Authority to baptize is found in Matthew 28:18-20. If this text is very carefully considered according to proper exegesis, immediate and overall context, then authority is being delivered by Christ into the hands of those who are contextually defined as "disciples."
I think I can demonstrate to any objective mind based on proper exegesis, immediate and overall context that "disciples" in this text does not refer to two entities considered in this context, one of which are unbaptized, untaught and unassembled professing disciples or those contextually identified as "them" in Matthew 28:19-20. The other entity of course are those who do not profess to be Christians or the nations unto which they are being sent.
Many imagine that only the eleven considered as "apostles" are being authorized, although Matthew does not use the term "apostles" in verse 16 but "disciples." Many imagine that there are no other disciples present in the immediate context at this mount in Galilee, but the preceding text provides convincing evidence of the very opposite.
However, more importantly, proper exegesis provides many keys to the proper identity of those being authorized to administer baptism. First, they are those who "have" already been evangelized, baptized and assembled under Christ and taught all things. In direct contrast, those identified as "them" in the context are the subjects for baptism and assembling to be instructed rather than administers of such things. The blind cannot lead the blind, the untaught cannot teach what they have not been taught - those being authorized by Christ to administer baptism are not the unevangelized, or the unbaptized or the baptized and untaught but those who have been through this threefold process.
This brings me to the three participles that modify the primary verb which literally translated means "make disciples." Make disciples is the aim in view. But not any kind of disciples. The three participles define what kind of disciple is to be made. It is not a "disciple" who preaches another kind of gospel as those whom are the subjects of the book of Galatians (Gal.1:8-9). It is not a "disciple" who administers another kind of baptism but the only that justifies God and is according to his counsel (Lk. 7:29-30). It is not a "disciple" who teaches contrary to the "apostles doctrine" (Acts 2:41) as those who "depart from the faith" are heretical and condemned in Scripture (1 Tim. 4:1).
Ultimately, he is referring to disciples who have not merely been baptized but assembled not merely for instruction but for proper observation of that body of faith delivered by Christ. Indeed, the New Testament church is inseparable from the third participle as Luke demonstrates in Acts 2:40-41.
So, Judas properly administered baptism because baptism is not given to the individual believer, but the body of believers called the assembly. Therefore, the administrator does not act on his own initiative or authority but under the authority of the body. Baptismal administration finds it authority in a properly constituted body of professing baptized believers.
I think I can demonstrate to any objective mind based on proper exegesis, immediate and overall context that "disciples" in this text does not refer to two entities considered in this context, one of which are unbaptized, untaught and unassembled professing disciples or those contextually identified as "them" in Matthew 28:19-20. The other entity of course are those who do not profess to be Christians or the nations unto which they are being sent.
Many imagine that only the eleven considered as "apostles" are being authorized, although Matthew does not use the term "apostles" in verse 16 but "disciples." Many imagine that there are no other disciples present in the immediate context at this mount in Galilee, but the preceding text provides convincing evidence of the very opposite.
However, more importantly, proper exegesis provides many keys to the proper identity of those being authorized to administer baptism. First, they are those who "have" already been evangelized, baptized and assembled under Christ and taught all things. In direct contrast, those identified as "them" in the context are the subjects for baptism and assembling to be instructed rather than administers of such things. The blind cannot lead the blind, the untaught cannot teach what they have not been taught - those being authorized by Christ to administer baptism are not the unevangelized, or the unbaptized or the baptized and untaught but those who have been through this threefold process.
This brings me to the three participles that modify the primary verb which literally translated means "make disciples." Make disciples is the aim in view. But not any kind of disciples. The three participles define what kind of disciple is to be made. It is not a "disciple" who preaches another kind of gospel as those whom are the subjects of the book of Galatians (Gal.1:8-9). It is not a "disciple" who administers another kind of baptism but the only that justifies God and is according to his counsel (Lk. 7:29-30). It is not a "disciple" who teaches contrary to the "apostles doctrine" (Acts 2:41) as those who "depart from the faith" are heretical and condemned in Scripture (1 Tim. 4:1).
Ultimately, he is referring to disciples who have not merely been baptized but assembled not merely for instruction but for proper observation of that body of faith delivered by Christ. Indeed, the New Testament church is inseparable from the third participle as Luke demonstrates in Acts 2:40-41.
So, Judas properly administered baptism because baptism is not given to the individual believer, but the body of believers called the assembly. Therefore, the administrator does not act on his own initiative or authority but under the authority of the body. Baptismal administration finds it authority in a properly constituted body of professing baptized believers.
