How Biblical Theology Made Me More Baptist
Baptists and Presbyterians have been debating the proper mode of baptism for ages. Quite often online I see stories of Baptists who have been swayed by the waters of Presbyterian Covenant Theology and have jumped the Baptist ship to head to a PCA church to baptize their children. Sadly, I hear the opposite much less often.
I grew up a Southern Baptist. In full disclosure, our town doesn’t even have a PCA church, but it has many Baptist churches. Some time ago, I had a new friend move to town who had helped plant a couple of PCA churches and is a firmly convinced Presbyterian. He and I of course had to go back and forth about the proper recipients of baptism. I began looking into this topic more than I ever have.
Not long after, I discovered and fell in love with the study of biblical theology largely thanks to a podcast called Bible Talk by 9Marks. The Professor of Biblical Theology at Southern Seminary—Dr. Jim Hamilton—is a primary teacher on this podcast. I began to read all of his books as well as ask him questions on Twitter (I want to take you to lunch one day if you happen to read this Dr. Hamilton).
As I dove more deeply into biblical theology, I became more and more convinced that believer’s baptism by immersion is the correct position on baptism. Let me briefly state that I’m quite familiar with the arguments of baptism replacing circumcision, but it would seem that if we look at the Bible as a whole, they are treated as two separate things. Much more often we see reference to a spiritual circumcision or circumcision of the heart as a replacement for a physical circumcision. Baptism, however, if we look at it through a biblical theological lens seems to point to a death and resurrection of sorts—or to borrow a phrase from Dr. Hamilton—we see God’s glory in salvation as his people are brought out of the waters of judgment.
My assertion is that baptism is for believers by immersion because the Bible depicts baptism as being immersed in the waters of God’s judgment and being raised to life by him on the other side of those waters. Specific examples I’d like to use to emphasize this point are Noah and the flood, Peter’s treatment of it with regard to Christ on the cross, Israel crossing the Red Sea to flee Egypt, and Jonah in the belly of the fish.
We are pretty familiar with the story of Noah and the Ark. Many kids learn about it at a young age. What we often aren’t taught is that this is a type of baptism. In fact, the passage in 1 Peter 3 where Peter speaks of baptism as salvation long perplexed me until I began to see the biblical theological picture of baptism. Maybe here more than anywhere else we see the dots connected. In 1 Peter 3:18-22, Peter is likening Noah and his family passing through the waters of God’s judgment for sin and arriving safely on the other side to Christ suffering God’s judgment for sin and resurrecting to bring believers to God. Noah and his family were saved from the waters of God’s judgment by staying on the ark. Peter says in verse 21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you*” likening Noah’s ark experience to believers being hidden in Christ to pass safely through the waters of God’s judgment. As Noah and his family”resurrect” when they come out of the ark, believers “appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.
We see a similar pattern as Moses leads Israel out of Egypt and they pass through the waters of the Red Sea. Once again, we are very familiar with this story. We see God part the waters so his people can pass through safely to the other side. We see these waters become waters of judgment as they collapse on the Egyptian army. Israel descends into the water and is resurrected on the other side.
To sum these points up I will quote Dr. Jim Hamilton from his book Typology. “The flood baptism is followed by a covenant with Noah. The Red Sea baptism by a covenant with Moses. And the baptism Christ undergoes on the cross inaugurates the new covenant with Jesus.”
Finally, I’d like to assert that Jonah’s time spent in the belly of the great fish is a type of baptism. Jonah is submerged in the waters of judgment and while in the fish calls out to the Lord in repentance. Language we see especially in chapter two in relation to the waters points to these waters of judgment. Jonah speaks of the flood surrounding him in chapter two verse two with the Lord's waves passing over him. In verse five the waters closed in over him and the deep surrounded him. In verse six the Lord brings up his life from the pit. In verse nine John declares that salvation belongs to the LORD and God speaks to the fish and it vomits Jonah onto the dry land. Jonah then follows God’s command to go to Ninevah. The waters covering Jonah, his repentance, and what seems like a resurrection point Jonah’s experience to a type of baptism.
I had never seen baptism presented in this way before and the biblical theology convinced me. It made me more baptist than I ever was. I’m fully convinced that when we understand baptism in the way it is presented and typified in the entire Bible rather than in just the specific texts using the word, we gain a clearer understanding of what baptism actually represents.
