts and the Bible’s clarity on forgiveness being the result of faith in Jesus’ justifying work on the cross.

That makes forgiveness, then, the basis for receiving believer’s baptism, and defines the order of events.

To say it another way, baptism is the response of faith that portrays the forgiving work of the gospel that the Holy Spirit makes effective. (See the appendix at the end about the Spirit’s work and different sequences in the book of Acts. Can’t deal with that in this sermon.)

So, with the whole Bible informing the whole of the gospels and Acts, and with Jesus’ Great Commission contributing to our understanding from last week, we know this truth:

The preached gospel leads to repentance, and repentance is followed by baptism, baptism portrays the forgiveness of sins and reception of the Holy Spirit, and we are then to teach disciples everything Jesus commands his people.

So, who should be baptized? The answer is simple.

Every follower of Jesus should be baptized.

There is no biblical precedent for unbaptized followers of Jesus.

The exception to the biblical pattern is the thief on the cross.

The thief on the cross is the exception, not the rule, and we should never appeal to the exception as the normative and prescribed practice.

There simply is no category for an unbaptized Christian.

Baptism is never to be minimized to unnecessary, and it should not be elevated to necessary for forgiveness.

Baptism’s place is the first act of faithful obedience to the Lord Jesus.

To further make the point, recall the Great Commission we studied from last week: The Great Commission commands us to make disciples among every nation.

How are we to make disciples?

Jesus taught his followers to make disciples by preaching the good news of the kingdom just like he did (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 4:17, 23). Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom that makes disciples, and he sent his disciples to do what he was doing (Matthew 10:5-15; Luke 10:1-12).

A person becomes a disciple through receiving the message about Jesus.

But there is more to being a disciple. Jesus made that clear in the Great Commission, and THIS IS WHY PETER SAYS WHAT HE SAYS IN ACTS 2:38: Repent and then be baptized.

The audience of Pentecost is dispersed Jews from the nations who are in Jerusalem for the feasts. Peter does not encourage any theology that allows them to believe their circumcision counts as baptism. He does not tell them to believe in Jesus and go back home and continue life like nothing ever changed.

Peter takes Jesus’ command to heart and passes that instruction on: repent then be baptized.

What does he say that Jesus said is the next step in making a disciple?

We must baptize those who respond in faith to the preaching of the gospel.

The Bible is clear on this point.

People respond in faith to the gospel preached, and we then baptize them.

What is the final step for the disciple of Jesus once they have been baptized?

We must teach those followers of Jesus who are baptized to obey everything Jesus commands.

Key to baptized disciples learning and exercising their priesthood is living life full of the Holy Spirit, who we receive at salvation.

Again, you can see my little appendix at the end for an explanation of Acts 2:38 and the Holy Spirit’s unique work in distinct people.

We understand from the evidence of the whole New Testament that the new believer receives the Spirit at conversion. Otherwise, there is no transformation because we can’t transform ourselves.  

With the ministry of indwelling Holy Spirit, the baptized follower of Jesus can now read God’s word, know God personally, be known by God, know all of God’s will, and do the powerful Great Commission work Jesus has sent them to do from the local church.

How do we teach God’s people who are baptized and Holy Spirit-empowered all that Jesus commanded?

We preach from God’s word, and we send every member to instruct each other and everyone in their domains in the gospel, faith in Jesus, and faithful application of God’s word.

From the preached word, we strive to make application that helps the church. We strive to model how to apply so that you can imitate the work of learning to apply complex truths.  

We gather in small groups to work out what we learned from the preaching and application, help each other make more detailed application, and be accountable for obedience.

We are then to go as we have been sent to preach the good news in our domains of society, inviting people to receive that good news as we heal what is broken, bring those who believe in Jesus to the local church to get connected through baptism and church membership, and we then teach them to obey God’s word.

Application

If you have followed Jesus and have not been baptized, you need to get into the next baptism class and follow Jesus in baptism.

If that means we need to do another class after this series of sermons, we will.

Part of the intention of a baptism class is to help make sure you are clear on the good news, repentance, faith, obedience, and being a church member.

I will only speak for myself here if we need to do another class: There is no limit to what I’ll do in obedience to Jesus to make sure I execute my calling to teach, preach, and disciple people to Jesus. It’s the one thing I know I was created to do. When I do that, I feel the pleasure of God and empowerment of the Spirit. So, if I need to teach you and guide you through that, we’ll make it happen.

Believe that baptism helps you exercise faith, and exercised faith builds up our faith. (My own words but adapted from Jamieson.) Jamieson, UB, p. 19.

Faith in Jesus transforms people from the inside out by giving us a new heart. The people in Acts 2 who responded to Peter by saying his gospel sermon “cut them to the heart” were describing what Ezekiel says happens in the new covenant work of Jesus.

This new heart can now believe and express faith in Jesus with the Holy Spirit as a permanent resident, and we are entering into the local church.

When we enter the waters of baptism, we are expressing a faith that is matched with the same faith of Jesus’ church, and that family power of identifying with Jesus together builds our faith in Jesus, and it sets a pattern of life together in the church of obeying Jesus together and that builds faith.

This is another reason that baptism is the church’s act and should be practiced within and by the local church.

Faith practiced with others practicing faith builds faith.

Our faith is not designed to survive isolated from the church where faith is rich and glorious.

Believe that baptism is an opportunity for evangelism. Jamieson, UB, p. 20.

Because of what baptism portrays in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, submitting to believer’s baptism provides an opportunity for the church to proclaim the good news.

Strive for gospel clarity taught from the whole Bible.

This application takes us back to our introduction. If we stay anchored to the Bible and its normative practices and patterns, we can enjoy the exceptional movements that are gracious gifts of the Lord, and not lose clarity on what defines us and makes us Christian.

Worship the Lord for giving us a powerful gospel that can be heard when spoken, read and understood in words, witnessed in baptism, and seen in obedience through the local church.

Appendix:

A NOTE FOR THOSE INTERESTED:

“The connection of the Spirit with baptism is depicted in various sequences through Acts. Here (Acts 2:38) the Spirit seems to be promised immediately following…baptism, whereas in 10:44–48, the coming of the Spirit seems to have preceded water baptism. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized, but receipt of the Spirit was not mentioned (8:38), though his resulting joy was a gift of the Spirit. Baptism and the gift of the Spirit are separated by some interval of time for the Samaritans (8:12, 17). The disciples of John at Ephesus were rebaptized (into Jesus because they had only received John the Baptist’s baptism {my notation}) and immediately received the Spirit (19:5–6). The Spirit cannot be tied down to a set pattern (in Acts). Clearly, however, both baptism and receipt of the Spirit are normative to the experience of becoming a Christian believer.” – John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 116–117.