{"id":15821,"date":"2025-06-23T19:24:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T00:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=15821"},"modified":"2025-06-23T19:24:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T00:24:20","slug":"paul-and-water-baptism-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/15821\/paul-and-water-baptism-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul and water baptism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John:<\/span><\/p>\n

Where does Paul condemn water baptism?\u00a0 Why did he do so with the gentile household in Philippi?\u00a0 Why did Peter do so with the gentile household of Cornelius?\u00a0 Why did Paul baptize Crispus\u00a0and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas?<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Chris.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for the questions.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I am sure you know that none of the many forms of water baptism practiced by Christians is found in the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0So, it would have been impossible for Paul to condemn them.\u00a0\u00a0In the Bible, the only water baptism\u00a0ever\u00a0ordained by God was John\u2019s baptism for the Jews, which always included the message to expect the\u00a0baptism of the Spirit which Jesus gives.\u00a0\u00a0Paul never condemned\u00a0John’s\u00a0water baptism, for he honored the law (cf. Rom. 7:12), of which John\u2019s baptism was a part.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

John revealed that the purpose\u00a0for\u00a0his baptism was simply to introduce the Messiah to Israel.\u00a0\u00a0He said, \u201cThe reason I came baptizing with water is so that he might be made known to Israel\u201d (Jn. 1:31).\u00a0\u00a0God did not send Paul to do that, but to carry the message of Christ\u2019s soul-cleansing baptism to the world at large.\u00a0\u00a0That is why\u00a0Paul\u00a0told the Corinthians, \u201cChrist did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel\u201d (1Cor. 1:17).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

For the Jews, after Pentecost, there were two baptisms, John\u2019s and Jesus\u2019, because the law was still in effect for the Jews.\u00a0\u00a0But for us Gentiles, the law (which included John\u2019s baptism), was\u00a0not\u00a0required.\u00a0\u00a0Because\u00a0at that time,\u00a0God\u00a0was\u00a0still requiring\u00a0John\u2019s baptism for the Jews,\u00a0Paul baptized\u00a0a few\u00a0Jews in Corinth who believed the gospel, naming\u00a0Crispus and Gaius,\u00a0and\u00a0the household of Stephanas\u00a0(1Cor. 1:14\u201316).\u00a0\u00a0Wherever rituals are practiced, contentions arise, and that was the case in Corinth (1Cor. 1:10\u201313), and\u00a0that made\u00a0Paul regret\u00a0baptizing\u00a0those few\u00a0Jews.\u00a0\u00a0To baptize Jews with John\u2019s baptism was not his calling.\u00a0\u00a0Paul was sent only to the Gentiles, and he never baptized a Gentile with John\u2019s baptism.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You may recall that Paul rebuked some Gentile believers because, after being baptized with the Spirit (born again), they submitted to circumcision of their flesh in order to become Jews and keep the law.\u00a0\u00a0Paul\u2019s letter to the Galatians was written to deal with that issue.\u00a0\u00a0He said to the Galatians, \u201cI, Paul, am telling\u00a0you that if\u00a0you receive circumcision, Christ will become worthless to\u00a0you!\u00a0\u00a0I testify again to every man who is circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law.\u00a0\u00a0You are estranged from Christ,\u00a0you who are justified by law;\u00a0you have fallen from grace\u201d (Gal. 5:2\u20134).\u00a0\u00a0However, on another occasion, Paul himself circumcised young Timothy because (1) Timothy\u2019s mother was a Jew, (2) Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, and (3) everywhere Paul went, he spoke to the Jews first if any were in that city, and he did not want Timothy to be\u00a0a stumbling-block for them.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As for the Gentiles in Philippi (Acts 16), Paul did not baptize them in water; he baptized them with the holy Ghost.\u00a0\u00a0Christians usually assume that Paul administered a water baptism to those Gentiles simply because the word\u00a0baptize\u00a0is mentioned.\u00a0\u00a0But for Paul to have done that would be contrary to what God sent him to do, and contrary to everything Paul preached.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, as for Peter baptizing the first Gentiles who received the holy Ghost (Acts 10), it should be remembered that Paul\u2019s gospel for the Gentiles had not yet been revealed.\u00a0\u00a0Peter\u2019s gospel for the Jews was the only gospel in existence at the time, and he and the six Jews with him were astonished to see someone receive the Spirit without first being circumcised and baptized with John\u2019s baptism.\u00a0\u00a0Up to that moment, everyone who had received the Spirit was a Jew who had been baptized with John\u2019s baptism.\u00a0\u00a0The surprising thing is not so much that Peter administered John\u2019s baptism to those Gentiles but that\u00a0Peter\u00a0did not command them to be circumcised.\u00a0\u00a0After that\u00a0event, God revealed to Paul\u00a0his\u00a0gospel for the\u00a0Gentiles,\u00a0a\u00a0gospel which excluded\u00a0all of\u00a0the law\u2019s ceremonies, including John\u2019s baptism.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope this answers your questions, Chris.\u00a0\u00a0If you will take\u00a0some\u00a0time to study baptism in the New Testament, I think you will find my response to be consistent with the scriptures.\u00a0\u00a0And I hope that in so doing, you will sense your need of the baptism Jesus gives and leave off\u00a0any other baptism.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus, all by himself, is sufficient for our salvation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you again for writing, and may\u00a0God bless you and yours,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John: Where does Paul condemn water baptism?\u00a0 Why did he do so with the gentile household in Philippi?\u00a0 Why did Peter do so with the gentile household of Cornelius?\u00a0 Why did Paul baptize Crispus\u00a0and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas? Chris ========== Hi Chris. Thank you for the questions. I am sure you know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15821\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}