One Baptism

By: N.E. Rhodes, Jr.

One of the most prevalent misconceptions I have run across is the idea that the first-century church enjoyed unbroken unity and harmony during the life of the apostles and gave way to disputation and division only after the death of the last living apostle.  The New Testament speaks of a church that argued about many things and even broke fellowship over at least two of these disputes. 

The early Christians argued over how the money was to be spent (Acts 6:1).  They argued over whether Gentile converts must be circumcised (Acts 15:1-2).  They argued over the men who should go on missionary tours (Acts 15: 37-40).  They argued over which preacher’s teaching should be the standard of their faith and behavior (I Corinthians 1:11-12).  They even challenged one another in pagan law courts (I Corinthians 6:5-7). They argued about the resurrection of the dead (I Corinthians 15:12-24).  They argued about matters of diet (Romans 14:1-4).  They argued about the observance of days (Romans 14:5-6).  They argued about preeminence (3 John 9). They argued about the doctrine of Balaam (Revelation 2:14).  They argued about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:15).  They argued about eating things sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20).  They actually broke fellowship over the matter of forcing compliance to the Law of Moses (Galatians 2:11-14).  They also broke fellowship over the nature of Christ’s incarnation (2 John 7-10).

But so far as can be determined by studying the scriptures, they never argued or broke fellowship over the one baptism.  On this matter there seems to have been complete agreement.  They all acknowledged that it was commanded by God.  They all accepted the fact that it was of vital importance.  In Acts 2three thousand people were converted and all three thousand were baptized.  It did not occur to them to question or to doubt the command.  When they obeyed, God added them to the church.  No one needed to question them to determine if they should be admitted.  They did not have to join anything.  They were born again and became brethren to all other children of God.

In other accounts of conversion in chapters 8, 9, 10, and 16 of Acts we see the same thing happening.  Those who were converted to Christ were all baptized.  Not one of them left it off.  They might argue about many other things but never about this.  On this matter there was complete unity.  They were brethren for they had put on Christ by being baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27).  They might be errant, quarrelsome, weak brethren, but they were brethren nevertheless.

Most professing Christians today agree that God has commanded us to be baptized in water.  After this initial agreement, though, the questions and arguments begin to fly, but they are completely unnecessary.  One of the major questions concerns the essential nature of baptism.  Can a man be saved without it?

Whenever I hear that question another question occurs to me.  Why should he want to be saved without it?  If he loves the Lord and admits that He commanded baptism, why would he want to avoid obeying the command?  Why should men quarrel about baptism today when there was complete unity on it in New Testament time?  We may dispute over a number of difficult questions today but this should not be one of them.  I see no reasonable ground for anything but perfect unity on the doctrine of the one baptism.

I may have overlooked something, but in a study of the history of the church I find no argument about baptism until the introduction of clinical baptism, that is, baptism administered on a sickbed or deathbed.  Arguments concerning baptism by sprinkling and infant baptism followed soon after.  But I find no argument concerning the essential nature of baptism until the sixteenth century A.D.

It seems a pity that what served as a firm ground of unity in the first-century church has become a matter for acid debate today.  The only misunderstanding concerning baptism that is mentioned in the New Testament is one quickly corrected and corrected without any dispute (see Acts 18-24-26 and Acts 19: 3-5).

In Ephesians 4: 1-6, Paul tells us how to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  It is done by recognizing as one body those who have been born of the one Father by the one Spirit through the expression of their faith in the one Lord by submitting to the one baptism.  Division and schism is a result of men forming creeds to determine what others must believe.

Reprinted by permission from The Christian Appeal May 1986