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Believe and be Baptized

Phil Wilson

There are two issues amongst Christians today which seem to generate a great deal of confusion. Firstly there is the issue of exactly how someone is saved, and consequently what is the best procedure to follow when someone comes and says "I want to become a Christian." Some Christians would respond to this enquirer by going through the gospel message with them, and then in leading them in some kind of a sinner's prayer in which the enquirer confesses their sin and prays to be saved. The problem then becomes the issue of assurance and easy-believism- is the enquirer automatically saved now that they have "prayed the prayer"? Do we tell them that they are now saved, because they have prayed the prayer?

Other Christians reject this method of "praying the prayer" in leading someone to Christ. They suggest that this leads to much emphasis on man saving himself by simply parrotting out a prayer rather than on God sovereignly stepping into His life to save him. Furthermore, the "pray this prayer through with me" formula is never found in the scriptures. We are simply told to believe if we are to be saved- eg the Philippian jailor in response to his question "What must I do to be saved?" was just told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."(Acts 16:31). These people in leading someone to Christ are reluctant to say anything other than "trust in Him" or "Cast yourself on Him" to help an enquirer. A person is declared saved when he recieves assurance in his soul that God has forgiven and saved Him. On many occasion this method brings great anxiety and confusion to the enquirer who desparately wants to be saved but does not know how to obtain this special kind of belief they are lacking, and how to obtain this feeling of peace from God.

In this essay we look to the scriptures to discover the biblical approach to how we should lead a person to Christ.

A second issue of great confusion amongst Christians is the issue of baptism. Baptism has been a thorn amongst Christians for hundreds of years with people disputing over whether baptism is for babies, families, or believers, and whether baptism involves mere sprinkling of water or the full immersion of the person under water. Although I adhere to the latter views in both of these options, I speak of another type of confusion that exists concerning baptism amongst those who hold to the view that baptism should be by immersion and is only for believers. This is a confusion about the timing of baptism ie when it should take place, and consequently, the very purpose of baptism itself.

There is an inconsistency which is very rarely discussed concerning the way baptism is administered these days. Everybody agrees that it is scriptural and desirable for baptism to take place as soon as possible after salvation; the scriptural pattern is very clear that this was the norm (eg see Acts 2:40, 8:35-36,16:32-33). However, it seems to be a trend universally bemoaned that people do not get baptized immediately after their conversion, but wait at least several weeks, if not years before this takes place. When was the last time you heard of someone getting baptized in the same hour as their conversion as was the case of the Ethiopan eunuch and the Philippian jailor, or on the same day, as was the case for the 3000 saved on the Day of Pentecost? Although quick baptisms are officially sanctioned, the reality is that they are not a feasible option in modern churches because the church insists on "making sure" that the conversions are genuine, usually by holding a special interview with the believer, and waiting a few weeks. Besides the question of just how successful interviews are going to be in ascertaining the genuineness of a conversion, shouldn't we ask the question, " How did the early Christians know if the conversions were genuine or not, when they occurred on the same day as their baptism?" Is it possible that they did not have the same level of concern about whether the person had genuinely been saved or not? The problem here I believe is that the modern conception sees baptism to be a statement by a church that they have confidence that the person they are baptizing is a true Christian- consider how many times books on church doctrine have a chapter devoted to the subject of baptism. I believe this has wandered from the biblical understanding of baptism, which does not see baptism as a "church ordinance", but rather a personal statement of faith from an individual.

A second modern misconception about baptism (and excuse for delaying baptism) is that baptism is a way of showing your friends that you have become a Christian. Suffice to say that the Ethiopian eunuch may not have had all that many friends to witness his baptism in the middle of the desert. Furthermore, surely the Philippian jailor could have waited till morning rather than getting baptized at midnight if the purpose of it was just for his friends. The Bible never mentions this as a reason for being baptized.

