Should A Believer Be Baptized Immediately?
Samuel Matthews | Oregon, USA
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). KJV
Loved ones, J.D. Greear served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2018 to 2021. He humbly said this concerning “immediate” baptisms.
“Our church (the Summit Church) chose to hold our first [spontaneous] baptism service after we noticed the biblical pattern of spontaneous baptisms while preaching through a series in the book of Acts.
What is becoming known in the religious world as ‘spontaneous’ baptism is taking root because many are seeing the lack of delay in narratives given throughout Acts.
We see baptisms at midnight, immediately upon believing, straightway, and so forth, but why then do we see delay today? Why do we see future dates set? ‘Baptism Sundays?’
If an event were so important that the Apostle Paul baptized in the midnight hour (Acts 16:25-34), what would stop us? If The Eunuch saw he needed baptism immediately, again, what would stop us?
When we consider the purpose of (water) baptism, it then becomes clearer why this was immediate! It is why we do not hesitate to meet, even now, at the midnight hour to baptize a penitent person.
If baptism is for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16), if it is for the Lord adding you to His church (KINGDOM Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 2:41-47; Colossians 1:13), if it is for being placed into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27; 2 Timothy 2:10), if it is where God cuts away our sins (Colossians 2:11-13), if it is where we are saved by the power of Jesus’ resurrection (NOW 1 Peter 3:20-21), THEN it makes sense why we do not schedule “Baptism Sunday” or why we do not tell someone they are saved and months later will schedule their baptism. If this event, baptism, is so important then certainly we can understand WHY it should not be delayed.”
We appreciate the concession of J.D. Greear on this matter and the attitude he has taken to adopt a more biblical pattern concerning water baptism (Matthew 28:18-20) – the soul saving command resulting in our salvation by grace through obedient faith (Acts 10:47-48; Ephesians 2:8-10).
Dear friend, if you have delayed baptism knowing the purposes above, why wait? Please visit a congregation of the churches of Christ at your next opportunity (Romans 16:16). They will love to help you submit to God’s sovereign will. The God of Heaven is so good. We love you all so much.
