how should baptisms be done?

Question

should baptisms be by immersion or by sprinkling water on the head? why?

Answer 1

it should be done as YOU feel it should be done

Jesus doesnt 'judge' the 'way' you are baptized.... he views what is in your heart.. if you are truly repentful of your past and have changed your heart towards Him....

it is like asking 'which church is correct' basically, because each church does it differently.... according totheir traditions

I was 'baptized' as a baby by my parents with water being scooped up and poured over my head.... since i didnt 'choose' that for myself, I don't believe that it was my 'baptism' as much as a covenant that my parents made to raise me in the church they attended.

I chose adult baptism 5 years ago.... i had 5 friends baptize me by submersion... for that is what I felt I needed to do as an act of obedience to Christ...

it all comes down to each person and their motive and heart.

Answer 2

The word "baptism" comes from a Greek word that means to immerse. The translators of the KJV invented the word baptism because they were told to create an accurate translation, but they were afraid to use the literal translation of "immerse" because the Church of England practiced sprinkling. The King was the head of the Church of England, and he was himself sprinkled.

In John 3:23, it says, "Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized." Only immersion requires "much water".

Also we see in examples of baptism that those being baptized went down into the water and came up out of the water. (Matt. 3:16-17, Acts 8:38-39) Only immersion requires this.

Finally, baptism is described as a burial. (Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12) Only immersion is a burial the one being baptized.

Answer 3

Some people take the example of John the Baptist baptizing Christ in the Jordan to mean that baptism means immersion. Some have a different interpretation which evolved over time in church doctrine.

Thing is the real purpose of John's baptism involved a practice of purification that the High Priests had instituted which was very expensive and a great burden to those who wished to be observant Jews. What John did was show that purification could take place anywhere and without any cost. So whether this is the kind of baptism referred to in later scripture is up for question.

Answer 4

Baptisms can be done by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring, and to any age group. Why? Because baptism is a mark of a covenant between God and his people. Making it into a symbol of a profession of faith is only a secondary effect of the rite, and even then it is only applied to adults. The primary reason for it is to ingraft us into Christ. If it's only a profession of faith, then what we are left with is a "nice to have" ceremony commanded by Christ but not related to salvation except as something to do. I suppose we could always put it into the "mystery" category, but if it doesn't reflect circumcision in the Old Testament, we are left with a dichotomy of "faith alone" saving us with a proof texts of the thief on the cross, versus a commandment by Christ and an exhortation that relates it so closely to salvation that they are mentioned together in other parts of the Bible. A "covenant" answers seems to solve these problems.

Answer 5

Baptism should be an immersion.

Baptism represents our way of accepting the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus and showing also that we too have gone through the same to experience to be born again.

Death- Denying the former man that is the flesh and worldly desires.

Burial-when the person is actually immersed under the water as when a dead is buried six feet under.

Resurrection- rising in newness of life like Jesus did when he rose again.

If one is baptized by sprinkling, then no immersion occurs so basically this is just sprinkling not baptism.

Hope this helped.

Answer 6

The word "baptism" is a word that is not translated in the English Bible. The Greek word "baptism" is carried over to the English. That is because of debate over how the word should be translated. It was a naval term which meant "to drown".

Because of that, some Christians insist that baptism is done by immersion of a person once they have become a Christians. That is the only type of baptism seen in the book of Acts. But as people were just then becoming Christians, they could not have been baptized as babies. It wasn't invented yet.

But the third of fourth generation of Christians, people were wanting to raise their children in the Christian faith. So baptism began to ne done to younger and younger children, until it was being done to infants. As it was difficult to immerse an eight day old child, sprankling or pouring began to be used instead. You will see that evolution in the early artwork from the catacombs and other early Christian sites. It is also debated by the early Church fathers.

Today, there is a divide over whether baptism should be done to an infant, like circumcision was done to eight day old boys in the Old Testament, or whether it should be done to adults after they believe. Both believe that they can support their viewpoint from the scriptures.

Generally, neither groups felts that the other form of baptism is "evil" or will "condemn you to hell". Wrong - maybe, but not "evil". I was baptized as an infant as a sign that my parents planned to raise me in the Christian faith. Many years later, when I actually came to accept that faith, I choose to baptized again as a sign of my own commitment. It will find that there are many people who have been baptized both ways.

