*As to some details of this article, the Editor is not quite sure. Let the readers be exercised for themselves as to them.*
"Is the ordinance of baptism figurative of resurrection as well as of death? Do such scriptures as Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:3, 4; 1 Peter 3:21, teach this ? The putting under the water is figurative of death ; is the coming out of the water equally significant ? "
These questions were answered in the negative in help and food for April, 1906.As I believe the scriptures cited, with others, answer the questions in the affirmative, and as baptism thus acquires a deeper meaning, I submit my view.
The Greek words whence we derive our "baptize " and "baptism" have a root-meaning "to dip" or "immerse;" and burial under water certainly is a natural figure of death under judgment, as witness the flood in Noah's day. Yet Scripture also speaks of "baptism " where death and judgment are not symbolized. I refer to "baptism" by the Holy Spirit. We were "baptized" by the Spirit into the body of Christ (i Cor. 12:13). Death and judgment have no place in this baptism, but rather their opposite- union with a risen and glorified Christ.
True, baptism by the Spirit doubtless is based on the realities symbolized in water baptism. The Spirit baptizes none who are not by faith identified with the once-crucified Saviour. But the Spirit's baptism goes beyond water baptism. It does not indeed express resurrection, but effects something beyond resurrection-union with Christ. Only souls already "risen with Him" are "joined"to Christ by the Spirit. May not water baptism figuratively carry us as far as resurrection, since the Spirit's baptism carries us still farther ?
As we go on, this will become unmistakable. We shall find that water baptism figures the fundamentals of the " Kingdom," even as the Spirit's baptism into "one body" forms the "Church." Baptism by the Spirit unites us to Christ as Head of the Church, His body. In water baptism we are symbolically brought to Christ as Head of a new creation, in the only way possible-through judgment, death, quickening, and resurrection with Christ.
These things are put together in the typical baptism unto Moses:"Our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (i Cor. 10:i, 2). Without difficulty we recognize a type of the Spirit's baptism and presence in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night that guided Israel.* *No doubt the type directly points to the Spirit's baptism in a day still future, to which John the Baptist alluded (John 1:33), and which the prophet Joel describes as an outpouring of the Spirit " upon all flesh " (2:28, 29).* Baptism in the sea no less clearly typifies water baptism, the badge of discipleship in the kingdom of God.
Baptism "unto Moses," mediator and savior, pictures baptism "unto Christ." At the Red Sea a people about to be overwhelmed were "saved" by a leader who typically made a way for them through death and judgment, bringing them out "quickened " and "risen" with himself. Was the going into the sea, figuring death and judgment, alone significant, and the coming out of it, typifying quickening and resurrection, not a part of the symbolism of this baptism unto Moses ? Surely the baptized leader, and the people baptized "unto" and "with" him, were thenceforth typically "quickened " and "risen" men throughout their forty years' walk in the wilderness ! Who can doubt it, or think that Christian baptism means less ?
Mosaic baptism was " unto " a person. So is ours -"unto Christ" (Gal. 3:27, Gr.); "unto Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:3, Gr.); and it is in resurrection that Jesus is "made . . . Christ" (Acts 2:36). Hence Christian baptism is "unto" Christ risen. This explains Gal. 3:27-"As many of you as have been baptized unto Christ have put on Christ." Do we symbolically "put on " a dead Jesus in this grand ordinance, or the risen and glorified Christ, the Head of a new creation ? The latter, of course. The baptized soul in the ordinance figuratively is transferred from his old standing "in Adam" to a new standing "in Christ," as Israel was in the baptism unto Moses.
Again, baptism is "unto " Christ. It figures God's righteous way of bringing souls out of their trespasses and sins unto Christ in glory-through judgment, death, quickening, resurrection. Only so can we reach a Christ on the throne of God, and baptism is unto Him where He is.
