• J. Ernest Brooke A Full Gospel.
• Baptism: A Symposium. The Relationship of Baptism to Salvation.
Gordon R. Stirling Baptism Is the Intention of Jesus Christ.
Kenneth W. Barton. The New Testament Pattern of Baptism.
Fred A. Youens. Jesus Christ Commanded Baptism.
Laurie F. Barker. The Place of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.
D. Bruce McIntosh. The Experience of Salvation through Baptism.

      J. ERNEST BROOKE is the minister of the Balwyn Church of Christ, Victoria. During 1959 he visited Tasmania as a guest preacher at the Tasmanian District Conference, where he delivered an address on "The Full Gospel." At the request of that Conference the full text of that message is produced here.

      Acting on the suggestion that a pamphlet be produced on "The Relationship of Baptism to Salvation" the following were asked (each from his own point of view) to contribute to the general theme, and as the matter was so closely associated with the material dealt with by Mr. Brooke it was felt wise to combine the various articles in one issue of "Provocative Pamphlets."

      GORDON R. STIRLING, B.A., is the minister of the Canberra Church of Christ, A.C.T.

      KENNETH W. BARTON, L.Th., Dip.R.E., is the minister of the Warrnambool Church of Christ, Victoria.

      FRED. A. YOUENS, is the minister of the Gardiner Church of Christ, Victoria.

      LAURIE F. BARKER, is the minister of the Kingsford Church of Christ, N.S.W.

      D. BRUCE MCINTOSH, is the minister of the Jordanville Church of Christ, Victoria.

      The Apostle Paul, speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, and reviewing his ministry among them, could make the great claim that he had proclaimed a full Gospel, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."

      That is in the 20th chapter of the Book of Acts, verse 27. If we turn back to the first seven verses of the previous chapter, we see a vivid illustration of what he meant.

      On his arrival in Ephesus he had met a group of a dozen disciples. He evidently perceived immediately that there was something defective in their Christian experience, for his first word to them was the question, 'Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed' And their reply revealed that his doubt about them was only too well founded. "We have not so much as heard," they said, "whether there be any Holy Spirit."

      So, naturally, he asked them about their baptism--naturally, because baptism in the New Testament is part of the process of becoming a disciple, and also because baptism in the New Testament, after the Day of Pentecost, has associated with it the conscious reception of the Holy Spirit.

      They told him that they had been baptised according to the teaching of John the Baptist. Some people who had accepted the message of Jesus' fore-runner, but for some reason had not learned the fuller Gospel of Jesus Himself, had evidently come to Ephesus, proclaiming the truth as they knew it, and these twelve men had accepted this limited teaching.

      Paul then explained to them that John's was a preparatory baptism, in which people signified repentance for their sins and their readiness to believe "on Him who would come after, that is, on Christ Jesus." When they heard this, and doubtless when Paul had told them more about the coming of Jesus and its great effects, His life, death, and resurrection, the salvation He wrought, and His sending of the Holy Spirit upon those who obeyed Him, "they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus." There was then no longer any doubt about their possession of the Holy Spirit.

      Here was one way in which Paul could claim that he had declared to the Ephesians "all the counsel of God." Here was one great aspect of the full Gospel he proclaimed.

      Today there is a similar need to recover the full Christian Gospel, and again, though in a somewhat different way, the ordinance of Christian baptism needs to be given its true place and value in the Gospel.

      Today it does not need to be taught as the real fulfilment of a preparatory baptism like John's. It needs now to be restored as the true symbol of our saving experience in Christ, over against an age-long perversion which has made it a cause of controversy and confusion.

      In the course of the corruption of original Christianity, baptism was changed almost beyond recognition. On grounds of convenience, its mode was altered from complete immersion, which is not only the meaning of the word, but alone befits its character as the sign of a complete surrender, and the burial of the old life, to pouring or sprinkling.

