Is Baptism Necessary?
Many evangelical and independent Christian sects assert, “It’s not baptism that saves you…but faith alone. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change.”
This erroneous proposition offers at least two challenges. The first challenge is the “faith alone” doctrine. The second is the “merely symbolic” doctrine.
I won’t be addressing the faith alone doctrine here. Instead, this is a treatment of the efficacy of baptism; that is, whether baptism does something supernaturally necessary for Christians.
Baptism, the merely symbolic doctrine contends, is an act of obedience and a public testimony to one’s inner faith. And most proponents of this view agree that baptism is important, because Jesus Christ ordained it, but that it’s not entirely necessary. This doctrine is problematic. Obedience is necessary, baptism is an act of obedience, yet baptism is not ultimately necessary. That just doesn't follow. Reformed Protestants like Voddie Baucham assert that obedience flows from faith, otherwise faith becomes burdensome, and one could self-justify by works apart from Jesus Christ; in which case Christ died unnecessarily. It is comforting to say that obedience flows from faith, only too often it doesn't; and when it does, too often it's sporadic. So, when obedience doesn't flow from faith, which is the case for a lot of earnest Christians struggling against any manner of sin, regret, shame, mental illness, social anxiety, and so on (and oftentimes losing their battles), one is left with only one conclusion: it wasn't true faith in the first place. A more useful -- and I dare say more accurate -- paradigm, is that in faith one must take active steps of obedience, trusting in God's grace to strengthen their faith as they strive. It is because of faith in Christ and his sacrifice that one obeys, not because obedience is post-hoc hoisted upon them; rather, because they hunger and thirst after him who sacrificed.
Scripture makes clear that one cannot love the Lord and refuse his commands. And one of the very first acts – if not the very first act – of obedience is to be formulaically baptized. In the same way that true faith and obedience are inseparably linked, it is impossible to separate the obedient act from the obedience it fulfills.
A child who picks up her toys at the parent’s request is obedient only insofar as she picks up the toys. The floundering swimmer who gets into the boat at the captain’s cry is rescued only insofar as he gets in the boat.
Faith prescribes obedience, and obedience prescribes baptism. Baptism, then, is the fulfillment of obedience without which faith is null. James (2:18-24) teaches that works make faith complete, without which faith is dead; likewise, obedience in baptism completes one’s conversion to faith. They are not extractable events, but one and the same.
God’s gift of grace stirs and prompts the soul, by which faith emerges; and in obedience, through baptism, his grace removes the stain of sin. How can we say obedience in baptism removes the stain of sin? Because faith, obedience, and baptism are all aspects of the same inseparable reality.
Imagine being painfully hungry. Your body demands food, so you eat a good meal. What saves you? The nutrients in the food? Obeying your hunger? The act of eating? They too are all aspects of the same inseparable reality.
So, in relation to faith and obedience, water baptism does something salvific. Likewise, the soul of a baptized infant receives the Holy Spirit’s cleansing grace through which faith and obedience, in time, may take root.
“When we are saved, we are ‘baptized’ by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, which is the universal church” (GotQuestions.org). This interpretation presupposes salvation to be a moment-in-time event, not an ongoing gift and future hope.
I would state it this way: Baptized in faith with water, we received the Spirit and were saved; we entered into the body of Christ, the universal Church, through which we are being, and may be, saved.
Remember my analogy of the floundering swimmer? He was saved when he got in the boat; he continues being saved as the boat travels to land; and he will finally be saved when the boat, so long as he remains in it, delivers him safely to shore.
Salvation in Jesus Christ is not an exclusively one-time event. The Holy Church is our Ark, and baptism is the way into the boat that saved, saves, and will save.
This erroneous proposition offers at least two challenges. The first challenge is the “faith alone” doctrine. The second is the “merely symbolic” doctrine.
I won’t be addressing the faith alone doctrine here. Instead, this is a treatment of the efficacy of baptism; that is, whether baptism does something supernaturally necessary for Christians.
Baptism, the merely symbolic doctrine contends, is an act of obedience and a public testimony to one’s inner faith. And most proponents of this view agree that baptism is important, because Jesus Christ ordained it, but that it’s not entirely necessary. This doctrine is problematic. Obedience is necessary, baptism is an act of obedience, yet baptism is not ultimately necessary. That just doesn't follow. Reformed Protestants like Voddie Baucham assert that obedience flows from faith, otherwise faith becomes burdensome, and one could self-justify by works apart from Jesus Christ; in which case Christ died unnecessarily. It is comforting to say that obedience flows from faith, only too often it doesn't; and when it does, too often it's sporadic. So, when obedience doesn't flow from faith, which is the case for a lot of earnest Christians struggling against any manner of sin, regret, shame, mental illness, social anxiety, and so on (and oftentimes losing their battles), one is left with only one conclusion: it wasn't true faith in the first place. A more useful -- and I dare say more accurate -- paradigm, is that in faith one must take active steps of obedience, trusting in God's grace to strengthen their faith as they strive. It is because of faith in Christ and his sacrifice that one obeys, not because obedience is post-hoc hoisted upon them; rather, because they hunger and thirst after him who sacrificed.
Scripture makes clear that one cannot love the Lord and refuse his commands. And one of the very first acts – if not the very first act – of obedience is to be formulaically baptized. In the same way that true faith and obedience are inseparably linked, it is impossible to separate the obedient act from the obedience it fulfills.
A child who picks up her toys at the parent’s request is obedient only insofar as she picks up the toys. The floundering swimmer who gets into the boat at the captain’s cry is rescued only insofar as he gets in the boat.
Faith prescribes obedience, and obedience prescribes baptism. Baptism, then, is the fulfillment of obedience without which faith is null. James (2:18-24) teaches that works make faith complete, without which faith is dead; likewise, obedience in baptism completes one’s conversion to faith. They are not extractable events, but one and the same.
God’s gift of grace stirs and prompts the soul, by which faith emerges; and in obedience, through baptism, his grace removes the stain of sin. How can we say obedience in baptism removes the stain of sin? Because faith, obedience, and baptism are all aspects of the same inseparable reality.
Imagine being painfully hungry. Your body demands food, so you eat a good meal. What saves you? The nutrients in the food? Obeying your hunger? The act of eating? They too are all aspects of the same inseparable reality.
So, in relation to faith and obedience, water baptism does something salvific. Likewise, the soul of a baptized infant receives the Holy Spirit’s cleansing grace through which faith and obedience, in time, may take root.
“When we are saved, we are ‘baptized’ by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, which is the universal church” (GotQuestions.org). This interpretation presupposes salvation to be a moment-in-time event, not an ongoing gift and future hope.
I would state it this way: Baptized in faith with water, we received the Spirit and were saved; we entered into the body of Christ, the universal Church, through which we are being, and may be, saved.
Remember my analogy of the floundering swimmer? He was saved when he got in the boat; he continues being saved as the boat travels to land; and he will finally be saved when the boat, so long as he remains in it, delivers him safely to shore.
Salvation in Jesus Christ is not an exclusively one-time event. The Holy Church is our Ark, and baptism is the way into the boat that saved, saves, and will save.