The harsh Judean sun beat down on sweaty and desperate men. Addicts to sin and whores of Satan, they crowded into the murky water that had so disgusted Naaman the Syrian years before[1]. And when the baptizer looked up, his heart objected to the presence of the pushers and procurers[2], but the Spirit would not deny them. Even then, grace was afoot in the land…
This was years before Pentecost, when the revelation of God’s plan of salvation was completed. Even so, people sought God’s amnesty and were baptized. They didn’t know about Jesus[3]. No one performed great signs and miracles[4]. There was no apostle to systematically explain the gospel to them. They knew only that their religion left them hapless before sin and its consequences. God’s vengeance towered up like a thunderhead, so they gambled everything on an unkempt ascetic’s solitary proposition. They could hardly have known they were accepting God’s invisible offer of justification. The truth is, they were men of extreme faith.
Interestingly enough, these reckless penitents are counted as the first believers. When they were baptized, Christ had not yet been revealed[5], yet scripture records only one instance of any of these believers being rebaptized[6]. Apparently, Jesus not only accepted the baptism his disciples had received before they knew him, but he had them perpetuate the practice with new believers[7]. Their baptism was acceptable because they had believed in something they could not see[8], and most of them persisted in that faith as it was verified before their very eyes[9].
Baptism is, first and foremost, a faith action. It is faith that prompts it, faith that legitimizes it, and faith that validates it as a standing appeal before God for a good conscience. Of itself, baptism is neither necessary nor sufficient for salvation. Faith is the sole mechanism of God’s grace[10].
We know baptism is not necessary for salvation because many who were not baptized were promised the heavenly reward. Not only do we have the famous example of the thief on the cross[11], but all the prophets and people of faith of the Old Testament[12].
Such indisputable evidence constrains the interpretation of passages that seem to make baptism a requirement for salvation. For example, Mark must mention baptism in Mark 16:16 simply as a normative practice of those who believe. This interpretation is bolstered by the way Mark stated the obverse. If baptism had been a significant part of his logic, the proper way to state the obverse would have been, “the one who does not believe or is not baptized…”
We know that baptism is not sufficient for salvation from the many passages where the apostles exhorted believers to live lives worthy of their faith. Perhaps the most eloquent is 1 Corinthians 10:1–12. In a retelling of the Exodus experience, Paul cleverly alludes to deliverance, baptism, communion, and sometime dependency on Christ. Then comes the shocker, “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.” He then goes on to reveal what fatally compromises faith and finishes by emphasizing that all this applies to Christians. Plainly, none of the things he alluded to are guarantees of salvation.
Peter, that anointed master of bluntness, summarizes his treatment of the same topic with a colorful proverb, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud”[13]. Baptism outside of faith is no more spiritually significant than a pig’s bath.
So, however important baptism is as a worshipful and public promise to submit to and depend on God, it can only be properly understood in the context of faith, which is what should prompt and support it. Unfortunately, faith has a habit of quickly wriggling underneath the boundary posts of our understanding, which themselves lie far from the hearth of comfort. It may be that the infiniteness of God’s power and grace makes the horizon of faith limitless.
For one thing, faith transcends time. The faith of all believers before Christ was effective only in him[14]. We show our understanding of this principle when we avoid rebaptizing someone whose initial baptism was not an act of faith. We know that future faith validates the act that it should have accompanied. This could very well be why few of John’s disciples were rebaptized.
On the other hand, saving faith can clearly precede baptism. When the Spirit came upon Cornelius’ household, baptism became a mere formality[15].
Even more amazing, faith transcends the individual person. There are many stories in the Bible where God acted on one person’s faith to bless another. Jesus forgave and healed a man because of his friends’ faith[16]. Similarly, it was by Abraham’s faith that Lot was saved. Lot couldn’t call on God because he was not even aware that he was under a sentence of death. Moreover, God saved him even though Abraham lacked the faith to seek salvation for less than ten people[17]. It was truly a case of a mustard seed providing refuge for a bird[18].
If anything, such utter dependency is close to the heart of faith, as Jesus pointed out when parents brought infants to him[19]. These children did not meet any criteria of understanding or personal relationship, but Jesus blessed them in their total dependence on a reliable means to come to him. In the same way, no action or quality of our own allows us to come safely before God, but we can be confident in our total dependence on the mediation of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps for this reason, once the apostles began evangelizing through personal relationships, they baptized whole families[20]. Those who were definitely capable of faith acted on behalf of those who weren’t, though the baptisms of all, capable and incapable, were subject to the future validation of their faith. Moreover, if one can so construe the Word, the validation of the Spirit was evident in absolutely everyone in one family[21].
