It is essential to understand, as best we can, the Christian Sacraments: Baptism and Communion, because they define our belief, and our church. The Sacraments provide the glue that holds churches and Christians together. Everyone thinks that they know what baptism is, but hardly anyone actually studies it. Former Pastor Tom Hendershot wrote a very interesting book on baptism (Holy Baptism, 2017), and I’m going to share his findings with you this morning. The first interesting finding is that what we call water baptism is an Old Testament practice
Was John immersing people in water? Contrary to Baptist opinion the Bible doesn’t specify that, so we don’t actually know. Is a rite of immersion found in the Old Testament? No. Of all the water ceremonies found in the Old Testament, complete immersion is not included. So, if John was immersing Jesus and the people of Jerusalem, it would have been something new and unknown to them. Because John was the transitional figure between the Old and New Testaments, John would not have introduced something new. Rather, he was fulfilling something old.
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