Our word "baptize" is
translated from the original Greek word "baptizo",
which means to immerse. All Bible dictionaries translate the
word "baptizo" as immerse, dip or plunge. "Baptizo" does
not mean sprinkle or pour. If our Lord had wanted people to be
sprinkled, he would have inspired the New Testament writers to
use the Greek word "rhantizo". If our Lord wanted people
to be poured He would have inspired New Testament writers to
use the Greek word "katacheo". But he didn’t,
so "baptizo" was used, which can only mean to immerse.
Let’s look in the Bible to see how people were baptized.
In John 3:23 we read, "Now John also was baptizing in
Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there." Why
was John baptizing near Salim? "Because there was much
water there." Scriptural baptism, which is immersion,
according to the Bible requires much water.
In Mark 1:5 we read, "Then all the land of Judea, and
those from Jerusalem, went out to Him, and were all baptized
by him in the Jordan River." Why was John baptizing in
the Jordan River? Could it be "because there was much
water there" in a river?
In Mark 1:9-10, we continue to read, "And it came to
pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming
up out of the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit
descending upon Him like a dove." When Jesus was baptized,
he was baptized in the Jordan River. Why? Again, because there
is much water in a river which is required for scriptural baptism,
which is immersion. Also notice that after Jesus was baptized,
he came "up out of the water." So scriptural baptism
not only requires much water, but it also requires "coming
up out of the water." This cannot be said of sprinkling
or pouring.
Next we turn to Acts 8:36-39. The evangelist, Philip, had
been teaching the gospel or good news of Christ to an Ethiopian
eunuch while they were riding along in a chariot. Then in verses
36-39 we read: "Now as they went down the road, they came
to some water. And the eunuch said, See here is water, what
hinders me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot
to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into
the water, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that
the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing." Here
we see that the baptism that God has authorized in the Bible
requires the "coming to some water", "going
down into the water," and after a person is immersed it
requires "coming up out of the water." How much clearer
could the Bible be on the mode of baptism? Also notice that
after the eunuch was baptized, "he went on his way rejoicing." Why?
Because he was now saved and all of his sins had been taken
away. This is certainly something to rejoice about.
Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we were buried with him by
baptism into death." Here we see that baptism is a burial,
which is what is done when one is immersed. Sprinkling is not
a burial; it is only sprinkling. Neither is pouring a burial.
Both are unlawful substitutions made by man which will cause
many people to be lost.
Colossians 2:12 says that we are "buried with him in
baptism, in which you also were raised with Him." Here
again God requires the one being baptized, to be buried and
raised when he is baptized. When we bury a dead person in the
cemetery, we do not lay him out on the grass and sprinkle a
little dirt on him. No, that would be absurd, and it is just
as absurd in trying to substitute sprinkling for baptism. Sprinkling
for baptism is foreign to the scriptures. God did not authorize
it. There is not one instance anywhere in the Bible where anyone
was sprinkled for baptism.
But we then ask the question, where then did sprinkling or
pouring come from? The first recorded case in all of early
church history was that of Novatian in 251 AD, who lay sick
on his bed and water was poured on him. Who made this first
exception, man or God? Man did without the authorization of
God. God has not approved of it. Sprinkling is just as vain
as if it had never been done. This man made exception over
the centuries became the man made accepted practice until at
the Council of Ravenna in 1311 AD, man legalized sprinkling
for baptism, but without God’s authority. There is no
baptism in the absence of immersion. Since sprinkling is without
God’s authority, if you were sprinkled or poured, then
you have not been scripturally baptized, and you still have
every sin that you have ever committed and are still lost.