Is Sprinkling a Valid Form of Baptism?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 3, Acts 8, John 3, Romans 6, Colossians 2, Acts 19

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--is-sprinkling-a-valid-form-of-baptism
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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i want to make two points first of all it's absolutely clear that in the new testament people were immersed when they were baptized in fact the word baptized is transliterated from the greek baptizo which means to dip to plunge to immerse and so when the translators of the king james version as well as before the king james version when people are translating to english they face this delicate question then the greek it means to immerse but their historic church like the church of england or the roman catholic church although they recognized immersion as valid the vast majority of the practices by that time were sprinkling or pouring so if they were to translate the word actually translate the greek word into the equivalent english meaning it would call their own church into question so to finesse the point they just said well let's transliterate in other words let's spell the greek word in english and create an english word baptize so that we can impart whatever um ecclesiastical meaning that we want to and obscure the meaning so if they had really translated it would say like acts 2 38 be immersed in the name of jesus christ and then there would be no question so i will give you some more biblical evidence in just a moment but my second point is this well it doesn't really make any difference why would god care you know what's the big deal and as apostolic believers one of our fundamental points of hermeneutics or interpretation of scripture is we accept apostolic authority in other words what the apostles of the new testament the early church as recorded in the new testament what they consistently preached taught and practiced we feel that's authority for us so we don't have the option so for example when we take communion we take the fruit of the vine that is the the juice from the grape and we eat the bread uh what if somebody says well why don't we just have cake and ice cream and punch and is it gonna send me to hell well we don't even answer that question we don't have theological discussions of if you drink punch for communion or you're going to hell if you eat cake for communion or you're going to hell we just say wait a minute we're going to do it like jesus and the apostles did it we're gonna do it like the first century did it because that's our authority so even if we were to say does it really matter that we don't get that far to that question because we're supposed to do it the way the apostles did it and that that in itself can be a lengthy discussion but basically i would just say simply this jesus is the one who commissioned the apostles and so to accept the lordship of jesus christ we accept the teaching and practice of the the apostolic church the the apostles and their associates of the first century as recorded in new testament that's our authority because that goes back to jesus jesus didn't start any churches in personally uh you know he didn't start any local congregations he didn't write any books but in the great commission matthew 28 19-20 he commissioned his apostles to go to make disciples of all the nations to baptize them but to teach them all of his commandments so when we follow the apostolic church we're following the method that jesus chose to establish the church now what did the apostolic church do well it's absolutely clear and what did jesus do it's clear so matthew chapter 3 when jesus himself was baptized the scripture makes clear he didn't need to be baptized for sin because he was without sin but he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness to set the example for us to just and so he came up out of the water clearly he was immersed in acts chapter 8 when philip baptized the ethiopian eu they both went down into the water when john the baptist baptized and of course he's the one that baptized jesus in john chapter 3 he baptized in enon near salem because there was much water there so if he was simply spreaking or pouring all he would need is a local well any village any home all he had to have is just a little container but no he wanted to baptize people where there was a significant pool or river of water and then when you look at the symbolism and this comes this applies also to the purpose of baptism and therefore it doesn't really make a difference in romans chapter 6 and also colossians chapter 2 it says that baptism is a burial with christ that presupposes full immersion so imagine paul writing to the the church in rome and the issue at hand is can we continue in sin he says absolutely not don't you know that you died to sin when you are baptized you are buried with christ so the old man the old person the old life is dead and buried well if baptism was just by sprinkling imagine the cr the roman believers getting that letter and saying don't you know when you got baptized you were buried with christ no i didn't know that what are you talking about it only makes sense if they could think back oh yeah now i get it that's why the preacher dunked me under the water i was being buried and you know this became very vivid to me as a pastor when i would baptize people that had no background in church had no clue and when you know there's a human instinct