Thesis on Baptism

 

    In Matthew Chapter 3, we see an odd ritual being preformed by John, cousin of Jesus. He is dipping people in the Jordan River. We're never really told why he was doing it. It's kinda just assumed that the people of that era knew why he was doing it.

    But the fact that we're never told the purpose of this ritual always kinda bugged me. Baptism just never made sense. Really, it seemed a ludicrous thing. And even from a young age, I hated things that didn't make sense. Why do people get dunked in a giant bathtub in front of a bunch of other people? What in the world does that have to do with anything else about being a Christian? 

    Over the years, I put forth various excuses as to why I elected to not go through with it. Part of my inhibition was the extreme insecurity I had of doing anything in front of a crowd. Especially being dipped in a giant bathtub. Super awkward. But the other part was, I didn't feel right doing something that I just didn't understand. And I found myself unable to trust the explanations people gave me. 

     Should I do it just because Jesus said so? (in literal Greek translated by Strong's Concordance) "permit , just this moment, for in this manner to stand out to be our full collective righteousness."

    Or in better English, "Permit it just now, for this, the way we stand out, is to be our fulfilled collective righteousness."

    In the words of the Complete Jewish Bible, “Let it be this way now, because we should do everything righteousness requires.”

    Still, doing something "just because", without really understanding the true meaning of it? Is that really a commitment of anything? I felt like I should truly understand baptism for what it really means instead of simply going through meaningless motions. If righteousness requires it, I should understand why. I should know the full terms of what it is I’m actually committing to. I don't wanna be the guy who closes a deal on a house without reading the terms and conditions.

But in my studying over the years, I became more and more convinced that baptism really seemed like an outdated tradition that no longer held relevance. Cuz here's the thing. Water baptism is what Jesus and the apostles practiced, and what nearly all believers have undergone during the past 2000 years of church history. On the one hand, this is a valid argument to keep doing it. On the other hand, it’s an equally valid argument to not keep doing it. Because while traditions can be wonderful, we sometimes forget their meaning and significance over time, and they can become too traditional. Empty rituals done out of habit.

    I've seen it too many times, people admit that they got baptized more out of a sense of obligation or peer pressure than out of making any kind of actual commitment to anything. Some of them stick to the faith, but some of those people really don't ever make any commitments, and they end up walking away from the straight and narrow path. When we preach that baptism is something we're supposed to do because we were told to do it just because, we risk losing some of the meaning behind it.

 

I also fail to see baptism as a public confession of faith. I've not yet found the scripture that says such. Besides, one can publicly declare anything they please. But it is the Lord who sees the heart. And perhaps we sometimes forget that.

    How should baptism then be regarded? That was my quest for several years. And the best answer I could come up with was that it was intended as a temporary ritual, like temple sacrifices, replaced by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Coming to that conclusion, I lived out my life.

    Until the second Sunday of December 2023. Pastor Chad drew parallels between the life of Samson and the life of Mary. A man who wrestled with God’s will, and a woman who submitted to it. I felt like Abba was possibly poking my conscience in regards to wrestling against his will. So I revisited the topic of baptism and studied it again.

    So, for one thing, I had always questioned why baptism had any relevance when it was just an extension of Jewish ritual bathing. What significance did water baptism have after the spirit baptism of Pentecost?

    But the thought occurred to me, “why did John’s baptism mean anything to anyone back then, when they already had ritual baths? There must be something at play that I missed.”

    Then it hit me. Chad has been leading us through Genesis for a few months. Adam. Noah. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. They all have something in common. Yahweh made a covenant with each one of them.

    Yahweh gives a rainbow to Noah as a sign of his promise. Noah's name is not changed and he is not required to do anything.

 

    Later, Yawhweh makes a covenant with Abram, promising to make him the father of many nations. The sign of the covenant is that Abram must be circumcised. Abram's name becomes Abraham as a sign of his new purpose in life.

 

    Yahweh promises to be with Jacob and as a sign of this, he changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

 

    Yahweh later makes a covenant with David to establish his throne forever, but there is no sign given by Yahweh, nothing required of David, and no name change noted in scripture.

 

    So then some covenants, God provides a sign of his promise. Other covenants, God calls us to provide a sign. Some covenants are accompanied by a new name. Other covenants are simply promises made without any signs at all.

Certain verses suddenly started making more sense.

In Romans 6, Paul states, "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."

 

And in 1 Peter 3, Peter states, "God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God."

 

The flood covenant was sealed with a rainbow from heaven. Baptism is paralleled to the flood, but seldom do we see divine signs occurring at baptisms. I certainly didn't get any doves or voices from heaven, I can tell you that.

 

Like Abram became Abraham, and received a whole new calling on his life, our identity as Christians is a whole new calling on life. He was told to circumcise as a sign of the covenant, we are told to baptize. This is a much closer parallel.

