John chapter 3 is the “God so loved
the world…” chapter. This is the part of
the gospel where, during a late night of one-on-one pastoral counseling, Jesus famously
told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.”
We usually cut off our discussion of
this passage somewhere between verses
17 and 21, while Jesus is talking about the certainty God’s love and of
salvation but before Jesus, in the same conversation, starts talking about the
certainty of God’s judgment and condemnation and the eternal implications of
our personal moral choices. But keep
reading.
Jesus had met with Nicodemus in
Jerusalem where they were celebrating Passover (John 2: 23-3:1), but in John 3:22
Christ and the Christians left the city to set up camp on the banks of the
Jordan River. Jesus preached and the
disciples, as assistant pastors often do, baptized the new believers (John 3:
22; 4:
1-2). It was church.
Meanwhile on the west side (of the
Jordan), Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist was having church, too.
And John’s first the Baptist church was
flourishing. The traveling congregation
had upgraded from river baptisms to the natural baptismal springs of Aenon
near Salim, because there was much water there (John 3: 23). Soon
though, as often happens when a church upgrades, there was an argument.
Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s
disciples and the Jews about purification. (John 3: 25)
Purification is kind of a broad concept in Jewish religion, but given the
context, the question centered on the proper use of water as a means of
spiritual or ritual cleansing.
John chapter 3 provides the first
recorded church argument over the “right” way to baptize.
We’re still having that argument.
In the Methodist church we use 3 methods (or modes) in the sacrament
of baptism:
1)
We baptize by
immersing people under water, like John did when he baptized his Cousin (Mark
1: 6-10).
2) A Methodist preacher may also take water in his/her hand
and sprinkle it upon the head of the baptisee.
This is a throwback to how the Old Testament priests would purify the
altar, the holy items, and the people by sprinkling blood on them (Leviticus 1;
Hebrews
9: 19-21)
And Moses took half the blood and put
it in basins, and half the
blood he sprinkled on the altar.
Then he took the Book of the Covenant
and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has
said we will do, and be obedient.”
Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is
the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all
these words.” (Exodus 24: 6-8)
3) And sometimes, we take water in our cupped hands or a vessel and pour it over the head, as God
Himself “poured out the Holy Spirit on the disciples on Pentecost (Acts 2:3-4,
17-18)
In my experience, most adults ask for full immersion, especially
if the church has upgraded to a location with its own baptismal pool. Pouring and sprinkling are usually performed
for small children and infants.
Yes, Methodist believe in baptizing babies.
In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul preached to a Thyatiran matriarch
named Lydia. Lydia received Christ and then had her entire family baptized (Acts 16: 14-15). No, scripture doesn’t explicitly state that
there were babies among Lydia’s household, though that is a reasonable assumption. Scripture does make it clear that the family
baptisms were all arranged by Lydia.
Way back in the day, parents arranged marriages for their
children, sometimes while the fiancés were still babies. An arranged marriage, i.e. betrothal, not only
obligates the children, betrothal also obligates the parents and community to prepare
the children for each other and to reinforce the vows that the parents had made
on their behalf until the children grew up and made the vows for themselves.
For adults, baptism is the ring publicly declaring their
relationship with Jesus. For babies,
baptism is the betrothal contract marking the same at a future date TBA.
Infants don’t have the ability to say “Yes” to being the Bride
of Christ. But parents can arrange their
spiritual betrothal.
In John’s first the Baptist church, the people of God argued
over the “right” way to do baptisms.
Then as now (cause human nature doesn’t change), the theology got personal.
And they came to John and said to
him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have
testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” (John 3: 26)
In other words, “These two different churches are doing baptism
different ways and one of us is losing the competition.”
Rev. John THE Baptist didn’t care. He didn’t indulge their sifting of
modalities. He didn’t take sides in
their methodological factions. John the
Baptiser said: I am not the Christ. (John
3: 28).
Translation: I don’t have
a Heaven or a Hell to put you in based on what I do with the water in this
baptismal pool.
Baptism is the ring the bride wears, but what really matters is
the Groom who gives it to her.
So whether your relationship with Jesus Christ is marked with
full immersion, sprinkling, or pouring; whether the token is given as an adult
or as a baby, whether you taken the mark of baptism at the church over here or
the church over there---- just make sure that you have a personal, saving relationship
with Jesus Christ.
Over here on the Methodist side of the Jordan, we will rejoice not
in the way you’re baptized but in the fact that you’ve found Jesus.
He who has the bride is the
bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him,
rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine
is fulfilled. (John 3: 29)
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer,
community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor
of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the
Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for
the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Subscribe to my personal
blog www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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