Does this interpretation seem questionable ? Turn to the only passage in Scripture which directly commissions us to baptize :"Go ye therefore, and disciple all the nations, baptizing them unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined you" (Matt. 28:19, 20). Here baptism is not merely unto "the Man Christ Jesus," but unto the Eternal Son, and equally unto the Father and the Holy Spirit. Have the Father and the Spirit ever tasted death ? Yet baptism symbolically brings "unto "them as truly as " unto Christ." It brings "unto" these three Persons in glory, not unto them in death.
Baptism is no mere figure of death and burial therefore; nor even of death and burial "with Christ," but also figures quickening and resurrection with Him. It symbolizes identification with Christ in the entire mighty work whereby, out of our sins, sin, and condemnation, He fully brings "unto God" -Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-a "new man" created in His own image.
Would anything else serve as a competent badge of the discipleship, not alone of this dispensation, but of those to follow ? Or could symbolism less significant become the grand emblem of a kingdom which halts us at the gate with the solemn declaration from the lips of its King that what is born of flesh is flesh, and none may "see" nor "enter" His realm who are not "born anew" of His Word and Spirit? It would be more than strange if "new birth," pressed on Nicodemus as the one thing needful, had no place in the object-lesson administered in discipling unto the kingdom.
All that we have so far found, a little care will not fail to discover in Rom. 6:, although that text has been a favorite with holders of another view. The passage has been interpreted as if it declared that we are "baptized unto death," and "buried by baptism unto death." We are sometimes told that Christian baptism simply symbolizes "burial"-the putting of the dead in the place of death. If this be all, the rite is doleful-a Christian ordinance without a gospel ! To put the dead in the place of death is to resign them to the grave and to the lake of fire-a thing unbelief may have to do with its unbelieving dead; but certainly not the Christian, in his emblem of life and hope.
Verses 3 and 4 of Rom. 6:really read, "baptized unto His death," " buried with Him by baptism unto death." So in Col. 2:12, "buried with Him in baptism." The language of these passages corrects the view that baptism is a burial in which a dead man is let down into the grave of one who previously has died. On the contrary, Christ and the baptized soul are represented as buried together, at the same time and under the same circumstances. Our water baptism figures identification with Christ in His baptism at the cross (Col. 2:11, 12).
Burial in the "grave " of Christ is not the thought. Something like this has been suggested from 2 Kings 13:20, 21, where a dead man cast into Elisha's sepulcher touched the prophet's bones and lived. But if baptism figures burial in Christ's grave, it is bootless. Even the angel said, "He is risen; He is not here." In His tomb we shall not touch the bones of the true Elisha. They are not there, for He is risen and seated upon the Father's throne!
Sin is what separates from God, and to reach Him we must pass through sin's penalty-death and judgment. The soul attempting this for himself will never emerge from the lake of fire. But to pass through sin's penalty "by faith"-in repentance claiming the divine Substitute's judgment and death as our desert, endured for us-is to find forgiveness and justification. Hence, even if baptism symbolized burial in Christ's grave while His body still lay there, this would not avail. We should touch Him too late. We must pass through judgment and death "with Him," or we shall never be quickened and raised up together.
Elisha in the sepulcher typifies Christ on the cross, not Christ in the grave; and the "burial" pictured in water baptism is not burial in the ground, nor in the tomb of Christ, but "with Him" at the cross, beneath the waters of judgment-the waves and billows that passed over Him. Such is the grand and solemn symbolism placed at the threshold of our faith.
Another clause in Rom. 6:frequently is overlooked. It reads, not that we '' were baptized unto His death," but that "so many of us as were baptized unto Christ Jesus were baptized unto His death " (ver. 3, Gr.). Here, as elsewhere, baptism is " unto " Christ risen and glorified-a thing Paul needed not to emphasize, for it was the cardinal doctrine of Christian faith. What he needed to emphasize was this :Know ye not that so many of us as have been baptized unto this glorified Christ, have been baptized therefore unto His death on the cross, so that we have "died with Christ," our old man has been crucified with Him, the body of sin has been annulled, and we are justified from sin and set free from its dominion ! Such is the argument of the chapter.