My personal belief is that baptism should be done for adults after they believe. I had my children dedicated as infants, but not baptized. They made their own decision whether to do that once they were older (in their teens). That way it is THEIR commitment to Christ that is symbolized in the act, not mine. That seems to be more in line with what Bible baptism is intended to be.

Answer 7

Depends on age and whether they have a font or pool. You wouldn't immerse a baby as there's too much of a risk, and as a young child I was sprinkled with water because they only had a font. Some Churches and branches use immersion, but a lot just have a font and do it symbolically.

Answer 8

I personally love the symbolism of immersion. Anyone who has been held under water for almost as long as they can stand will appreicate that first breath of air... new life, as it were. Immersion can be done with infants, too: it takes a rather large font and isn't a "dunking" so much as a swooping motion taking the child into and out of the water (head-first, face up, not too deep) and very very quickly.

If that can't be done, I think that A LOT of water needs to be used, not just a few drops. This is important - we're talking about "washing away sin" and that can't be done with just a few drips and drop.

Answer 9

By immersion. (Not by sprinkling)

Baptism comes from the greek word 'baptismos' or 'baptizo' which means 'to dip' or 'to immerse'.

No sprinkling mentioned.


To prove that biblically, let's read Matthew 3:16

" And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: "


WENT UP STRAIGHTWAY OUT of the water.


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Answer 10

Jesus Christ was the prime example of how baptism should take place. According to the scriptures in Matthew chapter 3; Jesus was 'immersed' total body in water by John the Baptist[baptizer]
Steps leading to baptism: taking in knowledge, showing faith by repenting of former works, conversion and dedicating oneself to God. John 17:3 Acts 3:19, 18:8
Baptism symbolizes dying to the former lifestyle that was practiced before knowing God; and becoming alive to doing His will. 1Peter 4:2 Matthew 3:16

Answer 11

The Greek word (baptizo for the verb form) means dip or wash.

The Jews had ceremonial baptisteries around the temple and EXPECTED the Messiah to use baptism. (John 1:24 Some Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you are not the Christ, why are you baptizing people? Why are you doing that if you aren’t Elijah or the Prophet we’ve been expecting?”) The New Testament pattern followed what had been the practice of Judaism from antiquity, they commanded the BELIEVER (NEVER INFANTS) to be immersed.

The Bible is our ONLY authority in these matters, so to do something differently is expecting God to approve your choice rather than following his direction. There are many stories through scripture, like the curing of Naaman the leper in 2Kings 5, which lead us to understand that God's instructions are to be followed EXACTLY rather than loosely. cf. Deuteronomy 24:8 What about skin diseases? Be very CAREFUL to DO EXACTLY what the priests, who are Levites, tell you to DO. You must be CAREFUL to FOLLOW THE COMMANDS I’ve given them.

Because of the perversions of scriptural baptism already present for several centuries, early translators TRANSLITERATED the Greek word behind it rather than TRANSLATING it. They created a new, semi-meaningless word rather than correctly rendering it as immerse, dip, wash, etc.

The BEST and ONLY TRUE answer is to be immersed. We should never be in the position of trying to force our opinion on God, rather, we should follow the direction of scripture. ONLY by immersion does the symbolism of Romans 6 make sense:

Romans 6:1 What should we say then? Should we keep on sinning so that God’s grace can increase? 2 Not at all! As far as sin is concerned, we are dead. So how can we keep on sinning? 3 All of us were baptized into Christ Jesus. Don’t you know that we were baptized into his death? 4 By being baptized, we were buried with Christ into his death. Christ has been raised from the dead by the Father’s glory. And like Christ we also can live a new life.
5 By being baptized, we have been joined with him in his death. We will certainly also be joined with him in his resurrection. 6 We know that what we used to be was nailed to the cross with him. That happened so our sinful bodies would lose their power. We are no longer slaves of sin. 7 Those who have died have been set free from sin.

…Also, several people mentioned the baptism done by John “the baptizer.” This is NOT to be considered the same as Christian baptism. Acts 19 discusses the difference:

Acts 19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road to Ephesus. When he arrived, he found some believers there. 2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
“No,” they answered. “We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John baptized people, calling them to turn away from their sins. He told them to believe in the one who was coming after him. Jesus is that one.” 5 After hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Paul placed his hands on them. Then the Holy Spirit came on them. They spoke in languages they had not known before. They also prophesied. 7 There were about 12 of them in all.

... Thus Christian baptism is NOT THE SAME as the baptism which Jesus received.