The Biblical Ground for Sprinkling

Rev. Ronald Hanko

Rev. Hanko is a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America and has authored a number of books, including (among others) the following: Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer on Reformed Doctrine (2004), The Coming of Zion’s Redeemer: Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (2015). He was also the joint author of Saved by Grace: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism (1995) and its accompanying study guide (all of which can be purchased at http://www.cprc.co.uk and http://www.rfpa.org).

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[Previous section: “The Sign and Reality of Baptism”]

In discussing baptism, we do not wish to antagonize anyone or cause further division within the church of Christ.  It is our deepest desire to see unity in these matters, especially between those who are otherwise agreed with us.  But such unity is not furthered by silence.  Unity is in the truth, and the truth of Scripture is that sprinkling is the proper mode of baptism.

      

We often hear that there is no biblical basis for sprinkling infants and that such a practice is simply a carry-over from Roman Catholicism.  Indeed, there are a number of anti-Calvinist books on the market that simply assume that if a church baptizes infants it must also be wrong on other matters.[1]

      

We not only believe that there is a sound biblical basis for the practice of sprinkling, but believe that it is the only mode of baptism recognized by Scripture!  Let us look at the matter more closely.

      

As to the charge that sprinkling is simply a carry-over from Romanism, we would point out: (1) that this is no argument at all.  If everything Rome teaches that is found in Protestantism must be discarded, then even the doctrine of the Trinity must go! (2) Not only that, but we have in our possession a Romish liturgy for the baptism of children which says in its instructions for the persons performing the baptism: “He immerses the child or pours water on it.”[2]

      

Along similar lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The essential rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.[1]

Rome, too, immerses. The “argument” that sprinkling is Romanist can be set aside, therefore.

      

As to the biblical ground for sprinkling or pouring, the evidence, it seems to us, is incontrovertible.  We would point out the following:

      

1. All the ceremonial baptisms of the Old Testament were by sprinkling or pouring.  That these are real baptisms is clear from Hebrews 9:10, where the New Testament Greek word “baptisms” (translated in the KJV as “washings”—cf. also vss. 13, 19, 21) is used for these washings.

Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. (Heb. 9:10)

2. As already noted, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by water baptism, is always described in Scripture in terms of sprinkling or pouring:

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. (Isa. 44:3)

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (Ezek. 36:25) [And that this is a reference to the gift of the Spirit is clear from verse 27, “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”—RH]

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:28-29)

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Mal. 3:10)

(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) (Acts 8:16)

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 10:44-45)

And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. (Acts 11:15)

3. Likewise, the application to us of the blood of Christ, also symbolized by the water of baptism, is always described in Scripture as being by sprinkling:

So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. (Isa. 52:15)

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:22)

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things that that of Abel. (Heb. 12:24)

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. (I Pet. 1:2)

              

4. The great typical baptisms of the Old Testament (and they are baptisms, according to the New Testament use of the word) were not by immersion:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (I Cor. 10:1-2)

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (I Pet. 3:20-21)

Indeed, the only ones who were immersed in these typical baptisms were Pharaoh with his armies and the ungodly world of Noah’s day!  Thus, too, the wicked shall be immersed in the lake of fire in the end.

      

That needs emphasis.  In the two great typical baptisms of the Old Testament, it was not the believers who were immersed. It was not Noah and his family who were immersed in the first great typical baptism of the Old Testament, but rather the ungodly world.  Likewise, at the Red Sea, it was not Moses and the Israelites who were immersed, but Pharaoh and his army.  There was immersion on both occasions, but it was not the baptism that took place.  So, too, in the New Testament, the ungodly will be “immersed” in the lake of fire:

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:13-15)

5. As we hope to show in a subsequent chapter, the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) actually says nothing about the mode of baptism.

      

6. Finally, and more importantly, the baptism of Jesus, when looked at in the light of Scripture, cannot have been by immersion (this, however, we will deal with in the section, “The Baptism of Christ”).

      

Immersion is not the proper mode of baptism, therefore, according to the testimony of Scripture, and even those who argue that both sprinkling and immersion are legitimate modes of baptism have not given sufficient heed to. the testimony of Scripture.  Immersion, if it is anything, is a sign of judgment, not of salvation.

      

This raises the question whether baptism by immersion ought to be accepted as legitimate baptism.  In light of what we have said, it is tempting to say that they ought not be, but the objections to rebaptizing someone who has received trinitarian baptism are even greater (see “Acts 19:1-6 and Rebaptism”), and so it has always been the practice of Reformed churches to accept these as legitimate baptisms.  With this we agree.

[Next section: “Immersion as a Sign of Judgment”]

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FOOTNOTES:

1. Cf. for example the wretched anti-Calvinist pamphlet by Paul A. Bailey, The Supreme Irony (Bicester: Penfold, 1996).

2. This is a card with the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Church, about 6 x 9 inches, printed on both sides with detailed instructions for the priest performing the baptism.  No publication information is provided on the card.

3. Catechism of the Catholic Church—Popular and Definitive Edition (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 2000), p. 289.