Why Baptism Matters?

            Considering the string of baptismal essays, I have written here on Tribute, I thought it would be helpful to articulate why I bothered. Am I just a cage-stage padeobaptist? Is it really such a big deal? The primary reason baptism is such a big deal is because God has said it’s a big deal. Our very unity as Christians is tied up in baptism; “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6). Baptism is central to our unity in Christ, and as His Church. When disunity exists within the Church, our doctrine of baptism must be one of the first things examined.

            The grave reality is that innovations regarding baptism have created fissures in the Church. The radical branch of the reformation typifies this with the Anabaptists. Their vitriolic antagonism toward infant baptism led to their separation from not just Rome, but all the Protestant churches. Similarly, the Baptist churches of England separated themselves from not only the established church but also the Presbyterian church over the issue of baptism. I can recall multiple anecdotes of Baptists being rebaptized by other Baptists because some minutiae about their previous baptism was deemed invalid. This is why I am putting forth a-fresh, the ancient understanding of baptism. This is not my doctrine of baptism that I have articulated, this is why I cited the major Reformational confessions, the Church Fathers, and the Scriptures. If we want to move forward as one, we must look back to when the Church was one and keep the marks of unity they had. One faith, one Lord, one baptism.