They Went Down into the Water

I am a Baptist. I should be able to say that without starting a fight.

I believe the people who get baptized have already heard the gospel and believed it. Then they go down into the water. All the way under. Buried with Christ. Raised with Him. That is what I see when I read the New Testament, and I have never been able to make sprinkling mean the same thing.

Who

Philip and the Ethiopian did not have a long meeting about modes. The man believed, they came to water, and they both went down into it. I keep coming back to that because it is simple and I like to complicate things.

I would not baptize a baby. I love babies and I have dedicated mine in prayer to the Lord more times than I can count. It is not an ordinance. It is a dad appealing to the Father of Lights that his children's heart be illuminated by the Holy Spirit and a plea for divine help in their rearing. That is not baptism. Baptism is a believer's public burial and resurrection. If the person cannot confess Christ, I wait.

How

Immersion is not a Baptist hobbyhorse I picked up at camp. The word itself means dip. Throughout his letters, Paul talks both in the past tense and the present tense about his present self. Buried and raised. Crucified, yet living still. You can sprinkle and still love Jesus. I just cannot look at Romans 6 and then dab or sprinkle a forehead and call it the same ordinance.

I have sat in rooms where this was treated as a minor detail. It is not minor if Christ commanded it. It is also not a license to sneer at our faithful Presbyterian brothers and sisters who actually open their Bibles. I have been that sneering man. Believe it or not, it did not make me more faithful.

The Church

Baptism is not a private spiritual moment I give myself in a creek or bathtub so I can post about it. It belongs to the church. These are the same people who will watch me fail, feed me the Word, then put the bread and cup in my hand and say to me, "The body and blood of Christ given for you for the remission of your sins. Take and eat."

If you have believed and you have never gone down into the water, talk to your church. Don't wait for some mystic feeling that makes it cinematic. Christ already died. Christ already rose. The water is not magic. It is obedience with your whole body, which is about the right size of response.