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Is Baptism by Immersion the Only Acceptable Form of Baptism?

Jenny grew up in the Lutheran church although it’s fair to say she didn’t put her heart into it the way her Mom did. When she went off to college a semester’s worth of partying and a low GPA got her looking for something more to life. In an attempt to find that something more she went to church with a Baptist friend one Sunday night. The sermon declared that the reason so many people couldn’t find happiness was that they were looking for it in parties and pleasure. The preacher said that it wasn’t their fault that they fell victim to these things because many of them had been raised in churches that never taught them about the proper path to discipleship.

     Jenny took it all in. When the preacher asked for people to make a decision for Christ Jenny hoped that as she left her chair, she would leave her problems behind too. The counselors who met with her afterward told her that in order to complete the transformation, she needed to be baptized again. They told her the baptism she had received as a baby didn’t count and besides, she had probably just been sprinkled, not immersed. That had been the problem she thought, she wasn’t fully immersed (dunked all the way under the water) she wasn’t really baptized.

     That’s what brought Jenny and her Mom to see her Pastor that day. As she told the story, the Pastor sighed and even chuckled a little. That particular false doctrine has been one of the devil’s favorite games for the past 375 years. Today, many Baptists, Holiness Churches, some Calvinists, the Mormons and others insist that full immersion baptism is the only acceptable baptism.

     The Pastor took out the Bible and took Jenny on a tour. The problem, he told Jenny, was not with her baptism. It was with the way she tried to make the Holy Spirit comfortably accept her sin. She insisted the other church proved from the Bible that baptism had to be by immersion. The Pastor laughed, but asked seriously, “Did they really? Are you sure? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says then.”

     If you were Jenny’s Pastor, what would you say? What is the truth? What does the Bible say and what is the proper form of baptism? Let’s look.

 I. The Question is New -- by church standards

     As a starting point, it’s important to understand that Lutheran teaching concerning the sacraments has its origin in Christ’s words. Nothing is called a sacrament unless we can point to a place where Christ Himself gave it to us. Therefore, when we teach about baptism we start with what Jesus said. The gift doesn’t change over the years. In the case of baptism, Christ gave us this gift just before He ascended into heaven. He said,

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep sacred all that I have commanded you. And lo, I will be with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19).

     For the next 1600 years the church never really questioned the mode of baptism, that is, if we should baptize by pouring water over someone’s head, sprinkle it on them or fully immerse them. It was widely accepted that God’s promise and presence in baptism (and not the amount of water used) gave baptism its power. For example, around A.D. 200, a Christian writer named Tertullian wrote,

the Spirit of God, who hovered over [the waters] from the beginning, would as the one who baptizes continue to hover over the waters. . . Thus the water becomes holy because it is made holy by the [presence of the] Holy One, and thereby is thoroughly endowed with the power of making one holy. [Tertullian, On Baptism 4:20-21].

     This alone is probably all that needs to be said about the matter. The promise and presence of God, not the amount of water is all that anyone needs to pay attention to in baptism. Sacramental teaching does not evolve. The sacraments are a once and for all gift from Christ that bestow His gifts to those who receive them. Therefore it is difficult to make the case 1600 years after Christ has instituted baptism that you can add rules about how it has to be done.

     But, in middle of the 17^th century, a group of English Baptists known as Particular Baptists began to make this new claim about baptism. They baptized only by immersion and condemned everyone who did it another way. Before the rise of this group there is no verifiable record of any other group within the church insisting only on baptism by immersion.

II. The meaning of the word, “baptize”

     The Particular Baptists and others who practice immersion only baptism are smart enough to realize that you can’t invent new teachings about baptism. Since the Bible never tells us how much water to use, it was necessary to build their teaching on another foundation. They employed a technique that is common among splinter groups and diet pill advertisers – they claimed a breakthrough. Diet pill sellers often claim a new scientific discovery melts the pounds away. Christian splinter groups often claim discoveries about the meaning of certain Biblical words.