      The subjects of baptism were also changed. The New Testament emphasis

is that baptism is the response of personal faith, and there is no clear evidence that any but believers were baptised. But in time infants of Christian parents were included, then these predominated, and finally, infants whose parents had no real Christian faith were "baptised", or sprinkled, as a matter of form.

      This was the situation which continued very largely, even after the Reformation. Only a minority of those who sought "to reform the Church in accordance with Scriptures" returned to the New Testament practice of baptism as the immersion of believers, and many of these did not see its place in the Gospel, but made it merely a later "act of obedience."

      Therefore, the world today is presented with a very conflicting picture of this great ordinance which our Lord commanded, and which He intended to convey a great meaning. Consequently, when the various denominations do attempt to unite to preach the Gospel they can only do so by agreeing to leave out all mention of what the New Testament teaches is the act of initiation into the Christian life and membership of the Church. Against this background there is urgent need to take seriously the place of baptism in the Gospel, as Paul did at Ephesus, and like him, not to shun declaring all the counsel of God.

      The true and full New Testament teaching of baptism, for one thing, leads

      John the Baptist told people of the coming of One mightier than himself, Who would deliver them from their sins into the glorious life of God's Kingdom. In acceptance of this faith and hope, he baptised them. But, until Christ came, this hone lacked substance. It held them in suspense. It brought into the soul, not only a thrill of expectancy, but a strain of longing.

      Though in a different sense, the "baptism" of infants is also a matter merely of hope. It is not a personal hope of the one "baptised", but a hope on the part of the Church, and sometimes of the parents, that the child, on growing up, will, at some later ceremony such as Confirmation, accept for himself what was done on his behalf, unknowing.

      In Christian baptism, however, as the New Testament makes clear, there is a present, personal acceptance of Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Conversion and the Christian life become, not something which may or may not follow, but something which is consciously and vividly experienced in faith, and beautifully and satisfyingly symbolised in the ordinance of baptism.

      There is nothing tentative or dubious about believer's baptism, nothing of that wide-spread embarrassment which is making the adherents of "infant baptism" refer to so much of its practice as a "scandal." In the words of the great scholar, Dr. Wheeler Robinson, believer's baptism is "Scripturally sound, psychologically true, intellectually free, symbolically rich in meaning."

      When we come to the true and full New Testament teaching of baptism, we come

      John the Baptist's was a stern and sombre message, exposing and pronouncing certain and terrible judgment upon sin. The axe was laid to the root of the tree; every tree which did not bring forth good fruit was to be hewn down. R was winnowing time; God was going to thoroughly purge His threshing-floor and burn the worthless chaff with unquenchable fire. John concentrated people's attention upon their sins; his major concern was that they should renounce all their wrong-doing. His

baptismal waters became turgid with the washing away of their transgressions.

      So the perversion of Christian baptism which has so largely prevailed through the centuries has been often associated with evil, and fear of its consequences. This was because of the terrible teaching that all people, even babes, were tainted by "original sin", inherited from the fall of the first man, and if they died in that sin a hopeless fate awaited them. Therefore infants should be "baptised" as quickly as possible, especially if sick. Though many have abandoned this doctrine, still it is the source of the motive of fear which lies behind so much practice of infant "baptism."

      What a contrast there is between this and believer's baptism which the New Testament teaches! That, too, is accompanied by personal repentance and renunciation of all sin, but the dominant note is the acceptance of the love of God the Father, the grace of Christ the Saviour, and the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit.

      It is a psychological fact that to concentrate entirely upon evil and its eradication is self-defeating; it focuses the mind more firmly upon it. The superior strategy is to crowd out evil by filling the mind with the positive forces of faith, hope, love, and joy.

      In the full Christian faith shame and sorrow for sin is succeeded by the wonder and joy of its full forgiveness. The waters of Christian baptism sparkle with the joyous sunrise of new life.

