Who Should Be Baptized? Baptism is True Only For Those Who Are United with Christ

The law will be written on your hearts.

So the language of circumcision of the heart, the law is written on your heart. The Holy Spirit will dwell in your heart and wash your heart. All that's the same idea.

Jeremiah 31 refers to the internal aspect of the new covenant. What else? You can open the Bible to Jeremiah 31. I don't know what page it's on.

They will all know me

, which is a different kind of covenant than with Abraham because we know in the old covenant from Romans 9 there were some born and there were some of faith and only those of faith were really part of the covenant. All will know me. What else? One more.

It's about Jesus dying on the cross as the one final lamb to wash away your sin. Your sins are forgiven. There's an absoluteness to it because it isn't lambs that were not really paying the full price for your sin yet, but Christ has now come as the once for all lamb to take away your sin from you.

So those three things are important to understand who the people of God are going to be in the new covenant that Christ has ushered in. And Jeremiah 31 is quoted by Hebrews 8 to make it clear this is the new covenant that Christ has instituted with his own blood.

The next lesson was on what baptism is. I actually think that's the most significant lesson, so this one is after it, as a follow-up, because what something is determines why we do it, how it functions, and who is part of it. So we always start with what. Baptism is the new sign and the new covenant that identifies who is united with Christ and who is now representing Christ. So the significant language last week was a union with Christ.

Uh, I highly recommend that just being whatever you study next, even not even connected to baptism. Uh, in Galatians three, you're adopted as sons of God by being baptized and having put on Christ. In Romans, you know, that is, know, you are baptized in union with Christ. Now you are dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ, being buried with him, risen again. In Colossians, baptism is associated with the internal circumcision of Christ, the new heart by faith. So we see there that the language of Jeremiah is coming out very clearly in the teaching of baptism from last week in union with Christ.

This week we're going to be looking, or tonight, we're going to be looking at who and how the areas where there's a lot more questions that have to be answered first with the New Covenant, what the sign is, and then who and how. I put these five things down here at the beginning of your sheet because this is actually the beginning of the baptism study. So if you're wanting to be baptized or wanting to know more about baptism, I start with these five statements. I just want to highlight these in that the first three are things being done to you. Baptism is first a testimony to the one being baptized, but it's also his or her own testimony. You're being told you're united to Christ, you're forgiven, you're adopted, and then you are also making a promise, I will represent Christ, and you're making a public profession. So baptism has a significant dynamic of what's being communicated to the one receiving it and what they're doing.

Matthew 28 is where we should be starting, but I'm running out of time every night. Matthew 28,

make disciples going, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.

The way baptism is functioning there in the Great Commission is baptism is how you would identify a disciple, and that disciple would be who is teaching and being taught. Not a whole lot in terms of wrestling with who should be baptized.

Repentance and baptism go hand in hand

So I'm jumping ahead with the text that you have printed there, Acts 2, 36 to 39. Verse 36, that's the last sentence of a significant portion of scripture. What is it the last sentence of? First Christian sermon ever preached, right? So we're at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has come down, that's the last sentence of the declaration of Jesus Christ. Then, verse 37,

now when they heard this,

That is the declaration of Jesus Christ. He is,

God has made him both Lord and Christ.

They were cut to the heart that is convicted. And they asked,

they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

So we have conviction. They're cut to the heart. They're asking the right question. Just tell us what to do. And Peter responds,

repent and be baptized every one of you.

So all that have gathered for Um, uh, the Jewish ceremony, they have seen the Holy spirit come down and they are now asking and receiving instruction, uh, significant here, not in the notes.

It is baptism in Christ. Again, that union with Christ is already at the very foundation. Um, and

for the forgiveness of their sins, you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit for the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off. Everyone whom our Lord God calls to himself.

Most of what is in question about who is to be baptized is really there in 39.

I want to first point out here, and I printed out my notes a lot more than I normally do, so that you can take them home, wrestle with them, ask questions, throw them away, start a fire, whatever you wish. Something we see consistent is repentance and baptism go hand in hand. So baptism is tied to repentance. Repentance and faith go, are a similar word group there. Faith and repentance are necessarily tied together. There is no salvation without repentance. So those who are asking what to do, they're told to repent, which is turn away from their wrong beliefs, their wrong ideas of salvation, their wrong worship, and turn to Jesus Christ. And baptism is that first step of obedience. Something else I just want to clarify, it isn't as if the Holy Spirit normally comes after baptism.