      This is a sinister trick because most people do not understand scientific breakthroughs or Biblical Greek and so they must accept any claim these groups make. The New Testament was originally written in Greek and so every English word in your Bible is a translation of a Greek word. The Greek word behind baptize is baptizo. The immersion only group always starts with the claim that this Greek word originally meant immerse. A careful reading of the New Testament shows this can’t really be true. In order to prove this point, it is not necessary to look at every use of the word in the Scripture and Greek literature. We simply need to find places where the word obviously does not mean immerse.

     So what does baptizo mean? It means to wash, bathe or apply water. Washing can be done by immersing (like taking a bath), pouring (like washing hands under a spigot), or even sprinkling (like taking a shower). The one common element in all of these is that water is applied to make something clean. This is the plain meaning of the word throughout the New Testament. For example, Mark 7:4 says, “and [the Pharisees] follow many other rules which they have received such as to wash [BAPTIZE] cups, pots, copper bowls” every time they come back from the market. If you look at the footnote in most Bible translations you’ll see that the list of things they washed also includes “dining couches.” Are we to believe the Pharisees would immerse their couches every time they came back from the store? Of course not, they simply gave them a ceremonial washing by sprinkling water around the house in accordance with the instructions in Numbers 19:18,

 “then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there.”

      Ceremonial washing was done with water from water jugs (like the ones used at the wedding at Cana, John 2:1-11) out of which people poured or sprinkled water for ceremonial washing (John 2:6). This is the same kind of ceremonial washing the Pharisees insisted on in Matthew 15:20 when Jesus and His disciples were maligned for eating in the fields without ceremonially washing their hands. Would workmen in the field need to find a well, lake or stream and jump in before eating their meals? No, the observant Pharisee simply poured or sprinkled water on his hands.

     Another instance where baptizo does not mean immerse is in Luke 11:38. Here, the Pharisees again condemn the apostles for not washing [baptizing] before they eat. Are we really to believe that the Pharisees jumped into the deep part of a river before every meal? Water was a precious thing in first century Palestine. There weren’t many bathtubs or swimming holes to be found. Entire towns shared a common well (see for example, John 4:1-26). No one would let the well get polluted by having all the townsfolk jump into it three times a day. Using similar logic, is it possible to believe that the three thousand baptisms on the day of Pentecost were done by immersion (Acts 2:41)? Apart from the public wells, there is no place in Jerusalem in which three thousand people could be immersed in the course of a single day.

     The book of Hebrews makes a substantial argument against baptizo meaning immersion in 9:10 when it speaks of “various baptisms” (the original Greek is diaphorois baptismois). Modern English translations usually translate this “various ceremonial washings.” What is most interesting is that the writer defines these various baptisms. In every case, the act he refers to requires someone to sprinkle blood, ashes or water on something.

 "if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies and  purifies the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ .... For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people.... Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry" [Hebrews 9:13,19,21].

       In Acts 9, the Apostle Paul is baptized in the home of a man named Judas. When Annanias baptizes him, the Scripture says, “He stood up and was baptized” (Acts 9:18). Does Judas’ home have an unmentioned indoor swimming pool that can fully immerse Paul while he’s standing up? Of course not, Anannias poured or sprinkled the water over the head of the standing man.

     In his first epistle, the apostle Peter so clearly uses the word baptism to mean washing that he has to explain that baptism is a spiritual, not a physical cleansing:

and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body – but the pledge of a clean conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21).

  It’s obvious that those who insist the word baptize means immerse have not read their New Testament well enough. But the use of the word in the New Testament isn’t the only proof of the immersion only error.

     Outside of the Scripture the word baptizo was also used to indicate washing or applying water. IThe Didache is one of the earliest Christian instruction books. It was written in the late first or early second century and specifically instructs to baptize by pouring.

