Baptism
The Washing Away of Our Sins

Who Is To Be Baptized with Water?

    Now we should examine the question: Who is to be baptized with water? During the church age, some churches baptized infants. Other churches baptized only those who make profession of salvation. What can we learn from the Bible concerning this question?
    To bring forth a solution to this question, we should review God's salvation plan. A great many theologians teach that God had one plan of salvation for ancient Israel and another plan for the New Testament which continues today. They teach that Old Testament people were under the law whereas we are under grace. Therefore, citing the examples of the Ethiopian eunuch, the family of Cornelius, and the twelve Ephesians of Acts 19, they believe that water baptism is to be experienced as a public testimony at the time a profession of faith is made. They contend that the baptism of infants has no Biblical warrant.

Our Salvation Plan

    What these people do not understand is the fact that God has only one salvation plan. Those who lived before the flood were

saved just as the New Testament believer is saved. For example, we read of Noah that he found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). Noah was a sinner under the law before he was saved just as we are sinners under the law before we are saved. To be under the law is to be subject to the penalty the law prescribes for sin. That penalty is eternal damnation. Only by God's grace can we be freed from that penalty. Those experiencing God's grace are freed because Christ as their substitute paid the penalty in their place.
    God bestowed His grace upon Noah just as He bestows His grace upon us at the time we become saved. Before salvation Noah like all of us are under the law because the law declares that the wages of sin is death. Beginning with Adam and Eve, this Biblical principle was set forth and it will continue until Judgment Day. The only way to come from under the law is to be given the grace of God. The grace of God is the wonderful fact that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of those He chose to become saved. These chosen ones, therefore, include every person who lived at any time during the 13,000-year history of the world and who was included in the remnant chosen by grace.

    Thus, those who lived in ancient Israel were saved by the blood of Christ as we today are saved by the same shed blood of Christ. Because Christ was the Lamp slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), salvation was possible at any time after our first parents Adam and Eve fell into sin.

One Call to Perfection

    The Old Testament person was commanded to keep the law perfectly or he would be under the curse of the law. The New Testament believer is told to be perfect as our Father in heaven is

perfect (Matthew 5:48) for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
    Thus, there is one salvation plan that has existed throughout time. The only slight difference is that the Old Testament believer looked forward to the coming Savior whereas we look back upon Him as our Savior. Because Christ is the great I AM, the ever-present one, Christ is effectively the Lam slain from before the foundation of the world. Therefore, the efficacy of the atonement is available in equal fashion to the Old Testament and the New Testament believers.
    Not only is the salvation of the Old Testament believer identical to that of the New Testament believer, but in both situations, the believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. That is why David cried out in his sin, "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11). That is why Romans 8:9 declares:

    Now it is true that Jesus says in John 14:16-17:

    This reference is not speaking about a different salvation program for the New Testament believer as compared with the Old Testament believer. Rather, as we learned earlier in our study about the phrase "baptized with the Holy Spirit," it is speaking about God's plan to begin to evangelize the world once Christ went back to heaven.
    Remember before Pentecost of A.D. 33, believers were only occasionally qualified and mandated to be prophets. Men like

Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and John the Baptist were given such a task. While all believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, only those filled with the Spirit were considered to be prophets.
    As we learned earlier, beginning at Pentecost, every believer was mandated and qualified to be a prophet. Like a bucket of water poured out so was the Holy Spirit poured out so that every believer became filled with the Spirit. Whereas every believer from the beginning of time was indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he was not filled with (that is, mandated and qualified to bring the Gospel) the Holy Spirit until Pentecost when the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, was poured out.
    Thus, Jesus said He, the Holy Spirit, will be in you, as He prophesied that the Comforter will come. This indeed stresses one difference between the salvation plan of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Before the time of the crucifixion of Christ, it was fairly rare that anyone became saved. The Israelites perished in the wilderness because of unbelief. Whole nations existed without ever hearing the Gospel. Even after Jesus, the perfect preacher, had preached for three and a half years, there were only 120 in the upper room and 500 in Galilee.
    God's plan was to have the Gospel sent into all the world as a testimony but this plan of worldwide evangelism was not to begin until Christ returned to heaven after the cross. Thus, at Pentecost, about 3,000 were saved and ever since then, God has been saving people in every nation. To accomplish this, God mandated and qualified every believer to be a prophet. He did so by making each one a vehicle to bring the Gospel to the world. In that sense, the Holy Spirit was not in the typical believer of the Old Testament. They were indwelt by the Holy Spirit but were not mandated by the Holy Spirit to bring the Gospel.