A third popular misconception of baptism is that it is a sign that a Christian now intends to "come of age" and live the Christian life in the way they are meant to (although it would certainly never be explicitly taught as such). It is very common for the phrase "obeyed the Lord in the waters of baptism" to be used in describing someone who got baptized- this typifies the view that baptism is fundamentally an act of Christian duty and maturity. Thus it is common for baptism to be used as nothing more than a growing up ritual. However, this also is not the biblical purpose of baptism.

Baptism certainly is an act of obedience, but so is prayer and so is evangelism. What is the special purpose for baptism that the Lord asks us to do it for? When I was baptized I was told (and I have read this in many other books on baptism since) that the reason that I should be baptized was because the Lord commanded it. This is true, but surely we should ask the question "Why did the Lord command us to be baptized? What significance does it hold?". Having raised all of these preliminary issues we now turn to the scriptures to discover the biblical method for becoming a Christian and the biblical reason for baptism. These two issues turn out to be intricately related.

Acts 2:37-41

37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38Then 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. 39For 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. 40And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

In this passage we find a group of people who are ready to become Christians; here we find all the basics required that will show us the answers to our questions.
In answering these questions I am going to draw out of this passage five simple propositions to explain the process of leading someone to Christ and the purpose of baptism.

1. A Decision is Needed.
v 37: "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" To become a Christian, these men had to make a decision- they wanted to do something. The same idea is stated by the Philippian jailor- "what must I do to be saved?"- an act on his part was necessary for him to receive God's salvation, a decision needed to be made. Thus this piece of information goes against the second group of people we discussed at the beginning who hold to a mystical view of salvation, in which you must wait and wait in agony until suddenly you are granted salvation and assurance is known in the heart. This point will become even clearer as we consider the subject of baptism.

2. Salvation is Obtained by Repentance and Faith in the Heart.
v38: "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"

The universal testimony of the New Testament is that it is our faith/repentance which we need in order to receive salvation (the reason for the mention of baptism in this verse will be discussed next). Faith and repentance are similar concepts which to some extent overlap so that Peter here does not mention faith, while Paul in Acts 16:31 does not mention repentance. Paul, however, in Acts 20:21 mentions that he preaches both. The key point to realize is that faith and repentance are found not in any outward ritual, but are purely of the heart. Faith and repentance are not obtained by any outward deed; otherwise our salvation should be obtained by works, and thus be "of ourselves" (see Eph 2:8-9).

I see repentance as a sorrow for sin that turns a man to God, leading him to say like the Jews on the Day of Pentecost "What shall we do?", and the Philippian jailor "What must I do to be saved?". Faith is the acceptance of the message of the gospel, acknowledging that Christ is indeed the Son of God and Lord of the universe, and that therefore in His death He has made atonement for my sins, leading me to follow Him as Lord for the rest of life. Thus it is "they that gladly received his word" who were baptized in v41. This is a slightly different approach from those who interpret the word "believe" as "committing your life to", or even "trusting" and "relying on". These acts will flow out of a genuine belief in the truth of the gospel; ie someone who has truly acknowledged that Christ is the Son of God and Lord of all will then as a straightforward consequence commit their entire life to Christ, and rely on Him and trust Him for everything. What we must encourage people to do though is to believe in Christ, explaining who He is, and then the implications thereof. (cp Matthew 16:15-16, John 6:68-69, John 10:36-38, John 11:27, John 12:44, John 14:1, John 14:10-11- the focus in all these verses is not just believing in Jesus with the emphasis on our believing as trusting in Him etc, but rather believing in Jesus because of who He is. See also the sermons in Acts where the emphasis continually is on preaching who Jesus is, rather than our need to "accept Him" eg Acts 2:36)

