SHOULD I BE REBAPTIZED OR NOT? By Jack Cottrell

There are so many views about baptism that it is easy to understand how someone could be confused as to whether or not their own baptism was or is valid. If you are a conscientious person who sincerely wants to follow Biblical teaching as closely as possible, then you want to be sure that you have been baptized according to the Bible’s teaching about it. This is especially true since the Bible does say that baptism has something to do with one’s salvation.

Let’s say you are a person with a varied church background, and have been exposed to different views of baptism. You understand that some people say baptism is the point of time when God saves you (as Colossians 2:12 seems to say), while others say that baptism is just a portrayal of a salvation experience that has already happened to you. And let’s say that you were baptized with the latter understanding, but now wonder if that was sufficient and whether you should be baptized again with the former understanding. In addition, let’s say that you sincerely believe that you have been a Christian most of your life, living with the assumption that you are a forgiven, Spirit-filled person. So—is another baptism really needed? Am I really saved? So many questions!

I have written a number of things for the purpose of showing that the Bible’s clear teaching is that baptism is the moment when salvation comes to the sinner. One is a book, Baptism: A Biblical Study (College Press). One is an audio course, “The Meaning of Baptism” (Illumination Publishers). Then in my systematic theology, The Faith Once for All, the entire chapter 20 is on “Baptism.” At the end of that chapter I address the question raised above. What I am doing here now is copying what I have said on the last page of that chapter (p. 373), in case anyone is struggling with these issues. Here goes:

This leads to a final question, namely, what is the spiritual status of the millions of people who have mistakenly followed the false views of baptism, whether in regard to meaning, subjects, or mode? This is a very difficult question and cannot be thoroughly answered in the brief space available here. In general, though, we may answer it in two steps.

First, in view of the clear teaching of Scripture on the subject, we must say that only those who have consciously received immersion as a saving work of God can be confident of their present status as Christians and as members of the body of Christ. It is, of course, possible that in some cases God has made exceptions and has acted outside his stated plan of bestowing salvation upon believers in immersion, but we have no right to presume upon God in this respect. If someone who has not been biblically baptized is convinced that God has saved him or her, we may follow this procedure. One, while granting that God may have made an exception, we must insist that no one can know this for sure. Experience can be deceiving (Matthew 7:21-23). Two, we must make sure that the biblical teaching on baptism is clearly understood and accepted. Three, we must invite the person of unsure status to receive baptism properly, while calling upon God to work upon him or her whatever works of salvation he has not already worked. [See addendum at the end.] Only then can a person be sure of his or her present status before God.

Second, with regard to the future, in the final judgment we can expect God to judge all persons who have received baptism improperly in the same way that he will judge everyone else, namely, in accordance with their conscientious response to available light. No one will be condemned for failing to meet some particular requirement as long as he or she is conscientiously responding to whatever light is available to him or her (see Romans 4:15). It is obvious that human traditions have seriously distorted and limited the light of Scripture concerning baptism, and many sincere people have responded in good conscience to what light they have. For this reason we may hope to see such people in heaven.

This last point does not permit us to give anyone false assurance about his or her present state of salvation, however; nor does it give us the right to change the clear teaching of Scripture on believers’ immersion for salvation. The “available light” principle applies only to future judgment, and it can be applied only by the omniscient God. For us today, as individuals and as the church of Jesus Christ, we must continue to believe and proclaim the clear biblical teaching about baptism without cowardice and without compromise.

[Addendum: three paragraphs above, I referred to the possibility of being rebaptized while “calling upon God to work upon him or her whatever works of salvation he has not already worked.” Here is a sample prayer of what I mean by this “calling upon God.” First, I am thinking of Ananias’s instruction to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 22:16 to get up and be baptized, “calling upon His name.” I take this to be a prayer to God that He will keep His promise to work the work of salvation in the baptismal moment. Second, the content of such a prayer as I am thinking of here would be something like this:

“Dear Father, I thank you for everything that I have learned up to now about you, about Jesus, about salvation, about the church, and about baptism. I pray that you will forgive me for anything that I might have misunderstood. I thank you that I could know you and your Word. I thank you for all the good things that are in my life as a result of knowing you. Especially, I thank you for everything you have already done or may have done about my salvation, and I thank you that I have been able to respond to your grace as well as I could. But I am not as sure as I need to be that I have done the right things, especially about my baptism. So here I am, submitting to baptism as I now understand it, namely, as the time when you are promising to give me forgiveness of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And my prayer is this: I call upon you in this moment, to do for me and for my salvation WHATEVER, if anything, you have not already done. I leave it in your hands to know what this may be. And from this point on, I won’t have to wonder about such things again; I will know now that I have received your saving grace and am a part of the body of Jesus Christ. Thank you for that assurance!” In the name of Jesus my Savior and Lord – Amen.]