BAPTISM OF THE DEAD

1 Cor. 15:29, Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

There are some people who believe that this verse teaches that physically dead people ought to be baptized.  If they are already buried, then a living person ought to be "baptized for the dead".  This belief is, of course, utterly false.  The baptism of the dead is when a living person is baptized because he has been saved, and is dead to his sinfulness, and former way of life.

I.    Define.

A.  From Greek word "baptizo" meaning to dip as in dying cloth.

B.   The immersion of a believer in water to show their deadness to sin and life in Christ, looking for the resurrection.

II.   Things you must have for proper baptism.

A.  Proper Candidate.

1.   Acts 8:12 - believed Philip and were baptized.

2.   Ethiopian Eunuch believed and is baptized.

3.   Acts 9:17-19 - Brother Saul is baptized.

4.   Acts 16:30-33 - Philippian jailer is saved & baptized.

B.   Proper Mode. (no example of children being baptized, they were all adults.)

1.   Sprinkling - no scripture.

2.   Pouring - no scripture.

3.   Immersion.

a.   Col. 2:12 - Buried with Him in baptism.

b.   Acts 8:38,39 - into and out of the water.

c.   Mark 1:8,9 - Jesus straightway out of the water.

d.   John 3:23 - John the Baptist, much water.

C.   Proper authority - from God.

1.   Matt. 3:1-4 - John the Baptist came from God.

2.   John 4:1,2 - Jesus is said to have baptized, but the disciples actually did the work.

3.   Matt. 28:18-20 - Jesus gave the authority to His church.

a.   Acts 2:38 - Baptized on the Day of Pentecost.

b.   Acts 8:12 - Philip baptized at Samaria.

c.   Acts 10:48 - Peter baptizing Cornelius.

d.   Acts 16:14,15 - Paul baptizing.

D.  Proper purpose.

1.   Rom. 6:1-18 - Baptism shows we are dead to sin, alive unto God.

2.   Col. 1:1-3 - Set our affections on heavenly things because our life is hid with Christ in God.

3.      Gal. 2:19-21 - Since we are dead, we live by the faith of Jesus Christ.

I.    How baptism ties in with the resurrection.

II.   The Mormons believe that if a person dies without being baptized, then a living person ought to be baptized in place of that dead person (a proxy).

III. This dead is not physical death.

A.  This is a spiritual death to the world.

1.   Every saved person is dead to the world.

B.   Baptism is a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection.

1.   It is a picture of what Christ has done in the heart of the believer.

2.   It is a picture that the saved person won't live like he did when he was lost.

3.   They are put under the water to show they are dead to this world.

4.   They rise out of the water showing their hope is in the resurrection that shall come.