      When George Mardikian, an Armenian refugee, arrived at the immigration reception centre in New York, he was handed white towels and a bar of soap and escorted to the showers. The attendant showed them how to work the hot and cold water taps. "How much water can we have?" he asked. "How much?" grinned the attendant; "All you want." "I didn't believe him," said George, "But the minutes went by and the hot water never stopped. I washed away the old world. When I dried myself with the heavy towel I felt like a new human being, taller, stronger, prouder. Ever since I have celebrated that shower July 24th--as my birthday."

      Something like that is the positive, joyous, liberated, and abundant consciousness which accompanies a believer's baptism "into Christ." We may fittingly pray, with Adoniram Judson, in confident faith:

      The true and full New Testament teaching of baptism is so releasing and fulfilling because it leads

      The baptism of John the Baptist was still under the era of the law. The people who came to be baptised asked, "What shall we do?" (Luke 3:10-14), wanting precise details of their duties, and John supplied them. He told the tax-gatherers. "Exact no more than that which is appointed you"; the soldiers, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages"; and the people in general, "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise."

      The instruction was good, but the trouble with it was that, by itself, and placed in the forefront in that way, it would lead people to live simply by rules and regulations, with the peril that they would feel they were saving themselves by their own efforts, ending either in pride or in despair.

      The "baptism" of infants, even though succeeded by careful instruction in Christian faith and duty, runs the same danger. An intellectual grasp of the Christian creed and a correctly cultivated pattern of behaviour may never come to life in living insight and experience. It may all too easily result in a "form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

      The New Testament experience is one of full participation in the great saving acts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4). And this is not by rule and regulation but in the spirit. We trust not in the outward rite; but in faith and love and gratitude we commit ourselves utterly to Christ. We have no thought of saving ourselves, but only of letting ourselves be embraced in His saving deeds.

      Dr. George McLeod, the distinguished leader of the Church of Scotland, has a passage which is worth quoting, first, for its vivid picture of Christian baptism according to the New Testament, and then for its emphasis that baptism is not a thing of self-effort, but of utter trust in Christ.

      "In Celtic days," he says, "they knew the early baptism. Gathered on the east bank of the river were the Faithful, the 'ecclesia', those who had already been 'drawn out' from seeing the world with subhuman eyes, delivered from the natural decay that is the lot of all that is created only of flesh and blood. They were already 'on the other side of Jordan', sealed even now in the New Community.

      "Gathered on the West bank were those who had been instructed in the Faith, and who knew that in them as well there was a dying to be done and a burying. Before entering the water for total immersion they would defy the devil and say good-bye to their individualism; then, after the plunge, and by the sacred Act, they would be joined to the Fellowship of all Believers, shout with them and sing.

      "They were one now in the mystical Body, one with those who sang with them, one with those gone forward who had sung before them, and as part of His appointed Body they went back across the stream to battle with the devil and to win the world."

      Then follow some sentences which sum up with truth and beauty the New Testament significance of baptism: "They had not done to death their false desires; they had been incorporated in the dying of Another. Their old selves were drowned in the Baptism of His Death, that with Him already they might rise to newness of life. They had come to themselves. They were new creatures because they were part of a new Creation. Old things had passed away; everything had become new."

      "They had not done to death their false desires; they had been incorporated in the dying of Another." Here is the deepest, Divinest thing about baptism according to the full New Testament Gospel--which makes it, not just a hope, but a glad fulfilment; not merely a negative renunciation, but a positive acceptance--the fact that it is none of our self-effort, but a living incorporation in and identification with Christ, by Whom and in Whom our whole salvation is effected.

      It was the intention of Christ that those who were made disciples should be baptised. (Matthew 28:19, 20).

      Baptism was to be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This was not a magical formula that gave validity to a baptism. It meant that those baptised were coming into a new relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They were baptised into Christ. (Galatians 3:27). It was not the external act that created the new relationship and brought the believer into Christ. It was the grace of God and the believer's response to it. Baptism was the way in which the response was made evident. To think otherwise would be to believe that God is to be appeased by an external act (baptismal regeneration) rather than that God's grace is freely available to all who come to Him through Christ. "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Baptism is related to salvation in that it is the way that Christ intended that the believer should witness to his response to the grace and love of God through Christ.

