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Beauty Will Rise - Steven Curtis Chapman
Other than the unmistakable fact that the English word ‘baptize’ comes from the Greek word ‘baptizo’ – which means to immerse – and is the only word ever used in connection with that act of obedience which follows faith in Christ, is there anything else that is significant about the mode of immersion with respect to being baptized?
Listen to what some dead guys have to say about it:
William Tyndale
“The washing [of baptism] preacheth unto us that we are cleansed with Christ’s bloodshedding, which was an offering and a satisfaction for the sin of all that repent and believe, consenting and submitting themselves unto the will of God. The plunging into the water signifieth that we die, and are buried with Christ, as concerning the old life of sin which is Adam. And the pulling out again, signifieth that we rise again with Christ in a new life full of the Holy Ghost, which shall teach us and guide us and work the will of God in us, as thou seest Rom.VI.” ( Obedience of a Christian Man, 1571 edition, p. 143.)
Martin Luther
“If you consider what baptism signifies, you will see that the same thing [immersion] is required. For this signifies, that the old man, and our sinful nature, which consists of flesh and blood, is all submerged by divine grace, as we shall more fully show. The mode of baptizing ought, therefore, to correspond to the signification of baptism, so as to set forth a sure and full sign of it.” ( De Sacram. Bapt. Quoted by Conant, The Meaning & Use of Baptizein)
Now, while these great men of the faith erroneously extended this sacrament to infants, they nonetheless understood what baptism was meant to be and what it signified.