But concerning baptism, baptize this way: having first recited all these precepts, baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water [a moving stream or waterfall]; but if you do not have running water, baptize in some other water. If you cannot baptize in cold water, use warm water; but if you have neither, pour water three times on the head, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  (Didache 7:1-3).

In the New Testament and in early church literature, the amount of water used is never important. As the Small Catechism reminds us, the water isn’t really the most important thing in baptism,

 “but the Word of God in the water. For without God’s Word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace and a washing of new birth in the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three, ‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying [Titus 3:5-8].”

 IV. Synonyms for Baptism in the New Testament

   In quoting Titus 3:5-8 in the Small Catechism, Martin Luther assumed that we understand something that is not obvious to immersion only theologians. The New Testament itself uses a number of synonyms for baptism that indicate that baptism is washing that can be done by some means other than immersion. Like all good writers, the New Testament authors use synonyms to avoid having their style become boring.

   Therefore, as Luther notes, in Titus 3:5, the apostle Paul uses loytron a Greek word that means wash as a synonym for baptism. He uses the same word in Ephesians 5:26 also as a synonym for baptism.

   Similarly, we find that baptism is figuratively connected to the pouring out (the Greek word is, ekcheo) of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:17-18, 33 and 38. On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter makes draws a circle between the God’s Old Testament promise that He will “pour out” His Spirit, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the reception of the Holy Spirit in baptism by the apostles’ listeners. In Acts 10:45-48, once again the Holy Spirit is poured out in a passage explicitly connected with Baptism. To put the matter beyond doubt, Jesus prophesied about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and specifically called it baptism, “in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5).

    Hebrews 10:22, makes reference to baptism saying,

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith since we have had our hearts sprinkled (the Greek word is ranizo) to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having had our bodies washed (the Greek word is loyo a form of loytron) with pure water.

Likewise, the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel prophesies the future salvation of God’s people. His words sound very much like what Jesus says when instituting baptism in Matthew 28:19-20.

For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you . . . And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow all that I have commanded you and to keep my laws [Ezekiel 36:24-27].

It is really fairly difficult to commend a church as Biblical that fails to understand baptism as taught at so many points in the Bible.

III. Freedom in the Gospel

    The followers of immersion only baptism tell a story and credit it to a lot of different people. I doubt anyone knows where it really comes from. It’s an alleged debate between an immersion only figure and a clergyman of another stripe. This version comes from a Church of Christ website that calls the clergyman a Methodist.

One of our brethren in America was arranging for a debate with an Episcopal Methodist. Our brother said: "I immerse, and I say that immersion is baptism. If you will deny that, you can have a debate about my practice." The Methodist said: "I will not deny that immersion is baptism." "Very well," said our brother, "you sprinkle and call that baptism: you can then affirm that sprinkling is baptism and I will deny it, and we can have a debate about your practice; but, remember, there is no dispute about my practice. I am right, no matter how the debate goes." [http://www.churchofchrist.pair.com/belfast/text/baptism.htm]

    The story has this much truth, no one should question that immersion is a proper form of baptism. Immersion is a form of washing or applying water. But that does not yet make the immersion-only position correct.

     We have lost the battle already when the devil can get us to look at the amount of water we use in baptism or the amount of bread or wine we receive in the Lord’s Supper or really the quantity of any gift. If we start debating about quantities we lose sight of God’s promises. The promises of the Gospel are measureless. Christ does not send five gallons or five percent of His Holy Spirit in baptism. He comes completely -- bringing His gifts fully.

     Errors have different forms and different ways of popping-up. It therefore becomes important for Christians to identify the patterns that false teachers use. Among the easiest patterns to spot is when they make new laws and regulations for Christians to follow.  In the Bible, an openly frustrated Apostle Paul writes to a church in Galatia warning them against following false teachers who introduce new laws.

 I would like to learn one thing from you, did you receive the Spirit by observing the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to get to the intended goal by means of the flesh? Have you suffered so much for nothing – if it really was for nothing. Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? . . . clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith (Galatians 3:1-5, 11).

