The Grace of Baptism  (January 24, 2016--Bulletin Article)

“There is...one baptism…” (Ephesians 4:4-5)

                 One of the most discussed, if not actually contested, elements of the Christian faith has, regrettably, been the place and purpose of baptism in the gospel. It’s not that the Bible is unclear about this ritual. In fact, there are some religious groups who obviously misunderstand other New Testament teachings but who still understand and assert the necessity of Christian baptism. Other, more popular denominational groups, however, disparage this ancient biblical practice. Those who contradict this clear biblical teaching charge those of us who emphasize its importance—indeed, its necessity—with teaching a form of “salvation by works.” This seems incredible because, I have to confess, it has always seemed strange to me that being immersed in water, an event in which the participant is actually passive, is considered a “work.” Indeed, these same people will instead tell someone who comes to faith in Jesus to “pray a sinner’s prayer” which, it seems evident, is closer to a work than the passive act of allowing someone to bury you in water. If we are going to exclude any action, or “work,” from our response to the gospel, praying a prayer would be excluded even before allowing someone to bury us in water!

                This debate more commonly revolves around those who deny baptism by saying, “If our salvation is connected in any way to what we do in response to the gospel (i.e., baptism), then we are not being ‘saved by grace through faith’ (Ephesians 2:10) but by works.” What these people fail to recognize is that God gave us both the gospel and the prescribed response to it (i.e., baptism); both are gifts of grace! Had God not acted freely and independent of our merit we would have neither the gospel nor the means to respond to it in baptism! But God, by his grace, has given us both the opportunity to believe on Jesus and the opportunity to express that faith by being immersed. The gospel, including how we respond to it, is a gift of grace. We didn’t write the message or determine the response; God did!

                Jesus once asked the Pharisees, “...baptism—was it from heaven or from men?” (Luke 20:4) He was referring to John’s baptism, but the question still applies today. If God commanded baptism (and he did—Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16 etc.), and if being baptized as the proper response to the gospel originated, not on earth with men but in heaven with God (and it did—Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:1-7; Galatians 3:26-27; 1 Peter 3:21, etc.), why do men insist on belittling and ignoring it? Indeed, can we really say we are saved by grace if we do not accept what God offers by his grace, that is, the message about Jesus and the means of responding to that message in baptism?