Transcript: Baptism

Video Transcript: Baptism (Henry Reyenga)

As I look over my ministry, there are some controversial issues and practices that have divided Christians. One of them is the baptism question. Different denominations strongly believe, and different churches strongly believe, very in different practices concerning baptism. this is very important to look at because as an officiant, and officiant before Christ Jesus, you are going to encounter people that believe strongly about different practices and thoughts about baptism. today, we're going to talk about these different thoughts, and see where they're different, and really come to ask ourselves, what are we comfortable with? What are you comfortable with? First of all, truly, it's a controversy I tell you right now, and it's for some believers, a strong controversy. It has also been one of those controversies that takes attention off the main thing, the gospel. I've seen believers, who both profess Jesus Christ, are excited about serving the Lord. When the baptism issue comes up, that immediately there's like disagreement and argument and fight. let's talk about the different approaches to baptism, and try to understand each camp, and how they came to believe what they believe concerning baptism. here are the two approaches. 

There's the infant baptism approach, where believers’ children are presented at church. The sacrament of baptism is given by an ordained minister, or a priest in the ancient churches like Catholic and Orthodox. In the Protestant churches, like in the Lutheran Church, the Reformed Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, there is the believers’ children being baptized. That's one Christian segment. Another Christian segment believe that it's believer baptism and baptism is by immersion and the children of believers are dedicated. But when people become of age, then they're baptized by immersion. which one is right? You may already have, in your mind an answer to that. It may relate to how you were raised. Because the fact is, these practices of baptism are beautiful. They're beautiful for those who, as parents presented their children to be baptized. They're beautiful for those who, as adults are baptized, and they personally reflect their faith journey. let's talk even deeper about these approaches. 

the first thing is we have to know that there's a lot of historical assumptions in this discussion that are often not talked about. let's talk about them now. in the early church, hardly anyone knew Christ Jesus. The word ‘baptismal’ means to immerse. The baptism practice was a common practice. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. That was an identification that Jesus made with his heavenly Father with his mission of light he has had come to earth, and it was for him in ordination, sort of speak, and he's ordained by God the Father, to go out and complete his mission. he starts his mission after his baptism, which would have been immersion in the Jordan River. John the Baptist, immersed Jesus in the Jordan River. It was an identification and sort of ordination. The recognition of God the Father on Christ Jesus has for him to do his ministry and the credibility did not come from himself alone, but it also came from his heavenly Father. what we have in the early churches we have the early churches spreading everywhere. The word baptismal means immerse. Most of the people that were reached, were, in fact, then immersed. In that's just how it is. Now, what about the children thing? What did the early church do for that? The early church came out of the Jewish mindset. people were circumcised. On the eighth day, Jesus himself was circumcised and dedicated at the temple. 

You have these different, amazing, and beautiful practices that occurred in the Bible, such as circumcision. Circumcision goes back to the Old Testament back to Abraham. It goes back to the sign and seal of the covenant, that God is a covenant God who makes an agreement, he said, I will be your guide, and that will be the God of your children. these are all beautiful and amazing things. here comes Christianity that starts, the churches spread throughout the world, more and more people are reached, in more and more, there's critical mass. as time goes on, there is a recognition of the meaning of baptism becomes stronger than the mode of baptism. in the Catholic Church, the meaning of assures the water is wet, so sure, on the promises of God, that God cleanses sin. Now, in the Catholic Church, another thing occurred, is that the catholic church started to hold to various doctrines of the cleansing of original sin. some of the Catholic theologians talked about that. baptism began to mean that you bring your children for baptism, and baptism cleanses a child. if a child dies, and remember that in those days, the infant mortality rate was extremely high. if a child dies, they're saved. 

