The importance of baptism is put beyond all doubt by some words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples shortly before he ascended into heaven. He said 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned' (Mark 16.15,16).

It may be thought that this fact is generally accepted by professing Christians. When we examine the teaching of the Bible, however, we find that it differs fundamentally, in almost every respect, from both the teaching and the practice of the established Church. It is therefore the purpose of this booklet to examine the teaching of the Bible as to what Baptism is, how it should be administered, what it means, and what it achieves.

What is Baptism?
Baptism has nothing to do with 'Christening'. The word baptism, as used in the Mew Testament, is the Greek word 'baptize', which means 'to dip' or 'to plunge'. It is a word which was used particularly in the dyeing trade, and described the process of immersing a piece of cloth or a garment in the dye. It thus implied a complete covering by the liquid dye, resulting in a change of colour in the object being 'baptised'.

An examination of the passages where baptism is recorded in the New Testament will show that such a complete immersion was the practice in every case. For example, when a certain Ethiopian was baptised by Philip, we read that 'they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptised him. And when they were come up out of the water', etc. (Acts 8.38,39). Again, concerning the work of John the Baptist, we are told that he baptised 'in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there' (John 3.23). These two instances clearly imply bodily immersion: sprinkling or pouring are inconsistent with 'going down into the water' and 'coming up out of the water', and with the need for 'much water'. The importance of the form baptism should take will become apparent when we come to consider its meaning.

To whom Baptism may be administered
In the Catholic Church, the Church of England, and some other denominations, it is the established practice to baptise or 'christen' children a few weeks after birth. This practice is endorsed by the Articles of Religion of the Book of Common Prayer, used by the Church of England, no. 27 of which reads: 'the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained by the church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ'.

But is such a practice 'agreeable with the institution of Christ'? In the passage already quoted (Mark 16.15,16) Jesus declared, 'He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved', and it will be found that in every case of baptism recorded in the new Testament it followed a preaching of the gospel, and a belief of the things taught. The instance of Philip and the Ethiopian is a clear case in point. It is recorded that after Philip had preached Jesus to him, they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, 'See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptised? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God' (Acts 8.35-37). It will be seen that there was first a preaching of the gospel by Philip, to which the man responded by expressing a desire to be baptised; but baptism was only administered after an express confession of a belief in the things which Philip had taught.

A similar instance is to be found earlier in the same chapter, which records the work of Philip at Samaria. In v. 12 we read, 'when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women'. Later, when Paul and Silas were miraculously delivered from prison at Philippi, the jailor, perceiving the hand of God at work, asked them, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' The record continues, 'And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptised, he and all his, straightway' (Acts 16.30-33).

In each of these cases it will be seen that baptism was administered in response to a desire which had been aroused by a belief of the gospel preached by the apostles. From this it follows that the baptism of infants is not 'agreeable with the institution of Christ' on two counts:
(1) it is not preceded by an intelligent understanding and belief of the gospel;
(2) It is not carried out by total immersion in water.

How did 'infant sprinkling' originate?
The practice of baptising young infants finds no countenance at all in the Bible, nor does the practice of sprinkling or pouring water over the forehead. As has been shown, such practices conflict with the clear teaching of the Bible concerning the nature and meaning of baptism.

How, then, did these practices originate? A study of ecclesiastical history shows that they were the consequence of the introduction of false teaching on other fundamental matters. During the third century A.D. the teaching current among pagan philosophers, that man possesses an immortal soul, found lodgement within the Christian church. Such teaching made it necessary to find homes for the souls at death, and it began to be taught that the righteous went to heaven and the wicked to hell-doctrines which, again, are not to be found in the Bible. From this it came to be argued that if a child died before reaching an age of responsibility, it would automatically be consigned to hell unless it had been baptised into the church. In fact, in the year A. D. 253 a council was held in Africa attended by 66 bishops, at which this question was considered; and it was then agreed that baptism should be performed within the second or third day after birth as, if the child died but two or three days old, its soul would be lost. About the same time the dogma was proclaimed that 'those whose weak state of health did not permit them to be washed in water, were yet sufficiently baptised by being sprinkled'.