I believe he's speaking in this way that they're wanting to know what this has just happened, right? Everyone's seeing the flaming, what looks like the tons of flame and the hearing of the voices. Most of all, it's quite a scene with the Holy Spirit fully manifesting great power and he's emphasizing This too is yours if you repent and believe, and that gift of the Holy Spirit is tied to the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is promised

The most significant decision is what is the promise in verse 39? There's lots of options out there. Some say, some read this as if the promise is baptism, therefore baptism is for you, your children, those who are far off, all whom God calls to himself, Some would bring in other passages for what the promise is. To do a quick how to read your Bible, always look in the most immediate text to see what the answers are when you ask questions.

So the promise, the most immediate grammatical antecedent is the Holy Spirit. I believe any answer that is short of the Holy Spirit is what's promised misses the whole point of what Peter is declaring as promised. Now, obviously, I think the promise is probably also including forgiveness of sins, because if you receive the Holy Spirit, you also receive forgiveness of sins. But I want to hang out here with the promises of the Holy Spirit, because grammatically, that is the closest antecedent.

The Holy Spirit is what has amazed the crowd to even ask the question, what shall we do? The Holy Spirit is promised. Where has the Holy Spirit ever been promised? I didn't, I heard. Okay. So John 14 to 16 promised over and over again.

When I go away, I will send the Holy spirit. He will remind you of all the things I've said.

What else? Yeah.

Ezekiel 36 is the precedent of what this promise is. Galatians 3.14, Paul is writing the promised spirit to Abraham. God never promised the Holy Spirit to Abraham. I believe what Paul is doing there is connecting Ezekiel with the Abrahamic promise, so that's kind of some fun biblical theology. Joel 2, which is quoted in Acts 2. How about, again, you're supposed to be looking for the closest answer in the book, so Joel 2 is the closest, but what did Jesus tell the disciples to wait upon? before going anywhere or doing anything. The power from on high, the Holy Spirit. So there's numerous reasons to think the promise is the Holy Spirit from Acts in itself.

Does that make sense? Grammatically, canonically, theologically, the Holy Spirit is the promised one. And the Holy Spirit promised the new covenant always and only means salvation. There is no way to receive the Holy Spirit in any way in the New Testament that is not tied to salvation, because the Holy Spirit indwells you, seals you, renews you, washes you, applies all that Christ has.

So that is the significant decision, because if it's the Holy Spirit, we then think through what it means that the Holy Spirit is promised to you and your children and to all those who are far off. There's three different people there. So if you believe you will receive this Holy spirit, and if your children repent, they will receive the Holy spirit. And those who are far off would receive the Holy spirit. Uh, what if it's just a straightforward, the Holy spirit is promised for you, your children. Those are far off without my qualification of repentance. Yeah. It kind of denies everything else. The Bible says.

So we have to think through this, right? We also have a wonderful control whom the Lord God calls to himself. So we have numerous controls to wrestle with how God is bringing salvation, because the call here is salvation. But the promise of the Holy Spirit isn't automatically given to children, neighbors, people who are far off. Some might think this follows the pattern of Genesis 17. Again, I think we've got to look In the book that we're in, I think this follows the pattern of Acts 1.

When the Holy Spirit comes, where does Jesus tell them they will go? Jerusalem, home, Judea, outer ends of the earth. The pattern of the New Testament is closest to furthest. I believe that's a better way of thinking through what he's promising, and that the Holy Spirit is going to come to you and your children who repent and believe, and the Holy Spirit is going to go to all the ends of the earth, to everyone who repents and believes as the gospel goes out.

I think the ultimate control over the Holy Spirit is actually here in verse 39, whoever the Lord God calls to himself. Who's the Lord God? Yahweh, God. If we're looking at this, what about the Father? Whomever the Father has called is given the Holy Spirit as they have repented and believed and united with Jesus Christ.

So you actually have the whole Trinitarian picture here. These are rules that pretty much govern how we read scripture. You're looking for the answers within the text, the closest to the text, the more helpful they are. and the most grammatical antecedent is the Holy Spirit, and that theologically just unpacks everything for us and makes, hopefully, great clarity. But because that's so important, I'm gonna pause and ask for any, not any questions. Questions. I'm gonna play the game, somebody has to ask a question, yes, Jim. Yep. Yeah, it's a great question. There's clearly something new about the new covenant and Holy Spirit ministry because Ezekiel is making it clear there's going to be a new indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is making it clear the Holy Spirit will be with you forever.