The baptism would be that thing that would be salvific for them in the Catholic Church. That is a practice that began in 200, 300, 400 AD and really culminated by the 1100s. The infant baptism, even the sprinkling baptism, became the dominant practice in the Catholic Church. there is there's a historical precedent, and if you go forward, that practice, was practicing by Protestant denominations as well. Now, are they not biblical? I don't think you can say they're not biblical. In this sense the Christian church acknowledges beautiful things--you know, circumcision, the promises of God, the practice of doing something when a child is born and claiming that child for the Lord is a beautiful thing. it's understandable how this practice continued on in the Reformation church. many, though, at the time of the Reformation, began to in this is another part of the historical assumptions here. They looked at all the practices of the Catholic Church and place them in has they would interpret the practices of the Bible, at these times of ceremonial or transitions in what like the Baptist and the Pentecostals notice is that Jesus was immersed. Why don't we do immersion again? They said, Yes, let's do it. 

They also had a much more evangelistic passionate fire, and they saw that reached people, and helped them get baptized and in baptism. Does that mean that in the Pentecostal Baptist historically, that a baby is wiped of original sin? It means that somebody believes in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a simple word that means immersion and immerse them and have an exciting experience of someone coming to the Lord being immersed. What do we do about infants? Let's do dedication. we'll understand the covenant promises, as the dedication thing, and they were dedicated at the temple will dedicate this baby. When they're older, when they come to an age of, you know, accountability and in what age? There's debate about that, is it age 5, 6, or 7? Is the age 12, 13, 14, 20? Those are all these different debates that have raised over the years in the Baptist and Pentecostals and other believer baptism circles. what so then those are the issues that become stronger. Again, what's the right answer? 

I think, as I look back at ministry, and I see Christendom, the first thing that I noticed, it is all beautiful. That's right. If I look at the best case for infant baptism, in the sea, the richness of the covenant promises and the worldview of generational Christianity. the promise, as it says, In Acts two, verse 38, the promise is for you, and for your children, and all who are far off in the Apostle Peter in the Pentecost sermon there, says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, the promises for you and your children, and also are far off. Did they include infants and households in that? There's no question. The promise is for the believer, for their household for their children, it's a generational faith a longevity faith, you know, in the case of the Philippians, jailer in Acts 16, verse 34, again, you know, the jailer comes to know the Lord. There's nothing that would stop them from baptism and baptism was to identify with the Savior, Jesus Christ and the cause of Christianity. There was inviting the whole household to come in, because the promises for you and the promises for your children and all who are far off, it's beautiful. It's a generational Christianity. It's taking the themes of circumcision in taking those circumcision themes. 

It starts with infants and infants are baptized. Then, as they become older, in those traditions, there's a ceremony of confirmation, profession of faith that relates back to their baptism, even though they would have not remembered their baptism as infants, their parents would have. They would affirm that the faith proclaimed when they were baptizes infants and the promises made to that child even though the child was not conscious of them. The profession of faith and the confirmation of faith all become part of a whole package of these transitions. the infant is born into a believer’s home. There's not the physical act of circumcision, but baptism is a spiritual act of circumcision. Then as a child is raised in the Lord, there's a time when they make their profession of faith or their confirmation and denomination. The ancient denominations have a catechism that they teach. The Protestant denominations have a catechism that they teach in classes and round, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old. It's expected that the child will claim the promises of God. It's very beautiful. Now, on the other side of the coin in the Baptist, Pentecostal denomination churches and other churches, and a Baptist text churches, there is a concept of well, you know, what about believer baptism, and in the best case, for this position are just some of the historical facts of the word "baptismo" itself. 

It means to immerse. Jesus was immersed. In the early church for centuries, it meant immerse. Now, if it means immerse, it means the immerse, let's just practice it that way. Now, the trouble with this, of course, is we know that Jesus was immersed to launch his ministry. a lot of ways it was an immersion for ordination. But the strength of it is to have a welcoming experience and proclamation for new believers, and have the expectation that Christianity is spreading in that early church flavor of welcoming new believers. as sure as the water is wet, you're immersed in the love in the grace of God. How beautiful is that? For infancy, there's dedication, like dedication to the temple. Those are just wonderful things. Now, as I look over both traditions, I come from an infant baptizing tradition, the covenant promises profession of faith and I have planted churches, and I personally have practiced, both based upon the conviction of the person coming in or the family coming to our church. I respected as a Christian officiant, both convictions and here's why. First of all, they're both beautiful, and I sense the Holy Spirit. I see the fruit of the Spirit’s activity in each tradition, and each practice. I see that both traditions have been built strongly on the passion to interpret the Word of God, sincerely, and obediently. I also have knowledge. 

