Experiential Baptism: Galatians

[I found nothing in 2 Corinthians to contribute to the discussion.  If you find something, let me know]

Gal. 3:27

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

How are we “baptized into Christ”?  I answered that in my post about 1 Corinthians.  Paul says that it is “by the Spirit” we are baptized into “one body”.  You are baptized into Christ by Spirit baptism.  We experience this in baptism but this verse is not about water baptism.

Gal. 3:27

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

How are we “baptized into Christ”?  I answered that in my post about 1 Corinthians.  Paul says that it is “by the Spirit” we are baptized into “one body”.  You are baptized into Christ by Spirit baptism.  We experience this in baptism but this verse is not about water baptism.

The Faith List and the Curse of the Christian Religion

Have you ever heard of the faith list?  I bet you have.

It looks like this:

Faith                 Opinion

Then the teacher will put what he/she believes to be matters of faith and what he/she believes to be matters of opinion.  The matters of opinion (if the teacher allows for any) are those things that the teacher believes a Christian shouldn’t argue with other Christians about.  The faith column is for the things the teacher considers non-negotiable.  Christians we label as “conservative” have a long “faith” column and those we label as “liberal” have a long “opinion” column.

Both are missing something.

We are not saved because we have our faith list right, we are saved because Christ died to take away our sin and we have put our faith in Him.  He alone saves!!!  No list of orthodox doctrines can define a person’s faith in Christ and there is no reason to try.

In Galatians, Paul tells us that those who try to find justification in the Law are under a curse.  I recently asked a preacher what the “curse” was:  he didn’t know for sure but I’m pretty sure I do. 

Trying to earn justification by right belief and right practice and by my works was the greatest curse that I have ever been under.  It is not a curse God placed on me, it is one I placed on myself by not accepting the grace that God freely offered.

In What Sense Is Baptism “For The Forgiveness Of Sins”

We in the churches of Christ have always been clear that we believe that baptism is “for the forgiveness of sins”. In this article, I will not challenge that idea because I find it to be both logical and biblically sound. We have been right to insist on this meaning for baptism but another question must be asked that I fear never is: In what sense is baptism for the forgiveness of sins?

You may be wondering “is there more than one sense?” I submit to your thinking the idea that there are at least three ways that baptism could be for the forgiveness of sins and in this article I want to look at those three ways and come to, what I believe is the biblical sense in which baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.

The first way that baptism could be for the forgiveness of sins is that baptism could be the way we earn the forgiveness of sins. For example, if I say “I go to work for a paycheck” I am saying that I go to work to earn a paycheck. My employer does not give me a paycheck as a gift; I work for it. This makes complete sense when talking about employment, but should raise a few eyebrows if this meaning of “for” was applied to baptism. We should know that we do not earn the forgiveness of sins by being baptized (or by doing anything else either). We cannot earn the forgiveness of sins. Because we cannot earn it by any good behavior, Jesus died for us.

One of our church songs expresses it well:

He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away.

We do not earn the forgiveness of sins, our sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ. Because of this, this first meaning cannot be the sense in which baptism is “for the forgiveness of sins”.

The second sense in which baptism could be for the forgiveness of sins is the sense of procurement. We could receive the forgiveness of sins at baptism. This idea has long been taught in churches of Christ but I find reason to question it. If asked, many of our preachers would say that this idea of baptism comes from Alexander Campbell (I assume if you are reading this I don‘t need to tell you who Alexander Campbell was). but this is not what Alexander Campbell had in mind when communicating his belief on baptism. Actually, he said the opposite:

“The influence which baptism may have upon our spiritual relations is, therefore, not because of any merit in the act as our own; not as a procuring cause, but merely as an instrumental and concurring cause, by which we “put on Christ,” and are united to him formally as well as in heart, entering into covenant with him, and uniting ourselves to him in his death, burial, and resurrection. (Christian Baptism: It’s Antecedents and Consequences)

Did you notice what he said: not for procurement. This means that Campbell’s baptismal theology is NOT that you receive the forgiveness of sins at baptism. People only thought that this is what he meant by insisting on baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Many thought that his teaching was a kind of “water salvation” but this is not what he was trying to communicate.

You may be thinking “So what? We don’t follow Campbell we follow the Bible”. You are right, we don’t follow a man but Scripture. So how does Scripture say a person receives salvation? The answer is: by grace, through faith. Paul is clear on this in the books of Romans and Galatians and I will take no time here to prove it. The mental gymnastics that it takes to rob Paul’s letters of this meaning is too complicated for me to even try to tackle. (This would be an excellent time to read these books again)

The third sense (and the one I believe to be biblical) is the experiential sense. For example, if I say “I go to the amusement park for fun” I do not go to earn fun (how much fun would that be?) and I do not go to receive fun (As if fun could be received?) I go to experience fun.

Another example may be helpful. “I go to a ceremony for graduation” I earn (merit) my graduation through years of school work and successfully passing my classes. I receive (procure) my graduation when a school official with the proper authority deems that I have met the requirements for graduation and approves my graduation. I experience graduation at the ceremony when it is made “official”.  I can leave the ceremony in full assurance that I have graduated.

Baptism works the same way. The forgiveness of sins was paid for (earned/merited) by Christ’s death on the cross. I could not pay for it. The forgiveness of sins was received by God’s grace, through faith. At this moment I had no way of knowing that I was saved. I didn’t see the spiritual things that occurred at Christ’s death (nor did I see the physical because they happened nearly 2000 years ago). I also didn’t see God give me His grace through faith. Without an experience of salvation, I would not truly know that I was saved and would have to rely on my own knowledge of Scripture to determine it. Luckily, God gave us a ceremony that tells us the truth about the way we really are. I experienced the forgiveness of sins at baptism and walked away from the baptistery in full knowledge that I had received it. Thank God!!!

It is not only biblical but also important that baptism works this way. If baptism was how you earned your salvation than you could say you had paid for it and would be able to boast in yourself but the Lord wants us to boast of what He has done. If baptism was how we received salvation than we couldn’t thank God for His wonderful grace, we would have to thank baptism for being the vessel by which we received it (many have fallen into this very trap). We would also be trusting in our baptismal theology to give us salvation which is just another way of trying to earn it.

Since baptism is how we experience the forgiveness of sins we can rejoice in the knowledge that we are saved by God’s grace and our sins were paid for by Christ’s death. This experience is a way in which God communicates to us what has been done on our behalf. In this way it is an “appeal to God for a clear conscience” (1Pet 3) We walk away from it with our consciences clear !!! In this way it is “being buried with Christ through baptism into death so that we might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4) We have a new life (by being forgiven of our sins by grace) but come to the experience of it at baptism.

It helps me to think of it this way:

My salvation was:

Earned: By Christ’s death on the cross.

Received: By God’s grace (through faith)

Experienced: At baptism

I think if we would come to see this issue in this way we would be able to better communicate with fellow Christians who disagree and to find some common ground with other traditions. We would also be able to speak more biblically about the role of baptism as it relates to faith, grace, and justification. I know that I have not answered every question regarding baptism in this article (I haven’t even scratched the surface) but, hopefully, I have given you something to think about as we all seek to follow Christ more faithfully.