What is Baptism?

When we consider the sacred rite of baptism, it is necessary to understand both its significance and its application. First, the significance of baptism.

As a result of the emergence of a man-centered view of redemption, there has been a corresponding rise in a man-centered view of the sacrament of baptism. This should really come as no surprise since baptism is the initiatory rite of being ushered into the visible people of God. If the church's view of redemption is man-centered, then baptism which points to redemption will be seen in a man-centered way. In other words, baptism is seen in many evangelical circles as pointing to the individual's personal faith and repentance. This is exactly the opposite of what baptism, or any other covenant sign in Scripture, is meant to do. Signs are markers which serve to remind (however anthropromorphic it may sound) the suzerain God of his objective promise. It is not a sign of some inward change. This was the case in every covenant in the OT and continues to be so with baptism. Let us look at some examples:

8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” -Genesis 9:8-17

Notice, the purpose of the sign of the covenant is so that God "will remember" his covenant (v.15. The sign of the covenant (i.e. the rainbow) is not pointing to some subjective, inward disposition within Noah. It is not a sign of Noah's personal faith in the promise of the covenant. It is a sign to remind God of God's promise. To put another way, it is outward and objective rather than inward and subjective. Here is another one:

9 God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. 13 “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” -Genesis 17:9-14

The sign of the Abrahamic covenant is the bloody rite of circumcision. Was circumcision a sign of the inward, subjective disposition of the recipient? Verses 12-13 clearly demonstrate it was not, because every male in Israel was circumcised even those who would later demonstrate unbelief. What exactly does circumcision then signify? Paul, who also calls the Abrahamic covenant the gospel in Galatians 3:8, says this regarding what circumcision signifies:

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. -Colossians 2:11-12

While many credobaptists may want to object and say that Paul does not say that baptism replaces circumcision in this text, that is not the point. The point is that what Paul does state is that both circumcision and baptism convey the same spiritual reality, that is, the objective work of Christ in dying and purging us of the sinfulness of the flesh. Circumcision is the bloody rite which looks forward to this event while baptism is the bloodless rite which looks back. Neither, however, are necessarily intended to signify something about the individual recipient.

In regards to the application of the sign of baptism, I will propose this. When we correctly understand the significance of baptism, then the application of baptism flows from it. What I mean by this is that a God-centered view of baptism's significance results in a corporate-oriented view of baptism's application. If the significance of baptism is really meant to point to the outward, objective work of God in Christ and as a reminder to God and His people of that work, then the administration of baptism is not dependent upon knowing the internal disposition of the recipients. To clarify, no one who supports covenant baptism would advocate baptizing someone who is demonstrating unbelief and hatred towards the gospel. Such an idea is monstrous! With the case of infants, we do not know if they possess saving faith or not. Fortunately, this is not the criterion upon which we must determine whether or not to baptize an individual. The criterion is based upon God's objective promise through the gospel to believing households! This enables us then to take Peter's promise seriously in Acts 2:39 that the promise of the New Covenant is to believers and their children. Soli deo gloria!