Repent and be Baptized

I remember thinking about this some years ago, reading different accounts of people getting saved and being baptized right away, (Acts 2:38; 8:34-38; 10:44-48 etc.) I was a bit lost when I asked myself the question “So why don’t we do that anymore today?” Why don’t we baptize people the same day they get saved? I think that there was a waiting period of about 5 years for me, in between the day I got saved and the day I was baptized. Simply because I didn’t really think about it and people did not push me to it. I think that usually, people get saved and then are taught by other Christians about discipleship and after that they’re ready to be baptized, that takes a few months. I’d say that usually, new believers are baptized within the first year of their conversion (or later). At least, that’s what I’ve seen around me. I think that the main reason why we don’t baptize new believers very soon after their conversion is that we want to see for ourselves if he/she is serious and will persevere in the faith. It’s a good thing… but why do we dare to evaluate one’s salvation? I’ve heard of pastors, after many years of ministry, realizing they weren’t saved and coming to Christ, I’ve known adults being baptized and after a couple of years, being baptized again because they confessed that the first time, they just did it to please people, I’ve known people getting baptized and after many years of obedience to God, leave the faith. We all have heard about such things, and please I do not mean to put down these people who got baptized more than once, I believe these people are examples of humility and true disciples of Christ.

So we usually want to teach the new believers before they are baptized just so they understand what they should believe and what the church believes and what it means to be a Christian or to follow Christ. We chat with them and help them understand anything they need to realize and we watch them as they grow and make sure they’re sticking to Jesus, and then, when the person is ready, and when it fits in the 2 dates of baptism Sundays in the yearly calendar of the church, then, ok you can be baptized. I am sorry if this sounds bad, but that’s the way some churches do it, I know it’s different in different churches. Anyways, why do we do it that way? Why do we need to see perseverance before baptism when in Paul’s days people repented and were baptized? Maybe I’m not thinking properly here or maybe someone could come with the answer that we don’t live in the same culture or else, but I wonder about somethings.

1. I think that many so-called “new believers” aren’t as serious as those in the early church’s times.

What I mean to say is that, nowadays, many people “accept Jesus” with little understanding of their desperate need of a Messiah, a Savior, of Jesus. I don’t think that people quite get it and so accept this good news of free heaven and start “churching” with other believers. When they aren’t satisfied with the church’s teachings or because they don’t want to surrender themselves to the lordship of Jesus, they simply leave.

The people in the Acts who came to Christ, came with a desperate heart, a real and passionate realization of their damnation and need for the Messiah, Jesus. As we read in Acts 2:37 “When the people heard this (that they had crucified the Messiah), they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” These people realized that they had crucified the Messiah of God, they found themselves completely empty-handed, having killed the Messiah, I am sure they thought “Man, we killed God’s Savior for us, what can we do now? God is for sure utterly against us! Woe to us!” that’s why they asked the Believers what they should do. They understood they desperately needed Jesus, it was a death and life issue.

Usually, here in Canada that’s not how people come to Jesus.

2. I think that this problem of people not being very serious or not understanding their deep need for Jesus, today, is partially, because of us, Believers. The way we bring the Gospel to unbelievers is crucial. I tend to forget to tell people that they need to repent. They need to see that they are lost. That a curse is on them because they, yes, crucified the Son of God. There is different ways to bring the Gospel to people and sometimes, the Gospel is altered and people don’t realize their deep need and the cost of following Jesus.

Jesus was always blunt about it. “ ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.’ ” (Mat. 8:19-20) “… go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mat. 19:21) “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk 8:34).

Where is our talk about the cost of following Jesus and the damnation that is upon us as long as we remain without Jesus?

So if we’d be serious in the way we present the Gospel to unbelievers, even if it means we have to say that it’s going to be hard to follow Jesus, even if it means to wait for the people to come to point to really realize their need for Jesus, even if it means to have less people accepting Christ today, I am sure that those who will come with a sincere repentance and desperate need to be saved, realizing their sin, these people will be ready for baptism right away. That’s the way it was in Peter’s days, they were blunt about it, they were true. If we need to “test” the faith of new believers, it’s maybe because we have made ourselves judges over them and because people don’t come to Christ with a full understanding. I guess you could say that, that’s why we teach them before they get baptized. You might be right, be obviously what we see in the N.T. is that people truly understood and repented of their sins, believed Jesus and were baptized (all in the same part of the day!)

This entry is getting too long. I am sorry. I might further my thoughts later.

BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES: 5$/ as of April 9, 2006