WHY BE BAPTIZED?

"Go . . .and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them." -MATTHEW 28:19.


THE Frankish King Charlemagne compelled the conquered Saxons to get baptized en masse in 775-77 C.E. "He forced their conversion to a nominal Christianity," wrote historian John Lord.  Similarly, after marrying a Greek Orthodox princess in 987 C.E., the Russian ruler Vladimir I decided that his subjects must become "Christians."  He decreed mass baptisms of his people-at sword point if necessary!

Baptism - How?

When Charlemagne and Vladimir I forced people to undergo baptism, those rulers were acting out of harmony with God's Word.   In fact, no good is done when baptisms involve sprinkling, the pouring of water on the head, or even immersion of individuals who have not been taught Scriptural truth.

Consider what took place when Jesus of Nazareth went to John the Baptizer in 29 C.E. John was baptizing people in the Jordan River.  They had voluntarily come to him for baptism.  Did he merely have them stand in the Jordan while he poured a little river water on their heads or sprinkled them with it?

What happened when John baptized Jesus?  Matthew reports that long after being baptized "Jesus immediately came up from the water." (Matthew 3:16)  He had been down in the water, having been immersed in the Jordan River.  Likewise, the devour Ethiopian eunuch was baptized in "a body of water." Such bodies of water were needed because the baptisms of Jesus and his disciples involved total immersion. -Acts 8:36.

Greek words translated "baptized," "baptism," and so forth, refer to immersing, dipping, or plunging under water.   Smith's Bible Dictionary says:  "Baptism properly and literally means immersion."  Certain Bible translations thus refer to "John the  "immerser"  and "John the dipper."  (Matthew 3:1; Rotherham; Diaglott interlinear ) Augustus Neander's History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries observes:  "Baptism was originally administered by immersion."  The noted French work Larousse du XX Siecle (Paris 1928) comments:  "The first Christians received baptism by immersion everywhere where water was found."  And the New Catholic Encyclopedia states:  "It is evident that Baptism in the early Church was by immersion."  (1967, Volume II, page 56) So today, baptisms as one of Jehovah's Witnesses is a voluntary step involving water immersion.

Next time:WHY BE BAPTIZED? - A New Reason for Baptism

The Watchtower, 2002