Lynda M. of Northern Ireland asks:
I was baptized at the age of 13 before actually walking with the Lord, as a result of a youth bible class that covered the subject, after which we were asked if we would like to be baptized, and considering that most of the class was willing, I also decided. I remember when I was too embarrassed to tell my classmates, let alone call them to see it.
- The Lord really worked in my life when I was 20 years old.
- And that’s when I would say he really opened my eyes to understand what to follow Jesus.
- Preferably.
- This is where I would be baptized.
- But of course I had already been baptized.
- I am interested in hearing your thoughts on baptism a second time and whether you think it would be necessary.
We asked Jared Oliphint, Regional Coordinator and Master’s Student in Theology at westminster Theological Seminary. He studied philosophy at Gordon College and received his Master of Arts (Religion) from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 2005. You can also read Bobby Jamieson’s believdobatist response by clicking here.
I humbly encourage all those considering these issues to speak first with their local pastor. These kinds of problems are rarely disconnected from a broader ministerial need on a Christian’s path, but we may be able to point the right direction here. The subject of baptism depends on how he or she understands baptism as a whole. So let’s start with where the apostles started, in the Old Testament. We can first wonder if there was a meaning behind it and a precedent for using water as a sign of The New Covenant in the New Testament The first time the scriptures used water as a sign of the covenant that occurred long before the New Testament era. Registration 1 Peter 3. 20-21:
?? when God’s great patience awaited the days of Noah, as he prepared the ark, in which few, namely eight people, were saved by water, who, understanding baptism, also saves you now, so as not to be the removal of dirt from the flesh, but by seeking a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God used the judgment of the water in the form of a flood as a means to separate the covenant mediator (Noah) and his covenant people (his family) from the rebellious and non-covenant people. Years later, God again used the water judgment as a means to separate the covenant mediator (Moses) and his covenant people (Israel) from the rebellious and non-allied peoples. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10: 1-2: “Now, brothers, I don’t want you to know that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all crossed the sea. And all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. In all the above cases, these Old Testament baptismal events included not only covenant children, but also unbelieving covenant members. God brought Ham son of Noah through the baptismal flood, but Ham’s descendants were ultimately cursed (Genesis 9: 18-27). Likewise, some Israelites who escaped from the Egyptians found themselves unfaithful members of the covenant (Ex 32:25; see also Joshua 3, Israel’s second exodus passing through the waters again, this time in the Jordan River under the mediation of Joshua. Later, the real Joshua, Jesus, would be baptized in the same waters). Fast forward a few centuries, we see another warning of judgment coming from none other than John the Baptist, the figure of the prophet Elijah, accompanied by water baptism. “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has drawn near?” (Mt 3,2). Something new had happened, but with a precedent (the coming of Christ), which required a new sign of the covenant, but with a precedent, of judgment (baptism in water). Jesus himself, the fulfillment of Israel, would also pass through the waters of baptism (Mt 3: 13-27) as did Noah, Moses, and Joshua as their typological mediators.
At the beginning of this new covenant age, one would expect that anyone, Jews, Gentiles and, yes, their covenant children, who had faith in the new covenant mediator, Christ, would receive the new baptismal covenant sign. Although we do not have biblical evidence in the form of verses that say, “Should you baptize the children of the covenant?” o “You should only baptize adult converts”, Scripture as a whole can be read more naturally if we take one perspective or another. Because adults of all stripes would be expected to receive the sign of new covenant baptism upon seeing the members of the new covenant, this is in fact what we see in Acts when the apostles are sent with the Spirit. But there are also clues in Scripture that new covenant members are not limited to adults who claim to have had a conversion experience. First, the New Testament records a unique period in redemptive history. We should not expect or assume that all behavior patterns of this period (such as adult conversions) would be the exclusive and permanent pattern of normative behavior, unless Scripture indicates that this is the case. Second, the passages indicating the baptism of entire families (Acts 16:15; 1Cor 1:16) do not contain sufficient evidence to be decisive in this matter. However, it would be unusual for biblical writers to (1) assume that they did not have young children in families, and (2) if children were present, they would assume that they would be silent if children were excluded. of the sign of the new covenant. There was an overwhelming precedent in the Old Testament that included children as covenant members of God’s people that a change in this matter would warrant a full and documented explanation.
Third, although the parallels between circumcision and baptism may not be sufficient to carry the full weight of the argument, Colossses 2. 11-12 establishes a clear link between the signs of the covenant:
In Him, you have also been circumcised, not by the hands, but by the stripping of the body of the flesh, which is the circumcision of Christ, after being buried with him at baptism, in which you have also risen by faith in the power of Christ. God who raised him from the dead. ?
Similar to the element of judgment in baptism, circumcision involves “stripping. ” And a sign of judgment not by the water but by the knife, typologically demonstrated in Christ? his own body put to the test by his death on the cross. Fourth, there is explicit evidence in 1Cor 7. 14 of a biological / physical element in the new covenant: “Because the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the life of the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the life of the believing husband. Otherwise. , your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. Scripture does not speak of children in the new covenant as unbelievers or outside the new covenant (Acts 2: 36-39). The question is not whether the baptism of unbelievers can be forewarned, or how we can accurately estimate the elect. Peedobaptists and Credobaptists name unbelievers. Peedobaptists baptize babies who may not profess their faith and adults who do not have a true profession. Credobatists also baptize those who profess faith, but profession may not be genuine We can safely assume that Jesus’ disciple, Judas, was baptized in the new covenant, with Jesus fully knowing that he was an unbeliever.
Turning to the original question of rebaptism, if we understand the sign of baptism in water as a sign of judgment that begins with Noah and his children, continue with Moses, Joshua, and Israel; is getting better with Jean-Baptiste and members of the new alliance; and continues through the church for the members of the new covenant, it is not difficult to see why a second baptism would be useless as to endure another great flood, cross the Red Sea and Jordan again, or change the meaning of you as a new member Confusion in this matter begins when we identify baptism only as a sign of the believer’s experience of conversion from being out of the covenant to becoming a new member of the covenant ( nor is there any indication in the scriptures that all believers can record a tangible and manifest feeling that corresponds temporarily to the conversion of being under the wrath to be under grace. The Westminster Confession of Faith (28. 6) is useful here:
The effectiveness of baptism is not limited to when it is administered; However, through the proper use of this ordinance, the promised grace is not only offered, but the Holy Ghost manifests and effectively confers it on those to whom it belongs, adults or children, according to the counsel of God’s will, in his time.
For those who contemplate a second baptism because of a later and more tangible experience of conversion, rest a lot that their original baptism, which means entering into the new covenant, is effective not by the strength of their experience of conversion, but by the power of God in his time. to thank the members of the new pact.