Baptist interpreters, on the other hand, insist that the Bible teaches that the outward sign in this sacrament, being the immer- sion of the whole body in water, is an emblem both of purifica- tion and of our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. Dr. Carson says, p. 381, " The immersion of the whole body is essen- tial to baptism, not because nothing but immersion can be an emblem of purification, but because immersion is the thing com- manded, and because that, without immersion, there is no em- blem of death, burial and resurrection, which are in the emblem equally with purification." He founds his assumption that the outward sign in the sacrament of baptism was designed to be an emblem of the death, burial, and resurrection of the believer in union with Christ, upon Kom. vi., 3, 4, and Col. ii., 12.
We object to this interpretation, 1st, in neither of those pas- sages does Paul say that our baptism in ivater is an emblem of our burial with Christ. He is evidently speaking of that spir- itual baptism of which water baptism is the emblem ; by which spiritual baptism we are caused to die unto sin, and live unto holiness, in which death and new life we are conformed unto the death and resurrection of Christ. We are said to be " baptised into Christ/' which is the work of the Spirit, not " into the name of Christ/' which is the phrase always used when speaking of ritual baptism, Matt, xxviii., 19 ; Acts ii., 38 ; xix., 5. 2d. To bo " baptized into his death" is a phrase perfectly analogous to bap- tism " into repentance," Matt, iii., 11, and " into remission of sins/5 Mark i., 4, and " into one body," 1 Cor. xii., 13, i. e., in order that, or to the effect that we participate in the benefits of his death.
3d. The Baptist interpretation involves an utter confusion in reference to the emblem. Do they mean that the outward sign of immersion is an emblem of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, or of the spiritual death, burial and resurrection of the believer ? But the point of comparison in the passages them- selves is plainly " not between our baptism and the burial and resurrection of Christ, but between our death to sin and rising to holiness, and the death and resurrection of the Kedeemer." 4th. Baptists agree with us that baptism with water is an em-
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bleiii of spiritual purification, *. e., regeneration, but insist that it is also an emblem (in the mode of immersion) of the death of the believer to sin and his new life of holiness. — Dr. Carson; p. 143. But what is the distinction between regeneration and a death unto sin, and life unto holiness ?
5th. Baptists agree with us that water baptism is an emblem of purification. But surely it is impossible that the same action should at the same time be an emblem of a washing, and of a burial and a resurrection. One idea may be associated with the the other in consequence of their spiritual relations, but it is impossible that the same visible sign should be emblematical of both.
6th. Our union with Christ through the Spirit, and the spirit- ual consequences thereof, are illustrated in Scripture by many various figures, e. g., the substitution of a heart of flesh for a heart of stone, Ezek. xxxvi., 26 ; the building of a house, Eph. ii., 22 ; the ingrafting of a limb into a vine, John xv., 5 ; the putting off of filthy garments, and the putting on of clean, Eph. iv., 22-24 ; as a spiritual death, burial and resurrection, and as a being planted in the likeness of his death, Kom. vi., 3-5 ; as the application of a cleansing element to the body, Ezek. xxxvi., 25. Now baptism with water represents all these, because it is an em- blem of spiritual regeneration, of which all of these are analogical illustrations. Hence we are said to be "baptized into one body," 1 Cor. xii., 13, and by baptism to "have put on Christ," Gal. iii., 27. Yet it would be absurd to regard water baptism as a literal emblem of all these, and our Baptist brethren have no scriptural warrant for assuming that the outward sign in this sacrament is an emblem of the one analogy more than of the other. See Dr. Armstrong's " Doctrine of Baptisms," Part II., Chap. II.
The mode of baptism.
7. What are the words tvhich, in the original language of Scripture, are used to convey the command to baptize ?
The primary word jSanrco occurs four times in the New Testa- ment, (Luke xvi., 24, John xiii., 26, Bev. xix., 13,) but never in connection with the subject of Christian baptism. Its classical meaning was, 1st, to dip ; 2d, to dye.
484 BAPTISM.
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