3. Faith and Repentance is Declared by Baptism.
v38: "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"

We come now to the question of the role and purpose of baptism. We are confronted immediately with the question of why, if salvation is by faith and repentance alone, are we told in this verse that we need to be baptized in order to receive salvation. Indeed, this is not the only verse which would imply such a thing. Mark 16:16 says "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Acts 22:16 says "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord". It is clear that baptism has an intimate relationship with salvation, so much so that it was true in some sense for the apostles to write of baptism as being necessary for salvation- I am sure that any of the above three statements stated in modern language in the body of a modern evangelistic sermon would not go unchallenged. Usually these three verses which show that baptism has a very strong relationship with salvation itself are just completely glossed over. Often it will be pointed out why we don't need to be baptized to be saved, but rarely will a satisfactory explanation be given as to just why the apostles stated it like that.

It is indeed clear that baptism is not essential for salvation. This can be proved from Acts 10:44-48 where the Holy Spirit fell on those who heard the word and they began to speak in tongues- and then they were baptized. Obviously they were saved before they were baptized. It was the faith and repentance in their heart which had caused them to be saved in the sight of God. However, faith and repentance is as we have stated something that is in the heart; it is hard to express a decision you are making when they are merely thoughts in the heart. The first group of people we discussed who believed in giving sinner's prayers to people to pray who wanted to become Christians got it right in that they realized that a response was needed from the individual to express the faith and repentance in their heart. However, the biblical response to make is not to pray a sinner's prayer, but rather to be baptized.

Thus we can see how it is possible for the words "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" to be true. A modern day speaker will say very readily "If you would like to become a Christian tonight, why don't you pray this prayer with me"; however, I would suggest that a biblical speaker would say "If you would like to become a Christian tonight, then come down to the front and we will baptize you, showing your faith and repentance in Christ". In the same way that no one is saved by saying sinner's prayers, no one is saved by being baptized; however, baptism is the biblical way of responding to the message of the gospel and expressing their repentance and faith in Christ. We will now examine a few other scriptural examples to show that this is indeed what baptism is for.

Acts 8:34-38
34And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39

It is interesting to look for exactly where this man became a Christian. In verse 35 we find Philip preaching the gospel to the eunuch. In the very next verse, the eunuch is asking to be baptized. It never says he "asked Jesus into His life", or "prayed the prayer"- it doesn't even say he believed. It just says that he wanted to be baptized. This is because the eunuch had heard the message, had repented and believed in his heart, and now wanted to outwardly respond to the message by being baptized. He made his decision to become a Christian by being baptized.

Acts 16:29-33
29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Exactly the same is true in this situation too. In verse 32 Paul preaches to him the gospel- the next thing we find in verse 33 is the jailor being baptized. He responded to the message and showed his faith by being baptized.

Acts 19:1-5
1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Here Paul comes across some disciples of John the Baptist who evidently had not heard that Christ had come; they had been baptized "unto John's baptism" and were still looking for the one who John had said would come after him. Paul now tells them about Christ Jesus who had come, and they are baptized in His name. Why this passage is interesting is that it so clearly shows that baptism was an act of commitment for these people to Christ. To change the wording of it slightly, "When they heard that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus". In this whole conversation Paul addresses the men's need of salvation in terms of the subject of baptism. This is because back then it would be fully recognized that in being baptized, they would be showing their repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.

We will finish off this section with an illustration: being baptized is a little like a wedding ceremony. A wedding ceremony is by no means essential for a marriage, it is always an option to elope, and privately say your vows and sign the papers in an office with an unknown celebrant. However, for the great majority, a marriage is something to be celebrated and missing out on the ceremony is unthinkable. While it is not strictly speaking necessary to "walk the aisle" in order to be married, it is the normal outward sign that a marriage is taking place. So with baptism- although it is the inward faith and repentance that matters, being baptized is the proper way to express the decision to become a Christian.

