Baptism: A Public Profession

I was asked recently upon what grounds do I teach that baptism is a profession of faith.  That's a good question.  This is how I sought to answer it:

I believe that Believer’s Baptism is a “public affirmation of faith.”  By “public” I mean that the ordinance is external, not internal.  I am not so much thinking of the number of people or even the physical environment.  The word “public” has two nuances: 

1) it concerns people of a whole; and 

2) it is in open view.  

Both of these ideas are in play here.  That is why I believe the word “public” is a good word.  Believer’s baptism is an open confession and it concerns a corporate group of people, namely the Church.  I am basing this on Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV),

¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This command was given to the Apostles and it is a command that is in force “to the end of the age”.  Obviously they, and those that follow in the Apostolic teaching (ergo the New Testament), are commanded by our Lord to “baptize” disciples.  That’s why we call it an ordinance. The main imperative in the command is “make disciples” literally reading: “going therefore, disciple all nations”.   There are two participles: baptizing and teaching which modify the verb.  The point is that the Church is called to make disciples by baptizing them.  Baptism is something done to you.  It is applied externally as a function of the Church. Therefore by definition it is public.

So when Peter answered the questions of the enquirers after his sermon on Pentecost, “[he] said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38, ESV).   The verb “be baptized” is passive.  That means, “Go and have this done to you.”  Again, it is a clear command.

Paul writing in Colossians 2:12 (ESV) (¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.),  explicitly defined baptism as an act done through faith.  Likewise 1 Peter 3:21 makes plain, baptism is an appeal to God for a clean conscience, in faith of the resurrection of Christ.

So, it is public in the sense that the Church is baptizing the believer based upon their appeal to God in faith.   I also believe that because of the proximity to Believer’s Baptism with faith and salvation, that it is co-joined to the assertion of Paul in Romans 10:9–10 (ESV),

⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

In other words if 1 Peter 3:21 is the clearest New Testament definition of baptism, as I have asserted, then it is probably concurrent with the “confession that Jesus is Lord” based upon the resurrection of Christ.  The similarity and parallel structure of 1 Peter 3:21 and Romans 10:9-10 is such that I view Believer’s Baptism as one’s “confession with the mouth”. 

So Christ has authorized and commanded the Church to baptize those who cry out in faith to God and confess Jesus is Lord.  As the Church and the believer obey this what results is a public affirmation of faith in God through Christ, based upon the Gospel.