Why Won’t Some People be Baptized?

The God’s plan of salvation involves baptism (Acts 2:38).  Why is it, then, that some believe but are never baptized?  Some polls report that 90 percent of Americans believe in God.  A vast majority of these believe in Christ (there are over 2 billion professing Christians in the world).  But only a fraction of these have been immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins.

This essay investigates some of the possible reasons why many believers choose not to be baptized.  But before we get into these reasons, allow me to make the following disclaimer.  I do not mean to imply that if you have not been baptized your motives are covered by these reasons.  I am speaking of these six reasons because they are common and because I hope to discourage any excuses that might delay a person’s obedience to the gospel of Christ.

Reason #1:  A Misunderstanding of the Word “Baptize”

The English word “baptize” was created out of a controversy regarding the proper mode for this important Christian ritual.  The Greek word translated “baptize” is baptizo, which sounds very similar to its English counterpart.  At the time of the writing of the New Testament, it meant “dip, immerse, or overwhelm in the figurative sense.”  In non-Christian literature of the time it could also mean “plunge, sink, or drench.”^[1]

Early in the history of English translations, many of the scholars working to translate the Bible into English wanted to sprinkle water on their subjects rather than immerse them.  The outcome of this desire is the word “baptize,” which is merely a transliteration, not a translation, of the Greek.

You don’t have to know Greek to understand that baptism is an immersion in water.  In John 3:23 we see that “John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there….”  This shows it demanded a large quantity of water.  In Acts 8:36 Philip and the Eunuch came to some water (it was not brought to them).  Then the text says “they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”  Then it says they “came up out of the water” (Acts 8:38-39).  Also, baptism is called a “burial” (Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:3-4).  The same passages say the baptized person is “raised.”  There is a burial and a resurrection, something that cannot be symbolized by sprinkling.

Paul said there is “one baptism” (Eph. 4:5).  After all we have seen, is it possible to conclude that this baptism is any other than an immersion in water?

Reason #2: A Misunderstanding of the Purpose of Baptism

The New Testament makes the purpose of baptism very plain.  Baptism is for salvation (Mark 16:16; 1 Pet. 3:21), forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16), getting into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), being born again (John 3:5), and sanctification (Eph. 5:26).       

Despite these plain passages, many believe that salvation precedes baptism.  In other words, they deny that baptism is essential for salvation.  In fact, most immersions have occurred in religion with the understanding that salvation has already taken place!

Understanding the purpose for your baptism is an important distinction, because according to Scripture, obedience to the command of baptism requires not only the proper mode but also the proper motive.

We have an interesting case study in Acts 19:1-5:

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.  And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”  And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

As Paul conversed with these twelve disciples, he discovered a problem in their understanding: They had been baptized with John’s baptism, which had become obsolete in the Christian age because it looked forward to a Messiah who had not yet come.  Paul commanded them to be baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (cf. Acts 2:38).  This is a scriptural precedent of an apostolic command to be baptized again when the first baptism occurred without the proper understanding. 

What must be understood for a person’s baptism to be acceptable?  Not every point of doctrine, but at least what the crowd in Acts 2 understood—that sin makes men lost, that Jesus is our Savior, that faith, repentance, confession, and baptism are required.

We make a mistake when we believe that actions alone fulfill a biblical requirement.  Doing the commandment without understanding its purpose is not really fulfilling the commandment.

Reason#3: An Unwillingness to Accept the New Testament as Authoritative

Practically every issue facing religion is a question of authority, not interpretation.  Why do major Christian scholars differ on something as simple as baptism?  Do we really think that their minds cannot grasp what God has revealed about the matter?  The disagreement is a matter of authority, not interpretation—we disagree on how important the letter of the law on baptism truly is

In John Calvin’s work, Institutes, he says,

Whether the person baptized is to be wholly immersed . . .or whether he is only to be sprinkled with water, is not of the least consequence: churches should be at liberty to adopt either, according to the diversity of climates, although it is evident that the term baptize means to immerse, and that this was the form used by the primitive Church (emphasis added).^[2]

Calvin’s position on baptism was based on the weather, not his understanding of the Scriptures.  Everybody knows the early Christians practiced immersion for baptism.  Whether a person follows the New Testament pattern depends on the level of authority he will allow it to have over his life.