The Old and New Covenants

    Another apparent different that is stressed in the Bible is the fact that God speaks of an Old Covenant and a New Testament or Covenant. That is precisely the way that the Bible is divided. Does this imply that God has two salvation plans? That is not possible, as

we have already seen. The significance of the Old Covenant versus the New Covenant is that, even as we have just learned, prior to the time Jesus went to the cross, very few people became saved. Even though God set some apart for his service, as He did ancient national Israel, very few actually became saved. However, it is true that God commanded them to faithfully serve Him. God gave them many illustrations as examples of salvation, for instance, when He brought Israel out of Egypt, when He brought them through the Red Sea, and when they crossed the Jordan River.
    Not only did He give them many examples of salvation, He also gave them signs that pointed to a coming Messiah who alone could save them from their sins. This was the focus of the seventh-day Sabbath, the burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the feast days, and many other commands which we call ceremonial laws.

    One important ingredient that was required for salvation was seldom experienced. No matter how diligently individuals kept all of the laws set forth in the Bible, this could in no way bring about their salvation. The missing ingredient was the fact that God had to apply the Gospel to the hearts of those whom He planned to save. We read in Jeremiah 31:33:

    Those like David, Abraham, and Rahab the Harlot who did become saved, were saved only because God opened their spiritual ears, broke their sin-hardened hearts, and performed a work of grace with them. These were fairly rare exceptions. As we saw

when we examined the matter of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit most of Israel at any time before Jesus went to the cross remained in unbelief.
    When God spoke about a New Covenant, He was not describing a different salvation plan that would be experienced by those who would become saved during the New Testament era. Rather, He was indicating that after Jesus went to the cross, there would be an explosion of individuals who were witnessed to concerning salvation and who would become saved. They would become saved because God would apply His Word to their hearts, giving them a new spirit or soul. They would become born from above which was necessary for salvation at any time in the history of the world.
    The impact of the New Covenant after Jesus went to the cross is seen in the fact that on Pentecost Day in A.D. 33, about 3,000 individuals were saved. And ever since that time, many people in every nation who were given the witness of the Gospel have become saved.
    Therefore, the New Covenant did not in any way change God's salvation plan for any individual. The New Covenant simply completed God's salvation plan to save people from all over the world. Those who became saved became the true Israel (Romans 2:28-29), the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), the true seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:29). That is why when God speaks of the New Covenant in Hebrews 8:10 He declares:

    We have seen thus far that God has had one salvation plan throughout the history of the world. God's salvation plan is anchored in the fact that Christ is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. It was absolutely necessary that the sins of any individual whom God intended to save must be laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, guilty with the sins of each and every one of

these whom God had chosen to salvation, Jesus endured the wrath of God; He endured God's wrath on behalf of those whose sins He had taken upon Himself.

    We have seen that the only difference that could be noted between the Old Testament and the New Testament is the scope of the application of God's salvation plan. Before Pentecost in A.D. 33, very few people became saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Of these, very few were given the task of serving as a prophet of God.
    Beginning with Pentecost of A.D. 33, people began to be saved from every nation. And each and every one who became saved was qualified and mandated to be a prophet. Each and every one was filled with the Spirit, a technical phrase that they were to carry out God's program of evangelizing the whole world. That is why Jesus declares in John 14:17:

    All believers beginning with Pentecost in A.D. 33 are immediately qualified and mandated to be prophets to bring the Gospel. They have been baptized with the Holy Spirit not only because their sins have been washed away, but also they have been

filled with the Spirit in the sense that they have work to do as prophets of God. And that work is to bring the Gospel to the world.