this first of all, I see both traditions are beautiful, and a biblical tradition, even if somebody would disagree about how they would practice that biblical tradition. Secondly, I see that our witness is to be a unified witness in the world. Disagreements like this one are not waters that divided at all. It's to me, it's about the beauty of generations. The beauty of a new believer coming to know the Lord, and it should not be at all as Christians can't agree upon anything they can't agree upon baptism. Now we do agree. Now, you say, in what sense, do we agree? Good question! First of all, as sure as the water is wet, Christ Jesus, cleanse us from all sin through his blood shine on the cross. Both traditions believe that. Now I know that in some of the ancient churches, there's some theological nuances about infants, and then in the Protestant church, you know that the infants are acknowledged, as from the birth, born into sin, but the baptism doesn't cleanse them itself. It's a gospel promise, and as they come to know Christ later, they affirm the promises made their baptism. They too, are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and the Pentecostals and the Baptist and traditions that do infant baptism. They don't say that the Baptism saves the person either. They say ensuring the water is wet, the promises of God will cleanse you. 

The blood of Jesus is what will cleanse you from all sin. but there's commonality there, a lot of commonality, it's the water that cleanses the blood that cleanses are all connected. both traditions are beautiful. As an officiant, I have respect for traditions. Our witness is the same witness. That is sure the water is wet, so sure, are so true, so sure is the truth that Jesus blood cleanses from all sins. Another reason that I respect both traditions is that when we practice, respect, and honor, even if sometimes we would look at one thing a little different, it spreads the love and grace of God without compromising ourselves. I'll give you an example of that. if I dedicate a baby, but I have practice infant baptism for my own children, I've done very similar things. Dedication, I bring this to the Lord like dedication in the temple. There's a ceremony in which we're going to talk about in another presentations about the ceremonies, of baptism, and dedication, all of those things. But the meaning for both is similar. It's beautiful for both. some people I know in the infant baptism tradition, who are church planters, will do dedication, and they call it a dry baptism, because they're really seeing the beauty of the promises of God and dedication are there. 

I've also seen in the Baptist and Pentecostal tradition, that they dedicate the baby. It looks like a dry baptism in the same forms. The same promises are made by the parents. It's beautiful. the meaning of both scenarios is very similar. Now, let's talk about let's say you are one who sees it more as an infant, baptizer, and sprinkler. Then somebody says to you, will you baptize me by immersion? Now, the fact of the matter is, is immersion was the early church practice, beautiful. It is true, that Jesus’ baptism was a baptism into his conditioning. it's almost like an ordination is very true. But the fact is, is that the simple practice of the Bible was, repent, and be baptized every one of you how the early church in the book of Acts, shifted that was to, we're a new believer, get baptized. You can take that further, and the promises of God are for you and for your children. That's really where it's not the clearest in the Bible and into the biblical traditions. That's where we as leaders have to be, they're being built upon the biblical understanding of what happens to a family, generational Christianity to a new believer, you know, in it to me again, it's all beautiful. 

let's say then, you're asked to do a profession of faith. Because somebody was baptized as an infant and now, they want to make profession of faith and then use would you do that if you believed in more believer baptism, you know, this person is a believer. I've encouraged you to do the profession of faith. It's not the water that save someone. It is the blood of Jesus. there was a sort of a theological thing that came in the history of Christendom and it is that in what sense are the sacraments, that these are holy practices? Are they salvific? Is the baptism of an infant salvific? Some in the Catholic church would believe that they, in fact, are salvific. Some of the Catholic church would say, no, the blood of Jesus is. This is a ceremony like a dedication. The Catholic church doctrine seems to indicate that it's salvific. We can debate all of these things. Is it salvific? It appears by reading the Bible that the blood of Jesus is that which cleanses all sins. The rite itself does not do it. 

