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 Meaning of the Word ‘Baptism’”]
Having seen what Scripture means by baptism,[1] we must also understand that water baptism is symbolic. We do not believe that the water of baptism itself has any efficacy or power (as Romanism, Anglicanism and Lutheranism teach). Its value lies in the fact that it is a symbol or picture.
Its symbolism is very rich. Because it means “union” with Christ, it also points to all that we have in union with Him: cleansing from sin (Ezek. 36:25), forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), adoption into God’s family (Gal. 3:26-27), regeneration (John 3:5; Tit. 3:5), and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:25-27).[2] To quote these passages is to see the rich symbolism of baptism:
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. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 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. (Ezek. 36:25-27)
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. (Acts 2:38)
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal. 3:26-27)
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (Tit. 3:5)
Especially, however, baptism symbolizes washing in Christ’s blood and Spirit, which is the source of all these other blessings.
As a picture, it has continuing value to the church, since it presents so graphically the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. One of the old Reformation creeds puts it this way:
Christ appointed this external washing with water, adding thereto this promise, that I am as certainly washed by His blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water, by which the filth of the body is commonly washed away.[3]
All would agree, we are sure, that the water of baptism symbolizes the blood of Christ, and that the application of the water (leaving aside for a moment the matter of how it is applied) represents the washing away of sins by Christ’s precious blood. In other words, baptism represents the application of salvation in justification (the removal of the guilt of our sins) and in sanctification (the removal of the filth and pollution of our sins). It represents the forgiveness of our sins as we receive that forgiveness in our justification. It also represents the actual cleansing of our hearts and lives when we are made holy and receive holiness in our sanctification.
That has consequences for the mode of baptism, since the application of Christ’s blood to us is always represented in Scripture in terms of pouring or sprinkling (Isa. 52:15; Heb. 10:22; 12:24; I Pet. 1:2)—never in terms of immersion, unless, of course, one presupposes that the word “baptism” itself means “immersion.” But this we have already shown to be a false assumption. Notice these passages!
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 than 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)
Baptism in the blood of Christ is not by immersion, but by sprinkling or pouring!
However, since the application of the water represents the washing away of our sins in justification and sanctification, the water of baptism not only represents the blood of Christ, but also the Spirit of Christ. He, the Spirit, is the One in whom and by whom we are washed (baptized), both for the remission and cleansing of sin.
This is the reason why Scripture describes the gift of the Spirit as a baptism:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. (Matt. 3:11)
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Acts 1:5)
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. (Acts 11:16)
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)
The gift of the Spirit is a baptism, but not for any other reason than that the Spirit has an important function in the cleansing of sin. He is the one who applies to us the blood of Christ, both for our justification and our sanctification, and since He does this by giving Himself to us, we can be said to be baptized, not only in the blood, but also in (or with) the Spirit when we are saved.
All this has many important consequences. For one thing, it is the answer to the error of Pentecostalism, which teaches that the baptism in the Spirit is something additional and subsequent to salvation. That the baptism in or with the Spirit is nothing other than salvation is clear from Scripture:
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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39)
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (Rom. 5:1-5)
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Rom. 8:9)
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)
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Gal. 3:2)
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13, 14)
Baptism in the Spirit, therefore, symbolizes especially those parts of salvation that we call regeneration and sanctification, through which the filth of sin is washed away and we are made holy.
This, too, has consequences for the mode of baptism. Not only the application of the blood of Christ, but also the application of the Spirit of Christ is always described in Scripture in terms of sprinkling or pouring:
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. (Isa. 32:15)
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18)
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 10:45)
If the water of baptism represents both the blood and the Spirit of Christ, and if it invariably describes the application of both in terms of pouring or sprinkling, then it is difficult to see that the picture would be by some other mode. Picture and reality ought to match.
[Next section: “The Sign and Reality of Baptism”]
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FOOTNOTES:
1. See the previous section, “The Meaning of the Word ‘Baptism’”
2. Rodger M. Crooks, Salvation’s Sign and Seal: What do Paedo-baptists Really Believe? (Christian Focus: Fearn, 1997).
3. Heidelberg Catechism, 69.
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