Rebaptism

The outline is attached below.

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Rebaptism I. Not everything that is called a baptism is one. 1. If a baptism does not meet the scriptural requirements (these will be given later) for a valid baptism, then it is invalid. A. For instance, the following acts would not be a valid baptism. i. A friend pushes you into a swimming pool. ii. Your son quirts you with a squirt gun. iii. Your mother gives you a bath at one month old. iv. A guy with a funny-looking collar pours or sprinkles water on your head shortly after you are born in a building with stained glass windows. v. A pastor of a protestant "church" which was founded hundreds of years ago by a disgruntled Catholic priest who wanted to form his own state church performed a Catholic (only with a different name) "baptism" on you by pouring or sprinkling water on your head. vi. A guy in skinny-jeans and an un-tucked shirt who went to seminary and became a leader of a "church" who some other guy with a bright idea started dunks you in a tub of water. B. This sermon will give the scriptural reasons why none of those things are valid baptisms. 2. Baptist churches have a long history of rebaptizing converts who had previously been invalidly baptized. A. The term "rebaptism" is not technically a correct term because if a "baptism" was not performed correctly, it was no baptism at all. B. Therefore when a convert gets rebaptized, he is in actuality getting baptized for the first time. 3. Many true baptistic churches went by the name of "Anabaptist" for hundreds of years because they rebaptized converts which came from the Roman Catholic Church and other false churches. 4. Anabaptist n. - 1. lit. One who baptizes over again, whether frequently as a point of ritual, or once as a due performance of what has been ineffectually performed previously. 5. There were Christians who were called Anabaptists throughout time going back to the third century because they re-baptized converts who had been "baptized" as infants. A. "Osiander says, our modern anabaptists were the same with the Donatists of old." (G.H. Orchard, A Concise History of Foreign Baptists, page 87) B. "In 1522 Luther says: “The Anabaptists have been for a long time spreading in Germany.” The late E.T. Winkler, D.D., quoting the above, says: “Nay, Luther even traced the Anabaptists back to the days of John Huss [1369-1415], and apologetically admits that the eminent reformer was one of them.”" (W.A. Jarrel, Baptist Church Perpetuity, page 303) C. "Dr. E.T. Winkler says: “It is well known that the Anabaptists of Holland disclaimed any historic connection with the fanatical Anabaptists of Germany, but claimed a descent from the Waldenses.”" (W.A. Jarrel, Baptist Church Perpetuity, page 306) D. "Dr. Osgood says of the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century: “The persecution of centuries had taught them concealment,” plainly implying their existence centuries before the days of Luther..." (W.A. Jarrel, Baptist Church Perpetuity, page 306) E. "Cardinal Hossius, President of the Council of Trent, which met Dec. 15, 1545, and one of the most learned Romanists of his day, said:... “If the truth of religion were to be judged of by the readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in suffering, then the opinion and persuasion of no sect can be truer and surer than that of the Anabaptists, since there have been none, for these twelve hundred years past, that have been more generally punished, or that have more steadfastly under-gone, and even offered themselves to the most cruel sorts of punishment than these people. … The Anabaptists are a pernicious sect, of which kind the Waldensian brethren seem to have been. Nor is this heresy a modern thing, for it existed in the time of Austin.” Thus this great Romanish scholar concedes the sameness of the Waldenses and Anabaptists, and that they already existed in 354, the time of Austin." (W.A. Jarrel, Baptist Church Perpetuity, page 307-308) F. "The Quaker, Robert Barclay, wrote: "We shall afterwards show the rise of the Anabaptists took place prior to the Reformation of the Church of England, and there are also reasons for believing that on the continent of Europe small hidden Christian societies, who have held many of the opinions of the Anabaptists, have existed from the times of the Apostles. In the sense of the direct transmission of Divine Truth, and the true nature of spiritual religion, it seems probable that these churches have a lineage or succession more ancient than that of the Roman Church." (Dr. Phil Stringer, The Faithful Baptist Witness, page 115) G. Historic Baptists are Anabaptists. H. "Fuller, the English church historian, asserts, that the Baptists in England, in his days, were the Donatists new dipped: and Robinson declares, they were Trinitarian Anabaptists." (G.H. Orchard, A Concise History of Foreign Baptists, page 87) 6. The apostle Paul himself was an anabaptist by definition because he rebaptized converts who had not been properly baptized the first time (Act 19:1-5). II. What is baptism? 