In this message we will continue to fellowship more thoroughly on the matter of baptism, as this is related to our past exercise and practice. When should a person be baptized? Throughout history Christian groups have had unending debates over this matter. However, if we return to consider the Bible, we will realize that this is actually a simple matter.
As to baptism, the Bible tells us in a simple and clear way, “He who believes and is baptized...” (Mark 16:16). This indicates that believing and being baptized are the two footsteps of one full step. When the Chinese talk about taking a step, they actually mean one foot followed by the other foot. One full step is one footstep followed by the other footstep. Believing and being baptized are the two footsteps of one complete step: believing is one foot, and being baptized is the other, and these make one complete step. Hence, the one step to salvation is to believe and to be baptized. Seldom does a person move one foot, wait five minutes, and then move the other foot. However, we have the erroneous concept that after a person hears the gospel and even prays, he should not be baptized right away since he is probably not clear about the truth and may not quite understand the meaning of salvation. I also had this concept when I was young. According to the Bible, however, every saved person at the time of baptism is not clear about the truth, because he has not had the time to become clear. He believes and right away he is baptized.
Suppose there is a person who hears the gospel, expresses repentance, and also prays and desires to believe. Would you consider such a one as having believed? If you say that his faith is superficial and not thorough enough, then what kind of faith is sufficiently thorough? At the time Paul met the Lord Jesus on his way to Damascus and believed, was he very clear? The Epistle to the Romans was not written to “those who believed yet were not baptized,” nor was it written to “those who were not clear regarding salvation and therefore were not yet baptized.” Rather, it was written to “all who are in Rome,...the called saints” (1:7). This Epistle says, “Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” (6:3). This indicates that the saints in Rome, who had already been called and sanctified unto God, still did not know that their being baptized was to be baptized into the Lord’s death. Not only so, another verse says, “For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (v. 5). This indicates that the saints in Rome also did not know that to be baptized into the Lord’s death was to be baptized into the Lord’s resurrection. In reality, not only the saints in Rome were not clear about the truth regarding baptism; even many pastors in Christianity today do not know that to be baptized is to be baptized into the Lord’s death and into the Lord’s resurrection.
What I speak is based upon my experiences. I absolutely believe that on the day I was saved, I was truly saved. As I was walking down the street that afternoon, I looked up to the heavens and said, “O God, I want only You. Even if the whole world were given to me, I do not want it. From now on I want to be a person who preaches Jesus.” However, if you were to ask me at that time whether I was clear about salvation, I definitely would have said that I was not clear, and regarding the truth I was even less clear. If you had been there, should you have baptized me? What if I was not saved? You would have baptized a tare, a false Christian, into the church. Would you have acted too fast?
In addition, please consider this: From the day that I was saved, I loved to read the Bible. I was born in Christianity, grew up in Christianity, and also received my education in Christianity, but formerly I never liked to read the Bible. At that time I was zealous for Christianity. If anyone opposed Christianity, I would be the first to fight back. If anyone opposed the Bible, I would also be the first to react. However, as yet I had not believed; I did not read the Bible and definitely did not pray. Nevertheless, on that particular afternoon I got saved. From then on I loved to read the Bible seriously, intensely, and perseveringly. I read whether I understood it or not. Within the two months of my summer vacation, I had read through the Old and the New Testaments once. Then I immediately proceeded to buy spiritual books, trying my best to collect them. As soon as I got my hands on a book, I would read it immediately; I never put it aside until the next day. After reading many books on truths, I then went to the Brethren to be taught. They have the best knowledge of the Bible and the best understanding of the truths. Finally I came into the Lord’s recovery and was raised up by the Lord to speak for Him. However, half a year later, I still did not know that there was this word in Romans 6: “Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” (v. 3).
