This past Sunday our church experienced 4 spontaneous baptisms. At the end of my message, taken from Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, I gave a call for anyone in the room who had never obeyed the command to repent and be baptized to do so…right then… and right there. In fact, I got into the baptismal with the clothes I was wearing and invited those who felt compelled to do so, to do the same–and they did! Four individuals walked into the baptistry, with their street clothes on, confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, and had their sins washed away in Christian baptism! It was awesome!
The situation, while remarkable, also provokes a lot of discussion, and questions. It does for me as well. On the one hand, I am so humbled that the Lord would use feeble, broken vessels like me as an instrument for people responding to the Gospel. On the other hand, I baptized these individuals with fear and trembling, wondering who would follow up with them once they came out of the water, and how can I REALLY know that they genuinely placed their faith in Christ and repented of their sins. I just met some of these people just minutes before their baptism. I can hear some critics raise the concern—Aren’t spontaneous baptisms running the risk of building false converts? I suppose that is a risk. Honestly, only God knows the heart of an individual, and I can only base one’s decision to be baptize on what thy communicate vocally. Only time will tell if a person REALLY was converted.
That said, I still stand by our church’ decision to baptize immediately upon one’s repentant-faith. And there are biblical reasons, I believe, this is so.
In the book of Acts baptism was ALWAYS done immediately after one believed in Christ for their salvation.
In Acts 2 after Peter preached the very first Gospel message, the audience, pricked to the heart, asked Peter, “what must we do?” His response? “Repent and be baptized…” That day 3,000 were added to the church THAT DAY!
In Acts 8 Philip evangelized the Ethiopian Eunuch and after sharing the gospel with him came upon some water, IN THE DESERT! The Eunuch responded appropriately— “Here’s water, what prevents me from being baptized?” Now, Philip didn’t say: ”well, Mr. Ethiopian…we will need to wait until we get you established in a local church, get you into the baptism class that lasts 3 months, and then we can schedule your baptism!” No, the text is clear, they stopped the chariot right there, got into the water and Philip baptized the Man!
One more example: Saul of Tarsus upon meeting the risen Lord on the Damascus Road, met up with a man named Ananias (see Acts 22). After Saul’s blindness previously inflicted upon him by Jesus, was removed, the very next matter to attend to was Saul’s baptism. Ananias makes it clearer that baptism was to be done immediately. In Acts 22:16 he admonishes Saul, “What are you waiting for, arise, be baptized, washing aways your sins, calling on his name.”
Other examples could be given, but suffice it to say, baptism in the early church was done immediately and spontaneously.
Baptism should be done immediately and spontaneously because baptism is in connection to the gospel invitation.
There has been a shift in evangelicalism regarding baptism that I don’t think the scriptures agree. The popular view sees baptism as simply “an outward sign of an inward change.” But while this sounds right the New Testament never explains baptism as merely an outward (or for that matter public) symbol. When I read the New Testament (especially Acts) I see baptism connected to one’s response to receive Christ as Lord. As I understand it, baptism is a conditioned response to the gospel message. In other words, a proper response to the gospel involves belief, repentance AND Baptism.
For example, in Acts 2 Peter instructs the crowd to “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This seems much more than some public symbol. Or take the Philip and Ethiopian narrative again. An observable reading of the story reveals clearly that the content of the Gospel message includes the call to be baptized. Note the following:
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”(Acts 8:35-36)
It seems reasonable to deduce that whatever substance is included in the phrase “the good news about Jesus” it must have included the call to respond with baptism. This is not only clear in this immediate passage but is the normative pattern throughout the book of Acts. Therefore, baptism should be done immediately because it is the proper response to obeying the gospel. Baptism is not a first step of Christian obedience; it is the last step of Gospel response.
I am not sure what the Lord has in store for our four recent baptism responders. My confident hope is that they will begin walking in the newness of life (see Romans 6:5). My prayer is that several mature Christians in our congregation will begin discipling and mentoring them. But if any of them do find themselves struggling with sin, or discovering spiritual challenges, what I know for sure is that they can look back on their baptism, be reminded that in the act of baptism they died to sin…and were raised to life. That in and of itself should make us all get into the water sooner!
From Genesis to the Maps 
Absolutely, spontaneous baptism follows the biblical model. People in the Bible didn’t take classes or wait until a special baptism service to be baptized. When they believed, they were taken to water and immersed. Baptism is an essential part of the process. Believe and be baptized is the command. It absolutely should not be delayed. We are always ready to baptize people at any service or any other time. We keep the baptistry warm. We don’t have people wear their street clothes though. This presents obvious issues, especially in the winter. We use special unisex one-piece nylon baptismal suits, like a simple gown with legs to keep them from floating up in the water. They are completely modest so people don’t have to get their own clothes wet, and they are really convenient and don’t track water out of the baptistry. Much more comfortable and modest for the person being baptized than street clothes. They are indispensable for any church who wants to be able to baptize people immediately. That is so wonderful that your church has opened the door to following the biblical model of baptism. I hope they continue to offer the opportunity every Sunday for people to be obedient.
“Here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
thanks for the feedback cocpastor!