1. Baptism - 1. The action or ceremony of baptizing; immersion of a person in water, or application of water by pouring or sprinkling, as a religious rite, symbolical of moral or spiritual purification or regeneration, and, as a Christian ordinance, betokening initiation into the Church. 2. Baptize - Etymology - [a. F. baptise-r, -izer (11th c.), ad. L. baptiza-re, ad. Gr. βaπτξειν ‘to immerse, bathe, wash, drench,’ in Christian use appropriated to the religious rite, f. βάπτειν to dip, plunge, bathe.] 1. trans. To immerse in water, or pour or sprinkle water upon, as a means of ceremonial purification, or in token of initiation into a religious society, especially into the Christian Church; to christen. III. Baptism is a figure of our salvation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Pe 3:21). 1. Baptism figures how Jesus saved us, by His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom 6:3-5). 2. Baptism doesn't remove sin (the filth of the flesh) (1Pe 3:21). 3. Rather than giving a man a good conscience, baptism is the answer of a good conscience (1Pe 3:21). A. One has to already have a good conscience to be baptized. B. Those who are defiled and unbelieving have a defiled conscience (Tit 1:15). IV. Baptism is a commandment for every believer in Jesus Christ (Act 2:37-38) and to not do so is to reject the counsel of God (Luk 7:29-30). V. What constitutes a valid baptism? 1. For a baptism to be scriptural, it must have: A. a proper administer. B. a proper candidate. C. a proper mode. D. a proper belief. E. a proper result. 2. A proper administrator. A. The proper administrator (baptizer) for baptism is a validly ordained minister. B. Jesus commissioned His disciples to preach the gospel and baptize (Mat 28:16-20). C. The only people in the Bible that baptized were ordained ministers (apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc.) D. Preachers/pastors/elders are authorized to baptize. i. Elders/pastors are ordained ministers (Tit 1:5). ii. Pastors/elders are to do the work of an evangelist (2Ti 4:5). iii. Evangelists baptize (Act 21:8 c/w Act 8:36-38). iv. Pastors therefore baptize. E. There is no commandment nor example in scripture of anyone besides ordained ministers baptizing. i. Therefore, no one besides an ordained minister can baptize. ii. The argument from silence applies here (Heb 7:12-14). F. Who is a validly ordained minister? i. The office of the pastor/elder/bishop is conferred by ordination/appointment by one ordained minister to another faithful man. a. Jesus was appointed by God (Heb 3:2). b. Jesus then ordained Paul (1Ti 2:7). c. Paul then ordained Timothy (1Ti 4:14 c/w 2Ti 1:6) and Titus (Tit 1:5). d. Timothy and Titus were then to ordain others (Tit 1:5; 2Ti 2:2) who would be able to do likewise (2Ti 2:2). ii. Therefore, to be a validly ordained pastor who has the authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, a man must have been ordained by a pastor of a true church who was ordained by a pastor of a true church, etc. in an unbroken lineage all the way back to the apostles. iii. Any man who was ordained in any church that traces its founding back to the Protestant Reformation is not a validly ordained pastor because his ordination came from the Catholic Church which is a false church with false priests who have no authority to baptize or ordain ministers. G. Anyone who was "baptized" by a minister in a Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant church needs to be rebaptized. H. Anyone who was baptized by a minister in a church which was started by a Catholic or a Protestant needs to be rebaptized. I. Anyone who was baptized by a man who was not ordained by a validly ordained baptist pastor needs to be rebaptized. 3. A proper candidate. A. The proper candidate (person to be baptized) for baptism is a penitent believing adult. B. In order to be baptized, a person must show forth the fruits of repentance (Mat 3:5-8). i. Repentance was/is necessary for baptism in the N.T. church (Act 2:38). ii. This prevents babies from being baptized since they can't repent. C. In order to be baptized, a person must also believe on Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God (Act 8:36-38). i. When people in Samaria believed the gospel Philip preached, they were baptized, both men and women (not infants) (Act 8:12). ii. Simon believed and was baptized (Act 8:13). iii. Many Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized (Act 18:8). iv. Belief and baptism go hand in hand (Mar 16:16). D. This prevents infants or those too young to believe from being baptized. E. Anyone who was "baptized" as an infant needs to be rebaptized. 4. A proper mode. A. The proper mode of baptism is immersion in water. B. The English word "baptize" is a transliteration (the English word was created from the Greek word) of the Greek word "baptizo", both of which mean to immerse. a. Baptize - Etymology - [a. F. baptise-r, -izer (11th c.), ad. L. baptiza-re, ad. Gr. βaπτξειν ‘to immerse, bathe, wash, drench,’ in Christian use appropriated to the religious rite, f. βάπτειν to dip, plunge, bathe.] 