Proper Subjects of Baptism
by Dan Morley
God has not withheld from speaking clearly and didactically on the matter of baptism through his sufficient, authoritative, and inerrant word. The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (2LCF) articulates the various facets of baptism systematically and, subsequent to articulating the biblical meaning of baptism, confirms in chapter 29, paragraph 2, the proper subjects as “Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience, to our Lord Jesus, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.” Through a historical, biblical and practical examination of this paragraph, we will see that deviation from scriptural commands and precedence by “baptizing” any who do not meet such prerequisites of repentance, faith, and obedience, would be want of conformity to the word of God on an ecclesiastical matter of duty.
Historical Background
Historically, we see criteria of those who profess repentance, faith, and obedience, as the proper subjects of baptism by way of apostolic authority, apostolic precedence, and subsequent testimony of early church practice. First-century apostolic authority and precedence of baptizing proper subjects of professing believers is revealed in the New Testament as established positively by command and practice. For instance, in Matthew 28:18-20, Christ commands His disciples to baptize those who believe the gospel; in Acts 2:37-41, Peter commands those who believe the gospel message to be baptized; in Acts 8:38 having believed, the eunuch was baptized; and in Acts 22:16 Paul was baptized, calling on the name of the Lord.
There are several second-century church authorities that affirmed the necessity of faith and repentance as a requirement for baptism. These include Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Walafrid Strabo. Third century advocates include Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, and Cyril. Fourth century supporters include Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, Arnobius, and Jerome.[1]
If the historic criterion for the proper subjects of baptism is to be professing believers, how then did the church come to develop the practice of baptizing unregenerate people who neither believe, repent, nor endeavor by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well pleasing in all things (2LCF 14.2 and 15.3)? A misunderstanding of John 3:5 by the second century church led to a belief that the necessity of baptism was required for entrance into heaven. As an emergency practice of necessity to prepare the seriously ill for the afterlife, there arose an early acquiescence of emergency baptism, which eventually led to the opinion of its necessity to save dying infants (who are incapable of professing belief and repentance) from perishing in their sins.[2]
Hercules Collins, addressing the emergence of baptizing of children for the removal of original sin and receiving of everlasting life, answered “And for its antiquity, you cannot reach to Christ, nor his Apostles, for it was not practiced, or hardly heard of, ‘till about three or four hundred years after Christ, and in the fifth century, it received its sanction by the Decrees of Popes and Councils.”[3] The baptism of unregenerate subjects originates from a view of an emergency sacerdotal grace-endowing deathbed practice that was incorporated into the church of Rome and handed down through tradition of man, and continues today.
While the confession’s precursors, Westminster Confession of Faith 28.1 and Savoy Declaration 29.1, are quite similar on the meaning of baptism, the Second London Baptist Confession steps out of the paedobaptist mould and addresses exclusively the proper subjects of such baptism in view of the biblical meaning of baptism as basis for its proper subjects.
Biblical Basis
The apostolic authority and precedence of requirements for proper subjects of baptism is belief (Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:36-38; Acts 8:12; Acts 18:8), and repentance (Acts 2:37-38), as evidenced in giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:2-4; 2LCF 29.1). According to Weaver, it is revealed in the great commission that it is “the unalterable will of Jesus Christ, who is King and Law-giver to his Gospel-church, that all persons believe before they are baptized,” and that it is “the indispensable duty of all true believers to be baptized” (Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:16).[4]
Furthermore, as the New Covenant gospel ordinance of baptism which is given to the party being baptized is a sign of his fellowship with Jesus Christ, in his death, and resurrection; of being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of his giving up to God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life (2LCF 29.1), the proper subjects therefore must only be those who credibly profess that to which baptism is a sign of. John Tombes summarizes it well as “Those who repent of sin, believe on Jesus Christ, and are his Disciples.”[5]
The proper subjects of baptism must exclusively be those who are united to Christ, as baptism is a sign of the reality of a believer’s union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:1-4; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:11-12). To possess such union as expressed and professed in baptism, the Spirit must first grant faith and bring about repentance. The party being baptized must have been transferred from the dominion of Satan into the dominion of Christ, from darkness into light, from death to life.[6]
As convincing as the New Testament texts may be, Old Testament typology further sheds light on the issue. Exodus 29:4 imposes on the priesthood the washing with water for the inauguration of priestly service before performing their duties, until the time of reformation (Heb. 9:10). New covenant believers, who are a royal priesthood, have boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and have a High Priest over the house of God. We draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10:19-22). Baptism represents the New Covenant reality of Old Covenant washings/baptism (Heb. 6:2).[7]
The church is a spiritual temple with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone, the apostles and prophets as the foundation, and the members as living stones being built up and fitted together, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-10). Priesthood inauguration washings were a requirement for priestly duties in the temple.
