The Sign and Reality of Baptism

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).

*          *          *          *          *          *

[Previous section: “The Symbolism of Baptism”]

We have been speaking in the previous section[1] especially of water baptism, that is, of the sign of baptism.  But it is of the utmost importance, when speaking of baptism, to realize that the New Testament uses the word in two different ways.  A failure to recognize this often leads to misunderstanding and error. 

      

Sometimes when the New Testament uses the word “baptism,” it is referring to the sacrament or rite—what we might call water baptism:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matt. 3:7)

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matt. 28:19)

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ... Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:38, 41)

And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (I Cor. 10:2)

This is really not baptism, properly speaking, but the sign of baptism—a symbol pointing to an invisible spiritual reality.

      

In distinction from the symbol or sign, the reality of baptism is the actual washing away of sins by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ.  That is the reality of which water baptism is only a picture.  Speaking of baptism in that sense, it is entirely proper to say that baptism saves us.  I Peter 3:21 speaks of baptism in this way: “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.”  The difference between baptism in this sense and the sign is the difference between ritual baptism and real baptism.[2]

      

Many passages in the New Testament speak of this spiritual saving reality and not of the sign, that is, not of water baptism.  The most notable of these passages are I Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:3-6, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:5, Colossians 2:12, and all those passages which speak of being baptized in or with the Holy Spirit:

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (I Cor. 12:13)

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Rom. 6:3-6)

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal. 3:27)

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. (Eph. 4:5)

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Col. 2:12)

None of these passages is speaking of water baptism.  Unless we realize this, we will fall into all sorts of errors and come to very wrong conclusions, e.g., that water saves (I Pet. 3:21) or brings us into fellowship and communion with Christ (I Cor. 12:13).

      

The difference between sign and reality is clearly evident in the fact that not all who are baptized with water receive the reality of baptism.  There are, both in Baptist and in paedobaptist churches, those who never have the saving reality which water baptism pictures.  Nor do all who remain unbaptized with water thereby forfeit the spiritual reality of baptism by which we are saved.  Many who die in infancy unbaptized do inherit the kingdom of heaven, especially from among those infants who come from Christian families and inherit it because, though unbaptized with water, they are baptized with the blood and Spirit of Christ.

      

Nevertheless, the two—sign and reality—are related.  The one points to the other, and that may not be forgotten.  A sign that said “Chicago,” but pointed to Houston, would only mislead and deceive.  A sign must always point to the reality if it is to be of help to us.  Thus, the sign must match the reality, and the reality must match the sign.

      

This difference between the sign of baptism and the spiritual reality is called, by Ursinus, “double water”:

There is, therefore, in baptism, a double water; the one external and visible, which is elementary; the other internal, invisible and heavenly, which is the blood and Spirit of Christ.  There is, also, a double washing in baptism; the one external, visible, and signifying, viz: the remission of sins on account of the blood of Christ shed for us, and our regeneration by the Holy Spirit and engrafting into his body, which is spiritual, and perceived only by faith and the Spirit.  Lastly, there is a double dispenser of baptism: the one an external dispenser of the external, which is the minister of the church, baptizing us by his hand with water; the other an internal dispenser of the internal, which is Christ himself, baptizing us with his blood and Spirit.[3]

That means that the question of the mode of water baptism can, to some extent, be answered by examining the mode of spiritual baptism.  If we ask, “How are we baptized by the blood and Spirit of Christ?” the answer of Scripture is “by sprinkling or pouring.”  It would be strange, not to say misleading, if sign and reality did not match at that point.

      

By the same token, the reality must also “match” the sign.  It would not do at all to have the eating of bread and drinking of wine, though they also represent the death of Christ, as symbols of the cleansing of sin by Christ’s sacrifice.  In baptism, cleansing is the reality and so the sign which points to that reality must also speak of cleansing.

      

Indeed, Christ has given us the sign to help us understand and believe the reality.  If I say, “Can anything really wash away my sin? Wash it all away?  That is too much to believe.  My sins are too great and too many,” then the sign of baptism says, “As really as water washes away the filth of the body, so really does the blood of Christ wash away sin.”  Thus the sacrament of baptism encourages and supports my faith in Him and His sacrifice.

      

We believe that Baptists are wrong at this point in their insistence on immersion.  Since the blood and Spirit of Christ—the two things represented by the water of baptism—are applied by sprinkling or pouring, to administer the sign by immersion reduces the correspondence between sign and reality and lessens the effectiveness of the sign insofar as it is supposed to point us to Christ’s blood and Spirit as the only hope of spiritual cleansing.

      

This is true especially in the fact that baptism by immersion suggests that it is the quantity of the water, and therefore of the blood and Spirit which makes the difference, when, in fact, it is not the quantity, but the value of the blood and Spirit which determines their power.  They are powerful not because there is enough of the blood of Christ to immerse the whole world, but because it is the blood of the Son of God—one drop of whose blood is sufficient to make complete atonement for sin.

Next section: “The Biblical Ground for Sprinkling”

==========

FOOTNOTES:

1. See previous section: “The Symbolism of Baptism”

2. Michael Kimmitt, Baptism: Meaning, Mode & Subjects (Trelawnyd: K & M Books, 1997), p. 9.

3. Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G. W. Williard (New Jersey; Presbyterian and Reformed, n.d.), p. 372.