Immediate Baptism?
Within a seven day time frame, I was approached by two people asking to be baptized.
It is true and appropriate for the Lord’s church to immerse people relatively quickly. The reason is simple: immersion into Jesus Christ is for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) and such immersion unites one to Christ (Romans 6:3-4). It is an obvious result of biblical teaching, then, to immerse soon after a confession of faith in Christ.
There is also biblical precedent for such a practice. The Jews on Pentecost were baptized the same day as the preaching (Acts 2:41). The Samaritans in Acts 8 were baptized subsequent to the expression of their faith (Acts 8:12) and Simon did as well (verse 13). Also in Acts 8, the Ethiopian treasurer was immersed on the road home, following the confession of his faith (verse 38).
From the time Saul of Tarsus saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, it was three days before he was immersed but it was immediately subsequent to Ananias, the Christian, visiting him (Acts 9:18). Even on that occasion, Ananias told Saul to quit delaying and be baptized (22:16).
When Peter preached to the first Gentile convert, Cornelius, he informed him about who Jesus was. Once Peter and the Jews were convinced by the Holy Spirit that a Gentile could obey the Gospel, Cornelius was baptized immediately (Acts 10:48). Paul met a woman named Lydia at a river side and she was immersed soon after her heart was opened by the preaching of the word of God (Acts 16:14-15). In that same chapter, the pagan jailer in Philippi was immersed “immediately,” “that very hour” (16:33).
Finally, one last example of conversion in the book of Acts is found in Corinth in Acts 18. The text suggests that as soon as the Corinthians “believed,” they were “baptized” (verse 8). Again, knowing the purpose of baptism, it is easy to understand why such a practice was done.
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In every case in Acts we’ve highlighted above, there was always preaching and teaching that occurred before the immersion took place, albeit sometimes it seemed to be a very short period of time. But what type of “prior” knowledge did the individual have? We don’t know. The treasurer had been studying Isaiah (Acts 8:32). Lydia and her fellow women had been praying and likely discussing the law (Acts 16:13).
Before I baptize someone, I like to at least get their general knowledge of biblical history and God’s plan of salvation up to the point where the Jews were on the day of Pentecost. I feel like I can do that in about four hours. After that, we’ll study those passages that discuss the mode and purpose of immersion.
One of the individuals who requested immersion from me, a man, had been watching Billy Lambert’s TV program. I am familiar with brother Lambert. I studied with the man for four hours and baptized him for the forgiveness of sins, although the study stretched over a seven day period (by his choice). He was appreciative that I took the time to explain more thoroughly what baptism was about. It also gave me more time to develop a relationship with him.
The other individual was female, whose aunt had requested I baptize her. She has cancer. I visited with her and had prayer for her, for the cancer. I also left my initial study with her to study and to call me when she was ready to discuss the Scriptures. A month later, I have yet to hear from her.
As I said before, I say again with emphasis, baptism is not a point on a checklist. Until someone understands what baptism does for him/her, I don’t believe he/she is a candidate for baptism. And if they are not willing to study, do they have the conviction necessary to even be a disciple of Christ (Luke 14:26-33; 2 Peter 2:21)?
–Paul Holland
