According to the New Testament, the believers have not only believed in Christ but have also been baptized. Baptism is even more difficult to define than faith is. Whereas faith is somewhat mysterious, it is nonetheless a direct fact. Baptism, however, is not only a fact but also a symbol, and because it is a symbol it is not easily explained. In this message and in the message following, we shall seek to define baptism according to the holy Word.
Many verses in the New Testament speak of the necessity and importance of baptism. In Mark 16:16 the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” To believe is to receive Christ not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23), so that those who believe may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of Christ and by being raised to be the new creation of God through Christ’s resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance preached by John (Mark 1:4; Acts 19:3-5).
To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by the Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (Spirit)—1 Corinthians 10:2 and 12:13.
Mark 16:16 does not say “who does not believe and is not baptized shall be condemned.” This indicates that condemnation is related only to not believing; it is not related to not being baptized. Believing itself is sufficient for one to receive salvation from condemnation; yet believing needs baptism as an outward affirmation for the completion of one’s inward salvation.
In the case of Philip preaching the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39), we have the case of a genuine Gentile believing in the Lord. From Isaiah 53 Philip “brought the good news of Jesus to him” (v. 35). Then “as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch says, Look, water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (v. 36). The fact that the Ethiopian eunuch had such a reaction when seeing water indicates that Philip in his gospel preaching should have spoken to him about water baptism. If Philip had not said anything about baptism, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian would have reacted in this way. Philip may still have been talking about water baptism when they came to the water in which the eunuch was baptized.
In this gospel case water baptism is particularly emphasized, but no mention is made of Spirit baptism. This should give us strong instruction that we must pay attention to water baptism, which signifies the believers’ identification with Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom. 6:5; Col. 2:12), as well as to Spirit baptism. Spirit baptism signifies the reality of the believers’ union with Christ in life essentially and in power economically, whereas water baptism is the believers’ affirmation of the Spirit’s reality. Both are needed (Acts 10:47), and neither can replace the other. All believers in Christ should properly have both.
Concerning baptism, water signifies death and burial for the termination of repentant people, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and resurrection for the germination of the terminated ones. The death-water, pointing to and signifying the all-inclusive death of Christ into which His believers are baptized, buries not only the baptized ones themselves but also their sins, the world, and their past. It also separates them from the God-forsaking world and its corruption. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). Hence, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and even into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), which is joined to Christ in the one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). It is through baptism in such a water and in such a Spirit that the believers in Christ are regenerated into the kingdom of God, into the realm of the divine life and the divine rule (John 3:3, 5), so that they may live by the eternal life of God in His eternal kingdom.
In chapter eight of Acts the eunuch received water baptism and Spirit baptism at the same time. There are not two baptisms, a water baptism and a Spirit baptism. Water baptism and Spirit baptism are one. In God’s economy there is only one baptism. It would be wrong to ask whether this one baptism is water baptism or Spirit baptism. In the sight of God there is only one baptism with two aspects—the aspect of water and the aspect of Spirit. For God there is not the need of water, only of Spirit. However, as human beings, who are physical, we have the need for a material confirmation of spiritual things. Water baptism, therefore, is the outward affirmation of inward Spirit baptism. Whenever we baptize someone in water, we need to have the faith that we are baptizing that person not only into the water but also into the Spirit as the realization of the Triune God.
In Acts 16 we have two more cases of the baptism of believers. Speaking of Lydia, “whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things spoken by Paul” (v. 14), we are told that “she was baptized and her household” (v. 15). Here we see that baptism immediately followed believing, as the Lord commanded in Mark 16:16. The same thing happened with the Philippian jailer. Paul and Silas “spoke the word of God to him together with all those in his house. And taking them with him in that very hour of the night, he washed their stripes; and he was baptized immediately, he and all his household” (Acts 16:32-33). Once again baptism was practiced immediately after someone believed.