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Baptism: The Believer's First Obedience
Answers to the most important questions about Christian baptism Baptism is a step of obedience for every believer, but behind this simple act lies a rich tapestry of Christian belief and teaching. In the second edition of this short volume, Larry Dyer responds to the most common questions Christians have about baptism in nontechnical language, making it ideal for personal or small-group study. He explains what baptism is, what it means, why it is necessary, and what the mode of baptism should be. He also addresses whether infant baptism should be practiced, and whether baptism contributes to a believer’s salvation. He ends the book with practical advice for how to prepare for and enjoy one’s experience of baptism.
- GenresTheology
104 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 2000
About the author
Larry E. Dyer
2 books2 followersLarry E. Dyer (Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary; D.Min., Covenant Theological Seminary) was a pastor for more than 40 years. He served in Wisconsin and Illinois before becoming senior pastor at Chapel of the Lake, St. Louis, Missouri. He has taught extension courses through Brookes Bible Institute in St. Louis and Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri. .
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August 12, 2014
I came across this book because my church requires all baptism candidates to read it in preparation for the baptism class. Taking the position of believer's baptism, I found this book to be very good.
This book rocked me. (Well to be fair, not this book alone, but this book combined with other study I'd been doing on the subject of baptism.) Having attended Baptist churches for 15+ years of my life, I found this subject to be very convicting and eye-opening regarding the importance of baptism and its neglect or misappropriation in churches today. How is it that I can attend a Baptist church almost my whole life and still not have a better understanding of what Baptism means? Why do not even Baptist churches teach on baptism more, or practice it in a more biblically faithful manner? This will give me something to wrestle about for months and years to come. If there is so much confusion, so many views on, so much misapplication to the first and most basic of Jesus' commands to believers, could this not be a MAJOR foundational part in what is wrong or lacking in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus today? If Satan can cause so much confusion in the church as to the mode of baptism, who is baptized, the meaning and importance of baptism, has he not struck at a major artery of our obedience to Jesus and our understanding of what he as accomplished for his disciples and his union with them from the very beginning of our Christian lives? If we cannot get even the first and simplest of commands of obedience to Jesus in the life of a disciple correct, we are beginning our Christian lives wrong, and if this is what sets the stage for our lives as disciples, what is to follow?
The book begins by describing five different kinds of baptisms mentioned in Scripture: John's baptism, Christian water baptism, Jesus' baptism into his own death on the cross, baptism of believers with the Holy Spirit, and baptism of unbelievers with fire. This section alone is extremely helpful in setting a foundation for the remainder of the book, as it is important to distinguish what is the referent of "baptism" in a given passage of scripture. Far too much confusion is caused by not carefully distinguishing these things.
The book continues, talking about the meaning of believer's baptism as found in Scripture. In the process, it gives a brief summary of other interpretations of baptism, including Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed/Presbyterian views. Granted, the view the book adopts is believer's baptism, and the summaries of the other views are very brief, however, I question the accuracy of the representations of the other views by the author. Though I am no expert myself on the other views, I found the Roman view to be fairly accurate, I am especially suspicious of the Lutheran view as represented in Dyer's summary. The Orthodox view is something I knew nothing about prior to reading this book. And while in my understanding the Reformed/Presbyterian view is fairly represented, a vague quote by Millard Erickson which is not expanded upon further causes more confusion than clarification on the view to be of much help.
Chapter 3 is a very convicting portion of the book. Discussing common reasons why people are often not baptized after coming to faith, it shows how people fail to obey Jesus in baptism as commanded. However, though Dyer states that baptism is commanded by the Lord, I felt like this was not explained sufficiently but rather assumed. In my opinion, more of the book should have been given to examining those passages that show believer's baptism applies to believers today.
The book mentions baptism in the name of Jesus and baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I would have appreciated if Dyer had explained the reasons for inclusion of baptizing in the name of 1 person versus 3 persons further.
Chapter 5, though not extremely theological is nevertheless very helpful for those being baptized. Covering practical tips for giving your testimony to what to wear when being baptized, it is not something that should be overlooked when being baptized!
