Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Letter About Rebaptism


Hey their {anonymous}! Hope all is going well. I got your message from the church website about being rebaptized.

There is in fact precedence in the scripture for being rebaptized but it must be used appropriately. In Acts 19:1-7 we read about Paul coming to Ephesus and finding some disciples there. He asks these disciples if they "received the Holy Spirit when they believed" to which they responded that they had never even heard of the Holy Spirit. And this is the critical part: then Paul asks "What then were you baptized into?" And we find out that they had not undergone baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus but rather only John the Baptist's baptism of repentance. And so they were rebaptized. The critical element here is that they had not received Christian baptism. Because their is only one baptism (Eph. 4:5) that is now valid (Christian baptism), the baptism that they had received before wasn't really a baptism at all, it was just getting wet. So too today if one has not received Christian baptism but some other kind of baptism then they have need to be rebaptized because in reality this rebaptism would be there first time being baptized in a valid way. So if it's just because of a multitude of sin in a Christian's life (or something of the like) that makes them feel the need to be rebaptized then they don't really need to be. All they need to do is confess and repent as it says in 1 John 1:9. However if one has never received Christian baptism, then they need to!

But what qualifies as Christian baptism? According to the Bible it is a baptism preceded and accompanied by faith and repentance (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). It's a baptism done in the name of "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), that is, it's done in obedience to and as dedication to God three-in-one and not just to please, impress, etc. someone else. It's a baptism "for the forgiveness of your sins" or to "wash away your sins" (Acts 2:38; 22:16). I believe as long as these things are in place then your looking at a biblical Christian baptism. If someone was baptized with all these things accompanying them, then they have undergone the one baptism of Eph. 4:5 and are true Christians (needing no other baptism) that now need to make a practice of confessing and repenting.

Then, of course, the results of such a baptism are astounding! We receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). We're added to the body of believers (Acts 2:41). We will be resurrected like Jesus, that is given eternal life (Romans 6:5). We go from an unsaved state to a saved state (1 Peter 3:21). All these occurrences are God's part of the baptism. So long as we've done our part being baptized with Christian baptism (as defined above) then God will give us all these things.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions let me know? I don't know whether your asking for yourself or someone else but whichever the case I advise looking at these passage mentioned above and spending time praying about it as well.


God bless,