Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome everyone to the Harvester Podcast
Hosted by the Florida School of Preaching here in Lakeland, Florida.
My name is George Beals, and today I would like to talk with you about Bible baptisms.
Notice the plural there: Bible baptisms.
I count eight baptisms in the Bible, and there is one factor that is fixed in all eight,
and there are three factors that vary.
So we'll want to look at this in some detail.
The factor that is fixed.
In and in common with all eight baptisms referenced in the Bible is the meaning of
baptism.
Baptism in the Bible and in the ancient Greek world.
As a matter of fact, the ancient Greco Roman world, in ancient Greek the language, always
means immersion.
That's the noun, and the verb to baptize means to immerse.
As a matter of fact, a gentleman by the name of TJ Conant, C-O-N-A-N-T, TJ Conant, showed
that immersion is the idea, the meaning of the word Boptixo in the Greek.
He showed this long ago in his book, The Meaning and Use of Boptipsane, originally
published way back in 1864.
Now, not all of the context of the Bible passages that mention baptism provide information
to pin down that the meaning is immersion.
But those that do pin it down consistently show that immersion is the meaning.
Let me give you a couple of passages where we have enough information to show that
immersion is in mind.
One of them is Romans chapter six verses three to five.
This reads from the New King James, or 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.
Notice the analogy there.
Here we have the idea of a person who is buried and then is raised up.
And we have in the case of baptism a person is buried or immersed and the element is in
water today, and that uh he or she then rises up out of that immersion, and that's like a
burial.
The old man of sin is left there in the watery grave of baptism.
And then again it says as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we, he's talking to Christians here, all we also should walk in newness of life.
So the newness of life takes place as one is raised up out of the watery grave of baptism.
This continues, verse five of Romans chapter six.
If we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of his resurrection.
So notice then that Romans chapter six verses three to five does give us information
bringing out the meaning of the word.
It is clearly an immersion.
And then Colossians chapter two twelve with Colossians three one through four is a second
passage that
That uh is a clincher, showing that the idea in mind in baptism is an immersion.
This reads verse 12 of Colossians 2, buried with him, note, buried with him in baptism, in
which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him
from the dead.
This continues.
sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of on the earth, for you died and
your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
This of course once again is ri is written to Christians, that is those who have already
been immersed in in water for the purpose of remission of sins.
So
There is this one fixed idea or factor or element that is common to all eight baptisms in
the Bible.
On the other hand, there are three variables, and paying attention to these variables
allows us to distinguish the eight Bible immersions.
Let's talk about these variables.
The three variables are, number one, the element in which the immersion takes place and
Number two, the subject, that is the one being baptized.
And thirdly, the purpose or the result of the immersion.
So here are the eight baptisms or immersions that is in the scriptures, and we'll
distinguish these as we go through.
Again, all eight have in common the idea of an immersion.
And the variables are the element in which the immersion takes place, the subject that is
who is being baptized.
And then the purpose of the result of the referenced baptism.
Number one, then, the baptism of John.
The element is water.
I call to your attention Acts chapter 11, verse 16.
This reads, John indeed baptized with water.
The purpose is remission of sins, that is forgiveness of sins.
Notice Mark chapter 1, verse 4.
Quote, John came baptizing in the wilderness.
And preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Unquote.
Just a thought on this idea of baptism of repentance, if I may get detailed just a bit
here, technical.
The uh grammarians call this, those who have a knowledge of um a good knowledge of the
ancient Greek language, a limiting
Genitive, that is this expression, remission of sins.
And then it's said to be a baptism of repentance.
What does this of repentance mean?
Well, that's a so-called limiting genitive.
That is, it's equivalent to an adjective.
A penitent, repentant, that is repentance kind of baptism.
Not a baptism that accompanied that is accompanied by no repentance.
Compare this with Matthew three verses seven to eight, but when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who
warned you to flee from the wrath of come to come?
Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.