So there's something that's significant about him going away and the Holy Spirit now indwelling. the work of the Holy Spirit was not always saving in the Old Covenant. I'll just think of Saul, who was given, this is incredibly how gracious God is. God blessed Saul, the wrong king, to have the Holy Spirit to govern God's people well, but then he kept rejecting God, rejecting God, rejecting God, and therefore God rejected him, rejected him, rejected him, and he lost that blessing of the Holy Spirit. So there's an anointing of the Spirit, and then there's an indwelling of the Spirit. The anointing would be similar. indwelling, sealing ministry of Jesus Christ would be different.

That was such a good question. I'm going to make somebody else ask a question. Yep. I have no idea. He was not sealed by the Holy Spirit as we would be, because Jesus is clear that he has to go to the right hand before the Holy Spirit comes in the way he's sending the Holy Spirit. And I would not build a theology off of John the Baptist, because that is the most unique situation in the history of the world. What's great, though, is that you would be greater than him according to this last week's passage. That doesn't mean you got the Holy Spirit in the womb, though.

Yes, Austin. Yeah, whatever he's referring to as the promise, it would either be, I think it's the forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, all of salvation, but there it's the fact that whatever the promise is, whatever the promise is, it has to be something he's already been mentioned. Yep. All right, I'm gonna keep moving on.

The household baptisms

So I wanted to start with Galatians, Romans, and Colossians, because we always want to start with the most important and clear texts. I'm showing my work. Those are the most important clear texts, understand what baptism is. These are the more questionable texts.

And so I wanted to make sure that as we thought through this, what we concluded determined still whoever would receive baptism, they've already received the Holy Spirit. They must be indwelt by the Holy Spirit because they're united with Christ. Now I'm going to go and just do quickly some of the texts that determine who should be baptized are oftentimes what we call the household baptisms. If you look there in Acts 10, I believe I've already answered my question sadly with the way I wrote this out for clarity, but what is the determining factor in Acts 10 for who should be baptized?

They heard the word. They received the Holy Spirit, which is evidence that they believed it. So whoever's in the household, and if it's a two-year-old, a one-year-old, a two-day-old, fine. The whole point is the Jewish people saw Gentiles with the Holy Spirit just like Pentecost. And the whole point of that is that you cannot keep them out of the covenant because they're not Jews. Because the new covenant is different.

The whole point is that the Holy Spirit now has come down upon them in a way that is exactly, is similar enough to Pentecost that they say we can't withhold baptism from them. So baptism is required there. But baptism actually demands that they're, the Holy Spirit, their heaven, the Holy Spirit demands that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Acts 16, another good question,

sirs, what must we do to be saved?

Very similar to the Acts 2, but a little more specific. What must you do to be saved?

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.

That is a rule. We are Protestants, sola fide, you and your household. All right, does that mean you and your household will be saved if you believe? Or is it, you and your household can believe and be saved? Significant question. Notice, after saying they must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he spoke the word of the Lord to them. Why would he do that? You can't believe unless you've heard. That's Romans 10. So believe, and then here's what you believe.

So everyone who could believe you and your household also heard the word, him and his household, There's a pattern there.

He took them same hour at night, washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family,

so the pattern continues.

Then he brought them up to his house and set foot before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household, and he had believed in God.

So whoever's in the household, they've heard the word, they've rejoiced, and they've been baptized. It doesn't say the whole household believed, but if you have to believe to be saved, They also heard the word, because it says whoever is in the household heard, and they rejoiced. They're cognizant enough to hear it and rejoice.

So I don't believe you can say there's someone who did not have faith in this household that was baptized. Acts 18 is even more clear.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household.

That's even more clear. That is giving faith to the household.

And may the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

That is solidifying.

So if we're going to take scripture, interpret scripture, what's more clear. There's maybe a little bit of lack of clarity in verse 34, but I was just talking to Andrew Hodge to verify that that last verse, uh, they rejoice because of you believe that that's a, it's a funny construction. You can talk to him about it later. I don't understand it still glad he does.

Belief in the Holy Spirit seemed to be necessary for baptism. I'll pause for a question about the household baptisms. I'm just taking the text that would normally be used to say who we baptize outside of a believer and showing that they show evidence that faith and the Holy Spirit are present for everybody who was baptized. It's called handling the counterfactuals.

Baptized into one body

All right, I'm gonna take it that was clear enough. Something more unique about what baptism does, 1 Corinthians 12, 12,

for just as the body is one and has many members, all the members of the body, the many are one body, so it is with Christ, for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink one spirit.

What word stands out in 1 Corinthians 12? Jesus, Austin says Jesus, good, that should always stand out. One, right, when you see a repeated word, we gotta ask why is there a repeated word?