I have always been interested in learning more about the relationship between baptism and spiritual warfare. After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went into the desert and was tempted by Satan before beginning his public ministry. When I was 16 and I was baptized, for the following year and a half I went through a very definite season where I felt like I was under almost constant spiritual attack. Though I remained faithful and obedient to Jesus during this time, I believe I was struggling with depression. Similarly, it was right after I was baptized that I began public ministry. At least in my personal experience in of Jesus' experience, baptism seems to be connected to spiritual warfare and a beginning of public ministry. Though I suppose this could simply be coincidental, I am interested in exploring this subject further.
The book concludes with exploring other issues commonly raised in baptism, such as baptism on behalf of the dead, baptismal regeneration, and a further discussion on infant baptism, among other subjects.
Overall I found the book to be fairly comprehensive in its discussion of baptism. Though it does not delve extremely deep into the different aspects of baptism, due to it's length it is very appropriate and helpful for those about to be baptized or for those who want a good introduction into the subject of baptism.
For me personally, simply reflecting on "immersion" as the appropriate definition of baptism was very eye-opening and profound. Any time we you see "baptism" in Scripture, simply re-read this this as "immerse". For me, this completely revolutionized my view of what it means to be united with Jesus Christ my savior, as found in Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 15, and other passages. For me, this new revelation to me is priceless in my relationship with Jesus, and humbling to realize how much I have not understood prior to understanding baptism better. To be fully bodily immersed in the water is a picture of the person's total identification with Jesus. Every part of the person belongs to Jesus and is united with him and belongs to Jesus in his death and resurrection. It has underscored the importance of baptism as the first step of a disciple. What is necessary for a new believer is to understand what it means to be united and immersed into Jesus Christ from the very beginning of their walk with Him as a disciple, and to not understand this is to be profoundly retarded in your Christian life. This subject of baptism completely opened my eyes to the importance of water baptism as a picture of the gospel, through which the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the person of Jesus Christ, where we then receive all the blessings from God the Father!
As far as format is concerned, I would have appreciated the endnote references to be footnoted at the bottom of the page for convenience in seeing the sources of the quotations without having to always turn to the back of the book. However, due to the nature of the book as an introduction to the subject, I can understand while the publishers did not do it this way, although I wish they still had.
The biggest suggestion for improvement for this book I have would be to simply include a basic governing definition of baptism as proposed by the author's view in the very beginning of the book. Though Dyer includes many sentence in the book that begin with "Baptism is...", he never once gives one clear definition of what Christian water baptism is. He begins chapter one talking about five kinds of baptism in the Bible, and then chapter 2 discusses the meaning of Christian water baptism, he never gives one clear definition of it. For this reason I'd suggest this definition of Christian believer's water baptism: The immersion of a person into water who professes faith in Jesus Christ as a symbol of their union and solidarity with Him and thereby also a declaration of their new life as His disciple.
This book rocked me. (Well to be fair, not this book alone, but this book combined with other study I'd been doing on the subject of baptism.) Having attended Baptist churches for 15+ years of my life, I found this subject to be very convicting and eye-opening regarding the importance of baptism and its neglect or misappropriation in churches today. How is it that I can attend a Baptist church almost my whole life and still not have a better understanding of what Baptism means? Why do not even Baptist churches teach on baptism more, or practice it in a more biblically faithful manner? This will give me something to wrestle about for months and years to come. If there is so much confusion, so many views on, so much misapplication to the first and most basic of Jesus' commands to believers, could this not be a MAJOR foundational part in what is wrong or lacking in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus today? If Satan can cause so much confusion in the church as to the mode of baptism, who is baptized, the meaning and importance of baptism, has he not struck at a major artery of our obedience to Jesus and our understanding of what he as accomplished for his disciples and his union with them from the very beginning of our Christian lives? If we cannot get even the first and simplest of commands of obedience to Jesus in the life of a disciple correct, we are beginning our Christian lives wrong, and if this is what sets the stage for our lives as disciples, what is to follow?
The book begins by describing five different kinds of baptisms mentioned in Scripture: John's baptism, Christian water baptism, Jesus' baptism into his own death on the cross, baptism of believers with the Holy Spirit, and baptism of unbelievers with fire. This section alone is extremely helpful in setting a foundation for the remainder of the book, as it is important to distinguish what is the referent of "baptism" in a given passage of scripture. Far too much confusion is caused by not carefully distinguishing these things.
