John the Baptist said, “I baptise you unto repentance.” Did that mean that they had to be baptised again when Jesus appeared? According to the words of Paul in Acts 19, verses 1 to 8, they had to be baptised again.
If we are to understand the purpose of John’s baptism, and assess correctly its efficacy, we must remember that John’s mission was preparatory only; it was to prepare the people for the opening of the ministry of Jesus. John himself said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord.” To the Pharisees, he said, “I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you whom ye know not; he it is who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”
The Apostle Paul, in Acts 19:4, gives us a concise summary of John’s teaching. “John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him.” In his “preparation” for Christ, John called upon his hearers to repent, and baptised them with “the baptism of repentance.” When Jesus duly appeared, John was content that his own followers should thenceforwards become disciples of Jesus. (We see this from John 1:35-37.) When Jesus himself began to preach and to baptise his converts, John’s comment was “This my joy is therefore fulfilled. He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.” Shortly after this John was imprisoned by Herod, and his work of preparing men’s hearts for the Gospel of Christ came to an end. He had fulfilled his mission; the “way of the Lord” was “prepared”; and a nucleus of earnest followers had been gathered together for Jesus.
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Author: P. H. Adams
Keywords: rebaptise, rebaptize, rebaptism, baptize, baptise, baptism, water baptism, baptism of John, anabaptist, anabaptism, John's baptism
Bible reference(s): Act 18:25, Acts 19:1-5
Source: “The Baptism of John,” The Testimony, Vol. 16, Nos. 187 & 189, July & September 1946, pp. 186-8, 245-7.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.