Understanding Baptism – Part 4 of 4 – By Tom Buckle

Understanding Water Baptism

Part IV

 

Modes of Water Baptism

 

Ablution can be defined as the use of water.  In Christian churches water is used for baptism in three different ways: immersion, affusion and aspersion.

 

Immersion:  The recipient enters a body of water and is dipped totally under the water. Some churches practice dipping the recipient under three times (in each name of the Trinity), some also baptize with the face forward dipping three times but most practice dipping only once.  Immersion is taken from the Greek verb, baptizein, defined as “to dip” or “immerse”.  Those who hold to this mode of baptism will refer to the examples of John the Baptist and Jesus’ own baptism.  Since this mode was vividly used in the New Testament examples, the belief in any other mode used in baptism seems invalid.  Besides, holders of this view see no other reason to accept another view because “believers’ baptism” is only for those old enough to accountably accept Jesus as their Savior.  Immersion, where the whole body and head are plunged beneath a pool of water, gives a clearer picture of the cleansing of the soul from the pollution of sin.  Dipped beneath and surrounded by water better illustrates the metaphors of burial/resurrection and also that of being fully surrounded by the cloud that baptized the Israelites (I Corinthians 10:2; Romans 6:4Romans 6:4
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

WP-Bible plugin; Colossians 2:12Colossians 2:12
English: World English Bible - WEB
12 having been 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.

WP-Bible plugin).  

 

Affusion:  where the recipient either stands on dry land or in water and water is poured on the head.    Those who practice affusion believe that it is a more descriptive symbolism of the giving of the Holy Spirit.  Those holding to this view argue that the word for dip in Greek is baptein and that the verb word form, baptizein, has a broader meaning that also includes the Jewish ceremonial rite of pouring water on the hands (Mark 7:4Mark 7:4
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace, unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things, which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)

WP-Bible plugin; Luke 11:38Luke 11:38
English: World English Bible - WEB
38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.

WP-Bible plugin).   They also suggest that it is impossible to conclude from the word baptizein that immersion is the only correct mode for baptism.

 

From the Didache (manual of the apostolic fathers) we read that the early church preferred immersion.  However, in instances where pools of water were not available for baptism, affusion was used.  History records that the Anabaptists, later the Mennonites and the earliest Baptists also used the affusion mode of baptism.

 

Aspersion:  For the first twelve centuries the church administered baptism by immersion and affusion.  In the thirteenth century the mode of aspersion or sprinkling became the universally used mode in the Roman Catholic Church.  Before the thirteenth century it was used exclusively for the sick and infirmed who were too weak for immersion or affusion. 

 

The Roman Catholic church took the position that baptism administered this way is valid and quoted Old Testament texts that claim the purifying results of water sprinkled (Ezekiel 36:25Ezekiel 36:25
English: World English Bible - WEB
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

WP-Bible pluginf.; Numbers 8:5-7Numbers 8:5-7
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. ⁷ Thus shall you do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

WP-Bible plugin).  Further, Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage and martyr, ca. 248-258) declared that it is not the amount of water or the method of application that can cleanse from sin: “Whence it appears that the sprinkling also of water prevails equally with the washing of salvation . . . and that where the faith of the giver and receiver is sound, all things hold and may be consummated and perfected by the majesty of God and by the truth of faith.”  It was not until the thirteenth century that the Roman Catholic Church accepted his argument.   

 

Baptism Is an Ordinance and a Sacrament

 

Water baptism symbolizes an inward work of a person who has come to Christ in repentance and seeks to follow His righteousness.  It is also a testimony to the church that he or she is a part of the family of God.  Evangelicals believe it is an ordinance. It is not a requirement for salvation but rather a visible sign and command for every Christian.    Baptism physically symbolizes what has already taken place spiritually.  

 

Baptism is also a sacrament.  Originally the Latin “sacramentum” meant both “a thing set apart as sacred” and “a military oath of obedience as administered by the commander”.  The early church theologian, Augustine, defined sacrament as a “visible word” or an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”.   

 

Someone summarized it succinctly by saying, “Baptism is never the event but, rather, the picture of the event.”

 

Have you been baptized since you believed?