1. trans. To immerse in water, or pour or sprinkle water upon, as a means of ceremonial purification, or in token of initiation into a religious society, especially into the Christian Church; to christen. b. Immerse - 1. trans. To dip or plunge into a liquid; to put overhead in water, etc.; spec. to baptize by immersion. c. Since the word "baptize" means to immerse, it stands to reason that the proper mode of immersion is immersion. d. To immerse in any other mode than immersion is not immersion. e. To immerse by sprinkling or pouring water on someone's forehead is asinine doublespeak. f. To baptize by sprinkling or pouring is a contradiction of terms. C. As was before proved, baptism is a figure of salvation in Christ (1Pe 3:21). i. In baptism we are symbolically buried with Christ (Rom 6:4). a. Immersion in water symbolized Christ's burial quite well as He was buried "in the heart of the earth" (Mat 12:40). b. Christ's burial was not by sprinkling or pouring dirt on His forehead. c. "Baptism" by sprinkling or pouring hardly symbolizes a burial. ii. By baptism we are symbolically planted in the likeness of His death (Rom 6:5). a. Planted - ppl. 1. Set in the ground, as a plant; fixed in the ground, set up, established, etc.; placed surreptitiously or misleadingly; hidden esp. so as to deceive the discoverer: b. Plant - v. 1. a. trans. To set or place in the ground so that it may take root and grow c. Jesus described planting as a corn of wheat falling into the ground (Joh 12:24). d. To plant is to place something IN the ground, not to sprinkle a minute bit of dust on a seed (the equivalent of sprinkling water on someone's forehead to immerse them). e. "Baptism" by sprinkling or pouring hardly symbolizes planting. D. The Bible clearly shows that baptism was done by immersion which required much water and for people to be in the water. i. John baptized in Aenon because there was MUCH water there (Joh 3:23). a. Why would John need to be in a place where there was MUCH water to sprinkle a few drops on people's heads? b. It's obvious much water was needed to immerse people. ii. John baptized people IN Jordan, not BY Jordan (Mar 1:5). a. Jesus, when He was baptized of John, went up straightway OUT OF the water (Mar 1:10). b. Why would people be IN Jordan if John was sprinkling water on their heads? iii. The Ethiopian eunuch asked what hindered him to be baptized when he and Phillip came to a certain water (Act 8:36). a. Why would seeing a certain water (in other words a body of water of some type) prompt the eunuch to ask about being baptized if all that was needed was a couple of drops out of a canteen? b. To be baptized, both he and Phillip went down INTO the water and came up OUT OF the water (Act 8:38-39). c. Why get into the water to only sprinkle a couple of drops on his head? E. Anyone who was not immersed in water needs to be rebaptized. 5. A proper belief. A. A confession of one's belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is a necessary requirement to be baptized (Act 8:36-38). B. A confession that one is a sinner is also necessary to be baptized (Mar 1:5). C. These two requirements prohibit infants and children who are too young to make these sincere confessions from being baptized. D. Anyone who did not publicly confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God needs to be rebaptized. E. Anyone who did not publicly confess that he is a sinner needs to be rebaptized. 6. A proper result. A. The proper result of baptism is the addition of the baptized person to the membership of a true local church. B. The pattern of baptism resulting in being added to a church is found in Act 2:41. i. Being added unto them was the result of being baptized. ii. The them which they were added to was the church at Jerusalem which had about 120 members named on a role (Act 1:15) who were assembled together, all with one accord in one place (Act 2:1). iii. It is obvious that they were added to the church because they continued from that time forward having church, which consisted of the apostles' doctrine (preaching) and fellowship, breaking of bread (communion), and prayers (Act 2:42). iv. Just to clear up any misunderstanding of what they were added to, we are told that the Lord added to the church daily (Act 2:47). C. When the preacher is baptizing a person in water which outwardly adds him to the church, the Holy Spirit is spiritually baptizing him into the body of Christ (1Co 12:13) which is the local church (1Co 12:14-27). D. What is a true church? i. A true church is a baptistic church which has an unbroken lineage through baptistic churches to the church that Jesus Christ built (Mat 16:18). a. Examples of such churches are Baptists, Welsh Baptists, Anabaptists, Waldenses, Albigenses, Catharists, Paulicians, Donatists, Montanists, and other baptistic churches which predated the Protestant Reformation. b. See series on Baptist Church History. ii. A true church is started by a validly ordained pastor baptizing a group of believers and forming them into a church (or by forming a church out of baptized believers from another true church). iii. See sermon on How to Start a Non-501c3 Church. E. Anyone who was not baptized in a true, historic baptistic church and added to that church by his baptism needs to be