Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at how some Christian doctrines are like a seesaw; in that it is easier to tilt into error than keep the right balance. After covering the doctrines of obedience and Communion in previous weeks, I now wish to look at the 2 main errors with regards to baptism.
One common error is to see baptism as necessary for salvation. Often parents (but usually grandparents) suffer increased anxiety over their child (or grandchild) until they are baptised. Why? Because they believe that if that child dies before being baptised, he/she will NOT be received into heaven.
Some Christians overreact to this first error and tilt too far the other way, in claiming baptism isn’t needed at all. Such people will choose NOT to be baptised, to show it isn’t needed for salvation.
The solution to these errors is to understand what baptism actually is. To begin with, baptism cannot be a requirement for salvation, because countless passages such as Eph 2:8-9 tell us it is by grace and grace alone that one is saved; not by works (such as baptism). Rather, baptism is an outward sign of discipleship. As passages like John 4:1 and 1 Cor 1:11-13 show, a person is baptised into the name of the one they follow. Thus Christian baptism is the outward sign that we have already been saved, by turning to Jesus in repentance and faith.
Yet this doesn’t mean it is an unnecessary sign, for Jesus commands his disciples to receive baptism in Matt 28:19-20. To refuse the sign that publicly identifies you as one of Jesus’ disciples is to flatly disobey our Lord and Saviour. So while baptism may not be necessary for salvation, it is necessary if one wishes to exhibit the obedience of faith. So let us celebrate the sign of baptism in the manner it was given by Jesus; to publicly declare that Jesus is our Lord.
