Nothing has perhaps divided believers more than baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Two sacraments meant to underscore the unity of the body divides us from one another. The church has divided over their meaning, the mode, the words spoken, and even the posture of the one receiving. For instance, in the mid-1800s, just before the American Civil War, one church divided over whether the baptismal candidate should be submerged back or head first. Yikes!
Even the Corinthians divided over baptism. “Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.” (1 Corinthians 1:13–17, NLT) Evidently, the Corinthians created identity groups based on whoever baptized them.
A quick side note – I always chuckle at Paul’s humanizing moment of not remembering if he baptized anyone else.
This brings us to Paul’s first remedy for division, the wisdom of the cross. Paul continues, “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18, NLT) In the verses following, Paul compares the wisdom/foolishness of the world with the wisdom of God. “Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:21–24, NLT)
We may differ on many things, but we find unity and fellowship in the foundational truth of the Cross of Christ. The cross is the basis of our faith, our hope, our trust, and our love. Without the cross, the church is nothing more than a social club or a religious order seeking to perfect defined rules. But our faith in Christ isn’t about rules but relationships and connection. We are united with Christ, invited into a personal relationship with the living God. The Cross is our wisdom.
Paul said, “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31, NLT)
This is my view. When it comes to baptism, I don’t care if you submerge, pour, or sprinkle. It also doesn’t matter to me (or God since both are in scripture) if the words spoken during baptism invoke only Christ or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I personally do not understand the baptism of infants, but it is not worth dividing over. Neither do I probe anyone’s baptism history to determine their salvation or relationship. What matters to me is whether you met Jesus at the Cross. Yes, baptism is a powerful demonstration of meeting Jesus, but our unity is solely based on the wisdom and power of the Cross and our new life in Jesus Christ.
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