Baptist Origins
In 19th century, some claimed that the founder of Baptists was John the Baptist.
Others claim that Baptists got started in the 13th chapter of Genesis when Lot said to his uncle Abraham, “You go your way and I’ll go mine.”
Although Baptists are one of the largest non-Catholic Christian groups in the world, there are many who resist being called, “Protestant.” Baptists have never defined themselves as protesting against any other church. Historically we have always sought the right to worship God as we wished, and granted to others the same privilege we claimed for ourselves.
Baptists do not look to any one person as their founder. Roman Catholics—Apostle Peter; Lutherans—Martin Luther; Presbyterians—John Calvin; Anglicans—King Henry VII and Thomas Crammer; and Methodists—John Wesley. Our roots came from a great cloud of witnesses.
Many groups spontaneously came into being in several areas of Central Europe a little after the time that Columbus came to America. They did not choose their name. It was given to them by their critics. They called them, “Anabaptists,” meaning advocates of baptizing persons again. This name referred to their practice of baptizing themselves by immersion those who had already been baptized as infants. Actually the “Anabaptists” didn’t see it as really rebaptism. In their judgment the earlier baptism was not true baptism, because there was no faith present in the one baptized.
Today the spiritual heirs of the European Anabaptists in the U.S. are found among the Mennonites and the Brethren.
The Meaning of Baptism for Baptists
Baptism is an ordinance rather than a sacrament. Baptism in itself does not convey salvation or transformation, but it is a sign of what has happened in a spiritual sense to a new believer. The water used in baptism is not sacred but is a vehicle to enhance the symbolism of spiritual washing or regeneration.
When new believers asked Peter what they should do, he replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you” (Acts 2:38). They did and we still do. With few exceptions, every Christian church requires baptism in some form before anyone is admitted to membership. It was Jesus who left these instructions: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
In obedience to this command almost every church in the world baptizes its converts. But this universal practice has been carried out in a great variety of patterns.
The Person
Baptists have historically insisted that the person to be baptized must be a believer in Jesus Christ. Nearly everyone agrees that faith must be related in some way to baptism, but Baptists make faith the first priority—the prerequisite for baptism. No one should be baptized until he or she has personally confessed faith in the Savior.
Acts 2—3000 souls believed and baptized
Acts 8—Ethiopian official
Acts 9—Paul (then called Saul) believed and was baptized
Acts 10—Cornelius the centurion and his household
Acts 16—jailer and household
Baptizing someone before he or she believes is not just putting the cart before the horse; it is trying to ride the cart without the horse. Faith is the “horsepower” of baptism.
One is justified by one’s own faith (Romans 5:1), so one is baptized on one’s own faith, not that of any substitute, whether of parents or godparents. Nobody else’s faith can substitute for your own.
Baptists have always cast a minority ballot against the baptism of infants. The value of infant baptism lies more in the dedication of the parents to rear their child in the Christian faith. Baptists practice baby dedications to convey the importance of Christian nurture of the churches and homes that enables these children to come into the Christian faith. When children are old enough to say a meaningful “Yes” to the claims of Christ in their lives, then baptism becomes meaningful—and not until then.
The Pattern
Baptists practice the pattern of immersion. From the Greek word, baptizo, it means “immerse” or “dip.” If the name of our church were translated instead of being transliterated, it would be the “First Chinese Dipped Church.” Baptism simply doesn’t mean sprinkling. Water is never said to be baptized upon a person. The person is always baptized in water.
Immersion is the only pattern reported in the Bible: John and Jesus went down into the water and “as soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). Philip and the Ethiopian stopped the chariot on the way to Gaza and went “down into the water,” where Philip baptized him (Acts 8:38-39).
But the strongest reason Baptists continue to baptize by immersion is not that it was the original form, but that it is the only form which clearly expresses the meaning of baptism. From Romans 6:3-5, Paul writes
“Surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we
were baptized into his death. By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was.”
Baptism is a dramatization of death and resurrection. The person dies to the old way of living. All sins are washed away, and he or she is born again into the family of God.