In Romans we do not find an explicit doctrine declaring us "quickened" and "risen" with Christ. Eternal life and resurrection are viewed in their future aspects-things fully to be known only when our mortal bodies are made alive. Yet present quickening, in the way this epistle touches it, assuredly is linked with baptism in Rom. 6:4:"We have been buried therefore with Him by baptism unto death in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life," or, "on a new life-principle." Is not the quickening of soul and spirit indispensable for such a walk ?
Still more striking is Rom. 6:5:"For if we have been germinated together" (made to "sprout," "spring up," "grow together") "in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be of resurrection." No one doubts that baptism is a similitude of Christ's death; yet in this similitude Christ and the baptized company are here pictured as likewise springing up together-a figure of quickening and raising up which reminds us of the "corn of wheat" of John 12:24.
Galatians presents a doctrinal advance over Romans. The natural man, the law, the flesh, the world, are swept aside, and in their place looms up a glorious "new creation" "in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 2:19, 20 ; 3:-5:10 ; 5:24; 6:14, 15). Already we have seen emphasized in this epistle a corresponding aspect of the symbolism of baptism. The baptized "put on Christ." In other words, baptism figures our transformation into that "new creation" in Christ Jesus of which this epistle speaks.
Ephesians presents another doctrinal advance. We learn that we who believe have been quickened with Christ, raised up together, and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (2:5, 6). Baptism is mentioned (4:5), but a symbolism of baptism corresponding to the theme of the book is not developed.
But in Colossians, the doctrinal complement of Ephesians, we find what we might expect:"Buried with Him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised together, through faith of the working of God, who raised Him from among the dead" (2:12). The clause I have put in italics shows how the identification with Christ in burial and resurrection, figured in baptism, becomes effectual as God's judicial reckoning for the soul. It is through the soul's "faith in God's operation, in raising Christ from the dead" (compare Rom. 4:23-25).
But what of the Greek pronoun variously translated "which" and "whom?" The context must determine this point, and the argument for "which " seems overwhelming.
1. The doctrinal context calls for " which." Since resurrection is part of the symbolism of baptism in other texts, and since Romans and Galatians emphasize a significance of baptism especially suited to their respective themes, Ephesians and Colossians call for an emphasis upon resurrection.
2.A pronoun is referred to its nearest antecedent if this gives good" sense and a natural construction. "Baptism" is the nearest antecedent, and "which" gives the better sense and the more natural construction.
3. "Whom "is grotesque. Notice that the burial is "with" Christ, and the raising also "with" Him; that the burial is "in" baptism, and the raising also therefore naturally "in" baptism. But if we say "in whom" we are raised "together," we have this strange doctrine:"in" Him we are raised "with" Him! Each thing may be true, considered apart, though Scripture says "with" Him in this connection (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:12, 13; 3:i). But shall we put both things together, in mutual contradiction, in one breath ?
Let us test the doctrine already found by turning to Peter:"The ark . . . wherein few, that is, eight, souls were saved through water, which also in the antitype doth now save you-baptism, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the appeal of a good conscience toward God,) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (i Pet. 3:20, 21). We will touch nothing which may seem obscure:the essential point is plain. The ark in Noah's day was a type of salvation "through water," the flood figuring judgment. Baptism is an antitype which "doth now save." Type and antitype both figure " salvation," and a salvation "through water," the symbol of judgment. Is not this precisely what we have found elsewhere ?
Mark that the "salvation" pictured is "through" water, hence out of it:-as with those in the ark, so with those baptized. The question at the head of this article is answered here by a direct scripture.
If "the putting under the water is figurative of death," so "is the coming out of the water equally significant." Indeed, this last alone figures "salvation;" and baptism, like the ark, figuratively "doth now save."