      We have erred in saying that Acts 2:38 says that "baptism is for the remission of sins". Acts 2:38 does not say that at all. It says repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. The external act is not what saves. It is Christ who saves the repentant believer who puts himself under Christ's authority. Baptism is the external act that declares faith and repentance and the coming of a man into Christ.

      One can understand the baptismal regenerationist position because it is simple and clear. Salvation is the right to go to heaven when you die. But the unregenerate do not have that right. However, one becomes regenerate through baptism, after faith (one's own or one's proxies), and thus receives the right to go to heaven.

      But this is not New Testament teaching. Salvation in the New Testament is not merely the right to go to heaven. Salvation is a new eternal quality of life that is the result of God coming with His grace and power into the person who has made a whole-hearted response to Christ, through faith. (2 Corinthians 5:17). Baptism is the way in which the believer expresses that response.

      Some have said that baptism is a means of grace. In one sense this is true. But grace is not a Divine commodity that is withheld until a body is immersed in water. The grace and love of God are available to any responding person. When the response is made through the act of baptism, then baptism can be called a means of grace. Similarly the Lord's Supper is a means of grace, but this does not mean that grace is given merely by the taking of the elements and consuming them. Rather grace is given when the communicant, taking the emblems, responds anew to the love of God revealed in the Christ of the cross.

      This all raises the obvious question.

      If baptism is the external act whereby a person signifies his response through faith to the grace of God, then what about people who have not been baptised (in the New Testament way) and yet have responded by faith in Christ to the grace of God, and are showing it in their lives. Obviously they have entered into the experience of salvation. In practice we have always accepted them as fellow Christians, and have recognised the genuineness of their experience, by singing their hymns, reading their books, and co-operating with them in Christian Endeavour Movements, Bible Societies, and combined conventions and conferences.

      Nevertheless, Christ intended that baptism should be the means of response to Him. For the first Church it was always the outward testimony to the receiving of inner grace. For them it was a witness in rich symbolism to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The reason why so many modern Christians have not responded in this way, is because of the very chequered career that the doctrine of baptism has had through the centuries, until Christ's intention has been obscured. In love, sympathy and understanding we must seek to commend to our Christian brethren the practice of baptism as intended by Christ who sent His friends into all the world teaching and baptising.

      Immersion has an indisputable and, also, a vital relationship to salvation in the New Testament. Baptism was a vital part of the apostolic teaching which declared that there was salvation in none other than Christ. It had a part in Peter's preaching at Pentecost, in Philip's preaching to the Ethiopian and to the Samaritans, and in every completed apostolic sermon addressed to sinners. People like Cornelius, the Ethiopian, the Pentecost people, Lydia and the Jailor who heard and believed the gospel of Christ as the power of God unto salvation were all baptised into Christ. After their baptism they were added to the church. The church consists of those who are saved in the sight of God by the gospel of His Son, so it is significant that those who committed themselves to Christ were added to the company of the saved, that is, the church, after their baptism.

      This New Testament pattern is the basis for our preaching on baptism today. Like the apostles and other members of the New Testament church and the pioneers of our Movement, we preach baptism as part of the New Testament way and message of salvation. The New Testament church had a positive message on baptism; so have we. Christ commanded baptism; so we preach and practise it. The New Testament way was positive and imperative. We believe that must be the way today. We do not say, negatively, that the person who is not baptised is not saved. We preach, positively, "he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved." We declare as Peter did, "Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins

      We teach the message of Peter's epistle, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us (not the putting away of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