The Promises of Both Covenants Are Identical

    As we compare God's Old Testament salvation plan with that of the New Testament, we see that promises to the believers were the same. In the Old Testament, we read in Genesis 17:7:

    In the New Testament, we read in Acts 2:39:

    Moreover, the command to the believing parents to instruct their children was identical in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We read in Deuteronomy 6:6-7:

    In Ephesians 6:4 we read:

    Having said all of this, we now must look at one situation that was distinctly different for the Old Testament believer and his family compared to the New Testament believer and his family. This has to do with the sign which was to be placed on the New Testament believer and his family as compared with that which was to be placed on the Old Testament believer and his family.

The Sign of Salvation was Changed

    When an Old Testament man appeared to have become saved, an outward sign pointing to the nature of salvation was to be placed upon him and all the males eight days old or older who were in his household. That sign was circumcision. Circumcision involved the shedding of blood because the foreskin of the reproductive organ was cut off. When Abraham was physically circumcised, all the males in his household were to be circumcised whether they were elect of God or not. This principle is reiterated in Exodus 12:48:

    Why would God want the sign of circumcision to be placed on children in the household of the father who appeared to have become a believer? These children may not have been elect of God. Like Ishmael, if they were not elect of God they would never want salvation on God's terms, and God would never do a work of saving in their lives.
    The answer to this question surprisingly is in the New Testament. In I Corinthians 7:14, God declares:

    In this verse, the words "sanctify" and "holy" are the same word. It is a word that means being set apart for the service of God. The true believer is eternally sanctified or made holy because he is forever set apart for the service of God.
    In the family where one parent has become saved, God is stating that every member of that family, in some way, has been set apart for the service of God. This includes individuals like Ishmael who obviously are not elect and, therefore, would never become saved.

    Every individual in that family has been brought into a relationship with God that is different from the family next door where no individuals give any evidence of having come into a saving relationship with Christ. The family with the believing parent is mandated by God to teach the children about the God of the Bible (Deuteronomy 6:7, Ephesians 6:4). Moreover, the parent who has become saved will have an intense desire for the salvation of his family members and, therefore, will be interceding through prayer to God on behalf of each member of his family, that they, too, might become saved.
    Thus, every member of the family with a believing parent has come into a relationship with God that is different from the members of the family next door, where no one is teaching the Bible or praying for salvation. This is why God speaks of the family members living in a home where a parent has become saved as being holy or sanctified. That home has become a Gospel home, a covenant home. To emphasize this in the Old Testament, God commanded that all the males, beginning with children eight days of age, were to be circumcised. In referring to the necessity of salvation, God commanded in Deuteronomy 10:16:

    However, given the fact that each and every individual who is not saved is spiritually dead, he does not want to obey this command. Moreover, because he is spiritually a corpse, he cannot obey this command. Therefore, the Bible declares that God will accomplish salvation in the lives of the unsaved whom He wishes to save; this is, He will do all the work of saving their soul. We read in Deuteronomy 30:6:

    Thus, it is clear that physical circumcision was a sign or a shadow pointing to the salvation of the individual had already experienced or hoped to experience. This sign or shadow was so intimately identified with salvation that the command given to Abraham in Genesis 17:10 almost sounds like the physical circumcision was in itself the condition that must be met in order to guarantee salvation for the person who was circumcised. (Later, pages 114-118, we will look at the language of Genesis 17 very carefully.)
    In fact, this was the conclusion of many in ancient Israel. It was such a dominant idea that God warns in Galatians 5:3-4:

Physical Circumcision Never Guaranteed Salvation

    We are absolutely certain that in itself, circumcision was not an act of initiating or guaranteeing salvation for at least three reasons.
    The first reason is the declaration of Ephesians 2:8-10:

    These versus agree totally with Deuteronomy 30:6 where God declares that He will circumcise the hearts of those whom He will save.
    Secondly, no women were physically circumcised. If physical circumcision were a requirement for salvation, no Old Testament women could have become saved. The sign of circumcision was placed on males because the shedding of blood and the cutting away of flesh occurred. The cutting away of flesh signified that our sins must be cut away, that our sinful nature must be removed.