Faith transcends even death. When the writer of Hebrews discusses Isaac’s salvation through his father’s faith, he likens it to revival[22] and then references all the instances where children were revived in response to their mothers’ faith[23]. Such a deliberate comparison suggests the writer was alluding to resurrection, which begs the question of whether faith can reach between earthly life and death in matters of eternal life and death.
Actually, Paul’s mention of people being baptized for the dead is direct evidence that it can[24]. Far from denouncing this practice, Paul cites it to support the doctrine of resurrection. He would hardly have done so if he or his readers thought the practice aberrant.
At this point we may wonder: are there limits on the application of faith to the practice of baptism? Paul’s discussion of how faith can absolve one of any ritual practice suggests that, in theory, there are none[25]. If one’s faith is strong enough to allow baptism in an Internet chat room with virtual water or baptism on behalf those who did not know to be baptized[26], then such baptism is proper. Surely baptism in tubs instead of rivers, baptism by sprinkling, and baptism of children requires weaker faith than this! The only limit is the practical question of whether one’s faith is strong enough to support one’s actions, a question that ultimately can only be answered between each individual and God.
However, there is a secondary practical limit: the question of whether one’s actions will tempt others to take actions beyond the strengths of their faith. For example, suppose someone of strong faith inspires a new believer to be baptized by sprinkling. If the new believer then doubts his or her baptism, the one of strong faith is culpable. Note, however, that what has taken place is that the new believer was not ready to step up to a stronger faith. Since growing stronger in faith is preferable to staying weak[27], those who may have caused the new believer to doubt are more culpable still[28].
Yet the ultimate freedom of strong faith remains the freedom not to exercise one’s freedom. Strong faith allows infant baptism or baptism on behalf of the dead, but faith that can confidently appeal to God without baptism for one’s children or dead friends is stronger still. In a sense, the people of strongest faith can forego any outward act of faith, like baptism, if constrained to do so.
In a setting of mixed levels of faith, such as that commonly found in any church, this perspective says that one should only constrain people to what the lowest level of faith will allow, but appeal to what the highest will allow. Those whose faith is strong need to safeguard the faith of those who are weak. If this can be done while exercising one’s freedom, without one shaming, blaming, or criticizing another, praise God! If not, the strong should practice weakness while training the weak to act in strength. In this way, unity in the church can be maintained while each believer clings to the hope and promise of his or her baptism[29].
©2001 M Richter
[1] 2 Kings 5:11–12.
[2] Matthew 3:7.
[3] John 1:29–34.
[4] John 10:40–42.
[5] Interestingly enough, the apostles considered Christ’s ministry to start with John, before Jesus was revealed (Acts 1:20-22, 10:37, 13:24).
[6] Acts 19:1–7.
[7] John 3:22–30, 4:1–3.
[8] Hebrews 11:1.
[9] Luke 7:18–23.
[10] 1 Peter 3:18–22. Often quoted as a passage to support the view that baptism is a mechanism of saving grace, it actually shows just the opposite. Peter quickly qualifies his statement that baptism saves by stating that it does not justify directly, but works as a faith promise to God effectuated by Christ’s actions.
[11] Luke 23:43–43.
[12] Hebrews 11.
[13] 2 Peter 2:22.
[14] Hebrews 11:39–40.
[15] Acts 10:44–48. It is interesting to note that Peter didn’t bother baptizing in the name of the Holy Spirit, normally so important to him (Acts 8:12–17). Presumably, he felt it wasn’t necessary since the Spirit was already in those he baptized.
[16] Mark 2:5.
[17] Genesis 18:32–33.
[18] Matthew 13:31–32.
[19] Matthew 19:13–15.
[20] Acts 16:14–15, 25–34 (stresses all the family), 18:8 (stresses entire family), 1 Corinthians 1:16.
[21] Acts 16:34. The adjective applied to this extraordinary outburst of joy is panoikos, all the family, without exception.
[22] Hebrews 11:19.
[23] Hebrews 11:35, 1 Kings 17:17–24, Mark 5:35–43.
[24] 1 Corinthians 15:29.
[25] Romans 14.
[26] Luke 12:48.
[27] Psalm 84:7, Hebrews 5:11–6:3.
[28] Matthew 18:6.
[29] Hebrews 10:19–23.