THE SYMBOLISM OF BAPTISM
When we think about the symbolism of baptism you could ask why we don’t use dirt in the ceremony. Or why don’t we have a tomb and then have the new believer go into it and then come out of it? Why water “baptism” using this old word with connotations of drowning and sinking? Why would anyone want to associate a sinking ship with a new life? Of all the things that could be used to show we are committed to Christ why baptism?
For me, much of the preferred mode and appropriate subjects of baptism are set by the symbolism of Baptism. When we think of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament we were told that the Tabernacle on earth represented the real spiritual Tabernacle (Hebrews 8:1-7). In a similar way we have a baptism on earth that represents a real spiritual baptism (Luke 12:50). For the Tabernacle God provided great detail because those who were building the earthly Tabernacle could not see the heavenly Tabernacle. For our baptism we could see the real thing in the work of Christ and we have Scriptures that tell us what is symbolized.
God gives us explanations of the symbolism of baptism and so, as you might guess, God wasn’t making a random choice (God never makes a random choice but that would be another lesson). So once again we go to Scripture and look for verses that describe the relationship of baptism to our lives in Christ.
Acts 22:12-16
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.
Now the next section of Scripture is a little bit long but it covers multiple aspects of baptism. These words follow the revelation of how Grace now reigns through the power of Christ’s sacrifice.
Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self, was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The spiritual reality is being represented with our physical Baptism. We are symbolizing our real death, burial, and crucifixion in the work of Christ as well as our resurrection to walk in newness of life. Water baptism represents these things that really happen when we are born again. Your justification and atonement is being represented in water baptism but it is the real spiritual baptism (justification, atonement) that saves you. If that spiritual reality hasn’t occurred then getting wet is all that water baptism will do for you.
Colossians 2:11-14
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Remember what we learned about our membership in Abraham’s family in the book of Romans. We have entered into our new relationship to God via our new birth, buried with Christ and raised with Him. You were dead in your trespasses and sins (under the waters of baptism; by nature children of wrath) and then God made you alive together with Christ. We were circumcised by “putting off the body of the flesh” in a way that makes us “the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).” We stop our own works to attain righteousness and accept it by grace from God. God made us alive when we were dead and we follow this with baptism to show what God has done. I’ve heard folks comment on someone who got baptized and then went back to living like they always did that, “the baptism didn’t take”. Water baptism is a means of Grace in the life of a Christian and God will bless it; however, if that spiritual circumcision, spiritual death and resurrection, and nailing of your sins to the Cross in Christ hasn’t occurred then there is nothing in water baptism that will make it happen and all you get is wet.
Galatians 3:26-29
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
So we testify in baptism that we have put on Christ and, if we are saved, we really have put on Christ. The water baptism testifies of the real thing (spiritual baptism) that happened. We have become born again and we are then Abraham’s offspring. We are heirs according to promise.
1 Peter 3:20-22
because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Literally tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of pages have been written on the baptism-circumcision parallel. It is a real parallel that we will study but here is what baptism “corresponds to”. One of the things we seem to miss most often is that the reason we use water is because it symbolizes the judgment of God. The judgment of God fell on Egypt via water, the flood of Noah was the judgment of God, Jonah went to sea and the storm was seen as God’s judgment (and it was). One remarkable thing about this verse in 1 Peter is that we actually have Scripture tell us that Baptism corresponds to being brought safely through the water by God’s provision (as were Noah, Moses as a child, and the Israelites). God makes a way for us to be saved from the righteous anger of God toward sin. It is the real spiritual Baptism that saves you and you testify to that salvation with the means of Grace we call baptism (here on earth). You are saved by works but they are not your works they are the works of Christ.
This figure summarizes some of the key verses and concepts regarding the reality that is depicted by our water baptism. As we identify with Christ in our regeneration by the Holy Spirit we identify with the baptism that He was made to bear in our place (Luke 12:50 and Isaiah 53:3-4).
One thing that I glossed over last week was that the water that was used for baptism in Scripture was moving water. It was the River Jordan or in a valley with lots of springs and abundant water. The early Church referred to this by asking for the water to be “living”. What they meant by that was that the water should be moving. In meditation on the wrath of God that was carried for us by Christ our Savior then it seems appropriate that you should have your feet knocked out from under you by a river and you should realize that if someone doesn’t pull you up you are in danger (after you were dead in your trespasses and sins; you were by nature a child of wrath) but then you are pulled up to walk in newness of life. Not just clean on the outside but clean on the inside by claiming the Grace offered you by God (an appeal to God for a clean conscience).
Titus 3:4-7
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
We were not saved by any of our works. Not even (maybe especially) baptism. If you haven’t experienced regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit then your water baptism doesn’t represent a reality. We represent the reality of what the Holy Spirit has done with the sacrament of baptism.
When Jesus came walking on the water He wasn’t just out for a stroll. When He was sleeping in the boat in the midst of a storm without a worry in the world it wasn’t just to show that He was tired. These things are given to us in Scripture to teach us not to just wow us. The judgment of God represented by the water could not overwhelm Christ. He was the perfect Lamb of God, holy and without blemish and He could walk over the waters and they couldn’t take Him. In the storm, it couldn’t touch Him and He could sleep because God’s judgment is just and perfect and He was just and perfect too. Think of Peter asking for Jesus to call to him so he could walk out on the water too. He looked at the waters and started to doubt but Jesus reached out for Him. Each of us calls out to Jesus in a sense and each of us also walk across the waves because we are not overwhelmed and destroyed by God’s righteous anger. Just like your weight necessarily makes it impossible for you to walk on water, your sins make it impossible for you to avoid sinking into the punishment you deserve apart from the Grace given you in Christ. When I think of my sin and the appropriate anger of God then I can believe it will overwhelm me too. Like Peter all we can do is look at Christ and His perfection and appeal for a clean conscience. I can honestly say that to baptize me by aspersion or effusion would have been ridiculous since the water represents the righteous judgment of God for my sin (1 Peter 3:20-22). I should have been dunked in some deep rapids and even they would be a sorry representation for the judgment that was paid for me by the work of Christ. Christ dealt with my sin (Psalm 69:1-2) and the waves and mire that would have otherwise claimed me.
So for each local Christian fellowship and for each individual you must satisfy yourself that you’re teaching and practicing water baptism in a manner that is consistent with the reality of the spiritual baptism that saves you. Baptism shows that you really were baptized into His death, it shows your justification, the waters represent the flood of God’s anger toward sin (pictured as Noah’s flood), and your water baptism testifies that you really have been raised to newness of life.
In a sense, I can say that everyone who is a true Christian is saved by believer’s baptism. In this way we can say that the Thief on the Cross was saved by believer’s baptism. But when I say that I’m talking about the reality of what happened which is so much more than what we see in the water baptism (Mark 10:37-40). That baptism that Christ passed through (Luke 12:50; Psalm 69) saves you who believe. His work satisfied the righteous requirements of a holy God and we can’t add anything to that perfect work of the Lamb of God.
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