     In order to keep someone from forcing unreasonable and ungodly new laws on the church it is necessary that we oppose false doctrines, even if they do bear a kernel of truth. We do not want to be stubborn or hard to get along with, but we cannot allow people to steal away the gifts of the Spirit by imposing man-made laws on us.

     History shows us some of the consequences that come to churches that concentrate mainly on the amount of water in baptism.  When you make new laws, you lose the benefits of the promises God makes – even where Scripture plainly makes these promises. For example, Particular Baptists, Calvinists, the Church of Christ and Holiness Churches deny that baptism saves you. What does the Scripture say? “Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21). They deny baptism to children. What does the Bible say? “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. The promise is for you and your children and those who are far off, for all whom the Lord, our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).

     Resting our understanding, theology and practice on the words and promises of Christ assures we will receive the gifts He promised. When we start measuring the earthly elements and ignore the promises we risk losing the gifts of God. It’s not worth trading in the promises of God for new laws and a vat of water.

     This is why St. Paul warns the congregation at Colossae,

 Beware, do not let anyone take you captive through the vain and deceptive philosophies that rely on human tradition and elements of this world rather than on Christ . . .you have been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:8,12).

 In AD 255, a Greek-speaking Pastor named Cyprian answered a friend’s inquiry about whether someone who had been baptized on a sick bed should be baptized by immersion now that they were well. Note how careful Cyprian is about preserving Christian freedom, yet how he also rightly understands that the gift of baptism comes through God’s promise, not the quantity of water.

 "You inquire, my dear son, what I think of those who receive grace in time of sickness and infirmity: whether they should be counted as legitimate Christians, because they have not been washed all over with the water of salvation, but have only had some of it poured on them. In this matter I would use so much modesty and humility, as not to make demands about method, but let every one enjoy the freedom of his own thought, and do as he thinks best . . . the divine gifts cannot be mutilated or weakened, so that they ever give less than the whole gift . . . In the sacraments of salvation, God allows, when necessary, that the shortest way of administrating divine matters still brings the whole benefit to those who believe. Do not let anyone worry that the sick, when they are baptized, have water only sprinkled on them, since the Scripture says, by the prophet Ezekiel, 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you; a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’ . . . From which it appears that sprinkling is sufficient instead of immersion. [To Magnus, Epistle 69:12.]

IV. Jenny’s Real Problem

    Jenny’s real problem was not that there was something wrong with her baptism. It was that she had stopped allowing that precious gift of God to be active in her life. As the Small Catechism tells us,

The Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever . . . [just as] St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

      No one ever outgrows the need for their baptism or the gifts that it bestows. Nor is baptism something that just happened in the past. Jenny had treated it that way. Because she had, she lost the benefits of getting a new start with Christ everyday. The new life she sought was already hers, she just forgot where to look for it and believed the lie that she had to look for it in her own devotion and work rather than in God’s gifts.

     Jenny is not unique. We all tend to forget how great a gift our baptism is. Fortunately, Christ never forgets. He continually calls to us and seeks us out when we’re lost. He continually calls us to live in His promises. He never gives up. In fact, His promise is our great assurance, “Lo, I will be with you always to the very end of the age.”

     The gift is so magnificent that our Lord ties its bestowal to a specific event (baptism); but He instituted the solemn the ceremony using the most common element in the world. This makes it possible for the Lord to demonstrate His forgiving grace in almost any circumstance.

     For example, around AD 250, a deacon in the church of Rome named Laurentius was about to be burned at the stake for being a Christian.  A soldier listened to his confession of faith and came to believe in Christ. The execution was halted long enough for the soldier to bring a pitcher of water to the condemned man and ask to be baptized. Laurentius poured the water over the soldier’s head and baptized him in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The grace of God could not have been given more fully in an ocean of water. [Walafridus Strabo, “De rebus ecclesiasticis,” Bibliotheca veterum Patrum, saeculi IX, parte II tom. XV, col 959D].