The Significance of Christian Baptism
Randy Todd

            "Do you believe that baptism saves you?"  This past summer I had a conversation with a man who was searching for answers.  His son had been attending a Church of Christ and he was concerned about what we teach, practice and believe.  So he asked me, "Do you believe that baptism saves you?"
 
            What I believe really does not matter.  I am only a messenger.  What does the Bible say?  I asked him to read 1 Peter 3:21.  The next day as we talked I was amazed at how readily he dismissed this text by saying, "Well, that's just your interpretation of that passage."
  
            My interpretation?  I hadn't interpreted anything.  All I had done was to ask him to read the Scripture.  Here's what it says.  "This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . . " (New International Version)
 
            Well, let's go with this concern.  Perhaps that's just the interpretation of the New International Version.  Surely other translations have it differently.  Let's see.  Let's compare.

              "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . ." . (New American Standard)
 
            "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . ."  (English Standard Version)
 
            "There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . ."  (New King James Version)
 
            "And that water is like baptism that now saves you—not the washing of dirt from the body, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. And this is because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead."  (New Century Version)
 
            "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."  (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
 
            "And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience.  It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (New Living Translation)
 
            "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, . . ."  (Revised Standard Version)
 
            This is not my interpretation.  It is the consensus of every reputable English translation out there.  Frankly, on the basis of 1 Peter 3:21 the question is not, "Does baptism save you?" The question is: "How does baptism save you?"   Carefully read the text of 1 Peter 3:17-22.  The only question here is whether it is an appeal to God or a pledge (promise or response) to God.  For all practical purposes it is both.  In baptism we call upon God to save us and we pledge ourselves to God to follow his Son.
 
            Regardless of this particular detail, the point remains that the Bible plainly states that baptism saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Baptism is connected to the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus.  This very same text takes away any notion of there being something magical or mystical about the water.  It is not at all about the washing of the dirt from our bodies.  It is only because of and through the resurrection of Christ that baptism saves.
 
Great American Jackalope

            Several years ago my wife and I made a trip out west to Montana and Wyoming.  Everywhere we went there was propaganda and advertising for the Great American Jackalope: Postcards, bumper stickers, playing cards, glossy brochures, you name it.  There were even a few Great American Jackalope heads mounted on the wall in restaurants.  Now if you have never seen a Great American Jackalope, they look suspiciously like ordinary rabbits with miniature antlers glued to the top of their heads.
 
 
            Douglas, Wyoming, has declared itself to be the Jackalope capital of America because, according to legend, the first jackalope was spotted there around 1829. A large statue of a jackalope stands in the town center, and every year the town plays host to Jackalope Day, usually held in June. Jackalope hunting licenses can be obtained from the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, though hunting of jackalopes is restricted to the hours of midnight to 2 a.m. on June 31.  The fact of the matter is, there is no such creature.  It is merely the figment of someone's imagination.
  
            In the very same way, you can search the Bible high and low and you will discover that there is no such a creature as an unbaptized Christian.  In the New Testament, if someone believed that Jesus is the Christ of God and wanted to follow Jesus, this person was immediately baptized. 
 
Heart of the Matter
 
            For fifteen centuries this was the teaching and practice of the church.  Everyone who desired to follow Jesus received baptism.  Everyone who was called a Christian had been baptized in the name of Jesus.  If we had continued to follow this New Testament teaching and example, then we would never ever have even asked the question, "Does baptism save you?"  At least, it would merely be an academic question without any real significance or emotional punch.   It was not until the 16th century, and the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, that the significance of baptism came to be seriously questioned or challenged.  He said, "In this matter of baptism — if I may be pardoned for saying it — I can only conclude that all the doctors [teachers] have been in error from the time of the apostles."  For fifteen centuries the church had consistently been taught by its leaders, its teachers and preachers, that God's Word instructs believers to be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  Zwingli boldly asserted that all teachers who came before him were wrong about baptism.
 
            Zwingli concluded that baptism has nothing to do with our salvation experience.  He viewed baptism as a work.  Martin Luther responded by affirming the long held understanding of baptism, saying, "Baptism is not our work.  Baptism is God's work."
 
            This is in full agreement with the Word of God in Colossians 2:9-13.  "All of God lives in Christ fully (even when Christ was on earth).  And in him you have a full and true life.  He is ruler over all rulers and powers.  In Christ you had a different kind of circumcision.  That circumcision was not done by hands.  I mean, you were made free from the power of your sinful self.  That is the kind of circumcision Christ does.  When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ and you were raised up with Christ because of your faith in God's power.  That power was shown when he raised Christ from death.  You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self.  But God made you alive with Christ.  And God forgave all our sins"  (New Century Version).
 
Buried With Christ

            Carefully read Romans 6:1-14.  We were joined or united with Christ's death when we were baptized.  We were buried with him.  Because this is the moment when we died with Christ, this is the moment at which we begin a new life.   I believe that this is what Jesus meant when he said to Nicodemus: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. . . I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:3, 5 NIV).
 
            We are born again after we are united with Christ's death in baptism.  We are born again through his resurrection.  I believe that this is why the Apostle Paul will elsewhere say: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20 NIV).
 
A Game of Monopoly®

            I completely understand how difficult it is to read the Scriptures with fresh eyes and to hear what it actually says, instead of hearing what we have always been taught and believed.  When I was a kid my family played a lot of games together, including Monopoly®.  For all of my life we had played this game strictly according to the rules—or so I thought.  When I went to college I played Monopoly® with my new friends.  Then one day one of my friends attempted to purchase some houses for his property. . . and it wasn't his turn! 
 
            For my entire life I had always been told that the official rules makes this very clear: You cannot buy houses or hotels unless it is your turn.  All of my friends resisted my explanation.  So I pulled out the rules and read them aloud and then said, "There.  See.  The rules say it has to be your turn in order to buy houses or hotels."  If you want to have a little fun at my expense, just read the rules.  There is absolutely nothing in the rules that says anything about whose turn it is when you buy houses or hotels.
 
            My friends challenged me to read the rules again.  When it finally dawned on me that there was nothing in these rules about what I had so confidently asserted was there.  I was shocked.  I was incredulous.  I responded, "I can't believe that they have changed the rules!"  I was so convinced that this rule was there, that I had a very difficult time accepting the reality that it had never ever been there.  I was a true believer, a purist, and I had been led astray! 
 
            I laugh about that moment now.  But it taught me to be more cautious in how I read and what I hear.  This is especially true of the Holy Scriptures.  The Bible has not changed, yet the teaching about baptism changed radically in the sixteenth century.  We need to go back to the official rule book, if you will, back to the Bible, and see what it says.  Nothing else really matters.
 
John's Baptism

            In Matthew 21 Jesus is pressured by the chief priests and elders to tell them by what authority he is doing everything that he did, including cleansing the temple of the animals and money changers.  He responded by asking them the same question about John the Baptist: "John's baptism—where did it come from?  Was it from heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, ‘From heaven,' he will ask, ‘Then why didn't you believe him?'"
 
            This really is at the heart of the question today.  Jesus' baptism, is it from heaven or from men?  Did Jesus stand on the mountain and say, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)? 
 
            If you believe that this really happened, then the matter is settled for you.  If you believe that Christ's baptism is from heaven, from God, then you obey Christ and receive his baptism.  If for no other reason, we should accept Christ's baptism because he commanded it.