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Bro. Turner:
 Should
we accept for membership one who was baptized by another body,
but for scriptural reasons? He feels he is right in God's sight.
CT
Reply:
I
assume "body" refers to "church" but
scriptural baptism is not done by a "church" — it is
not a "church ordinance." This is a hangover from the
Catholic concept of church as a society or institution that
authorizes and validates certain sacraments. The Lord commands
baptism, and a thousand churches couldn't change or cancel what
our King said about it. A baptism is neither right because one
church did it, nor wrong because some other church did it.
Baptism is the response of an individual, out of a pure heart
and good conscience, motivated by genuine trust or faith in
Jesus Christ, and directed by understanding the message of the
King.
Scriptural
baptism is performed by immersion. That is the meaning of the
original Greek word; and apart from that, "we are buried
with Him" (Rom. 6:4, Col. 2:12). But the mere act of burial
does not make scriptural baptism. Certain ones at Ephesus who
had been immersed "unto John's baptism" had to be more
fully taught and then "baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus" (Acts 19:3-5). Nor is this a matter of the words
uttered by the baptizer. "In the name of Jesus Christ"
(Acts 2:38), and "in the name of the Lord" (10:48),
makes three different wordings, none of them the same as
those of Matt. 28:19— "in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And it is ridiculous to
argue that the
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words "for the remission of sins"
must be uttered, when scriptures are not uniform on any
particular word formula. In truth, these passages tell what must
be done not what must be said.
The
idea that valid baptism must be performed by
"authorized" administrators is related to the
Judaistic concept of priesthood — putting "holy"
things in the hands of the "clergy." For a people who
have put such stress upon baptism, it is amazing how many false
notions prevail. Saints are the product of good seed, in
good soil.
Christ
taught baptism "for remission of sins" (Jn 16:13; Acts
2:38) so one is not saved until his faith is sufficient
to lead him to obey. Baptism is not a church-
administered ordinance, to the already saved, to put them into
some denomination or local church (Gal. 3:26-29). Most
denominations are in error on these points. If one learns saving
truth in such circumstances it is despite and not because of the
teaching received there. An individual could learn the truth
through private Bible study but it is unlikely that a
denomination would baptize him, and they certainly would not
sanction his conclusions.
We
are not arguing that "doctrinal purity" is God's power
unto salvation, but we are saying that the faith that saves must
be gendered by an understanding of God's proclaimed message
(Rom. 10:13-17). In the final analysis, we can not read
another's heart. We can only present plain sound teaching on
Baptism and hope this will prick honest hearts and move them to
Christ.
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