For almost 200 years in the American restoration movement, congregations of the Church of Christ typically place an enormous emphasis on baptism. That emphasis began primarily for two reasons. The first reason: baptism was emphasized in scripture (the New Testament Christian movement) as one of the important elements involved in the forgiveness/salvation process. The second reason: baptism was ignored or de-emphasized in most mainstream Christian movements of 1800s America.
What began as an attempt to include a fuller Bible emphasis in the pursuit of New Testament Christianity in 1800s American became an identifying mark of the congregations of the Church of Christ. As an important identification mark, the emphasis on baptism underwent some subtitle but significant changes.
Those changes included four things. (1) Baptism being the exclusive rite of transition from the status of lost to saved. (2) Baptism assuming a role and significance that was superior to faith in what God did in Jesus' death and resurrection, or the repentance of the candidate for baptism. (3) The demotion of baptism to a process, a ritual. (4) Baptism existed as an expression of terror rather than an expression of faith.
To illustrate the subtle but significant transition, consider illustration one: in many congregations of the Church of Christ, commonly the primary question is, "Has he/she been baptized?" The question means, "Has he or she been immersed in water as a teen or an adult for the remission of sins?" Rarely will anyone inquire, "Does he/she have faith in what God did in Jesus' death and resurrection? Rarely will anyone inquire, "Does he/she want to redirect his/her life [repent]?"
Many ministers and elders in congregations of the Church of Christ know that faith in Christ and a desire to redirect life [repentance] are assumed to occur if the person has been baptized as a teenager or adult. Most of those ministers and elders know that it is [at best!] a weak assumption. People often are baptized to enter the Church of Christ, not to respond to God's initiative in Christ, not to redirect life. While there certainly are people who were baptized because of godly motives, there are also people who are baptized for ungodly motives. Those ungodly motives include (1) the desire to "get away" from the pressure of an aggressive family member; (2) the desire to appease a spouse; (3) the desire to do what important people expected him/her to do; or (4) the desire to escape the advances of an aggressive evangelistic person. Those with such motives are not declaring faith in God's work in Jesus or expressing an earnest desire to redirect personal life.
There was a time when it was commonly assumed that a baptized person would function on Christian values. In many places, that time has faded into the past. Increasingly, baptized people may function on the values of local society rather than God's values. Increasingly, baptized people may justify the way they act rather than realize their behavior is ungodly. Increasingly, members in congregations of the Church of Christ are bewildered by the behavior of baptized members who live and function as Christians by following the same values that controlled their lives prior to baptism.
Peter wrote a statement about baptism to Christians who existed in an idolatrous world. After stressing the precious value of being in Christ (1:3-12), after stressing the responsibility of being in Christ (1:13-25), after stressing the transformation of conversion (2:1-10), after urging them to be Christian in their life roles--whether citizen, servant, wife, husband, or just ordinary person (2:13-12), after affirming the value and motivation for a radically different behavior (3:13-20), Peter reminded these people that their baptism occurred for two reasons: (1) it was a conscience appeal to God, and (2) it was a response to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Your attention is specially called to Peter's declaration that the conscience is involved in the conversion process. The person realizes his/her past behavior insulted God--whether or not he/she intended to be insulting! The person realizes the forgiving God who raised Jesus from the dead can resurrect him/her to a new life, a new existence. In these realizations, the person is moved [personally motivated] to respond to God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ.
The act of baptism is much, much more than submitting to a religious ritual. It is much, much more than escaping the attention of some pesky people. It is a surrender to faith in God's achievements in Jesus Christ. It is a desire to redirect life. It is a determination to escape the destructiveness of past behavior by joyfully accepting God's forgiveness in the resolve to redirect personal life.
Just like the ark functioned to (1) rescue Noah and his immediate family and (2) to take them to a new existence, so baptism exists to (1) rescue the person and (2) take him/her to a new existence.
For baptism to serve the purpose God intended, it must be a conscience response as well as a physical response.
Thought and Discussion Questions
Link to Teacher's Guide Lesson 11