We are free to change the pattern of baptism as long as the change does not obscure the symbolic truth which baptism is meant to communicate. For instance, from muddy river to a clean baptistry; from icy lake to a heated pool. For example, if we removed one star from the American flag, the flag would lose its symbolism. But we may change the length of the flagpole. We may change the temperature of the baptismal water, but we cannot change immersion into sprinkling.
The Point
Baptism is not a choice but a command. Genuine repentance leads to baptism as naturally as genuine faith leads to good works (James 2:17-20). Every repentant sinner will desire baptism. Some people are baptized under false pretenses. They see it as an initiation rite to church membership, not as a “baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4).
Baptism without faith is like a kiss without love—just an empty formality that confuses people.
Faith without baptism is like the works of a clock without the hands or face. It is like an elected president who refuses to take the oath of office. Such people are “believers” who haven’t become “belongers.” They try to relate vertically to God without relating horizontally to the rest of God’s family.
Baptism is like a funeral. When people are buried in water they quit breathing for a moment. Baptism is also like a birth. It proclaims something is alive and risen. Emerging from the water, the new Christian breathes again. In Colossians 2:12, “You were buried with Christ in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The Problem
Those who have been baptized as infants by sprinkling, but who now want to join a Baptist church, face a special problem. One does not want to dishonor parents, teachers and the church that nurtured him or her in the Christian faith. Also, one doesn’t want to discredit the time when someone trusted Jesus as Savior and say that before one became a Baptist, they were not really Christians.
We can consider the model of Jesus’ own baptism. In Matthew 3:13-15, “At that time Jesus arrived from Galilee and came to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. But John tried to make him change his mind. ‘I ought to be baptized by you,’ John said, ‘and yet you have come to me!’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires’”
John’s confusion and reluctance concerning the baptism of Jesus resembles the kind of confusion and reluctance people sometimes have when a longtime Christian adult is baptized.
Baptism usually indicates one has repented, but Jesus didn’t need to repent, for he was sinless. When Jesus said, “Let it be this way for now,” he was doing what God requires. For Jesus, baptism was not the occasion of repentance and cleansing of Jesus’ sin. Rather, it was a public celebration of who Jesus was and to whom he belonged.
This is made even clearer by the next verses: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and lighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, ‘This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). Jesus’ baptism identified who he was. Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus’ baptism identified not only who he was, but to whom he belonged: the church. In being baptized, Jesus demonstrated his union with those he came to save. He was baptized as if he were a sinner in order to identify with sinners and release them from their sin.
Baptism identifies a person as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It identifies to whom one belongs: to Christ and his church—specifically, this particular church whose pattern of baptism one accepts and whose life one now shares.
FCBC Practice of Baptism
Since baptism follows a person’s confession of faith, we place major emphasis in Christian formation—Christian education and discipleship.
Baby Dedication (usually in the first year of birth) during Sunday morning worship—Parents, grandparents and congregation make promises to raise a child in a Christian home and church.
Youth, young adults, and adults attend Baptism, church membership, inquirers or basics classes. Pastors and Deacons discern whether a candidate is sufficiently matured to consider baptism during the classes. If the person is able to confess his/her faith in Jesus Christ, the person completes a “New Members Form” that asks for responses to faith questions.
These are reviewed by the Deacons at which time interviews are scheduled. The Deacons meet with the candidates without the presence of the Pastors. If approved, the candidates are invited to give a short testimony in front of the Membership. After the testimonies, the candidates are excused and the Membership votes to approve candidates for Baptism and church membership.
On Palm Sunday and usually on the third Sunday in December, we offer believers Baptism by immersion. The candidates wear white robes and assisted by the Deacons. They declare publicly upon the question, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior?” At which time, I say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit” and submerge the person completely under the water for a moment.
After the sermon, the newly baptized members receive the “Right Hand of Christian Fellowship” (Galatians 2:9) from the Deacons, a Baptismal certificate, and a gift from his/her pastor. There is usually a cake reception for the new members after worship.
The new members are invited to read Scripture at the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols or when baptized on Palm Sunday would read the lessons during the Maundy Thursday Service of Tenebrae.
The new members are given a box of offering envelopes and listed in the church directory as full members. Our church membership only counts full and associate members leaving out children and friends of the church.