      We certainly believe and teach

      this message. Sometimes we wonder, though, if many of our folk look upon the confession as the most important step to salvation and that once a person has stepped out to the front and confessed Christ, "'tis done, the great transaction's done," and that baptism follows as a kind of traditional formality. Any such mistaken attitude, and the positive and prolific teaching about baptism in the New Testament, demand that we go on declaring its ordered place in the Divine scheme. At the same time we must maintain a balance and not over-emphasise baptism to the neglect of other requirements in the New Testament plan of salvation. Above all, it must be remembered that it is Christ who saves; that man enters into salvation through his belief in and obedience to the message of Christ's life, teachings, death, burial and resurrection. Further, we must make it clear to all that one's salvation is not just a matter of, say, faith or baptism, but an experience of conversion which is essentially associated with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. This demands clear and ample preaching on the symbolism of baptism as taught in Romans 6. There are so many baptised believers who cannot explain the Scriptural symbolism of their baptism. And it seems important that those who obey Christ in baptism, believing that baptism is related to their salvation, should have a clear understanding of the symbolism of the ordinance.

      The exact relationship existing between Baptism and Salvation is not easy to define. That some relationship, does exist between these two would be even more difficult to deny. When the Lord Jesus saw fit to send His chosen representatives out to preach the way of Salvation, He first took time to preface His Commission with the greatest claim to authority ever heard on this earth. Said He, "all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth . . ." Having (as it were) shown His credentials, He then exercised the authority claimed, and bade them to "disciple the nations baptising them into the name of the Father . . ." Did the thing He sent them forth to do involve the salvation of those who responded? The Book of Acts permits of but one answer. Then Baptism in some way, was a contributing factor. For in this "discipling" Baptism was both commanded of, and practised by those who respectively preached and responded.

      The very expression "Unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38. R.V.) powerfully suggests that the ordinance (as Jesus authorised it) was a contributory step toward the estate called "Saved."

      How far is this ordinance contributory? The Scriptures suggest that to a very considerable degree.

      Consider the following truths:--

      A. Every detailed conversion recorded in Acts reveals that those led into salvation passed through the waters of Christian Baptism.

      B. On the two significant occasions when Peter (according to promise) preached and thereby led the first Jews and then the first Gentiles, into the Church--these very first members to enter His Church--were specifically required ("Commanded" Acts 10:48) to be baptised.

      C. The Scriptures categorically state that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission, also that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Hence the oft used expressions "He died for us", "We are saved by His death" and so forth.

      Now comes the important question. In what way, and by what means does the believer contact this flow, without which there is no cleansing, or remission of sins?

      Romans 6:3 tells us we are "baptised into His death." As the shedding of His blood was at His death upon the cross, and since we are "buried with Him through baptism into death," it seems most strongly suggested that baptism brings us into contact with His blood (or the place of the shedding of His blood).

      From the foregoing it appears safe to conclude that the relationship between Baptism and Salvation is that existing between Faith and Works. Paul's declaration that "Faith without works is dead" needs to be considered in the light of Eph. 2:5--"By grace are ye saved through faith." The faith vital enough to beget new creaturehood--through new birth--certainly is not a dead faith. If alive it has works. What are they? Baptism is such a "work," and because Baptism is a "work" of that faith by which we are saved, Baptism is very closely related to Salvation.

      This being the case it ill becomes any calling himself Christian to in any wise detract from the place and significance of Baptism.

      To preach Salvation, while deliberately refraining from preaching Baptism is not Scriptural. When Philip preached Jesus unto the officer of Queen Candace, he must have mentioned Baptism in the relationship he sought to establish between this man and salvation.

      Note (a) The officer (to whom Jesus was preached) asked for Baptism in the relationship he was anxious to enter--How did he know about it?

      (b) In point of fact he was baptised in course of establishing this desired relationship.

      For none of us is Baptism the Alpha and Omega of Salvation.