The New Testament claims to be the Word of God and, therefore, the authority for all matters of religion.  Paul urged his readers not to go beyond what was written (1 Cor. 4:6).  The same apostle pointed out that all Scripture is “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, fully equipped for every good  work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  John said, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.  Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).  Clearly, God means for us to take his Word very seriously.

Reason #4: A Lack of Concern for One’s Soul

We’ve already noted that baptism is for salvation (Mark 16:16; 1 Pet. 3:21).  If a person comes to a realization of this and still refuses to obey God by being baptized, he must not have much regard for his soul.

All have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and the blood of Christ is the only antidote for sin.  Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).

No one is arguing about what saves us from sin—the death of Christ does that.  The question is when do we come into contact with his death?  The question is answered in Romans 6:3-4: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (emphasis added).  When a person obeys the command to be baptized, he is brought into contact with Jesus’ saving death.  It is Jesus’ death, not the water itself, that saves a person, but you cannot contact the death of Christ unless you have enough faith in God to be baptized.

Marshall Keeble was a preacher who had a way with words.  He said,

Some say a man is saved then baptized.  A woman doesn’t wash clothes because they are already clean.  I’ve seen a lot of smart women, but not that smart.  She washes clothes because they are dirty.  Man is baptized because he’s dirty and needs to be cleansed.  The gospel is made up of five pills that will cure anything: first pill—hear; second pill—believe; third pill—repent; fourth pill—confess; fifth pill—baptism.  Take ‘em with water, and they’ll cure sin.

Reason #5: Indifference towards the Body of Christ

Some will say, “Why, I would never disdain the body of Christ!  Maybe I’ve never been baptized, but that doesn’t mean I have a problem with Christ!”

But what is the body of Christ?  The body of Christ is the church (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23).  A lot of professing Christians do not attend church of any kind, and many more have never taken the time to see if their church looks anything like the body of Christ.

What has baptism got to do with it?  Baptism is the means by which a person is added to the body of Christ.  In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul said, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”  This is why we read that on the Day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were baptized and added to the church (Acts 2:41, 47).  Maybe if people took the Lord’s body more seriously they would take baptism more seriously.

Reason #6: Procrastination

Many believers haven’t been baptized for the forgiveness of sins simply because they think they will have time to do it later.  It is foolish to think we have even another minute in this life to do what we can do now.  As the wise man says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Prov. 27:1).

In the book of Acts, baptism was a command that was obeyed with urgency.

• After the first gospel sermon was preached, that day three thousand souls were baptized in response to Peter’s command (Acts 2:38, 41).
• Philip and the Eunuch were in the desert, but the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:37).
• Although it was past midnight and an earthquake had occurred, the Philippian jailer and all his household were “baptized at once” when they learned the truth (Acts 16:33).
• Even the disciples in Ephesus quickly obeyed Paul’s command to be baptized a second time (Acts 19:5).

The reason for these immediate responses has already been discussed.  These individuals knew baptism was necessary for salvation; they knew they were lost in sin and wanted to be cleansed.  They wasted no time.  They wanted to go to heaven.

Soren Kierkegaard makes procrastination look bad by comparing it with cowardice:

Cowardice settles deep in our souls like the idle mists on stagnant waters.  From it arises unhealthy vapors and deceiving phantoms.  The thing that cowardice fears most is decision; for decision always scatters the mists, at least for a moment.  Cowardice thus hides behind the thought it likes best of all: the crutch of time.  Cowardice and time always find a reason for not hurrying, for saying, ‘Not today, but tomorrow,’ whereas God in heaven and the eternal say: ‘Do it today.  Now is the day of salvation.’^[3]

There they are—six reasons why some people believe but refuse to be baptized the way believers were baptized in the New Testament.  Maybe there are other reasons I haven’t discussed.  The overall point is that there is no good reason to ignore the gospel’s command to be baptized.  Don’t make excuses.  If you have come to realize that you need to obey this simple command, find the Lord’s church in your community, and ask someone to baptize you in the name of Christ.

[1] Walter Bauer, F.W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2^nd ed.; Chicago: U Chicago P, 1979), 131.

[2] Institutes, (vol. 2; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 524.

[3] Provocations (Plough Publishing House), 5.