Rebaptism has been a discussion since before the Reformation where the Anabaptists openly rejected the Roman Catholic baptism and said that because they worshipped a false god, a Catholic who professed faith had to be baptized “again” – though the Anabaptists would say they were being baptized for the first time. Since then, especially with easy-believism – raise your hand, pray a prayer and you’re saved – many people who made such “professions of faith” earlier in their life have realized that they had no idea who God was when they were baptized as they were complete slaves to sin and continued to walk in that path. The Bible is very clear that there is one baptism, so should people in such a situation be baptized?
In this episode, we want to look at what is commonly referred to as “rebaptism.” While the Anabaptists were a heretical group with no real direct connection to modern Reformed Baptists, it doesn’t mean that their position on a particular topic was wrong. One of the things that gets overlooked with baptism is that while Baptism is more than just an outward sign of an individual’s inward faith, God still says that faith is required to please Him and that without faith, pleasing Him is impossible. When you consider a Catholic baptism, where is there any faith present? The same can be said for many evangelical services. The other thing that comes up quite frequently is the idea that baptism requires some sort of ability to determine if the person is “really saved”, with many jokes being made about “regeneration goggles”. We agree completely that it is impossible to tell if someone is truly regenerate. But what is so often overlooked is that Scripture does tell us how to identify a lack of faith. Those who walk in the flesh, who are slaves to sin, should not be thought of as brothers. The church should make it a practice to recognize known counterfeits. The church should not tell people that God has entered into a covenant with them when they have every reason to believe that is not true. False conversions and false baptisms are real, and “regeneration goggles” are not required. At the same time, no one should be baptized because of how they feel. A testimony is not a feeling, and God desires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Baptism should always be a serious event, and not performed lightly. Please join us as we discuss this important but controversial topic.
Thumbnail image by Stephanie Jones on Flickr under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
slagheap on Flickr under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Timecodes
00:00:00 One Baptism
00:09:25 The Meaning of Baptism
00:24:48 Rejecting Other Churches
00:27:44 Calvin on Baptists
00:42:44 Regeneration Goggles
00:56:28 Efficacy of Baptism
01:00:00 Does Baptism Save?
01:02:46 When to Rebaptize
Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson