Hi Pastor John,
What’s your take on water baptism?
I may be mistaken and correct me if I have misunderstood, but from watching your sermons, and reading your tracts, I get the impression that it’s not necessary and that spirit baptism is the main thing.
A. B.
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Hi A.
Thanks for the question. You are understanding it rightly.
Peter said that the baptism that saves is not the baptism that washes dirt from the body but the baptism which came through the resurrection of Jesus and creates a clear conscience toward God:
1Peter 3:21. . . “baptism now also saves us (not a removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God from a good conscience), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
God has only ordained two baptisms: the one John the Baptist administered and the one Jesus still administers from heaven. The purpose for John’s baptism was to introduce the Messiah to Israel:
John 1:31. “. . . the reason I came baptizing with water is so that he might be made known to Israel.”
When Jesus first sent the Spirit, Jewish believers preached and practiced both baptisms, as well as two circumcisions (physical and spiritual) and all the other traditional ceremonies because their gospel was for the Jewish nation, and they were at that time still under the law.
However, Paul was sent to the Gentiles with a different gospel, one that would remain after the time of the Jews ended. In that gospel, there were no ceremonies of any kind, including the ceremonial baptism of water that John the Baptist gave. In Paul’s gospel, only the baptism of Christ (Eph. 4:4–6), the circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:28–29), and the perfect law of the Spirit (Jas. 1:25) count for anything.
Fleshly baptism is worthless to your soul, but Christ’ baptism of the Spirit is worth everything.
Thanks again for the question. You can read more on what I teach concerning baptism at GoingtoJesus.com, gospel tract #66.
Pastor John
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Pastor John,
Thanks for clarifying your position Pastor John, but I would respectfully disagree.
In Peter 3 verses 18 to 22, Peter is talking how the flood in Noah’s time was similar to a water baptism. When people got water baptized in John the Baptist’s day, people knew it wasn’t to clean the body, but it was a spiritual act of repentance. This is the point that Peter is making when he says “not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience.”
When Peter says in verse 21, “corresponding to that (the ark saving through the flood), baptism now saves you” he is referring to water baptism, not spirit baptism.
I just don’t see how Jesus and the apostles would instruct everybody to get water baptized for the remission of sins, but then Paul would later start preaching otherwise. Paul preached water baptism, which would be followed by spirit baptism.
In Ephesus, he baptized disciples who only had done Johns baptism of repentance in the past. So he water baptized them into the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and then laid his hands on them so they could receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Also, when Peter first came to Cornelius’s house the Spirit came down on his whole household and other gentiles. Why would Peter say, in Acts 10:47, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”
You are the spiritual leader of many people, so I humbly and respectfully ask, that you take time to reconsider your view that it is worthless for the soul, as this was a command from Jesus.
Also, if the scriptures say that the Spirit will guide people into all truth, why do different people who are supposedly “Spirit filled” differ on this subject matter? I haven’t received the Spirit baptism yet, but I’ve heard other Spirit filled, tongue speaking people who disagree with your view.
Why does this type of thing happen?
Thank you,
A. B.
1 Peter 3
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
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Hi A. B.
It’s nothing new. Even in the days of the apostles, teachers arose who had not heard from God, just as Jesus, Paul, and others predicted would happen. For believers to be one as Jesus and his Father are one is possible only by the Spirit (per Jn. 17), but the Spirit will not force unity upon those who have it.
We must be humble and willing to hear from God and be changed by what we hear. Our souls depend on that. Jesus alone can make us all one in the Faith. But we all must be willing.
Thank you for your comments on baptism; it is a simple issue to resolve, but understanding the answer hinges upon a grasp of Paul’s gospel. Perhaps it would help if you considered why Paul would regret baptizing in water the few souls (all Jews) that he did baptize, and then say, “Christ did not send me to baptize [in water].”
1Corinthians 1
14. I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15. lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name.
16. And I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know if I baptized anyone else.
17. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect.
Take care, and God bless.
Pastor John
