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Transcript 146A — Why Did Christ Go to John the Baptist to be Baptised?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I would like to ask you a question and I’ll just take the answer over the air. My question is, Why did Christ go to John the Baptist to be baptized? Was there any certain reason for it? And if there was, should there be today also a proper administrator of baptism, and who has the authority to baptize?
HC: The question is relating to the whole matter of baptism. And it begins with the question of why did Jesus leave the area of Galilee and go all the way down to Jericho, along the Jordan River, where John the Baptist was baptizing?
First of all, we have to understand why Jesus was baptized. He was not baptized in the same sense that we are baptized when we believe. It was somewhat related, but it was also quite different. In the Old Testament, before a priest went about his priestly duties or, in fact, before he even could become any kind of a priest, he had to be washed in water. Aaron and his sons were washed in water. And each time they went into the temple to go about their priestly duties, there was a laver of water in the temple, and they washed their hands and their feet.
Now this ceremonial washing indicated that they had become ceremonially cleansed, and therefore could now offer sacrifice. Now Jesus came as the Great High Priest. He also came as the Sacrifice. He was the Lamb that was going to be killed. But He was the High Priest who was to offer this sacrifice. And before He could officially begin His role as the Great High Priest, it was necessary that He, following in the shoes of the Aaronic priesthood, the Levitical priesthood, had to be ceremonially washed.
Now John the Baptist was eminently qualified to administer this cleansing water. Both his father and his mother were direct descendants of Aaron. And so John was in the priestly line himself. And he certainly could administer this water. And so when he baptized Jesus, it was as if Jesus was in the temple and was washing in the laver of water, preparatory to administering the sacrifice. Now this is Old Testament baptism, an Old Testament ablution that was looking forward to the cleansing that would be provided in Christ.
Now our baptism is a similar sign, and it also relates to cleansing. But our baptism has a higher and a greater significance, because it not only officially recognizes that we have been saved, that we have been covered by the blood of Christ and our sins have been washed away. But it also officially recognizes that we have become identified with the Holy Spirit in His program to evangelize the world. In other words, beginning with Pentecost, every born again believer is filled with the Spirit at the time that he is saved. And this is simply language to indicate that he has been qualified to become a witness.
And so when we are baptized in water, all of this is in view. Our sins have been washed away, and we have become identified with the Holy Spirit in His work of evangelizing the world. That's why the Bible speaks of this as being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Now in the Old Testament there were other ceremonies that pointed to cleansing. There was the offering of a burnt offering. There was the offering of the blood sacrifice. There was the rite of circumcision. All of these were performed by the proper authorities in the temple, by the priests. Just anybody couldn't do these things. This was a very holy observance that took place.
Now by the same token, in the New Testament there is the congregation. In the Old Testament there was the congregation, headed up by the priests. And anyone who was circumcised became a member of the congregation. And so in the New Testament there is the congregation, and it's headed up by rulers who are called elders and deacons. And so therefore the pastor is the one that ought to do the baptizing.
CALLER: OK. So today, too, we still need a proper administrator to administer, right?
HC: Just anybody can't baptize anybody.
CALLER: So if a person just took it upon himself to baptize other believers, their baptism would not be scriptural, would it?
HC: I'm not really certain that I understand all the implications of the question, but think of it this way. When we are saved, we are to affiliate with a body of believers. And in baptism we are announcing to the congregation, "We have become identified with the body of Christ. Our sins have been washed away, and we are joining with you." And so an individual just doesn't go around willy-nilly baptizing. Baptism has to do with becoming a part of the body of Christ, a member of the congregation, a lively stone in the temple of God.
CALLER: If it has to come through a proper administrator, then would it not have to come through a succession of proper administrators? For a baptism today to be scriptural, according to the Bible, would it not have to have been succeeded directly from the apostles down to now?
HC: I don't think so. I don't really think we have to think in terms of apostolic succession. The Bible does teach that as the apostles sent out missionaries, they laid their hands on them, and then they in turn laid their hands on others. But the Bible teaches, in Matthew 18, where God is talking about the church, that wherever two or three are gathered together in His Name, He is in the midst of them.
Now let's suppose that you were in a community, way off somewhere, or let's say you're a soldier in the battlefield, or in a strange country, and there is no church. There is no pastor. And now you want to find other believers, and you want to belong to a church. Well, you find whatever other believers that you can. And maybe you find a handful of them. And now you've got a church.
Now the Bible teaches that you are to have those who rule over you. And someone of your number is to be an elder or a deacon. And if someone is qualified, he is to be called to be the pastor of that little congregation. And then you have a church indeed.
Now ordinarily, of course, you don't have to follow that kind of a situation. Ordinarily we can go from one congregation to another. A congregation can send its roots out to other communities. And if you are a little body of believers in a little community somewhere, you can ask another congregation in another city, "Would you be a sponsoring congregation? Would you help us begin? Would you call for us a proper pastor?" And so on.
CALLER: Is there any place in the Bible where someone was baptized by someone who did not have direct authority from, let's say, the apostles, or from a church?
HC: There is no evidence of that in the Bible.
CALLER: That's really why I was asking the question. It would seem from the Bible then that you would have to have some sort of authority to baptize, rather than just anybody doing it.
HC: Yes. The Bible teaches that it was Peter and John who baptized, it was Paul who baptized, it was Phillip who baptized.
CALLER: But if someone had not been baptized by any of the apostles but was just saved by himself, through the Bible, and gathered a group of believers together, would they themselves have the authority to baptize?
HC: I don't think they would have any authority to baptize until they had organized as a church, so that there is church authority, so that there are elders or deacons who rule. You must have a congregation.
CALLER: If this group of, say, 15 people or so had banded together and named one of their group a pastor or an elder, could they then give this man the authority to baptize?
HC: I think so. I'm not absolutely certain of this, but I think so. I think ordinarily they would ask a neighbouring congregation to assist them in establishing that this man who was called was properly called and qualified to be the pastor, and so on. And the other congregation then would take part in the activity also, of ordaining this man.
CALLER: What about some churches that just sprang up from certain people, and they did not at the beginning have any authority to baptize? And they've just carried on, and they've grown into quite a denomination. Would not their baptism be unscriptural?
HC: No. You see, we're dealing with a technicality. Finally we have to find out what is going on in the hearts of men. That's why, in a certain sense, your questions are hypothetical, and in a certain sense they're very technical. Finally what it turns on, in any congregation, is the question, "Is someone called of the congregation?"
Here's a congregation of a hundred members. Is the man who is standing as their pastor a man who has been called of the congregation to be their pastor? And is he faithfully bringing the Word of God? I believe then that he has a God-given call, and he would be qualified to administer baptism.
Now it is more ideal, I believe, that a congregation like this, in calling its minister, if it has never called one before, if it works through another congregation so that things will be done decently and in good order. But I'm not confident that that's an absolute requirement.
I could think, for example, of a Bible being sent to Russia, or to China, or some place where they don't have the Scriptures. And a nucleus of believers begins to develop. Now there's no way that there could be any kind of a succession, or whatever. But yet they can form together as a congregation, and they can properly baptize, and so on.
CALLER: But it seems to me in that case, because God knows all things and is in control of all things, that He would still make it possible for a duly authorized person to be there and to make the scriptural baptism available to these people, if this was to be a New Testament church.
HC: It could be. It could be.
CALLER: OK. Well, thank you.
HC: Thank you for sharing. Good night.