Apollos and Baptism

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus.This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Acts 18:24-26

Apollos was not always a great teacher of the church, he was wrong at one time about the Gospel Plan of Salvation. He was an eloquent man; he was mighty of the Scripture. It is certain that many denominational preachers are much like Apollos in this area: they can utter the spoken word so great, and they can recall many Scripture references and proclaim them boldly. However, a misguided understanding of baptism negates all those seemingly beneficial skills.

Some are wrong on the subjects of baptism. These will engage in infant sprinkling. The practice is from the error that babes are born sinful and they need to have sin removed in case they die. Some reject this teaching of total hereditary depravity but hold onto the same practice (i.e. Methodism). This practice does not have an origin in the church of the New Testament but the church of Rome.

Others are wrong on the mode of baptism. Instead of immersing believers, they either sprinkle or pour. The word baptizo means to immerse in the Koine Greek language in which the New Testament was written. To immerse means to dip, plunge, to be fully engulfed in something. We can see this confirmed in many passages in the NT. We read that baptism requires water and going to that water (cf. Acts 8:36), much water (cf. John 3:23) going down into the water (cf. Acts 8:38), a burial (Rom 6:4) coming up out of the water (cf. Acts 8:39). Immersion is the only method by which all of these are achieved.

Others are wrong on the purpose of baptism. Regardless of what is written in the Scriptures, many denominational preachers insist baptism is not required for salvation. They insist that you must be baptized to become a voting member of their man-made church or partake in the Lord's Supper, but not to be a Christian. The Bible teaches that baptism is for the remission of sins (cf. Acts 2:38), it saves (cf. 1 Peter 3:21). The one who is baptized is baptized “into” Christ (cf. Rom 6:3) and into His death (cf. Rom 6:4). So this would mean I could be a Christian without having my sins remitted, without being saved, without being in Christ, and without dying sins. Friends and brethren, these are but a few examples.

Many of the members of the denominations simply need to be taught the way of God more perfectly and it is up to the church of Christ to do so. We need brethren like Aquilla and Priscilla that will open up their Bibles and their homes for those who need the way of God. Apollos was one wrong on baptism, but good brethren took the time to study with him.

Grace and Peace,

Ryan

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