And in Matthew chapter three, verse eleven, John says, I indeed quote I indeed baptize you
with water unto that's the Greek word ace there.
unto repentance, that is with a view toward repentance, unquote.
So seems to indicate the repentance both precedes and follows John's baptism, as is the
case with the Baptism of the Great Commission, which we'll talk about in just a moment.
And so again, the purpose of John's baptism is remission of sins, and he calls it in Mark
chapter one verse five, a baptism of repentance.
That is, it is a
Repentance kind of baptism, that is to say, it is a baptism that is accompanied by
repentance, and it is for the remission of sins.
Well, who are the subjects of John's baptism?
Well, this is addressed in Luke chapter seven, verse thirty, which reads But the Pharisees
and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him,
unquote.
So the baptism of John.
Now, for the remaining seven immersions, except for the last, I will not take the time to
quote all the passages, but I will reference them so that you can jot them down yourself.
Baptism number two, we can call the baptism of suffering.
The element of of this immersion is suffering.
That is, a person is immersed in suffering.
Look at Luke chapter 12, verse 50, Mark chapter 10, verses 38 to 39.
Though the Lord acknowledges in the Mark passage that his disciples will suffer too, his
suffering on the cross is unique in conquering the sin problem.
The purpose of the baptism of suffering referenced here is to bring about forgiveness.
Look at Matthew 26, verse 28 on your own.
And so the subject of
is the Lord himself.
Compare Mark ten verses thirty-two to thirty-four, Isaiah chapter fifty-three, and other
passages.
So the baptism of suffering, number two.
A third baptism is referenced in the Bible.
We'll call this the a baptism of fire.
This appears to be eternal damnation.
You could find this in Luke chapter three, verses sixteen to seventeen.
The element is specified as fire.
The purpose is to separate from God forever.
Compare Mark chapter nine verses forty three to forty eight, Revelation chapter fourteen,
verse eleven, and the subjects are the lost.
The I'm sorry, the uh yeah, the sufferer the uh subjects here are the lost, those who are
damned, eternally damned, the baptism of fire.
Baptism number four, referenced in the Bible, we can call the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The element of this immersion is the Holy Spirit, that is, being overwhelmed by,
surrounded in all sides, so to speak, immersed in the Holy Spirit.
Apparently, the purpose of this is to communicate information as God's communicator.
The function of the Holy Spirit oftentimes
is seen in the scriptures as the um that of a communicator.
And in keeping with that, the baptism of the Holy Spirit does communicate something.
Apparently the purpose then is to communicate information as the communicator.
Look at Acts chapter two, verses one to four on your own.
Also couple into that Acts chapter eleven, verses fifteen to sixteen.
The Apostles
are the subjects, as is uh Cornelius and his household.
See also Acts chapter 10, 44 to 48, and again Acts chapter 15 verses 7 to 11.
I know that I'm going through those passages rather quickly, but again, we won't take the
time to read them.
I just uh cite them for you to jot these down and as in your own study and notice what
these passages have to say.
So the baptism of the Holy Spirit
The element is the Holy Spirit himself.
That is, people are immersed in or surrounded and overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit.
The purpose is to communicate a certain truth, given the particular context in which this
is referenced, namely Acts two, and again over in Acts ten.
Acts two, the day of Pentecost, you remember chapter two, verses one to four, and what's
communicated there, namely the the gospel and the related
information that is specified in Acts chapter two.
And then over in Acts chapter ten, we have the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurring once
again.
In that case, the case of the uh of Cornelius and his households.
His household singular.
And so then baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Number five, Jewish baptisms approved by God.
These are referenced in Hebrews chapter
six verse two.
This apparently refers to ritual cleaning in old t in the old testament sacrificial
system.
The element is water, the purpose is ritual cleaning, and the subjects are the entrals of
animals during the Old Testament sacrificial system.
I call to your attention compare Exodus chapter twenty nine verse four, Leviticus, chapter
sixteen, verse four, Leviticus
Once again, chapter twenty-two, verse six, as examples.
