Oct 14 2008
Baptism and the Bible
In this week’s Jesus and the Catholic Church Podcast #2: The Word of God and the Light of the World, we talked about what it means to become a child of God. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 526, to become a child of God we must (1) become childlike in our attitude — namely, by cultivating humility and becoming little before God — and (2) we must become a spiritual child when we are born from above — namely, when we are born again through water and the Spirit in the sacrament of Baptism.
The Catholic Church teaches that “what faith confesses, the sacraments communicate” (Catechism, no. 1692). Scripture teaches that becoming a child of God is the condition for entering the kingdom (Mt 18.1-4; Jn 3.3-5). The question, then, is this: How do we become a child of God? The answer the Church gives is this: through the sacraments. We confess we must become a child of God to enter the kingdom of heaven, and this reality is given to us through the sacrament of rebirth — that is, the sacrament of baptism.
Now this teaching is often questioned by non-Catholic Christians. So what I’d like to do in this post is to list the passages in the Bible that speak of baptism without comment. First, I’m going to list the New Testament passages that speak of baptism, and second, I’m going to list some of the Old Testament passages that the Church sees as pre-figuring the sacrament of baptism. Obviously, for a full understanding of the passages, they should be read in context.
What these passages will show is (a) that baptism was instituted by Christ, (b) that baptism was presupposed in the apostolic church, (c) that baptism unites us to Christ, and (d) that baptism is not merely a symbolic ritual, but, rather, actually brings about an authentic spiritual cleansing.
New Testament Passages about Baptism
Matthew 28.19: [Jesus said:] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .
Mark 16.16: [Jesus said:] He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
John 3.5: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 2.38: And Peter said to them, “repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 6.3-4: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.
1 Cor 10.1-2: I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
1 Cor 12. 13: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
Gal 3.27: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Col 2.11-12: In [Christ] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Titus 3.5: [Christ] saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 10.22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
1 Peter 3.21: 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.
Some Old Testament Images of Baptism
2 Kings 5.14: So [Naaman] went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Psalm 51.7: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Ezek 36.25-27: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
