Akin and Allen lament Southern Baptist churches forsaking baptism by immersion

By Tammi Reed Ledbetter
November 6, 2006
No Comments

“Few doctrines are more central to the life and identity of the people of God than baptism,” declared Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel L. Akin in his exegetical and theological treatise on Romans 6 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s second conference in its Baptist Distinctives Series, Sept 29-30.

The conference was titled “Maintaining the Integrity of a Local Church in a Seeker- Sensitive World: The Baptist Perspective on Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Church Discipline.”

Akin said baptism inaugurated the public ministry of Jesus, citing Matthew 3:13-17, and is at the heart of the Great Commission, citing Matthew 28:16-20. From the book of Acts, Akin directed readers to multiple references indicating believers in Jesus were baptized immediately, even if a church was not gathered.

“The New Testament has no category for a believer in Jesus Christ who has not been baptized,” Akin declared.

Early Baptist confessions further establish the historical precedence for believer’s baptism, Akin said, turning first to the record of Anabaptists, forefathers of Southern Baptists. Balthasar Hubmaier spoke to it in 1524 as his eighth proposition in “Eighteen Dissertations Concerning the Entire Christian Life and of What It Consists.” Michael Sattler listed it as the first of the seven articles of the Schleitheim Confession of 1527, Akin said.

“One will look in vain to find a major Baptist confession that does not include the doctrine of baptism,” he said, adding that the discussion most often revolves around the proper candidate, a believer, and the proper mode, immersion, though the meaning of baptism needs more attention, he said, making that the focus of his address.

Recent developments at the International Mission Board, within several Southern Baptist congregations and by prominent pastors influencing many SBC congregations point to the need of further study, he said.

?discussion at the IMB over the importance of who administers baptism, and the necessity of the baptizing church holding to eternal security of believers.

?discussions, now on hold, at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, pastored by John Piper, and Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla., where leaders considered allowing professed Christians not baptized by immersion to become members?a practice taught in years past by John Bunyan and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

More recently, Akin said, this view has been taught by former Southern Baptist Andy Stanley, that all that matters is that at the “time” of one’s baptism, “that you were a believer. Neither mode, administrator, or location is of any consequence,” Akin said, quoting from a Feb. 26 sermon by Stanley called “Baptism?What’s the Big Deal?” Akin said Stanley at one point misrepresents the word baptize as meaning “washed,” despite the nearly universal recognition that immersion or “to plunge under” is its primary meaning.

“This may explain why, in part, he is not worried about how and where but when you are baptized,” Akin remarked, restating Stanley’s comment, “Hence, ‘I don’t think [immersion] is such a big deal.'”

Akin acknowledged that the idea of “washing” is not completely foreign to baptism biblically and historically, pointing to Ephesians 5:26 and Titus 3:5 as conveying the idea while the catechism of Baptists James P. Boyce and John Broadus refer to that significance. However, the rest of his paper offers convincing proof of immersion as the biblical mode, fully explaining its significance. Stanley contends that baptism simply needs to be public and identify with Jesus, Akin said.

From Romans 6:1-14, Akin examined Paul’s continued development of the doctrine of justification and its relationship to sanctification where the apostle addresses baptism, relating the significance of identification and union with Christ. Looking back to the context of Romans 5:12-21, Akin presented what he said were seven vital and necessary implications for a Bible doctrine of baptism orbiting around Romans 6.

?1. Baptism signifies that we are now identified with the Man of life, not the man of death. Paul has just drawn the remarkable contrast between the Man of life, Jesus Christ,