So Jewish baptisms approved of God, number five.
And then there is a sixth baptism referenced in the Bible, and we can call these Jewish
baptisms not approved of God.
And the reference here that I give you is Mark chapter seven to nine.
The element here
is water.
And I would like to take the time just for a moment to look at this particular baptism.
This may not be apparent.
And it's found in Mark chapter seven, verses seven to nine.
Also you have a reference to the same kind of thing over in Matthew, Matthew's account,
and Matthew chapter fifteen, verses uh eight to nine.
But Mark chapter seven, verses seven to nine, let me just read this from the New King
James.
Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to you, but say the word and my
servant will be healed.
I'm sorry, that's Luke, beg your pardon.
looking at uh Mark seven, seven to nine, excuse me.
Mark chapter seven, seven to nine.
And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God you behold you hold the tradition of men, the
washing, that's baptism in the original Greek, the washing of pitchers and cups and many
other such things you do.
He said to them, All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep.
your tradition.
So here we have Jesus rebuking Jewish leaders for binding their traditions outside of the
scriptures.
And uh that included the washing of pictures and cups and so forth, and they were making
their tradition something that was binding and they were neglecting the commandments of
God, not restricting themselves only to what God teaches in his word.
But rather adding their own traditions as if these were to be obligations from God.
And he's condemning that.
So I call these Jewish immersions of baptisms not approved of God.
Again, Mark chapter 7, verses 7 to 9.
Baptism number six.
Baptism number seven.
We can call this baptism into Moses in the cloud and in the
the sea.
I'd like to read this once again as another passage that will give us some insight.
This is found in Ma in 1 Corinthians 10, as I say, verses 1 to 2.
And this reads, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers
were under the cloud and passed through the sea.
All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
So here we see a reference in the New Testament scriptures back to the to an event in the
Old Testament scriptures.
And uh as we recall from Old Testament study, the Lord was leading the Israelites, and we
have the he in a pillar of fire during the day during the evening and the in a and clouds
during the
the um day, but continue reading in into the New Testament scriptures and we find that at
the beginning of that process, that is the beginning of the Exodus, that the Israelites
came out of Egypt, crossed over the Red Sea, sometimes called the Sea of Reeves, into the
wilderness wanderings where the Lord was leading them, as I guess indicated.
But uh during the time that they were coming out of Egypt, of course, you have this
miracle where they are surrounded on all sides and so forth.
They are in effect immersed uh unto Moses.
And it says again in the text uh do not I do not want you to be unaware that all our
fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses.
in the cloud and in the sea.
And so then you can see how the idea of immersion they're being uh they have uh water on
the sides, you've got uh clouds above and so forth.
That is being viewed as an immersion here.
It's called a baptism into Moses.
So apparently this is what we call a typological baptism.
By typological I'm referring to the
phenomenon in scripture in which the Old Testament scriptures had a so-called type and the
corresponding New Testament passage had the so-called anti-type.
What this means is that in the Old Testament scriptures we have a particular event or an
individual, this in this case an event, that foreshadows something that is to come.
And in that context we have uh a type that is a baptism, that kind of an immersion that I
just indicated.
And in that case it was unto Moses, whereas uh it is foreshadowing what we have, of
course, in the New Testament uh scriptures, uh, which is not into Moses but into Christ.
So apparently this reference in First Corinthians ten verses one to two, this baptism into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea is
Is what we can call a typological baptism, wherein the Israelites left Egypt and looked to
Moses to follow him, compare again into Moses.
The element is uh the cloud overhead and the sea on the sides.
The purpose is to foreshadow, anticipate, that is, the following uh freedom that we have
in Christ.
There's no guarantee now that Moses and his followers back at that time were themselves
aware of the typological or the foreshadowing significance of that immersion.
But it is apparent by studying the New Testament.
It's called the baptism into Moses in the cloud in the sea, 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 to
2.
And what is it typifying?
What is it foreshadowing?
