Occasionally people ask my opinion on various personal or church issues. I recently received the following question which I have reprinted below, followed by my response.

QUESTION

 Bob, 

I am an elder in a Christian church, and we have been getting new members from other denominations who don’t practice baptism by immersion. If a person is in their 70’s, grew up Presbyterian, has followed Jesus all of their life, and then desires to join a Christian church, should they be required to be re-baptized because a different method of baptism was used in their teen years? I feel like Jesus is more concerned with the heart than the ceremony. Shouldn’t we be able to accept their baptism no matter how much water was used? I look forward to hearing from you on this.

MY ANSWER

The Christian Church has roots in what is called “The Restoration Movement.” The purpose of the Restoration Movement, which began in the early 1800s, was simply to restore New Testament Christianity. That meant, among other things, returning to the original method and intent of the ordinances of the church. That’s why Christian Church leaders insisted on baptism by immersion for those who are old enough to believe. 

In the early church, candidates for baptism were those who believed in Christ and had repented of sin. The attitude of the heart was certainly important.  In the First Century, those who sincerely trusted Jesus were immersed in water as a demonstration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Romans 6:4 says, “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.” Baptism by immersion was the benchmark of a new life with Christ.

Those who seek to restore the teachings of the New Testament believe both the heart and the form matter. If you compromise on the method, you are abandoning the principle on which the Restoration Movement was founded. If you change the mode of baptism, so you don’t lose the opportunity to include an influx from a more liberal denomination, you are likely to cause serious division in your own congregation and do long-term damage to the unity of the body. I would encourage you to stand firm on the restoration principle expressed in the slogan, “Bible things in Bible ways.” 

We had a similar situation in our community forty years ago. We explained to the believers who visited our church that we were attempting to restore the ordinances of the church to their original form and purpose. We told them about our slogan, “We are not the only Christians but Christians only.” We pointed to the book of Acts, where Apollos, an effective preacher who had a limited understanding of baptism, was taught “the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). 

We made it clear that we didn’t condemn the unimmersed to hell, but we do believe baptism by immersion is the way of God more scripturally. We told those visiting our church that they were welcome to continue to attend and participate in our activities until they were convinced that immersion was God’s will for their life. 

Almost every newcomer understood, and in the course of time, we baptized hundreds of adults who had been sprinkled for baptism in their younger years. A few of those we immersed were over eighty years old! Later almost all expressed sincere appreciation that we led them to be immersed because it was such a meaningful experience. I think you will find the same to be true in your situation. 

– Bob 

The following is a condensed version of a classic Guidepost article which documented the immersion of the late Paul Harvey. The popular news commentator explained his decision to be immersed and what it meant to him. 

Several decades ago, on a trip through Arizona, Harvey and his wife stopped to worship in a small country church where just a handful of believers had gathered to hear the word of God. That morning the preacher announced that his subject was Christian baptism. Paul Harvey says he yawned and prepared to be bored to death. But he was unable to escape the simple eloquence of the country preacher, and that day he was led to a new understanding of what baptism meant. At the end of the message, he humbly and happily went down the aisle at invitation time and submitted himself to Christian baptism. Paul Harvey wrote: 

“The preacher said there was nothing miraculous in the water, but when I descended into the depths and rose again, I knew something life-changing had happened to me. Afterward, I cried like a baby. The evolving joy this simple act has made in my life is so immense as to be indescribable.

Since totally yielding to Christ through baptism, my heart can’t stop singing. I’ve shaken off a lifelong habit of fretting over small things. A thousand little worries and apprehensions have simply evaporated. Also, perhaps because baptism is such a public act–and because one’s dignity gets as drenched as one’s body–I’ve discovered a new unself-consciousness in talking about my beliefs.”

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