4. Assurance is Gained on the Basis of God's Promises

v39: …ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39For 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.
In leading someone to Christ, often a hard issue to be confronted is the issue of assurance. Once they have "prayed the prayer", or (preferably) been baptized, do we then have the liberty to tell them that they are now saved and that God has given them the Holy Spirit? The above verse gives us a pattern to follow. Peter pointed them to the promise of God- that all who had repented and been baptized would receive the Holy Spirit. I would suggest that in seeking to assure the new convert we could say something like the following: If you have truly repented and believed in Christ in your heart, then God's promise to you is that you have been forgiven and have received his salvation. This is similar perhaps to what Philip said to the eunuch "If you believe with all your heart you may [be baptized]".

5. True Salvation Comes From God.

v39: …ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39For 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.

Here we deal with a few objections. Although we stated as our first proposition that we must respond and make a decision in our salvation, we must recognize that ultimately it is only those who God has called who will truly be saved. We need to recognize that just getting baptized does not immediately guarantee that people are saved- time alone shall tell to see whether they continue in their faith, and this will show if it was the Lord who called them. Does it matter if we baptize someone for whom it will turn out that they were not a true believer? Apparently not, for in Acts 8, Simon apparently believes and is baptized, but very soon after Peter says words to him that make it very doubtful whether he was saved at all (see v 20-23). However, there is no slur on the fact that Philip had previously baptized Simon.

Some may object that the first proposition puts too much emphasis on man's need to make a decision rather on God's sovereign workings in a mans life. However, it is important to realize that I'm saying that the only reason a man would want to make a genuine decision is because God had moved his heart and given him faith and repentance in his heart. Thus it is God behind the scenes who is ultimately responsible for calling people to himself.

Perhaps some may object to the idea I have raised here by suggesting that this is easy-believism which I'm advocating- it would be so easy for many to come and say at the end of a meeting (like a Billy Graham appeal) that yes they would like to receive salvation and be baptized with very little conviction. However, this is perhaps forgetting the role of the "Philip" there who can say to them "Do you believe with all your heart" and ensure they understand the fundamentals of the faith and have counted the cost. There is also possibly something very humbling in being baptized which makes it more unlikely for the ungodly who are not sincere to lightly undertake it. However, I think it is our responsibility to make the gospel fully available to men to respond to, and to cry with Peter "Save yourselves from this untoward generation". As people respond to the message, we can only say like Philip "If you believe with all your heart you may" and then be conscious of the fact that it is the Lords calling which makes a genuine conversion, not ours, and look for evidence over time for His calling in their life.

Miscellaneous Questions

So if you haven't been baptized, are you really saved?
Yes, of course you are. If that is your question, go back and start reading from the beginning again! It is faith and repentance that is needed for salvation.

What about people who were saved using "sinner's prayers"? Are they really saved?
Yes, of course. They just did not use the biblical method of making a response to the gospel- but provided they had genuine faith and repentance, that is what is necessary.

What about someone who was saved years ago, but has never been baptized? Should they be baptized?
I don't really see that there would be much point in being baptized so long after salvation. It would be a matter of technical correctness, but I can't see that it would have a great deal of relevance now that they had been saved for so long. It would perhaps be a little like a man having turned 40, realizing that the norm for his society was to have a 21st birthday party, and suddenly realizing that he never had one, rushing around trying to organize it. It would be a pointless occasion- the man had been an adult for years! Baptism is to show that someone has decided to follow Jesus, but if they have already been following Him for years, the occasion loses much of its meaning.

To conclude, a suggested guide to leading someone to Christ:

In sharing the gospel, baptism should be explained as the means to express repentance and faith in Christ. The distinction should be made that being baptized does not save them, but rather it is just an expression of their faith.

At the conclusion, people are invited to respond to the message- for further counselling, or for baptism if they want to become Christians.

For people who want to become Christians, the counsellor checks that they understand the content of the gospel, that they have an appreciation of the cost of Christianity, and that they have an apparent sincerity. They are pointed to the promises of God that He promises to save them if they are genuine in their faith and repentance. If all is okay they are baptized.