Is baptism necessary?

As a professing Christian, how do you respond to the question, Have you been baptised? In my experience most would say, Yes, I have, but some would say, No, for I don’t feel baptism is essential for my ultimate salvation.

To the first group, dare I put another question: What form did your baptism take, and when did it happen? Many, possibly the majority, would reply, I was given Christian baptism as a baby and thus became a member of Christ’s church. This ceremony, commonly called christening, has an extremely long tradition – as evidenced by the baptismal fonts in churches dating from very ancient times to the present day.

But how does it square with Bible teaching and the very earliest Christian practice?

In fact there is not the slightest evidence for the current practice of christening in the Bible. Originally, biblical baptism was only given to a person who had demonstrated belief in the gospel and had confessed that faith, which is clearly not possible for a young infant. This was followed by a complete immersion in water and the resolve to adopt a reformed life.

After his resurrection Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach the gospel throughout the world, saying that: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.¹

The Apostles did as Jesus commanded and it is significant that in the Acts of the Apostles every instance of conversion to the new faith, as a result of their preaching, is followed by the record of that convert’s baptism. For example, on the very first occasion that Christianity was preached to the world on the day of Pentecost, the hearer’s response was: Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.²

In his letter written later, the Apostle Peter says that baptism saves us.³ Christian doctrine is all about saving and forgiveness of sins; so how can some say that baptism is unnecessary?

As to the mode of baptism, there is absolutely no doubt that it was by complete immersion in water. Acts records that after an Ethiopian eunuch’s confession of faith in Jesus, both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.⁴ The word baptise even demands complete immersion. It is derived from a Greek word once used in the dyeing process. Cloth had to be completely submerged in the liquid dye in order to be changed to the new colour – merely sprinkling dye on the cloth was obviously useless.

In Romans 5 the Apostle Paul describes that at baptism, when a believer is buried in water, he or she undergoes in figure what Jesus did in fact – death, burial and resurrection to a new life:

Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.⁵

So I repeat, it is absolutely certain that the original Christian baptism was a confession of belief in Christ, followed by immersion in water. It had to be by a believing adult.

How and why did it change to what is the current practice in many if not most Christian societies? I suspect that the introduction of the belief that all humans had an immortal soul began to put some in a quandary. What would happen to the soul of a poor innocent child who died?

So, soon after the Apostles departed from the scene, and despite the fact that baptism had until then been confined to those who could believe the gospel, pressure was put on the church to ensure that by baptism such infants would be saved. But this originally met with opposition from prominent Christians such as Tertullian (AD 150–225). Speaking of new converts he wrote:

Let them come when they grow up – let them come when they learn; let them become Christians when they are able to know Christ; why should this innocent age hasten to the remission of sins.⁶

But as time went by, infant christening was substituted for adult immersion, with the sanction of the established church. A well-known Victorian theologian, Dean Stanley, described the change as: a triumph of common sense and convenience over the bondage of form and custom.⁷

Do you, as a follower of Jesus, agree with the Dean?

Sorry to put it bluntly, but if this rite of baptism can be so much changed,⁸ how many other of God’s specific commands are some Christians prepared to alter under the guise of common sense and convenience or keeping up with the times? Look around and you might see more examples than you expect.