“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” – (Mathew 28: 18-20 NKJV)
Water baptisms | The Oath of Baptism
In the Bible we found four types of baptisms, which are:
1. The Baptism on Christ’s Suffering (Luke 12:50),
2. John’s Baptism (Mathew 3:11),
3. Water Baptism or Christian Baptism (Mathew 28: 18-20),
4. Baptism in the Spirit (Acts of the Apostles 1:8; 2: 3-4),
but in this article we will only describe the doctrine of water baptism ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Over time, churches developed two main ways of baptizing; the first, by full immersion in water, and the second by sprinkling with water. The false baptism by sprinkling water finds its origin in a very old manuscript of the first century after Jesus-Christ of the name Didache. Didache is a document of primitive Christianity, written towards the end of the 1st century (90 AD), which makes it one of the oldest written testimonies. Despite the antiquity of the manuscript, we do not consider these writings as faithful testimony of the four gospels of the Holy Bible, nor as the testimony of the other 66 books which we consider to be true, is inspired by God.
1. As for baptism, baptize thus: after having proclaimed all the above, baptize in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living (running) water. 2. – But, if you have no living water, baptize in other water; if you cannot (baptize) in cold water, let it be in hot water. If you have neither (in sufficient quantity), pour water three times over your head in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
– Didache VI/1-2
Although the recommendation of the Didache manuscript seems logical, it obviously looks like a way to help those who would like to be baptized, but the conditions are not met; but in fact, this recommendation is anti-biblical, and heretical. All baptism gestures have an imperative meaning in Christian initiation.
The word baptism in Greek is “baptizo”, the phonetics [bap-tid’-zo] which means to dive repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge. Already by definition we can affirm that all that is not immersion cannot be called baptism. The word sprinkling in Greek is “rhantismos”, those who are sprinkled with water are not baptized, but are “rhantismos”. Although this word means purification, but this purification is a Jewish tradition of the purification of the objects of the temple, and that was by the sprinkling of blood. The confusion is due to the fact that the two words “baptizo” and “rhantismos” mean purification; but one thing is certain, rhantismos is not baptizo, it means: “to sprinkle is not to dive into”. We will describe in the lines below why baptism must imperatively be by immersion, never by sprinkling.
Baptism by immersion is a Christian initiation, entering into communion with death, burial, and resurrection with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. So that we die with the Lord by this act, and are buried with the Lord, and then we rise again with the Lord. This miracle is only possible by total immersion in water. When the physical body enters the water, it represents death and burial with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then at the exit of the water, we are resurrected with the Lord.
“How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – (Romans 6:2-4 NKJV)
What Baptism Does for Us Christians
- Baptism makes us free from sin,
- In baptism we kill the old man, we kill the body of sin,
- Baptism is the only way to give us newness of life in Christ,
- Those who are planted into Christ must be baptized into Christ,
- In baptism we are justified before God,
Baptisms by immersion are made up of 3 parts:
Chacune de ces parties sont impératives, c’est exactement ce qui rend le baptême par immersion l’unique forme de baptême que nous acceptons à Zion’s Gates Epignonis Ministries.
1. Prestation de sermon et renoncement au monde pour vivre pour Christ et pour Christ seulement
Every Christian, by being baptized by another Christian older and more mature than him, must take an oath to renounce the world and to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of his life. This is what we at Zion’s Gates Epignosis Ministries call Christian initiation, entering into the actual Christian life.
2. Immersion dans l’eau
In immersion in water we died and buried with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death” – (Romans 6: 3 NKJV). “… putting off the body of the sins of the flesh […] buried with Him in baptism” – (Colossians 2: 12 NKJV)
3. La sortie de l’eau
In coming out of the water we are resurrected with the Lord. With newness of life, justified, sanctified. We are victorious over sin, we come out of the water with life that can never again be destroyed. “Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – (Romans 6:9-11 NKJV)
After reading the paragraphs above, it is obvious that baptism by sprinkling cannot cover these or cover the 3 stages of the ceremony of Christian initiation or Christian baptism.
With us at Zion’s Gates Epignosis, baptism is by immersion only. We believe that the whole body must be immersed in the waters and then come out. Which is the image of death, burial, and resurrection with the Lord. However, baptism by sprinkling water cannot represent this important action in the life of all Christians.
Source: Zion’s Gates Epignosis Ministries
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