The Tulwei congregation conducted our second gospel meeting September 22-25, during which we studied “The Truth About Baptism.” This was chosen because we continue to receive lots of questions and hear lots of misinformation being disseminated on the topic.
On our first night we let the Bible answer the question, “Why study baptism?” and noted that baptism is the point at which one enters into Christ (Rom 6:3), becomes a disciple of Christ (Mat 28:19), is saved by God (Mk 16:16; 1 Pet 3:21), and has his sins removed (Acts 2:38, 22:16). Though many religious people today want to relegate baptism to position of little to no importance, the Bible is clear in emphasizing its import and essentiality.
Our second study considered how biblical baptism is to be administered, as there are a number of religious groups in the village who choose sprinkling over immersion, in spite of the clear teaching of Scripture. We looked at the original definition of the word, made note of the logistics of two examples of baptism in the New Testament (Jesus in Matthew 3:16 and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:38), and considered Paul’s use of the word “bury” in illustrating baptism (Romans 6:3-4 and Colossians 2:12).
We studied another point of confusion on our third night, when we looked at the difference between being baptized “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” and being baptized “in the name of Jesus only.” There is a very vocal group that has made it there identifying mark that one must be immersed in water while the person baptizing them says “I baptize you in the name of Jesus only.” This teaching, obviously, causes much confusion and contention. We first noted that there is no magical formula that must be spoken when someone obeys the gospel, and then studied the meaning behind the two expressions (though the text never actually says “Jesus only”), recognizing the fact that both are accurate in describing why we are to be baptized.
During our final study, we answered the question, “Who needs to be baptized?” We first looked at the biblical evidence, noting that one must hear, believe, repent, and confess Jesus in order to be biblically baptized. A case in point is found in Acts 19, where about 12 men who had previously been immersed in water in an effort to obey God had in fact done so without the proper teaching/preparation. They proceeded to be biblically baptized after being taught by Paul, which illustrates the importance of the divine order - teaching/understanding precedes baptism. We then made application to who is not ready to be baptized (i.e. small children, those who’ve never studied the Bible, those who believe they have already been saved, and those who are baptized to join a church other than the Lord’s). I closed by emphasizing that, though we had spent four days focusing on baptism, baptism alone is worthless. It is the last step in the process of becoming a Christian, but it is a meaningless step without taking the preparatory steps the New Testament lays out.
I was very pleased with the way the lessons came across, and the way they were accepted. Unfortunately, we had only two visitors attend the studies, in spite of our efforts to invite friends and family. In some ways we weren’t too surprised by the community turnout, because most of the religious leaders in the village have “blocked” their members from studying with us. We were all a bit disappointed by the lack of visitors, but I tried to emphasize that if all the Christians would gain a good understand of the topics we covered, they would be equipped to answer the questions of their neighbors in a less formal setting should the opportunity arise.
I am convinced that there are more locals seeking the truth, and we will continue to do our best to present it in such a way as to reach them. Please be praying for open doors in Tulwei Village and throughout Malekula.
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