if someone's dedicated or baptized as an infant, and then later when they make that stand for Jesus Christ, and they would like to make professional faith, a little ceremony. Excellent. what if they are not a immerse? Maybe they're not immersed? Now, you as a minister can encourage them, hey be immersed. That's fine, too. It's beautiful to see. I guess what I'm trying to say, I might come up in this presentation. Does he really stand for anything? I do. Here's what I stand for. The waters should never divide Christians. Baptism should not divide us. There are different practices in Christendom that are based in biblical and theological and historical nuances. To say that we found the exact teaching of the Bible is something that, I feel, is a dangerous thing to say. Instead, I believe that what we found is the grace of God, what we found is the sign and seal of the gospel promises. What we found is that is sure the water is wet. Sure, Jesus cleanses us from all sins. I want to conclude by just mentioning one more thing. We have, in Christendom, a powerful and rich understanding of baptism. It's based in deep and long-standing themes in the Old and New Testament. Themes such as circumcision, and the dedication of the temple and in the New Testament themes, such as the washing away of sin, by the blood of Jesus, for those who believe. It would be well for you to do a biblical study of the themes. 

Look at these various passages about baptism and the connection to circumcision. What I'll do in this, in some of the notes, is, share with you various Bible passages for you to look at yourself. But as an officiant, helping new believers or parents of new believers, young people to make their lives under the light of the gospel is a beautiful thing. Not to get caught up in solving which rich in biblical and historical tradition is right. But instead, respecting and honoring those that God has placed in your life. What happens then? What happens, and I've seen this, is the gospel goes forward, unhindered, and the themes and the metaphors and the Bible passages just flow into that situation. I actually have never really seen in real time but planted many churches. I have practiced both infant baptism and infant dedication. I have practice believer and adult baptism and profession of faith as an officiant as a minister. When the lad was baptized as an infant, and my parents made promises to raise me in the Lord, later on in ministry, I was baptized in the Jordan River. Is that rebaptism? Like the anabaptist? Yes, sort of, Is it? If someone were to say to me, Henry, what do you really believe on this subject? 

To practice--and again, I am not speaking here with as a great theologian like Thomas Aquinas, or St Augustine, or Calvin or Luther--that come to believe that I would gladly baptize my children, I would gladly encourage them to be baptized if they're part of a church that does adult baptism, believer baptism, and I would baptize any believer in the Jordan River. In fact, I had the opportunity to do that when I was in Israel. Having said all that, I would not say I have come to some new position, I would say I've come to embrace the heritage, the tradition of Christendom, and the wonder of baptism. The deeper I know about baptism in the passages, and the richness and the heritage, and how it was practiced, and even how it was disagreed upon, the more it speaks to this historical nature of Christianity, that we are a 2000 year old plus movement. If you count the Old Testament, 4000 years. The Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and we have been around for these years, and the generation after generation. Baptism is part of that, the role of that as officiant, you get to be part of people's lives. You get to help them dedicate or baptize their children. You get to help them profess their faith and be baptized as an adult. Whether you go with one approach, and not the other, or the other approach and not the one. Praise God. I'm not trying to convince you, nor even would I do it. I would gladly practice both. I’m really asking to pray about is to have great respect. 

For people that see the practice of interpretation of this a little differently. we are part of a resurrection of faith in Christ Jesus. We are part of a movement of Gods that is spreading throughout the world. Baptism is not a thing that divides us, it unites us, ensures the water is wet. sure are the gospel promises that those who believe our Lord Jesus Christ in blood cleanses them, like water cleanses, his blood cleanses them, cleanses you, cleanses me from all sin. baptism is a beautiful thing. As you learn to practice it, the rich have Scripture, and what it means is that which we proclaim and practice. May God bless you as you go through your journey of what you believe on this, and how God is using you to be efficient in how others get connected and stay connected to Him.