Explaining Water Baptism

I downloaded this book after having contemplated for years when (not if) I’d get baptized as an adult since the first was at age 6 at the urging of my dying grandmother. (She died about 2 weeks short of a year later.) Mr. Pawson’s “straight from Scripture” approach to teaching is so impacting that I couldn’t get to the water fast enough. I’ve heard debate after debate on the subject but never felt the need to engage. The Lord’s instruction to the Apostles to baptize was sufficient for me. Reading this book has given me a deeper interest in the Holy Ghost baptism that I’m now praying earnestly to receive. Water baptism is like a stain remover and Spirit baptism is like a scotch guard. We need both!

This is a really short, and straighforward guide to what the New Testament teaches about water baptism — how it was practised, why it was practised, on whom it was practised, and its theological significance in the life of the believer.

It is written in very simple, plain language, so that even somebody fairly unfamiliar with the Christian faith could make sense of it.

He covers this ground in the first nine chapters of the book, the headings of which are:—

1. A matter of life and death
2. A very peculiar practice
3. Dirty people need a bath
4. Dead people need a burial
5. A case of identification
6. What’s in a name?
7. Penitent believers only
8. Water and Spirit
9. The church door

Pawson takes the view that baptism in the New Testament was (and by implication, baptism today should be) for repentant believers only — not for infants who are too young to profess faith.

Accordingly in the final three chapters of the book he goes on to address three issues around water baptism which have been historically divisive; namely:—

* Isn’t baptism just a symbol? (Chapter 10)
* Must we be baptized to be saved? (Chapter 11)
* Should babies be baptized? (Chapter 12)

Although Pawson adopts a particular stance on these issues, and unashamedly so, he also tries to present briefly but fairly the rationale behind the main views he rejects (infant baptism and so on).

As usual with Pawson’s writings, this book is characterized by its simple faithfulness to Scripture in its plain sense.

This is a very short book. Its twelve chapters have an average length of just 4.6 pages, from which you can see that it’s a very lightweight way to consider the issues around and the theology of water baptism. Highly recommended.

Great book on water baptism!

As with all his books, this book on water baptism gives the reasons for accepting it as the Scriptural way to enter the Christian Church. His writing is profound, but put in a way so that all can understand.