The book continues, talking about the meaning of believer's baptism as found in Scripture. In the process, it gives a brief summary of other interpretations of baptism, including Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed/Presbyterian views. Granted, the view the book adopts is believer's baptism, and the summaries of the other views are very brief, however, I question the accuracy of the representations of the other views by the author. Though I am no expert myself on the other views, I found the Roman view to be fairly accurate, I am especially suspicious of the Lutheran view as represented in Dyer's summary. The Orthodox view is something I knew nothing about prior to reading this book. And while in my understanding the Reformed/Presbyterian view is fairly represented, a vague quote by Millard Erickson which is not expanded upon further causes more confusion than clarification on the view to be of much help.
Chapter 3 is a very convicting portion of the book. Discussing common reasons why people are often not baptized after coming to faith, it shows how people fail to obey Jesus in baptism as commanded. However, though Dyer states that baptism is commanded by the Lord, I felt like this was not explained sufficiently but rather assumed. In my opinion, more of the book should have been given to examining those passages that show believer's baptism applies to believers today.
The book mentions baptism in the name of Jesus and baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I would have appreciated if Dyer had explained the reasons for inclusion of baptizing in the name of 1 person versus 3 persons further.
Chapter 5, though not extremely theological is nevertheless very helpful for those being baptized. Covering practical tips for giving your testimony to what to wear when being baptized, it is not something that should be overlooked when being baptized!
I have always been interested in learning more about the relationship between baptism and spiritual warfare. After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went into the desert and was tempted by Satan before beginning his public ministry. When I was 16 and I was baptized, for the following year and a half I went through a very definite season where I felt like I was under almost constant spiritual attack. Though I remained faithful and obedient to Jesus during this time, I believe I was struggling with depression. Similarly, it was right after I was baptized that I began public ministry. At least in my personal experience in of Jesus' experience, baptism seems to be connected to spiritual warfare and a beginning of public ministry. Though I suppose this could simply be coincidental, I am interested in exploring this subject further.
The book concludes with exploring other issues commonly raised in baptism, such as baptism on behalf of the dead, baptismal regeneration, and a further discussion on infant baptism, among other subjects.
Overall I found the book to be fairly comprehensive in its discussion of baptism. Though it does not delve extremely deep into the different aspects of baptism, due to it's length it is very appropriate and helpful for those about to be baptized or for those who want a good introduction into the subject of baptism.
For me personally, simply reflecting on "immersion" as the appropriate definition of baptism was very eye-opening and profound. Any time we you see "baptism" in Scripture, simply re-read this this as "immerse". For me, this completely revolutionized my view of what it means to be united with Jesus Christ my savior, as found in Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 15, and other passages. For me, this new revelation to me is priceless in my relationship with Jesus, and humbling to realize how much I have not understood prior to understanding baptism better. To be fully bodily immersed in the water is a picture of the person's total identification with Jesus. Every part of the person belongs to Jesus and is united with him and belongs to Jesus in his death and resurrection. It has underscored the importance of baptism as the first step of a disciple. What is necessary for a new believer is to understand what it means to be united and immersed into Jesus Christ from the very beginning of their walk with Him as a disciple, and to not understand this is to be profoundly retarded in your Christian life. This subject of baptism completely opened my eyes to the importance of water baptism as a picture of the gospel, through which the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the person of Jesus Christ, where we then receive all the blessings from God the Father!
As far as format is concerned, I would have appreciated the endnote references to be footnoted at the bottom of the page for convenience in seeing the sources of the quotations without having to always turn to the back of the book. However, due to the nature of the book as an introduction to the subject, I can understand while the publishers did not do it this way, although I wish they still had.
The biggest suggestion for improvement for this book I have would be to simply include a basic governing definition of baptism as proposed by the author's view in the very beginning of the book. Though Dyer includes many sentence in the book that begin with "Baptism is...", he never once gives one clear definition of what Christian water baptism is. He begins chapter one talking about five kinds of baptism in the Bible, and then chapter 2 discusses the meaning of Christian water baptism, he never gives one clear definition of it. For this reason I'd suggest this definition of Christian believer's water baptism: The immersion of a person into water who professes faith in Jesus Christ as a symbol of their union and solidarity with Him and thereby also a declaration of their new life as His disciple.
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