Baptism (John Reisinger)

In this part of the sermon: Reisinger introduces the topic of baptism from the Confession of Faith, acknowledging its contentious nature and asking those who disagree to do so in love, drawing on a personal…

Reisinger recounts speaking to a Jewish fraternity and rabbis, where he openly stated his intention to convert them, paralleling his direct approach to advocating for immersion.

I would be quite remiss if I did not mention that probably everybody here isn't going to agree with me tonight. That would probably be an understatement. I remember one time I spoke at the Hillel Society, which is a Jewish fraternity and university. There was a hundred Jewish students and three rabbis there.

0:14 - 0:42 Read in full sermon

The point: If you don't agree, let's agree to disagree in love.

He tells a humorous story of a preacher who, asked to preach only from the text 'Enoch walked with God,' still managed to bring in baptism by saying 'you can't walk very far before you come to some water,' illustrating the tendency of some Baptists to 'harp on baptism.'

I would always preach on baptism. Some people think that Baptists just harp on baptism. Maybe some of them do. Maybe some of them are like the Baptists.

1:36 - 1:46 Read in full sermon

The point: If you don't agree, let's agree to disagree in love.

Reisinger shares an anecdote about a man who disagreed with his sermon on election but appreciated his preaching, serving as an example of agreeing to disagree in love on contentious doctrines.

And one dear fellow was there every night and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the meetings. And so on Wednesday night, I came to the doctrine of election. And men lack assurance because they've lost the mystery of God's salvation. And when I was finished, this fellow came up to me, and he shook his hands with me, and he said, Mr. Riesinger, he said, I didn't agree with anything you said tonight.

2:46 - 3:06 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Reisinger discusses common definitions of baptism from various confessions, expressing a preference for 'symbol,' 'rite,' and 'ordinance' over 'sacrament' to emphasize its…

He compares sacraments (ordinances) to object lessons, explaining that God condescends to our weakness by giving visible signs to teach central gospel truths.

In the Christian Reformed book, in there, let's see if I can find it here, I hope it's in the Canons of Dort, I was reading this this afternoon, and they have a very excellent section, maybe I can't even find it now, it must have been marked onto that page. Anyhow, they mention how God condescends to our weakness and to our ignorance, and he gives us visible things, things that we can look at, things that we can see, and how these things that we can look at and see visibly teach us the central truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is what the whole question is. That's what the whole q...

7:31 - 8:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Reisinger defines baptism as the immersion of a professed believer and then focuses on the Greek word 'baptizo,' arguing that its consistent meaning in both biblical and secular…

Reisinger mentions a Presbyterian friend, Harry Mullins, who jokingly demands 'equal time' to retaliate against his arguments for immersion, adding a lighthearted touch to the contentious topic.

He comes here, and he's a Presbyterian. And he told me that there's a law in the country, in the federal, what is it? Federal something or other, that when you attack somebody, you have to give them equal time to retaliate. And so he said that he wants equal time to retaliate on the other side of baptism.

9:52 - 10:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is impossible to translate this word any other way than to mean baptizo, dip. Dip or immerse.

He uses the hypothetical example of saying 'Jesus parapoteoed around Jerusalem' to illustrate that using an untranslated Greek word (like 'baptizo') conveys no meaning to the listener.

I don't know if we're going to give it to him or not. Well, let's take in the New Testament the meaning of the word baptizo. If I were to say to you tonight, and I were to open my Bible, and I would read a text of Scripture, and I would say, Jesus parapoteoed around Jerusalem, how many would know what I meant? Would anybody know what I was saying?

10:12 - 10:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Therefore, why don't we do that in conjunction with what the word of God says?

Reisinger provides examples of how 'baptizo' was used in secular Greek writings: dipping cloth in dye, a ship being sunk, a boy 'baptizoed' with questions, or a man 'baptizoed' in debt, all to show it consistently meant 'to dip' or 'to immerse' completely.

As you would take a piece of cloth and dip it into the dye to completely dye it. Or if a ship was sunk, the verb baptizo was used. The ship was baptizoed in the oceans. Or if a boy was, well, he was baptizoed with questions.

14:10 - 14:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Reisinger transitions to who should be baptized, asserting that baptism is an identification with Christ and His people, like a marriage ceremony after love. He uses Matthew 28…

He compares baptism to joining the army and putting on a uniform, pledging allegiance, and to a marriage ceremony that confirms a prior commitment, illustrating baptism as an outward identification with Christ and His people after a prior inward change.

When we are baptized, we are like the man who joins the army and we put on a uniform and we pledge allegiance to our country and we say I am now under its laws and I seek to serve it. And this is what a man does in baptism. He identifies himself with Christ and with Christ's people. It's like a marriage ceremony.

24:32 - 24:51 Read in full sermon