instinctive reaction of self-preservation okay so when somebody tries to push you under water you think you're gonna drown and so you fight so i had to learn to explain to people especially people that weren't raised in church now i'm getting ready to dunk you underwater when i do just relax i'll have my hand on yours i'll push you under but i'll immediately pull you back up so just don't worry but when you feel me pushing you i have to make sure you're completely underwater so relax don't stiffen up don't fight me and they would and then i began to realize you know what this is an amazing example of what it means to have faith because you are actually trusting the lord with your life and and this this initiatory act when you're getting baptized you're trusting the pastor you're putting your life so to speak in his hands while you're putting your spiritual life in god's hands so i realize that baptism is more than just a symbol it is actually part of your burial with christ washing away of your sins and putting your faith in jesus christ for salvation now obviously the water doesn't save you the preacher doesn't save you it's your faith in jesus christ but your faith in jesus christ is expressed by obedience to his command so i go back to the first point is it's absolutely clear both the very word baptizo in the new testament and the examples that i gave you as well as the teaching in the in the epistles that yes in the new testament baptism was by always by full immersion and then second does it make a difference yes because it's closely connected with the meaning and purpose of baptism itself then finally historical note well why would people do it any other way and the reason was as people lost the new testament experience of repentance water baptism in jesus name receiving the holy ghost as it became a tradition as a ritual just a confession of faith believing the right doctrine joining the church well then we switch from believers baptism or they switch from believers baptism to infant baptism and then also there was a very strong feeling that baptism is for the remission of sins and so there became a skewed thought which the emperor constantine was a prime example he wanted to be a christian but he wanted to sin his whole life and he thought well if i get baptized then i'm not supposed to sin and then maybe i won't have forgiveness and so he waited until he's dying and and got baptized so that way all the sins of his life could be covered now obviously to me that's not genuine repentance so therefore baptism as a ceremony wouldn't wash away your sins if you're not repentant it takes repentance plus baptism but the point is they start and then they also believe that baptism was necessary so they even came up with this idea well babies that died they're going to go to hell or something bad is going to happen to them so let's baptize them as soon as we can which i think that's also unbiblical because it goes back the bible talks about believers baptism you must repent and believe on jesus then you're qualified for baptism before that time um you're not qualified and if you're a child of course i believe as we discussed i think in a different podcast that a child that's under the true age of repentance and accountability we believe god's grace has has a plan for them and covers them but my point is as the church lost the biblical understanding of repentance and receiving the holy spirit and the plan of salvation the new birth they started practicing infant baptism and deathbed baptism well in both cases immersion was very inconvenient and so by default sprinkling or pouring became the standard baptism so my point is this practice didn't come from the new testament it didn't come from the meaning purpose and significance of baptism it came from non-biblical practices that are actually contrary to the meaning of baptism so all the more reason why we should reject something that actually represents a false doctrine of baptism and reinstate the true biblical understanding of water baptism if somebody has been baptized by sprinkling would you encourage them to be re-baptized yes absolutely so if they've been baptized by sprinkling what i would say and i would use acts 19 although it's not talking about sprinkling per se but in acts 19 you had some disciples of john the baptist they were baptized by john but it was a preparation for christian baptism but it wasn't actually christian baptism so you could say john's baptism was the will of god for that time but it was temporary when paul found these disciples he baptized them a second time to take on the name of jesus christ so to me that's an analogy if you were baptized in some way but it's not the correct way at least not for today well you shouldn't be content you know there's this thought well my heart is right my intention is right so the action doesn't matter but in the bible faith is always demonstrated by obedience it's not what you think it's how you act and so i would answer the question then if you've been sprinkled well even though i appreciate the fact you made this positive step toward god instead of you know ignoring god that doesn't fulfill the real purpose and it doesn't fulfill the scripture so now that you have a greater understanding do not be content with your former action the way you express your genuine faith and your understanding is to go ahead and fulfill the scriptural example so absolutely yes you should be baptized by immersion and specifically in the name of the lord jesus christ