rebaptized. VI. An example of a rebaptism 1. Take for example a man who was "baptized" in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church like I was in 2004 the year before I was properly baptized. A. The problem with my previous "baptisms" (I was also "baptized" in a Lutheran Church in 2003) is that they were performed in "churches" which are not true churches by "pastors" who were not Biblically ordained. B. The C&MA Church is a protestant church that was started by a pastor from the Presbyterian church which was started in the Protestant Reformation by Catholics. i. A clean thing can't come out of an unclean thing (Job 14:4). ii. The Roman Catholic Church is the mother of harlots (Rev 17:5) which means she has many harlot daughters. iii. "As is the mother, so is her daughter" (Eze 16:44). iv. Her daughters are the protestant churches which were started by the reformers who were disgruntled Catholics. v. Those reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, etc.) did not leave the Catholic Church and repent and be baptized by a Baptist pastor in a true church, they rather tried to reform the Catholic Church by starting their own "churches." vi. The Protestant churches are reformed Catholic churches which retain some of her fundamental characteristics, one of which is her infant baptism by pouring or sprinkling. vii. The nature of a corrupt thing cannot be changed by changing the name and modifying some of the beliefs and practices (Jer 13:23). C. The founder of the C&MA church was A.B. Simpson who was ordained in the Presbyterian church. D. The Presbyterian church is not a true church because it came from the Roman Catholic Church which is evident because they "baptize" babies by pouring or sprinkling. E. A church that "baptizes" babies (unbelievers) is not a true church. i. Therefore, the Presbyterian church is not a true church. ii. Therefore A.B. Simpson's ordination was not Biblically valid. iii. Therefore, the C&MA church that he started is not a true church. iv. Therefore, the ministers in those churches are not Biblically ordained ministers and have no authority to baptize. v. Therefore, baptisms that are performed in those churches are not true baptisms (even if they are done by immersion) and do not add people to true churches. vi. Therefore, my "baptism" in the C&MA and the Lutheran "churches" were not true baptisms. vii. When I learned the truth, I was rebaptized (or to be more accurate, I was properly baptized) by Pastor Tim Boffey of the Cincinnati Church which is a true church of Jesus Christ. viii. If a believer who was "baptized" in a Catholic or Protestant "church" wants to follow Jesus Christ in truth and be a member of one of His true churches, then he needs to do the same as I did. VII. An analogy of rebaptism 1. A person might wonder if being rebaptized is like renewing your driver's license. A. It is not like renewing your driver's license because baptism, if properly done, never needs to be redone. B. But a driver's license is a good analogy. 2. Let's say when a man initially got his driver's license he went to a place which claimed to be an authorized driver's license center. A. It had a big sign on the building which said "Driver's License Center." B. When he went inside, it looked similar to a true driver's license center. C. The people working there looked and sounded a lot like driver's license center employees. D. The driver's license that they issued looked similar to a real driver's license. E. But the problem was that that "driver's license center" was not a genuine, authorized driver's license center which was commissioned and approved by the State in which he lived. F. That "driver's license center" was actually the invention of some guy that became familiar with how real driver's license centers operate and then decided to open his own center and mimic what the real ones do. G. But he had no authority from the State to open up his center. H. Now what will happen when he gets pulled over by a police officer some day and he discovers that his driver's license was issued by an unauthorized organization masquerading as a true driver's license center? i. His "driver's license" will be null and void, and he will have to go to a true, authorized driver's license center and obtain a legitimate driver's license. ii. He will have to go through the whole process and take the real driver's test. iii. He will be treated just like someone who had never had a "driver's license" before. 3. So it is with a "baptism" that looks similar to a true baptism from a "church" that looks similar to a true church. A. Once the man finds out that the organization that "baptized" him was not set up by Jesus Christ and was not given authority by Him to baptize, he must then be truly baptized by a Biblically ordained pastor in a true church of Jesus Christ which can trace its origin through an unbroken lineage of churches the whole way back to the church that Jesus Christ founded and is therefore given the authority by Christ to baptize believers and build churches. B. Our church is one such church: Baptist Church History. C. I am one such minister: Being Called to the Ministry.