 

Baptism is also paralleled to Christ's burial and resurrection, that as we are raised from the water as he was raised from the grave, we come to walk in a newness of resurrected life yet to come.

 

So then baptism is a thing we should still do, to seal the covenant of our Christian life, just like Abraham did circumcision to seal his covenant.

 

But what is our covenant, exactly?

 

    Well, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the scroll titled "Rule of the Community", it says, "And by the compliance of his soul with all the laws of God his flesh is cleansed by being sprinkled with cleansing waters and being made holy with the waters of repentance."

 

    This idea seems to be supported by 1 Peter, which says baptism is "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"

 

    We see this further illustrated, in the story of Naaman the Syrian, when we read that Naaman went and baptized “himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored.” The significant thing about this passage is the fact that “wash” in verse 10 and “baptize” in verse 14 are used interchangeably. Naaman was commanded by Elisha to “wash” in order to be healed, and he “baptized” himself and was restored to health.

    I will further note in Naaman's story, although he initially made a fuss about the whole thing, the washing itself was a bit of a stumbling block at first, but the bigger issue was that Elisha told him to do it specifically in the cold, muddy water of the Jordan River. Naaman had a problem with that. But he humbled himself, submitted to the conditions given him, and followed through.

 

    In likewise manner, baptism then, rather than being a public confession of faith, is a mark of submission to Yahweh. Some people go through outward baptism without the inward submission. And just like Naaman would've remained a leper if he had bathed in a Syrian river, these unrepentant people remain unclean and their lives remain unfruitful.

 

    But instead of pushing baptism as a tradition or a public confession of faith, we should go back to pushing the reality that it is an appeal not to public humanity, but to God himself, who knows our hearts. Its saying "God, right here, between you and me, I'm sealing my vow of surrender and submission to your laws, and this is my appeal to you for a clean conscience that in my commitment to this covenant, I am made a new creation."

 

    That is why it makes no logical sense to get dunked in a giant bathtub. Because it’s not really about reasoning. It’s about God saying “Will you submit to the terms of my covenant and bring yourself into compliance with my ways?”

 

“To which point, we can perhaps say “Woe!” to those who took baptism as a rite of tradition or peer pressure and later walked away from the body of Christ, never living out the terms of the contract that they blindly signed.

 

As for me, this investigation led to me deciding to partake in baptism. Of all days, on December 31, 2023. New Years Day. The morning before posting this, actually.

 

I can only pray that Yahweh continues to guide my steps as he has thus far, and I uphold my end of the covenant, to ever remain in absolute submission to the Father’s perfect will and in fervent dedication to the calling he has placed on my life.

 

    BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

 

    Let's revisit that bit about Abraham's covenant. He went from Abram to Abraham, a name change marking him as the father of many nations. What other covenants do this?

 

    Jesus took Simon, son of Jonas and named him Peter, as a sign of the covenant that Peter would become a foundational leader within the new church. Jacob the supplanter became Israel the father of twelve tribes after wrestling with an angel.

Moses took Hoshea and named him Yehoshua (Joshua). There was a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabus. Solomon was called Jedediah by the prophet Nathan. 

 

    Saul the Pharisee decided to identify as Paul the Apostle, but it is unlikely that this was part of any covenant. Jesus didn't change his name on the road to Damascus. It was likely that Paulos was merely the Hellenistic Greek name given to him as a free Roman citizen, and he chose to identify by that while preaching to the Gentile churches.

    Even so,  many of Yahweh's elect ended up with special names that set them apart, as indicators of the calling that set them apart from the world around them.

    For many years, this idea has been circulating in my head. What if covenants still came with a spiritual name? After all, baptisms did once upon a time include giving the baptized person a "Christian name".

    And as it happened, I already had a name handy. I've long felt that Adonai had set me apart for some unique purpose, that he created me for something specifically chosen for me. So if in baptism, I'm surrendering myself to sealing his covenant, I'm dedicating myself to whatever that purpose is.

    Hence, I picked the name "Enoch". And at first, it was going to be Enoch and only Enoch. Till one night, a few nights ago, I had a dream. In that dream, I saw the words "the storm abides in you". And not that  think it was prophetic or anything, but it at least got me thinking.

    Many scriptures mention the "storm" or "tempest" of the Lord. When he appeared to Moses on Sinai, the mountain was covered in clouds, thunder, and lightning. In the New Testament, Jesus excercises authority over storms. If he can stop them, he can make them. Overall, Yahweh sure sounds to me like he embodies the characteristics of a storm. So the name "Enoch Storm" just felt right.

    NOT that I'm actually legit changing my name. Enoch Storm is merely going to be my official pen name. And I might once in a while introduce myself as Enoch to new people just for fun.