Acts 22:16 teaches a like doctrine:"Arise, and get baptized, and have thy sins washed away." The washing away of sins in baptism undoubtedly is figurative, as are burial, judgment, death, quickening, and resurrection. But a figure of sins washed away implies new creation. How can one who is a sinner by nature and practice figuratively come up out of judgment, purged of sins, unless he comes up figuratively a "new creation in Christ ? "
Indeed, regeneration is the point here. If the action of water pictures judicial purging (e. 1:, judgment), it likewise typifies regenerative cleansing by the Word. The Church is sanctified and cleansed by "the washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26). To His own the Lord said, " He that is bathed … is clean every whit" (John 13:10, Gr.); and again, "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). We are born anew of "the word of God," the "word of truth" (i Peter 1:23, 25; James 1:18). Or, as the Lord figuratively puts it, one entering the kingdom must be " born of water and of the Spirit" (John 3:5)-a fundamental truth which reappears in Titus 3:5 :" According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." In this light the doctrine of Acts 22:16 becomes luminous:baptism is a figure of sins washed away in regeneration.
Reviewing these texts in their order in the New Testament, the symbolism of baptism unfolds a progressive symmetry corresponding to the Spirit's development of the truth.
(1) We begin with regeneration in Acts 22::baptism figures us as born anew of the Word and Spirit -our reception of that new life and new nature which alone may " enter" the kingdom.
(2) Romans 6:emphasizes death, judgment, and quickening:our baptismal burial "in the likeness of His death " pictures our "old man " crucified, and ourselves, thus "justified from sin," " springing up " anew with Christ to walk on a new life-principle.
(3) In Galatians our baptism figures complete transformation :with ourselves and the world alike crucified; nought emerges from the waters of judgment save a new creation in Christ Jesus !
(4) In Colossians our burial with Christ in a baptism wherein we also rise together, symbolizes identification with Him both in judgment and resurrection :dead to the world, but risen with Christ, we set our minds on things above, where Christ sitteth at God's right hand.
(5) i Cor. 10:warns us that Christian baptism is worthless for a mere profession that refuses the obedience of faith ; for God, displeased with baptized Israel, overthrew them in the wilderness !
(6) Contrariwise, in i Peter, where God's begotten children are viewed as strangers and pilgrims in a corrupt world, beset by fiery trials, but kept by God's power unto salvation yet to be revealed, our baptism prophecies to faith a corresponding doctrine of hope and assurance. As the souls in the ark were "saved through water," so antitypical baptism "doth now save " by resurrection of Jesus Christ, picturing the present salvation of our souls, our present preservation through difficulties, and the full, glorious issue of our pilgrimage !
Is it not like God to place at the door of our discipleship an emblem so simple, yet capable of reflecting a new and splendid light from each new development of the doctrine of our salvation ? And is it not a fault to hide this glory by pressing a single aspect of the symbolism to the exclusion of other phases still more bright ?
There remains the baptism of John. His call to repentance preceded both the Cross and Christ's own public ministry. Hence John's baptism was unto repentance, in hope of remission of sins through the "Coming One." The baptized entered a Jordan into which as yet no substitute had gone. Had this been all, the spectacle would have been pitiable. How the sight must have moved the compassionate heart of Jesus! Instantly He went down underneath the waters. Wondrous grace ! He was baptized unto sinners-unto their death. He pledged Himself to pass into their judgment for them; and we know this meant that He must taste the bitterness, that they might come through unscathed.
Baptism by Christ's disciples, prior to the Cross, had a brighter significance. It was unto Immanuel, present amongst men, and unto Him as One who already had entered the waters of baptism with sinners-His life thus pledged for theirs !
Our baptism comes after the Cross. How gloriously different! It is not like John's-burial in a Christless Jordan; nor yet like the disciples' before the Cross-unto a pledged but unsacrificed Substitute. It is unto One who has gone down into the depths, exhausting their power to bruise, and has come out with the thrilling cry, "It is finished!" It is unto Him raised up by the glory of the Father-once slain, but now alive for evermore! Yet it is no less unto His death, that we may claim association with Him in all that He passed through for us- judgment, death, quickening, and resurrection. This is life and salvation, for " as He is, so are we in this world " (i John 4:17).
It has been assumed that such views cannot be reconciled with household baptism; but I find the two things side by side in Scripture. Household baptism derives its brightest luster, its fullest blessedness, and its real justification, from this deeper import of the rite. F. A.