Notice,

for in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body.

The Holy Spirit that is necessary to be baptized, the Holy Spirit is baptizing you into the body of Christ. You're not just united with Christ the head, you're united with the body. So when you're baptized, you're baptized into the church. That gets to the function of baptism that's close to universal, that it is the visible way that the church receives those who have become part of the church. Significant, though, is the agency.

For in one spirit, we were all baptized in one body.

Holy Spirit is present and active as the agent in the baptism that unites you with Christ and unites us with one another. all believers into the church in the same way, with the same baptism that identifies us with the one God who saves us all. The oneness and unity are a significant declaration there in 1 Corinthians 12. Ephesians 4,

there is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

What worse stands out in Ephesians 4?

One. Maybe even more, right? There's one body. Speaking of the church, we do know this is referring to the church because of what's said after this, because we're all members building each other up. The assumption there, anybody who is part of the body is speaking truth and love under the headship of Christ. There's one body and one spirit.

We were all called to the one hope. That word calling there from Acts, pretty significant. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. I believe the Holy Spirit is tied closer to baptism in 1 Corinthians 12. The oneness of baptism that unites you with the body is showing who this is for.

And I want to just walk down these declarations here. Scripture connects baptism and union with Christ. That is the most important. That was last week. Scripture connects baptism with being a member of Christ's body, the church. This is why when we baptize someone, it is being baptized into the church. We believe baptism and church membership are tied together. Baptism isn't a sign that is just for salvation, but it is the visible sign that brings you into the body and how the body receives you.

There is only one baptism

And now I can answer finally some of the questions I got on baptism. Why do we not re-baptize? The reason we don't re-baptize is there's only one baptism. It's impossible to re-baptize someone. Is it possibly to get awkwardly wet in a church service with the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit? Yes, happened to me, seven years old, and I was baptized when I was 19. There is only one baptism.

We'll get into this with the Lord's Supper, When somebody walks away from the faith and comes back, we don't baptize them unless they believe they actually weren't Christians. We wanna wrestle with that and walk with that. How do we receive somebody back into fellowship? Yeah, if they've been excommunicated, we re-commune with them. So we actually would never re-baptize someone.

You're baptized once. So if somebody was not a believer, united with Christ, and drew up with the Holy Spirit, adopted as a child, then that wasn't a true baptism. There, I think I've printed this out for you. Baptism is only real and true if all of the following are also real and true. United with Christ, adopted by the Father, and drew up by the Spirit, professing faith in Jesus. And again, if we go back to Colossians, Romans, Galatians, and Acts, We see these all coming together. To put the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit in baptism on someone who's not a believer, I believe it's a sin. Because the basic definition of sin is missing the mark. You're putting the name of Christ on someone who is not united with Christ.

That is the most significant thesis of everything that I believe scripture continually says over and over again. The only way the sign of the new covenant is significant is if they are united with Christ. Because that visible sign is declaring a truth that is already real about them. Now, if you're wrestling with, all right, I was not a believer once when I was, I'm happy to talk about that.

I'm simply saying there's a way in which It's wrong. It's missing the mark. Quite frankly, it's a lie, because you're putting the name of Christ on someone who isn't truly His. So I want to be clear about where I stand on that. Seems like a good place to ask for questions, because it's time zone. Yeah? Happens all the time.

Well, we don't believe there's such a thing as re-baptism. So there's only one baptism. That's something that we all should disagree with, like there's only one baptism. And I'm pretty sure most other people who disagree with other things on baptism say there's only one baptism. So we just got to get rid of that out of our category.

Yeah. No, that's a significant pastoral situation that Well, that's the reason I have the whole thing about why we want to put baptism in the teenage years. Delaying has good fruit to it. 30 conversations I've had, maybe 50, with that particular situation where somebody had water applied to them at a young age and they weren't sure if they were really believers because they had some kind of episode or weren't as convinced.

We would only baptize someone if they came to the point where they were going to say, I do not acknowledge that it was baptism. I believe I should be baptized. Now, it might get to the point where some folks who have a sensitive conscience, I'd have to tell them, I don't want you to wrestle this with your life. You need to come to a place of just knowing God's grace is good and that was baptism, or you need to be baptized. If you're eight, nine, you don't really remember everything that was clear. I just wanna say, I wanna make sure like whatever is clear as it can be, and we don't add undue anxiety. That make sense? Another, I had other hands up. Yep, Jimmy.

