“Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000, VII).
In our fast-paced world, people need to think quickly to reduce an item to a single, abstract meaning. If I drive up to a red, octagonal sign that says, “STOP,” it is not time to ponder its significance. I ought not muse over the historical contexts, social constructs, and legal implications of the octagon and color red as symbols. It’s time to stop.
Many aspects of the Christian faith, however, contain more significance than the average traffic sign. The sacraments, or the ordinances, are rich, God-ordained sources of symbolism.[1] Modern believers can be tempted, for example, to see baptism as a sign with an abstract concept of limited meaning, such as “Baptism is a picture of forgiveness.” While that is an accurate interpretation, the symbol that Christ has given us contains more layers of significance. (For instance, Why is water involved?)
In this issue, we pause to reflect on the sign of baptism, the symbols contained in the rite, and the significance it has for Christians and churches. This series divides into three sections. First, we’ll consider the various roles that water plays in the story of Scripture. In the weeks to come, we will consider how baptism functioned in the life of Jesus Christ. And finally, we will consider the best ways to practice baptism in today’s churches.
WATER IMAGERY IN NATURE AND REDEMPTION
Before we turn to the pages of Scripture, note three natural images associated with water. Water does many things, including washing, uniting, and giving life. These different actions give the symbol of water different kinds of significance. Take these three symbolic associations with water and consider how we see these in the world and in God’s Word.
First, water washes things. A bathtub uses water to wash bodies (like Ruth in Ruth 3:3), a dishwasher uses water to wash dishes (like Jesus commanded in Matthew 23:26), and a washing machine uses water to wash clothes (like Moses in Exodus 19:10). Good hygiene would be impossible without water. Water facilitates health and wellness by cleansing and rinsing. Though this truth so basic that it risks being overlooked, the first symbolic use of water is that it washes things.
Second, through its relationship to solubility (it’s capacity to dissolve), water unites things. Consider how water can incorporate salt, sugar, or other minerals. Think of the way that fluoride can be added to a town’s drinking water to improve dental health, or carbon dioxide can be added to water to make it, I guess, more exciting. Water joins things together.
Perhaps the clearest illustration of this is a soup or stew: water incorporates disparate ingredients, joining them together into a new thing. Water joins broccoli and cheddar cheese into a soup. It joins tomato, cucumbers, peppers, and spices to make a cold Spanish soup called Gazpacho (gahz-PAH-cho).
Third, water gives life to animals, plans, and people. Most obviously, fish and sea creatures need water to live (see Genesis 1:20–23). Plants need water for photosynthesis. Plants thrive with irrigation because water gives life (see Isaiah 55:10). Animals need water for circulation. Animals require fresh drinking water because it gives life.
Water also gives life to humans.[2] The World Health Organization says, “Access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and a component of effective policy for health protection.”[3] Pregnant and breastfeeding women need even more water than others because of their life-giving work. While water is essential for human individuals, it is just as essential for human communities (see Psalm 46:4). Human cities and civilizations grow up around safe water sources. Their success, in large part, depends upon their access to water.
The water imagery in nature, then, gives us symbolism of washing, uniting, and giving life. The imagery from nature leads us to next consider imagery from redemption. Here, we consider two: (1) water in chaos and creation, and [NEXT ISSUE!] (2) water in boundaries and crossing.
Water in Chaos and Creation
In the opening scene of the Old Testament, the setting is water: “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The story of creation begins with a water. God changes that scenery—dividing and naming, forming and filling the world out of the water.
Biblical authors draw upon this life-giving symbolism of water when they compare water with God’s blessing. Consider the water in the temple for the priests (Exodus 30:18–20; 1 Kings 7) and the people (2 Chronicles 4:6). Or recall the rivers that flow from God’s temples (Genesis 2:10–14; Psalm 46:4; Ezekiel 47:12; John 4:14; 7:38; Revelation 22:1–2). God’s goodness is shared generally with the whole earth (Psalm 65:9–10, “You visit the earth and water it”). This goodness is shared especially with those in difficult circumstances (Psalm 105:41, “He opened the rock and water gushed out,” describing Deuteronomy 32). God provides for both good and evil people (Matthew 5:44–45). But his life-giving presence is particularly enjoyed by his followers (Psalm 1:3 “like a tree firmly planted by streams of water;” 36:8; 46:4–5; cf. Ezekiel 47). His presence is also forfeit by disobedience (Isaiah 48:18).[4] In the eschaton God’s people will finally enjoy his full presence and blessing, as pictured by a river (Revelation 22:1–2).
In our next issue, we consider how water shows both God’s creation and blessing as well as chaos and judgement.
[1] Some of the following sections draw upon Alistair Roberts, “The Mode of Baptism,” YouTube Theopolis Institute, June 13, 2022.
[2] Cf. Sampson: “And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, ‘You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?’ And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day” (Judges 15:18–19).
[3] World Health Organization, “Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality,” xv. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254637/9789241549950-eng.pdf;jsessionid=DA6171D77279042976C951FA548B1900?sequence=1
[4] Isaiah 48:18, “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;” Isaiah 66:12, “ For thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees.’”