10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
What
We Believe and Why
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1986
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
WATER
BAPTISM
Immersed By A New Testament Church
ACTS 2:41
We believe baptism must be conducted in a right manner by a right administrator in order to be scriptural and recognized of God.
I. The method of baptism must be immersion:
A. Through their examples, Bible men taught us immersion:
1. In Mt. 3:6 John baptized in the Jordan River. Why would he go to the mighty Jordan River just to get enough water to sprinkle?
2. Mt. 3:16 says, "And Jesus when He was baptized went up straightway out of the water:"
a. In order to go "out of" water, He had to be down in the water.
b. Such a statement would be somewhat ridiculous unless immersion is in mind.
c. The idea of Jesus standing in the water with John sprinkling Him or pouring water over Him does not harmonize with this text.
3. Acts 2:41, Acts 8:12, Jn. 4:1-2 and many other scriptures use the word baptize or baptized to describe what happened to believers. As the following point shows, the word means immersion; and so the examples we have, show believers were immersed.
B. The word baptize means immersion:
1. It comes from the Greek work "baptizo" which means to cover fully with a liquid. By implication it means submersion, ducking, or immersion.
2. If something else such as sprinkling, pouring, wetting with a cloth is under consideration, a different Greek word must be used.
C. The truth which baptism portrays could scarcely be portrayed by any less than baptism by immersion:
1. We've already established from Rom. 6:4-6 that baptism portrays the death, burial, and resurrection.
2. In a literal burial, we cover a person fully. We put the dead in the ground.... under the surface. We literally immerse him.
3. How could sprinkling, wetting, pouring or the like portray this?
D. The truth is that if a person was not immersed in baptism, he has never truly been baptized.
II. The administrator of baptism must be a new testament church:
A. God gave the authority to baptize only to His church:
1. Here in Mt. 28:19, God gave the commission to baptize to those who became the church in Jerusalem.
2. Any time vou find baptism being practiced in the Bible, it is being done under the authority of some new testament church:
a. Acts 2:41 Here the Jerusalem church baptized.
b. Acts 10:48, Acts 8:38 Both Peter and Philip baptized under authority from the Jerusalem Church.
c. Acts 15:35-41 Paul baptized under the authority of the Antioch church.
3. No other individual or institution ever received the authority or right to baptize.
B. We recognize a group of baptized believers who are teaching fundamental Bible truths as being a scriptural New Testament Church:
1. Rev. 2:5 shows it is quite possible for a group calling themselves a church not to truly be one in God's eyes.
2. We believe that no group that does not teach the truth on the plan of salvation is a church:
a. God's word exhorts us to preach the Gospel:
(1) Mk. 16:15 to every creature.
(2) I Cor. 1:17, 15:1 Preaching is our number one task.
(3) Rom. 1:16, 1 Cor. 1:21 It is God's method of saving the lost.
b. Those that do not hear and obey the gospel of Christ have damnation resting upon them, II Thes. 1:8, I Pet. 4:17.
c. Gal. 1:6-7 and II Cor. 11:7 warn against those who would pervert the Gospel or preach another gospel.
d. We are told not to hear another gospel; and that "woe" is upon those who'd preach it:
(1) Gal. 1:8-9 Let him be accursed who'd preach it.
(2) I Cor. 9:16 Paul said woe is me if I don't preach the gospel.
e. Thus it becomes our sound conclusion that no group that is not sound on the Gospel could possibly be one of God's churches. Instead they are accursed:
(1) Furthermore, this includes most professing Christianity.
(2) This also shows why we do not accept baptism from any church that is not straight on the plan of salvation (For such a group is not truly a church).
3. Futhermore, those so called churches which stemmed of the Roman Catholic church bear the stigma of an institution which is most unscriptural and ungodly. And, so their baptism becomes a cloudy, shady one.
C. Since a true church alone has the authority to baptize, then we believe all those who have not been baptized by a true new testament church have not been truly baptized at all.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"