      However, the relationship between this ordinance and the salvation promised through the Gospel is such that we see little hope of any practical worthwhile unity till Christians everywhere give to it a place at least approximating that given it in New Testament preaching. In the meantime, let us honour, both in word and conduct, that to which our Lord gave so prominent a place both in His life, and in His Great Commission.

      Churches of Christ have held that Baptism has a vital relationship to salvation. But in what does that relationship lie? In the act of obedience to Christ's commands? In the significance of identifying ourselves with His death, burial and resurrection? While these aspects are important and give meaning and beauty to the act of baptism, yet the most important factor in the relationship of baptism to salvation lies in the operation of the Holy Spirit.

      The scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit, indwelling the person

who rises from the waters of baptism, enables him to rise a new creature in Christ, and in the power of the Spirit to walk in newness of life.

      The Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God, has convicted us of sin, and has given us strength to believe, repent, and confess Christ. Thus having brought us to Christ, the Holy Spirit, now, in baptism, brings us into a relationship with Christ. Having acted upon us, the Holy Spirit now, through baptism dwells within us. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38).

      Without the Holy Spirit indwelling the person who rises from the watery grave, that act is meaningless and has no value in the matter of our salvation.

      There is little to be desired in burying our old life, if we rise only to live our old life again. We are to walk in "newness of life," not just with new resolutions and efforts, but a new life, a daily walk with Christ, eternal life. How can a person experience a new life unless he is born again, born of the Spirit of God? (John 3:5-6). If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His. (Rom 8:9)

      When we identify ourselves with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, we are baptised into Christ, (Col. 2:12) we put on Christ and receive the Holy Spirit who alone can make us "new creatures" and enable us to walk in "newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4).

      Now while the above may be widely accepted from a theoretical point of view, is it carried out in practice? Do our methods testify to our conviction?

      Is it only for "Convenience sake" that we separate the acts of confession of Christ and baptism, quite often by a week or more, during which time we say we give instruction as to the significance of baptism?

      Does this method, while it may be desirable from one point of view, tend to divorce the

      two actions and separate baptism too widely from the inward acceptance of Christ and the confession of His name?

      Would it be "splitting hairs" to suggest that, by dividing thus these acts (which, in our theory, we claim all have a part in salvation) it is possible to lose much of the important spiritual significance of baptism?

      At Pentecost three thousand souls were added to the Church "the same day" (Acts 2:41). On his acceptance of Christ the Ethiopian treasurer was baptised by the roadside, there and then. (Acts 8:38). When Ananias was sent to instruct Saul of Tarsus, he said, "Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptised, and wash away thy sin; calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16). The Philippian jailor was baptised "the same hour." (Acts 16:33).

      Is there any significance in the fact that the New Testament nowhere displays a delay prior to baptism? If baptism is not just an act of obedience following the new birth, but is part of the act of receiving Christ as Saviour and Lord, is there a need that we revise our methods to be consistent with this doctrine?

      What of the psychological factor in being baptised into Christ "the same hour?"

      Does the scriptural emphasis on baptism taking place immediately after confession of Christ warrant any change in our present traditional practice?

      Every consideration ought to be given to such questions that we may carry out the ordinance of baptism as helpfully as possible, that its true spiritual significance may be experienced, and that men and women may, in the power of the Holy Spirit walk in newness of life to the glory of God.

      The question of how baptism is actually related to salvation is a theological one of major doctrinal importance, which will exercise our minds all our lives--as ought all such doctrinal and theological questions. There is not one common answer, as to precisely where the relationship exists. Some contend that baptism is a prerequisite for salvation; others that it is a post-declaration of an accomplished experience; whilst others place salvation at the moment of baptism itself.

The Personal Concept of Baptism.

      One thing, however, is sure: at the moment of baptism, the candidate will not be concerned about theological problems. He is about to go through an experience, which will leave an indelible imprint on his mind for life. He knows that somehow through his action he is pleasing God, and that he is being drawn to God. He will become a member of the church, and will partake of communion. This singular act of baptism is vital to his experience of salvation. The candidate feels a real relationship between the two, and, therefore it is the sacred responsibility of all churches to see that every candidate receives the deepest experience possible. This can only be accomplished with adequate preparation of the candidate.

