p. 6 | The Value of Baptism by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 26, 1914

The Value of Baptism

By F. M. W.

Is baptism essential to salvation?—Under conditions which make it possible and reasonable we believe that it is. It is an ordinance of the church established by our Lord whereby the believer manifests his faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as his individual Saviour. There might be circumstances under which it would be impossible for the believer to avail himself of the privileges of this ordinance. Such an instance was that of the thief on the cross, who, with his expiring breath, confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Other conversions to the Lord have taken place under similar circumstances, where no opportunity was afforded for any part in the baptismal service. But, on the other hand, the Scriptures of Truth clearly enjoin that this rite should be performed by the heralds of the cross and received as a part of Christian experience by gospel believers.

However, this doctrine, like many others, is being set at naught by many Christian teachers at the present time. In the Ladies' Home Journal Lyman Abbott, D. D., editor of the Outlook, edits regularly a page of inquiries regarding Christian experience and religious subjects. In the January number of the Journal the inquiry is made, "Just what is accomplished by baptism, and how vital do you hold the ceremony?" To this Dr. Abbott replies:—

Various are the views held by scholars respecting baptism. I can only give my own view here. In Christ's time, when a pagan became a Jew he was baptized, in token that his old paganism was washed away and he became the possessor of a new faith and the citizen of a new and spiritual kingdom. Christ never baptized, but the Christian Church took over this Jewish form and adopted it as a symbol of Christian conversion and dedication. I regard baptism, then, as simply a symbolic rite which is used to express either the dedication by an adult of himself to God, or the dedication by parents of their children to God. In either case the vital effect of this baptism depends on the seriousness and sincerity of the dedication, and the dedication may be made, as it has been by Quakers, without baptism; and if it is sincere and serious, it is no less vital whether accompanied by baptism or not. The direction of Christ to his disciples to go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I regard, not as the creation of a new rite, nor as a command rendering obligatory a peculiar ceremony, but as an authority for the use of an old rite with a new significance and in a new spirit.

In reviewing Dr. Abbott's statement we can do no better than to quote the words of the editor of the Christian Standard in the issue of that paper of March 7. The editor calls attention to two points only, as follows:—

1. Mr. Abbott says that "Christ never baptized." Literally speaking, this is true; but the inference from this fact is not what he evidently aims to draw. It does not imply that the Saviour regarded the ordinance of minor importance, but that the baptizing was done by his disciples. John 4: 1, 2. He was so absorbed with other great things which the disciples could not do that he turned over this work to them. Even Paul, under similar circumstances, seems to have acted in the same way. 1 Cor. 1: 14-17. But since it is true that what one does through an agent he does himself, it is not safe to say that "Christ never baptized."

2. But is it true that the Master treated the matter as one of indifference, to be attended to or not, according to one's own preference?—We think not, as is clear in the light of the following facts: Jesus himself, despite the protest of John the Baptist, was baptized by him in the Jordan. Evidently he attached great importance to it. And the Father so regarded it also; for as the Son came up from the water, the Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon him, and the voice of God broke the silence of the centuries and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The fact already noted, that he had his disciples baptized, teaches the same lesson. And the fact that the "Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves," by not being baptized, is further confirmation. And the famous night conference with Nicodemus shows with

much force the vital importance of the ordinance. To this earnest searcher after truth he says, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' And finally, when his work was finished, and he was about to return to the Father, he commissioned his apostles to go forth on a world-wide conquest in his name, saying to them, 'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'

Just how one who believes the Bible to be the word of God can so teach in regard to this ordinance is beyond our ken. If these six facts, to say nothing of the practice of the New Testament church as recorded in Acts of Apostles, do not surround baptism with a solemnity, sacredness, and significance, lifting it high above the realm of things indifferent, it would seem impossible to so elevate it. And yet Mr. Abbott says it is at least only an act of 'dedication,' and it 'may be made, as it has been by Quakers, without baptism; and if it is sincere and serious it is no less vital whether accompanied by baptism or not.' The example of the Son, the approval of the Father, the teachings of the Book, and the examples of inspired men when building up the early church—all of these things are merely incidental, and they are important or not just in proportion to our own individual ideas concerning them. If so, we are as sailors at sea without chart or compass, drifting hither and thither according to the whims of every wind and wave. But such is not the case. The Saviour's example and word are law, and the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice, and we cannot without sin ignore these teachings on this and on all other questions.

As expressed by the psalmist, 'It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.' It matters very little, after all, what eminent men of the world may declare regarding the basis of faith or the conditions of salvation, but it makes all the difference in the world as to what the Lord declares. 'The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.'

F. M. W.