Practical Application
William Kiffin advised that where a rule and express law is prescribed, it is an express prohibition of the contrary. In Acts 2:38-42 we have the order commanded and practiced. “First they preached; and such as were converted, were baptized; such as were baptized, walked in church-fellowship, etc.”[8] Being baptized exclusively upon repentance and turning to Christ in saving faith, is clear didactic teaching in scripture, and commanded by Christ as a matter of duty. Therefore, for the church to baptize an unrepentant, unbelieving person, as an affirmation of a covenant member of Christ’s Kingdom, is not a divinely sanctioned ecclesiastical practice. Furthermore, for a repentant believer who is a proper subject, to refuse the initial step of obedience in biblical baptism, is in want of conformity to the word of God. When a church “binds” unbelievers, or professing believers who refuse the will of the Father, the church is not acting as the church. Consequently, deviating from didactic teaching and clear commands in scripture is to revert to will-worship and human tradition which grew out of the superstition of baptismal regeneration. Hercules Colins in An Orthodox Catechism answers with a warning to not make ourselves wiser than what is written and commanded in divine revelation,
It is sufficient that the divine oracle commands the baptizing of believers, unless we will make ourselves wiser than what is written. Nadab and Abihu were not forbidden to offer strange fire, yet for so doing they incurred God’s wrath, because they were commanded to take fire from the altar.[9]
Our God is a consuming fire who alone sets the terms of His worship. Priestly entrance into the tabernacle or temple was not permitted without washing. Or perhaps of more relevance, someone who was not a priest was not permitted to priesthood inauguration washings and subsequent temple entrance. Those unregenerate who are not a royal priesthood (our own children included) need to be taught that they are not justified, not in Christ’s kingdom, and not in a right standing before a holy and just God. They need to hear the gospel, and need to be called to repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation.
Of great consequence, as John Tombes staunchly warns, the baptizing of improper subjects “tends much to harden people in preemption, as if they were Christians before they know Christ, and hinders much the reformation of Christian Churches, by filling them with ignorant and scandalous members, besides the great sin of profaning God’s ordinance.”[10]
Not just any building with “Church” on it makes it a true church, or the church of the living God. What makes a church a church is Jesus authorizing local churches to serve as embassies of his kingdom by the granting of the keys of the kingdom as the institutional charter for the local church, which is exercised through baptism. The keys of the kingdom are a church-constituting charter. Benjamin Keach in his definition of a true church includes, “A church of Christ is a congregation of godly Christians, who as a stated assembly (being first baptized upon the profession of faith) do by mutual agreement and consent give themselves up to the Lord, and one to another, according to the will of God.”[11] Baptism as a swearing-in ceremony for citizens of Christ’s kingdom, is a pledge to obey God and submit to God’s people. As the church would view it, baptism is the passport of the kingdom. The responsibility of a faithful church is to protect the name and honor of Christ via the keys of the kingdom by not binding and uniting with, through entrance into visible manifestation of Christ’s covenant and kingdom, those who say “Lord, Lord” but do not do the will of Christ’s father who is in heaven.[12] John Owen describes the institution of the church as rendering Christ’s kingdom visible or conspicuous in distinction from the kingdom of Satan and the world.[13] Members of Christ’s kingdom are made visible to the world by baptism as a formal, public submission and belonging to the Triune God as a sign of new covenant promise fulfillment.[14]
Baptism as a gospel ordinance, symbolizes the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Christ suffered and died for the payment of sins to purchase a people for his own possession, was buried and rose from the dead victorious over sin and death, was seen by many and ascended to the throne in heaven where he reigns with all authority. Baptism is a public declaration and sign of our union with him in his death, burial, and resurrection, being washed, cleansed, made new, and citizens of his kingdom. Baptism ought to be, and exclusively be, dispensed upon persons who credibly profess that which baptism visually represents. Our allegiance is not to the traditions of Rome, but to Christ who is Lord over baptism, and
[1] James M. Renihan, Edification and Beauty: Studies in Baptist History and Thought (Eugene: Paternoster, 2008), 135-36.
[2] Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 378-79; John Tombes, “A Short Catechism About Baptism” In Baptism and Babylon: Get Baptism Wrong and You Could End Up in Babylon (La Vernia: Brogden’s Books, 2021), 76.
[3] Hercules Collins, Some Reasons for Separation from the Communion of the Church of England, and the Unreasonableness of Persecution Upon That Account {Soberly} Debated, in a Dialogue Between a Conformist, and a Nonconformist (Baptist), (London: John How, 1682), 5.
[4] Stephen G. Weaver, Jr, “The Puritan Argument for the Immersion of Believers: How Seventeenth-Century Baptists Utilized the Regulative Principle of Worship.” In Recovering a Covenantal Heritage: Essays in Baptist Covenantal Theology, ed. Richard C. Barcellos (Palmdale: Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2014), 122.
[5] John Tombes, “A Short Catechism About Baptism” In Baptism and Babylon: Get Baptism Wrong and You Could End Up in Babylon (La Vernia: Brogden’s Books, 2021), 68.
[6] Bobby Jamieson, Understanding Baptism, ed. Jonathan Leeman (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2016), 25.
[7] James Renihan, “Episode 48: Believer’s Baptism (Part 3): The Old Covenant Background,” Theology in Particular (podcast), International Reformed Baptist Seminary, July 4, 2022, https://irbsseminary.org/episode-48-believers-baptism-part-3-the-old-covenant-background/.
[8] William Kiffin, A Sober Discourse of Right to Church Communion, (Paris: The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc., 2006), 36.
[9] Hercules Collins, An Orthodox Catechism, ed. Michael A. G. Haykin and Stephen G. Weaver, Jr (Palmdale: Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2014), 76.
[10] John Tombes, “A Short Catechism About Baptism” In Baptism and Babylon: Get Baptism Wrong and You Could End Up in Babylon (La Vernia: Brogden’s Books, 2021), 76.
[11] Benjamin Keach, The Glory of a True Church (Reprint, Conway: Free Grace Press, 2015), 21.
[12] Bobby Jamieson, Going Public: Why Baptism Is Required for Church Membership (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2015), 90-96.
[13] John Owen, An Inquiry into the Original, Nature, Institution, Power, Order, and Communion of Evangelical Churches, in The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 15 (1850-1853; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2020.), 326.
[14] Jamieson, Going Public, 88.