Instructed Baptism.

      The early church soon began to see the importance of instruction, and by the second century candidates were required to undergo rigorous preparations. They were known as catechumens. During the immediate centuries that followed it was common for many to postpone their baptism until late in life, so as to be able to properly receive it.

      Every candidate must be able to properly receive baptism.

Orientation on Baptism.

      To be able to appreciate the deepest meaning of "baptism, one must enter fully into the dramatic action of baptism; to feel the presence of Christ; and to be absorbed into Him. Baptism is a mystical experience which will affect us intellectually, morally, and emotionally.

      Intellectually, the candidate must be helped to see that baptism is a mystical union with Christ; that he is buried with Christ in baptism; that by one Spirit, he is baptised into one body; that he rises a new man in Christ; and that he becomes a member of the body of Christ.

      Morally, the candidate will be led to see his baptism as a response to Christ's command, and as a complete identification with Jesus as the Son of God and his Saviour. He declares, that he believes that Jesus died and that He rose again, and that in Christ, he too will, in his own death, find victory in a resurrection.

      Finally, he must be able to receive baptism emotionally. It is here that there is danger of a pathetic failure. A candidate is apt to be very disappointed with his experience. He is nervous and self-conscious. He will not be able to renew this experience, so it is important for us to plan a service, that will offer him the greatest of satisfaction. It can be pointed out to him, that he will

find that his own experience of baptism will deepen, as he witnesses the baptisms of others in future years.

The Aesthetics of Baptism.

      Adequate, and thorough preparation of a baptismal service, and those participating in the service is vital.

      Firstly, let this be a complete service, and not an extra, or an appendix to any service. The service should centre around the baptisms as does the morning worship around communion.

      Secondly, the candidate and the minister should be suitably clothed. We don't use the kitchen table for communion, or a flower pedestal as a pulpit, nor should we use cast off clothing in the baptistry. Proper baptismal gowns, which are distinctive in design, and have but the one specific usage, is the only suitable dress for candidates--both men and women, and for the officiating minister. Our approach to this sacred act can only but be reflected upon the candidates.

      Thirdly, baptistries ought always to be beautiful in appearance and suggestive in design. (The judicious use of the symbol of the cross above open baptistries has added much to this point; but could not the use of the symbol of the descending dove illustrate even more dramatically the association with salvation? This symbol was widely used by the early church in connection with illustrations of baptism and its association with salvation.) Baptistries ought to be on view at all times, and where possible, built up so that the communion table will not need to be pushed aside and lost from proper perspective. Communion and baptism are closely related, and it is a good thing for the candidate to partake of his first communion with the gathered church, after his baptism--having been received into the membership of the local church, and thus giving a complete movement through to full association with Christ and His church. Baptism best illustrates in itself, the connection with salvation.

The Potency of a Baptismal Service.

      The candidate should also be acquainted with the fact that there are others who will also be affected by his baptism.

      There is the non-member, who may be challenged to respond through his witness. There can be no greater joy, than that of knowing that you have been instrumental in the decision of another.

      There is the church, that has come to participate in the service. It is a time of renewal of vows, and a re-committal of our lives to Christ. Christ can be as powerfully present to the participating church, as he is to the submissive candidate. William Barclay suggests that the lovely words of Ephes. 5:14 "Awake O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light", could possibly be lines from a well known and loved baptismal hymn, through which the congregation joyously participates in the reception of a new member into the body of Christ.

      It is without doubt that a true experience and realisation of salvation can be found in baptism--it can also be lost.

      Baptism is an experience that can never be repeated, but will be much remembered.

      A baptismal service can be one of the greatest powers of evangelism and times of dedication to the whole church.

      It is in itself a power of God unto Salvation.