Well, that'll bring us to
Baptism number eight, which we can call the baptism of the Great Commission.
This is the baptism that Jesus referred to when he gave the Great Commission, recorded in
Matthew twenty eight, verses eighteen to twenty.
Mark also refers to this in his account in Mark sixteen fifteen to sixteen.
Mark sixteen fifteen to sixteen reads He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that disbelieves shall be condemned.
And over in Matthew 28, 18 to 20, again, the Great Commission here.
Jesus is telling his disciples to go into all the world, preach the gospel, and um and
again uh baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This is done unto salvation.
We see this illustrated and exemplified later in the New Testament scriptures.
For example, in Acts chapter 8, verses 26 to 40.
There we have the evangelist Philip.
Who was providentially finding the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading a passage out of the
Old Testament scriptures?
And the eunuch asked, Who of whom speaks the prophet?
Of himself and someone or someone else.
He was reading what we call w what we number as Isaiah chapter 53.
And and the text in Acts 8, 29 to 40 says, from that passage.
He preached unto him Jesus.
And you keep on reading, and then the eunuch says, Look, here is water, what hinders me
from being baptized?
So the preaching of the gospel that that uh Philip was doing in Acts eight is in keeping
with the Great Commission given in Matthew twenty-eight and Mark sixteen.
And he must have said something about baptism, because again the eunuch said, Look, his
water, what hinders me from being baptized?
And then uh we couple that with these other passages as well, first Peter three, twenty to
twenty-one, which says that baptism does now save us.
Acts chapter two, verse thirty-eight, which says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit.
And then again, Acts chapter twenty-two, verse sixteen, yet another passage that
shows us the Great Commission baptism being uh implemented.
In that passage it says, uh, and now arise why do you delay, arise, be baptized, and wash
away your sins, calling on his name.
So here we have then the baptism of the Great Commission.
And the baptism of the Great Commission, according to the Great Commission, again in
Matthew 28, 18 to 20, is to
i is included in the preaching of the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is going to
occur until Christ returns.
So in other words, this is the baptism that is um included in the preaching of the gospel,
which is which is the case today.
This baptism applies today then.
As a matter of fact, uh if you were to continue reading in the New Testament scriptures,
you would come to the book of Ephesians, which is written around
60 to 62 AD, and in that book, at chapter four, verse five, the apostle Paul refers to one
baptism.
One baptism.
That being the case, if there's ever a time when there's one baptism, it would have to be
the baptism of the Great Commission, because that is the baptism that is included in the
preaching of the gospel, which is to take place throughout the Christian age.
until the final coming of Christ.
And so then that's the baptism that we should be obeying today, the baptism of the Great
Commission.
So let's just go back quickly and review the eight different baptisms that we have
referenced in the scriptures.
And uh one of them is the baptism of John, a second baptism of suffering, third baptism of
fire, four, baptism of the Holy Spirit, five, Jewish baptisms approved of God, Hebrews six
verse two.
Number six, Jewish baptisms not approved of God, Mark 7, 7 to 9.
Baptism a typological baptism, that is the baptism referenced in 1 Corinthians 10 1 to 2,
baptism into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
And then finally the baptism that applies today, namely the baptism of the Great
Commission.
The baptism of the Great Commission, the element is water, the
Purpose is unto the remission of sins, and the subjects are people who have heard,
believed, repented, and confessed this belief with their lips.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Having met those prerequisites to the baptism of the Great Commission, then a person is
baptized according to this intent specified in this baptism, namely for the purpose of
remission of sins.
And then, of course, he's raised up out of the water.
Now he becomes a Christian.
Now his sins are washed away.
And now he looks unto Jesus, the author and perfected his faith, living the Christian
life, being heaven bound.
So the eight baptisms spoken of in the scriptures.
Again, we are thankful that you've had the opportunity and uh have given us the
opportunity as well to study the Word of God with us.
And
We are now looking forward to another podcast subsequently.
Thank you, everyone.