A
similar theological prejudice separates forgiveness of sins and the gift of the
Spirit from the command to be immersed (baptized) in Acts 2:38-39 and attaches
it only to the command to repent. That “repent” is plural and “be baptized” is
singular in no way eliminates immersion from the promised gifts. “Repent” may
well be addressed to physical Israel from the promised gifts. “Repent” may well
be addressed to physical Israel as a nation and “be baptized” to every penitent
believer with a body to be surrendered. (John D. Castelein, “Baptist View:
Responses: A Christian Churches/Churches of Christ Response,” in Understanding
Four Views on Baptism, ed. John H. Armstrong [Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Zondervan, 2007], 55 n. 2)
When
Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:17 states that Christ did not send him to baptize, it
is clear from the context that Paul is not denying how very important baptism
is; rather, he is denying that baptism bonds the candidate to the person performing
it, as if one adheres to the name of the baptizer. In fact, baptism is one of three
basic realities that should unite all Christians: (1) all are baptized into
Jesus’ name (not into Paul’s name); (2) Christ is not divided; and (3) one and
the same Jesus Christ died for all (1 Cor. 1:13). (Castelein, ibid., 55 n. 5)
Baptism
and repentance are both “for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). In the
1600 occurrences of this preposition [eis] in the NT its meaning is
always purposive or consecutive (it expresses the intended result of an activity),
except, possibly in four instances where its meaning may be more nuanced.
Matthew 26:28 uses the same purposive expression as Acts 2:38 to indicate the
purpose of Jesus’ death: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many for [eis] the forgiveness of sins.” No one would contend that a
person should repent because God has already forgiven that person’s unrepented
sins. Until the theological innovation of the sixteenth-century Reformer Ulrich
Zwingli, the church for over 1500 years unhesitatingly connected baptism and
repentance with the forgiveness of sins. (Castelein, “Believer’s Baptism as the
Biblical Occasion of Salvation,” ibid., 159 n. 5)
The
point of 1 Corinthians 1:17 (where Paul says, “Christ did not send me to
baptize”) is not that the act of baptism is not important but that the person
performing the baptism is not important. The passage shows just how crucially
important the church considered the baptismal ritual to be in that there was even
a danger of association salvation with the person performing it. To combat this
error, Paul forges powerful links that are not to be broken between the individual’s
salvation, baptism, the crucifixion, the name of Jesus Christ, and the unity of
the body. (Castelein, ibid., 159 n. 9)
