Defective Baptism?

Richard Hollerman

We all know the importance of baptism, according to the Scriptures. Thus, it is important that we experience a true and genuine baptism and if we haven’t it is vital that we discover why. What do we mean?

The only place where a second baptism is mentioned is Acts 19:1-6. There we discover that twelve “disciples” at Ephesus had a faulty baptism thus, they had to be baptized again. They had experienced John’s baptism, which was a good and right baptism, but they needed to be immersed again, this time with a “Christian” baptism that had a full and complete meaning behind it.

In our own case, we need to ask ourselves if our baptism was true or not. Maybe you do find yourself in perplexity about this important act of God and just don’t know what to do about this defect. Should you be immersed again? Was it a true baptism—or a faulty one? Notice these reasons to be baptized again:

1. It was a baby baptism. We know that in infant baptism (the way it is generally called in theological circles) a child cannot repent of his sins (Acts 2:38), cannot have faith in Christ (Acts 8:12), cannot become a disciple of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-19), and knows nothing about the ekklesia or the assembly of God (1 Corinthians 12:13). Therefore, we must conclude that one who has a defective “infant” baptism must absolutely be re-baptized!

2. It was a faithless baptism. We realize that an infant cannot have saving faith (John 3:16), even though Luther mistakenly thought that a baby could have such a faith baptism. No, one needs to be old enough to know what he is doing at the time that he is baptized.

3. Perhaps this defective baptism was merely a “church baptism.” In other words, some would say that baptism is needed to become a “member of a church” but a baby cannot experience this sort of baptism. Therefore, we must call for such a person to experience a true baptism but this “true” baptism will result in one becoming a member of the body of Christ.

4. Others may have a baptism to fulfill the wishes of one’s parents. We are glad that some young people do have an interest in their parents and want to please them (cf. Ephesians 6:1-4), but we also know that baptism is Christ-centered and not parents-centered! We are baptized because of Jesus and His will and not at all because of parental desires.

5. Others may be “baptized” not because of Christ Jesus but to keep up with the relatives and friends. We know that we are not to be baptized to emulate certain trusted friends, but we are baptized to please God and submit to Christ. We must not compromise this.

6. One of the popular theologies current on the theological scene would be the idea that when we are baptized, we show a previous salvation and are not baptized to receive salvation itself. As you can see, there are millions of people who have experienced a baptism with this view.

7. Still others are baptized with a defective understanding at the time they were baptized. They thought that they understood but they and others know that they didn’t. We know that understanding is important (cf. Matthew 13:19, 23) but when certain people are baptized, they fail to understand what is happening.

8. There are some who have not been baptized at all. We know that whole churches sometimes refuse to allow one to be baptized, insisting that the subject have water poured or sprinkled! If we are aware that baptism means immersion and to be baptized means to be immersed or dipped, we can see that one who does not have this understanding must not be immersed himself or herself.

   Baptism (baptisma) consists of “the process of immersion, submersion and emergence” according to W. E. Vine, the Greek scholar (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words).

9. Another defect in a wrongful baptism would be the failure to really perceive what is happening in the baptism. The person may know that baptism is for this forgiveness (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Colossians 3:12-24) but somehow he or she does not connect this with his own forgiveness.

10. Baptism that doesn’t really reflect a mature understanding of God’s will at the time of this baptism. Perhaps the baptism is performed on a five-year-old or a 7-year-old and this child really don’t know what is happening. This is why it is generally better to wait a bit longer. (On the other hand, we know of one sect that has a “churchianity” view and they generally wait until the person is about age 18!) This does seem too old, don’t you think?

These are some of the reasons why people have a defective view of baptism. They know that this is an act that is commanded by God. It is something that is God’s will. And they know that this is something that they should do! But they simply don’t have a view of baptism that is mean to apply to them! For some reason, they simply don’t have a perspective formed by the will of God found in the Word of God!

We hope that these thoughts will cause you to think about the meaning of baptism more deeply. And we hope that you will apply it to your own situation!  Hopefully, it will be a maturing process that will help you to  understand more deeply what God’s will is regarding baptism and your own need to be baptized (or rebaptized).