Baptism

Six pages · Baptist

Believers’ baptism and immersion

In the Baptist tradition, as two Australian Baptist associations set it out, baptism is for people who profess their own faith, and it is by immersion. The Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT hold to “the baptism of believers only by immersion” as a founding doctrine, and the Baptist Union of Victoria describes baptism as the immersion of believers when they profess their faith.

General information from Baptist associations’ own pages. Each Baptist church is autonomous, Australian Baptist Ministries says, so the church itself is the place to ask.

Two statements, side by side

Australian Baptist Ministries says there is a Baptist association in each state, and that local churches choose to affiliate together as part of them. Here, in summary, is what two of them publish.

Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT

Statement of Belief, article 9

It calls baptism “an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ”, by which a person publicly declares their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In line with the New Testament, the statement says, it should be given “only by total immersion”. Immersion symbolises three things: the believer being identified with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection; “the remission of sins”; and the believer giving themself to God, to live and walk “in newness of life”.

Summarised from the Statement of Belief the Association adopted in 1979: Beliefs & Statements

Baptist Union of Victoria

Doctrinal basis

The doctrinal basis names “two ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ”, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as “of perpetual obligation”. Baptism, it says, is the immersion of believers when they profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it symbolises the regenerate’s fellowship in his death, burial and resurrection.

Summarised from the doctrinal basis: About Us

Ordinance

Both statements use this word for baptism, and the Victorian one names two ordinances: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Believers

The Baptist Union of Victoria says Baptists insist “only believers may be baptised”, because it believes the New Testament teaches that belief is confessed through baptism.

Immersion

“Only by total immersion,” in the NSW & ACT statement. The Victorian union says Baptists practise “full immersion baptism” because they believe it is the mode of baptism found in the New Testament, and the one that best signifies death, burial and resurrection.

Down into the water, and up

Both statements tie immersion to the same three words. In the NSW & ACT statement, immersion stands for the believer being identified with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection; in the Victorian one, baptism symbolises “the fellowship of the regenerate” in his death, burial and resurrection.

Down into the water, and up A dashed path goes down below a water line and rises again. Three points on it are labelled death, burial and resurrection, the three words both Baptist statements use. death burial resurrection

The three words are the statements’ own. The drawing is a diagram, not a picture of any church’s practice.

What baptism means, as the Victorian union lists it

The Baptist Union of Victoria says the Bible expresses the meaning of baptism in many ways, and lists six, each with its Bible references. In this guide’s words:

  1. It signals that sins are forgiven. Acts 2:38; 22:16
  2. It pictures a person dying to an old, sinful life and rising into a new one through faith in Christ. Romans 6:3,4
  3. It marks a share in the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13
  4. It confesses faith in Christ as Lord, and the wish to do what he specifically commanded. Romans 10:9, Matt 28:19,20
  5. It enacts, in a dramatic way, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12
  6. It goes with the Holy Spirit’s blessing. Acts 2:38, 1 Corinthians 12:13

Baptism and church membership

The Victorian union says that because baptism expresses a believer’s repentance and faith, it is “generally a requirement of membership” in a Baptist church. It also describes a difference that has often arisen between churches:

“Open Membership” churches teach and practise believers’ baptism, yet welcome Christians of other traditions as members once they profess their faith. “Closed Membership” churches take as members only people who were baptised as believers.

As set out by the Baptist Union of Victoria, under Baptist Distinctives

A founding doctrine

The Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT list eight basic doctrines. A church supports all eight to be an affiliated member church of the Association, and a minister supports them to be accredited or recognised. The last of them is “The baptism of believers only by immersion.”

The Victorian union adds a note on how Baptists hold such statements: they have not, as a rule, been required to accept formal creeds or statements of faith, because it regards the Lordship of Christ and the authority of the scriptures as sufficient guides.

Each church its own

Australian Baptist Ministries says “Each Baptist church and organisation is autonomous”, setting its own vision, budget, programs, activities and decisions, and that each church is free to shape its own style, language and ministry. How and when a particular church holds a baptism is a question for that church.

The associations publish lists of their churches: the Baptist Union of Victoria’s Find a Church and the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT’s church list. Australian Baptist Ministries says there is a Baptist association in each state, with ACT churches linked to the NSW association and Northern Territory churches to South Australia’s.

See also arranging a baptism and baptism in the Uniting Church. Back to all six pages or the words each church uses.