    Moreover, it involved the reproductive organ which pointed to the seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, who must come to shed His blood, that is, give His life in payment for our sins.
    The third reason that physical circumcision could not initiate or guarantee salvation is the fact that at the time Abraham was

circumcised, all the males in his house were circumcised. This included his son Ishmael who was not saved nor would he ever become saved. And yet three times in Genesis 17 God emphasizes that Ishmael was circumcised. We read in verses 23, 25 and 26:

    We will develop this fact of the non-elect condition of Ishmael later in our study.
    We have seen that salvation throughout history has not changed. The promises to the children of believing parents have not changed and the mandate that believing parents are to teach their children the gospel has not changed. Now the question arises: What about the sign of physical circumcision? That certainly was not commanded for the New Testament church.
    We do know that after Jesus arose from the grave, circumcision was no longer to be used as a sign in relationship to a believing family. Circumcision, like ceremonies such as burnt offerings and blood sacrifices had been completed in Christ, and, therefore, were no longer to be observed.

The New Testament Sign of Salvation

    God did give a New Testament sign to be placed upon a believing family at the time a parent became a believer. We read in Acts 16:14-15:

    Please notice that the sign of baptism was placed upon Lydia's household and not only upon Lydia whose heart the Lord had opened (that is, she truly had become saved). God does not require a description of those within her household because God had already taught that when Abraham received the sign of salvation (which was physical circumcision at that time), all of the males in his household were to receive the same sign.

    In this very instructive passage, God is teaching that after the cross, the woman believers (typified by Lydia) were also to receive the sign of salvation which had been changed from circumcision to water baptism. Thus, even as all of the males in the household were to receive the Old Testament sign of salvation at the time the father was saved, in the New Testament, every member of the family, both male and female, was to receive the sign of salvation when the mother or the father came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
    Significantly, in the same chapter of the Book of Acts, we read of a father who became a believer. He was the jailer at Philippi.

    Again, when he was baptized, all of his family was baptized. Acts 16:33 assures us of this.

    God further declares this principle in I Corinthians 1:16, where we read that the Apostle Paul baptized the household of Stephanus:

    We see, therefore, the perfect harmony of the whole Bible. The Gospel sign was placed on the family of the Old Testament father when he became a believer. Likewise, the Gospel sign is placed on the New Testament family when either parent becomes a believer.

    Thus, in the Old Testament, a sign (physical circumcision) was placed on the family of a believing father and in the New Testament, a sign (water baptism) is placed on the family of a believing parent. Remember, in both the Old and in the New Testament the fathers were to teach their children in the way of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6).
    We see the emphasis upon God's purpose through use of the number three. Three examples of water baptism of the families of a believing parent are given, Lydia, the Philippian jailer, and the family of Stephanas. I do not believe it was coincidental that God tells us of three different families that were baptized at the time a parent was saved. The number three signifies God's purpose. It was God's purpose that when a New Testament parent became saved, their children were also to receive the sign pointing to salvation which is water baptism. Water baptism was a ceremonial law to be observed during the New Testament church age just as physical circumcision was a cereminial law which was to be observed during the Old Testament nation of Israel time.

    It is interesting that during the church age even in most churches where they do not understand that the children in the family are to be baptized when the parent is baptized, they do sense that something ought to be done in relationship to the children of believers. Therefore, they frequently establish a "Cradle Roll," or they institute a ceremony in which they dedicate their children to the Lord. Neither one of these ideas is called for in the Bible. God has given the rules. The young child of a believing parent is to be baptized. This is not to be an act of dedicating the child to the Lord. The act of baptism signifies that the child is a holy child and is to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
    We have learned that God has only one salvation plan for this world. The Old Testament believers looked forward to the coming Messiah who in principle was slain from the foundation of the world. The New Testament believers look back to the Messiah who did come. In both instances, the salvation that was realized was the same.
    The Old Testament sign or shadow of the Gospel in the family was circumcision. The New Testament sign is water baptism.

    Thus, we see very clearly that the Biblical mandate that during the church age the children of a believing parent are to be baptized. Sprinkling as a mode of baptism accords perfectly with the observance of this New Testament ceremonial law.
    Now we should face another serious question. Many parents believe or have been taught that water baptism initiates or guarantees salvation for the one baptized. We will look at this issue and a few others in our next chapter.