True and pure

Sorry, that's what I call them whenever we're not public. A great commission, make disciples baptized, disciples can baptize. Now, I do believe there's an order in which the elders are bringing, I think there's a good principle as to why elders would, but I don't think scripture tells us only the leadership can baptize. And with that, like, if you see a baptism that is not connected to a glorified.

In Vegas or something? Like an eloping baptism? Or I don't know. Oh. Yeah, no, no. You're getting his head. I'm going to go over a little bit, tell the kids people. So this is where true and pure comes back in. Remember, there's a true. Every church has impurity. Every church has impurity. But there are many true churches, and we're all seeking to be more pure. So true churches, preaching the gospel, administering the ordinances.

So I think if we look at baptism, there's true and pure. When it comes to who is baptized, there is no way to be impure or pure. It's true or not. It's someone who's united with Christ or they're not. When it comes to how they're baptized, OK, how much water should be applied?

All right, sprinkling, pouring. Maybe once I tried to immerse someone, and they just had a superpower of floating. And I'm seriously up there, and like, baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and they're just like staring at me. And I have to think, am I gonna just like boop? Or, so maybe that person's not baptized. They didn't get wet enough. So this is where that, you could say like maybe there's purity of like how much water is applied.

Our statement of faith says baptism is immersion. That's the first words that come in the statement of faith. We have brought in members who were sprinkled as believers because the who is the most significant. How? And you can be encouraged that there is some disagreement or there's some fun tension among the elders as to who feels more comfortable about how much water is applied. And I don't know if I'm allowed to name names and ask beforehand if I could, but there's differences of how comfortable we are with, you know, that irregular baptism of water.

There was a college student who believed, realized he wasn't baptized, asked his housemates, hey, let's go down to the tub downstairs. And three of his housemates joined him. A believer baptized him. And he asked me, is that true baptism? I said, it's true, but pretty irregular. It is the church receiving the body. But he was clearly united with Christ in every way, believing in Christ. There was no doubt about that. It's kind of an irregular setting.

So there's different ways I would say, like, we use the word irregular, and that would be kind of like the true and pure. So that answers your question, like the camp. Yeah, so those categories are helpful. Yeah. So usually, like, that irregular would come into, like, where, who baptized.

I do think witnesses are necessary. Now, you have the Ethiopian eunuch that breaks that. But you know what, if somebody just like wisp away, like magically appears and disappears, what, you know, like we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll break the code there. But, but I do think it's meant to be a witnessing declaration. All right. This last section is getting more technical. I wrote this so you can read it.

Delaying until the teenage years

Really what I was getting at last week in that we've really wanted to make baptism most meaningful. And we say like the teen years. I want to say more like there's a way in which the youth is convicted by the Holy Spirit that they should be baptized. Or there's clear maturity that we would want to say there's fruit. Number six is what I would say is most significant. We have way too many conversations about somebody who's confused if they're really a believer because they went forward at seven and they don't know if they're really a believer. And we do think that matters because they have to be united Christ. Um, so, so in order to protect the child from having that anxiety later in life, we want to make sure that we have the opportunity for them to grow, develop teenage years or where the brain starts developing.

Most cultures and others recognize this. Those who do confirmation make it there. So we want to encourage this, we'll call it a delay, maybe make sure they understand and can rejoice more fully in what is happening. And we can have more confidence in what is taking place.

It is not, let's make sure you can prove you're righteous enough. That is not the case. We want to make sure that it is a day that doesn't have that ongoing confusion, We want to make sure that they have time to mature, grow, and understand more fully to make that moment more significant. That does not believe we think children cannot be saved at an early age.

We want to preach the gospel with urgency to all children. I might just make them stand up this Sunday just for fun now to make that urgency felt. So one to six is really why we think delaying until the teenage years is a good idea. Seven to nine is how we still want to pursue baptism while they're in the home and how that brings about some, well, interesting complications.

So the parents have to understand as their child is being baptized, there's a change of order in the way that the child relates in discipline and function in the home. So I wrote that. I'm not going to go through it because of time. I'm going to pray.

Father, we thank you that you have Spoken clearly in your word, we thank you that you've sent your son so that we can believe in him. We can be united with him in his death for the forgiveness of sins. We can be united in his resurrection to the newness of life, to walk in. May that we would know that we're baptized in him, united with him, adopted in him. Lord, I pray you would bless us to see every child born come to faith in this body. I pray that we would have the joy of seeing fruit from the great efforts, especially at the University of Virginia right now, and many coming to faith and baptizing them, welcoming a new brother or sister in Christ into your family. I pray that we would know to think about this well, rejoice greatly in when we get to celebrate and witness these baptisms. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.