I was performing a wedding with a pastor. We were trading stories about weddings. He told me he performed a wedding and a baptism on the same day. He performed the wedding on a Sunday afternoon and the baptism in the evening service. He was in the baptistry and lowered a man under the water and instead of saying “Based on your profession of faith in Christ…” the pastor said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered in your present and in the sight of God to join in holy matrimony….” and he caught himself. Being mixed up in what he should say he was thrown off guard for a moment. He tried to gather his thoughts. The whole time the man he was baptizing was still underwater. The man could no longer hold his breath and exhaled and blew water up in the air. I could not match that story. Though baptizing by immersion has some risks, we do believe it is the biblical mode of baptism.
There are three reasons to baptize by immersion found in Scripture.
1) The first reason to baptize by immersion is the meaning of the word
The word “baptize” means to immerse. Lexicons define the Greek word baptizo to mean to dip, immerse, or submerge. “The intens. βαπτίζω occurs in the sense of ‘to immerse’ (trans.) from the time of Hippocrates, in Plato and esp. in later writers, ‘to sink the ship’” (The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament).
Consider also the testimonies of three non-Baptist leaders who founded denominations
1) John Calvin
John Calvin spoke of the mode of baptism in his Institutes:
“…. Yet the word ‘baptize’ means to immerse, and it is clear that the rite of immersion was observed in the ancient church” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, in Library of Christian Classics, trans. by F. L. Battles, ed. John T. McNeill, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960, 1320).
2) Luther
“For this reason, I would have those who are to be baptized completely immersed in the water, as the word says and as the mystery indicates. Not because I deem this necessary, but because it would be well to give to a thing so perfect and complete a sign that is also complete and perfect. And this is doubtless the way in which it was instituted by Christ. The sinner does not so much need to be washed as he needs to die, in order to be wholly renewed and made another creature, and to be conformed to the death and resurrection of Christ, with whom he dies and rises again through baptism” (Martin Luther, Word and Sacrament I, in LW, vol. 35, ed., E. Theodore Bachman, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960, 29). I have always appreciated Luther’s practical theology when he advised the pastor to immediately draw out the person being immersed.
3) John Wesley
“Mary Welsh, aged eleven days, was baptized, according to the custom of the first church and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion” (The Journal of John Wesley, ed. Nehemiah Curnock, vol. 1, London: Epworth Press, 1938, 166. Baptism & Baptists – (Part 8) or “What did Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, & Wesley Say? by David Allen).
Secular writers used the Greek word to describe a sinking ship. This is how the word is used in Scripture (Lk.16:24). There is a word for sprinkling in Scripture: ῥαντισμός rantismos (1 Pet.1:2). There is also a word for pouring in Scripture: ἐκχέω ekcheo (Acts 2:17). But neither of these words is used for baptism.
The first reason for baptism by immersion is the recognized meaning of the word.
2) Another reason for baptism by immersion is the examples in Scripture
John in Matthew 3:6 was baptizing “in” the Jordan River, not “beside” “by” “near” or “with.” Berkhof objected: “Was John the Baptist capable of the enormous task of immersing the multitudes that flocked unto him at the river Jordan” (Louis Berkhop, Systematic Theology, 630). Grudem responded: “Certainly over a period of several days he would have been capable of immersing many hundreds of people, but it is also possible that his disciples (Mt. 9:14) assisted him with some of the baptism” (Wayne Grudem, System Theology, 967). John 3:23 says there was “much water” where John was baptizing. Much water is needed only for baptism by immersion.
3) The final reason for baptism by immersion is the symbolism of baptism.
Baptism does have a symbolic meaning (Acts 22:16). Baptism pictures the believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in Romans 6. At salvation we were identified with Christ’s death (6:3). Our obligation to live in sin is dead; not our capacity. At salvation we were identified with Christ’s burial (6:4a). Our old way of life was buried at salvation (1 Pet. 3:18-22). Baptism pictures a complete break from one’s past life. Noah was delivered from the old sinful world by water. For believers, baptism marks the transition to a new life, a new fellowship of friends. At salvation we were identified with Christ’s resurrection (6:4b). Paul in Colossians 2:11-13 is speaking of spiritual circumcision and Holy Spirit baptism, not water baptism: Our spiritual circumcision (v. 11) took place when God regenerated us (cf. Gal. 5:24). It involved Christ cutting off the domination of our sinful nature (flesh), which slavery characterizes the unregenerate person (cf. Rom. 7:24-25). “Baptism” (v. 12) is Spirit baptism. Thomas Constable at netbible.org. notes that baptism pictures Spirit baptism. Beasley-Murray in his classic on baptism wrote, “The symbolism of immersion as representing burial is striking, and … not unimportant … it is the kerygma [the Gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ] in action” (G. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans’ Publishing, 1962,133).
These are three powerful reasons to baptize by immersion.