There are a number of ideas on baptism. From infant baptism and sprinkling to baptism for the dead, and full body and knowledge requirement baptism. Having had a discussion with someone last night on the subject, I thought perhaps to write a short article supporting the views that to my knowledge are the most biblical.

Matthew 28:19 to 20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 16:15 to 16  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

This passages above are probably the most referenced concerning the subject, and there really is a lot said in such short words. So there are some thoughts to point out.

1. The first thing commanded by Jesus is to go and teach all nations; so we can expect a reasonable amount of information should be known about God and Jesus, and what they expect from us before baptism.
2. The teaching in both passages comes before the baptism in sequence of time, not that learning about God ever stops, but the teaching process begins before baptism.
3. The phrase that “he that believeth not shall be damned”. This is an extra statement that stands on its own, as a separate idea, which applies to people baptized and not baptized.

With those thoughts in mind, we should come to the understandings that a) A person needs to be old enough or in their right mind enough to learn about these things, and b) There is a consequence to choosing not to.

Below we have an example of people who were baptized and didn’t know enough. Pay close attention to what the apostle does.

Acts 19:2 to 7 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

What the Apostle Paul does is important. These people though baptized didn’t know anything about Jesus, being knowingly baptized in Jesus name is very important, these people got baptized but didn’t know whose name they were getting baptized in. This is very similar to infant baptism, as the infant wouldn’t have the mind to understand. Neither would someone who is in a coma, or dead, or has a terrible degree of insanity.

It is at this point that it should be said there is a great deal more to baptism that just water. However for ease of reading, and to keep the writing short, lets view the following.

Ephesians 4:1 to 7 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body,

 and one Spirit, even as ye are called in

one hope of your calling;

One Lord,

one faith,

one baptism,

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

This in short is the information which ought to be known about at baptism. There is one ecclesial body of Christians. There is only One Hope for all people, not multiple ways to be saved. There is One Holy Spirit. One Lord Jesus Christ. One faith the scripture portrays. One baptism for agreeing with God to serve him. One God who is the Father.

 These things are the basics of what needs to be known, and it takes a little understanding to understand this. Also it ought to be noted, there is no passage where a forced baptism takes place in the bible, and also as shown in Mark 16 there is a requirement of belief, baptism without belief is ineffective, because it yields a bad result. Comparing this to the following passage is quite important as well.

Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

The truth of this is that God doesn’t want anyone to perish regardless of age, but he does require a set amount of knowledge and understanding, which isn’t very much, and also belief that those things are right, and a willingness to make the agreement to serve him at baptism. There is also another thought that a friend mentioned to me.

Mark 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

We have the analogy of the Bridegroom and Bride to compare to Jesus and the Ecclesia (Christians). Marriage as we know takes a bit of personal responsibility, so too does the self control needed to act in a moral manner. At what point is a person responsible enough to get married? How old are they? What level of Maturity are they at? The similarity to baptism ought to be a close resemblance. The age of the person is not as relevant in this case though as the mental maturity, personal responsibility, and understanding of what needs to be known.

Among the Christadelphians the youngest person known to me to have been baptized was around 12 years old, among us this is considered extremely young. However 15 years of age and upward is very common. At this point personal responsibility has matured more, as well as mental development, and in the opinion of the author is a good age for a person to get baptized.

Now we arrive at another point to consider, and this is “sprinkling” or a shower type of baptism vs complete submersion baptism. For the following example let’s look at how Jesus baptism was performed, because after all we’re all trying to be like him and he is the example to follow.

Matthew 3:13 to 17 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad 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.

1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

This is the precise description of complete submersion baptism, the reason for this has a little to do with context and also to do with the Greek. Notice that Jesus came up out of the water, which means he must have been in the water for him to be able to come out of it. Now take a look at the definition for the Greek word for baptized. The word by definition leaves very little doubt as to what happened, Jesus was baptized with complete submersion.

G907 βαπτίζω baptizō

From a derivative of G911; to make whelmed (that is, fully wet); used only (in the New Testament) of ceremonial ablution, especially (technically) of the ordinance of Christian baptism: – baptist, baptize, wash.

This is important, as it’s the cornerstone and base for what the rest of the gospel teaches concerning baptism.