Baptism Is All Wet

Baptism is all wet

Dunk, Sprinkle, and Double Dunk Baptism

Act 2:38-41 NIV

Matthew 3 NIV

Mark 1:9-13 NIV

Luke 3 NIV

John 1:24-42 NIV

Baptism how should it be done pouring, sprinkling or immersion, what about infants and children? When ready, should one wait or be baptized immediately? Is re-baptism necessary? What part does repentance play? How does the Bible answer all these questions?

This year I want us to spend a lot of time with Jesus and together learn from His words and life for He is our example sent from the Father. He is the author, finisher and the one who perfects our faith. We desire to follow Him in all things and that includes Baptism.

Our scripture passage tells us about “John the Baptist” as one with the spirit of Elijah the prophet calling to repentance those who would seek to be right with God. Jesus is about 30 years old here as He responds to John’s call and the work that the Father has sent Him to do.

John had been out in the desert a while. Ever wonder why Jesus wasn’t the first person baptized by John? Well that would be because God the Father is the time keeper of all things. Jesus needed to be at the Jordon River at a specific time in human history. In fact everyone connected to Jesus had to be at the right place and at the right time when Jesus reveled Himself to the world. Jesus Baptism was a kind of public announcement that He had arrived at a point in human history that fulfilled biblical prophecy.

Jesus was perfect and was without sin all His life. In order to fulfill all righteousness He was identifying himself with sinners at the Jordan River even though He was without sin. John himself says it. “It is I who needs to be baptized by you”.

Jesus walking into the water that day did so in order to repent for the sin of all human kind. He was in fact publicly announcing that the world was sinful and that He being sinless was willing to repent for all of it on our behalf. He wanted to demonstrate our need to separate ourselves from sin through the ceremony of water baptism.

Presbyterian and many Reformed Christians see infant baptism as the New Testament form of circumcision in the Jewish covenant (Joshua 24:15). Circumcision did not create faith in the 8-day-old Jewish boy. It merely marked him as a member of God’s covenant people Israel.

Likewise, baptism doesn’t create faith; it is a sign of membership in the covenant community. Presbyterian and Reformed Christians consider children of professing Christians to be members of the visible Church (the covenant community).

Baptism was not a new thing to Jewish people of the time but its use as part of belonging to the Covenant Community was new. This is and was a big change to how people made a public repentance for their sins. They used to have to rely on many, many baptisms or washings according to the laws of Moses. But now Jesus was here bringing in a new covenant of Grace.

To be identified in this new covenant God called you out to repentance and baptism.

The Jewish roots and Christian use for water baptism

Wikipedia:

Mikvah (or mikveh) (Hebrew: מִקְוָה, Standard Miqva Tiberian Miqwāh; plural: mikva’ot or mikves) is a specific type of bath designed for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism.

Several biblical regulations specify that full immersion in water is required to regain ritual purity after ritually impure incidents have occurred. Most forms of impurity can be nullified through immersion in any natural collection of water. Some, such as a Zav/Zavah, however require "living water," such as springs or groundwater wells.

Its main uses nowadays are:

By Jewish women to achieve ritual purity and after childbirth

By Jewish men to achieve ritual purity (see details below)

As part of a traditional procedure for conversion to Judaism.

For utensils used for food

The existence of a mikvah is considered so important in Orthodox Judaism, that an Orthodox community is required to construct a mikvah before building a synagogue.

Christian Tradition

The Didache (Koine Greek: Διδαχὴ, Didachē meaning - Teaching

Outside of the Bible, probably the earliest known written instructions for administering baptism is that of the anonymous book of 16 short chapters known as the Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which most scholars date to about the year 100. It gives the following instruction: "Concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water [that is, in running water, as in a river]. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit."[32]