I decided to go ahead and c&p this information about the scriptures referencing baptism, for those who may regard the Bible as authoritative and are interested in worshipping God.
I"Let us notice for those who read nothing but their English Bibles that the expressions, circumstances, and places connected with the administration of baptism in he New Testament prove it to have been immersion.
"Beginning with Matthew 3:
"In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
"For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
"Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."
"We notice that John baptized where there was an abundance of water, and that he baptized
in Jordan. Lientenant Lynch, of the United States navy, who traversed this river, says that "its width varies at different points from seventy-five to two hundred feet, and its depth from three to twelve feet."
"At the traditional spot of our Lord's baptism, in the week preceding Easter, about seven or eight thousand pilgrims come, according to Dr. Broadus, "from all parts of the East, and there these thousands, men, women, and children, do actually immerse themselves and one another in the river - not as baptism (for they have received that in infancy), but as a sacred bath at that holy spot." This same event occurs at the same spot every spring.
_In Matthew 3:13, and following verses, we read: "
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him."
"
The Lord Jesus went, it seems, about seventy miles for the express purpose of being baptized.
"
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and lo the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
"No one can read this passage carefully and not decide that our Lord was baptized
in the river Jordan.
"Notice now Mark 1:4-11: "
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
"I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with [or rather, in] the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
"And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.
"And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
"John 3:23, reads: "
And John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much water there; and they came and were baptized." John the Baptist required an abundance of water for baptism.
"In the Acts, eighth chapter, we have the baptism of the ennuch. Begin with the
thirty-sixth verse: "
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
"And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the ennuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."
"Can any one deny the fact of immersion from so plain an account? Read also the account of the conversion and baptism of the jailer and his house at Philippi, when Paul and Silas were so mercifully delivered.
"Turn to Acts, sixteenth chapter, and read from the thirtieth to the thirty-fourth verse: "
And brought [i.e., the jailer] them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."
"What now are the facts in this case? First, the jailer took Paul and Silas to his house, where the apostle preached the word of God; secondly, the jailer took them out the same hour of the night, "
and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway"; thirdly, after the baptism, it is stated that the jailer again "
brought them into his house," and "
set meat before them and rejoiced in God with all his house."
The symbolical meaning of baptism indicates immersion. Ananias said to Paul: "
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Sprinkling would imply here the use of too small an amount of water to be adequate for a washing.
In Romans 6:3-4, we read: "
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Here baptism is spoken of figuratively, symbolically, as a burial, "
buried with him by baptism"; hence, when there is no burial, there can be no baptism.
"Bloomfield, who is not a Baptist, says of these two passages of Scripture: "There is here plainly a reference to the ancient mode of baptism by immersion, and I agree with Koppe and Rosenmiiller, that there is reason to regret that it should have been abandoned in most Christian churches, especially as it has so evidently a reference to the mystic sense of baptism."
"Read now Colossians 2:12: "
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
"Lightfoot, a Pedobaptist commentator, says of this verse: "Baptism is the grave of the old man and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins; as he emerges thence, he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and a new life." Bishop Wilson, another Pedobaptist commentator, says: "The expression 'buried with him in baptism' alludes to the ancient form of administering that sacred ordinance of the immersion or burial, so to speak, of the whole person in the water, after the example of the burial of the entire body of our Lord in the grave." We have then the authority of God's word for what baptism is. The opinions of learned men confirm this authority. It is, moreover, worthy of note, that while these scholars are Pedobaptists, no Baptist can be found who will concede the validity of sprinkling or pouring as New Testament baptism.
When Jesus was on earth, he said to one and another: "
Follow me." Let all who would be truly enrolled among his disciples, follow him in baptism.
"To Jordan's stream the Saviour goes,
To do his Father's will;
His breast with sacred ardor glows,
Each precept to fulfill.
"As from the water he ascends,
What miracles appear!
God, with a voice, his Son commends:
Let all the nations hear.
" Hear it, ye Christians, and rejoice,
Let this your courage raise;
What God approves, be this your choice,
And glory in his ways."
"If ye love me," Jesus says, "
keep my commandments."
from: From
Edward Macknight Brawley, editor,
The Negro Baptist Pulpit: A Collection of Sermons and Papers on Baptist. . ., 1890, pp. 129-142.