Not only was I this way, but you also were probably the same. After being saved for many years, you finally saw this word in the Bible: “Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Thus, if we say that a person who is about to be baptized ought to have an understanding of salvation and be clear about the truth, that understanding and comprehension would probably be quite limited. To what extent must he understand and be clear? Take me as an example. From April 1925, when I was saved, until today has been a total of sixty years and four months. During this time I have been reading the Bible diligently every day. If you ask me today, “Brother Lee, are you clear about the truth?”, I still cannot say that I am absolutely clear. Hence, if we have the standard that one must be clear concerning the truth and have an understanding of salvation, perhaps for me to be baptized even today is too soon. If we go by this traditional concept, there will be trouble.
When, therefore, can we baptize people? If we study the Bible, we will see that when a person believes is the time he is to be baptized. There is no waiting. In the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts, we cannot find an example of a person who, after he had believed in the Lord, prayed, repented, confessed, and acknowledged the name of the Lord, still could not be baptized but needed to wait awhile. On the contrary, every example clearly shows us that after a person believed, he immediately was baptized.
I was the one leading the church in Taipei at the beginning, and consequently it was I who brought in the “baptism interview.” My family formerly belonged to the Baptist Church, a denomination that practices “baptism examinations.” However, when people are together for a while, they often develop a dislike of one another; this was so in my case when I saw that the Baptist Church belonged to the Americans. I became disgruntled and went to the Chinese Christian Church, a Presbyterian denomination that belonged to the Chinese. When I went there, I was “examined for baptism.” The chief examiner was one of the board directors of a school I had attended in the past and was also the father of one of our former co-workers. One elder asked me, “Mr. Lee, have you believed in the Lord?” I said that I had believed in the Lord. As another elder was about to continue the questioning, a pastor testified, saying, “Mr. Lee’s mother is a member of the Baptist Church. His sister also loves the Lord very much. Now he too has risen up to love the Lord.” The elder who was the chief examiner continued, “This Mr. Lee is not bad. I do not see any problem; he can be baptized.” At that time I said, “Thank God!” for I thought that if they had asked me questions concerning the truth, I probably could not have answered any. I had not read the Bible nor prayed. All the more, I had not repented or confessed. Yet I passed the baptism exam.
Due to that situation in the early days, I felt that it was not proper to baptize people hastily. Things should not be done that way; they must undergo a baptism interview, a thorough talk. This was my intent, but unexpectedly, when the fellowship was put into practice, the brothers and sisters actually began to examine people by asking one by one, “Have you believed? Do you know who Jesus Christ is? Is He God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit?” Those who did not pass were ushered into another room where they were told, “Since you do not know the fundamental truths regarding the Trinity, please come back next time. Please be sure you can answer correctly the next time.” To be sure, the people came again and answered correctly, and right after they passed the test, they were baptized. Today I am here criticizing myself. That practice was under my leading; it was truly wrong.
Even though there was the practice of the “baptism interview,” was everyone who was baptized a real believer? Were there false ones among those baptized? I dare not say; it is for the Lord to judge. Some whom we thought were very good at the time of baptism later turned out to be the worst, while some we thought were not very good at the time of baptism turned out all right. Then there were others who were very good at their baptism but were good only for the next fifteen years. You might have said that a backsliding one was not thoroughly saved. However, after half a year he may come back to the church life, waking up at 5:30 every morning to read the Word and pray, while you as an elder are still not up at 6:30. How can you compare people just by looking at outward practices?
Having had these experiences, I have the boldness at this time to change the system. I am now able to tell you based on the Bible that once a person confesses the Lord’s name, prays, and repents, we should baptize him. The Bible says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and also, “How then shall they call upon Him into whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:13-14). The truths in the Bible are so profound that one cannot grasp them in only one or two days. Some criticize that this method is very dangerous. We may preach the gospel for one minute; then a person hears, is moved, prays, and confesses, and immediately we take him to the bathtub to be baptized, immersing him under the water and pouring water upon him. Some say this method is too quick and too risky. However, it is right to baptize people quickly; what is wrong with it? What would be wrong is to neglect him after baptism, not caring whether he lives or dies.