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| Volume 19 Number 11 November 2017 | Page 16 |
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| Volume 19 Number 11 November 2017 | Page 16 |
Were the Apostles Baptized?
Louis Rushmore, Editor
There is sufficient implication in Scripture to affirm, “Yes, the apostles were baptized.” Both John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-6) and Jesus Christ (John 4:1) made and baptized disciples. Some of the apostles had been disciples first of John the Baptist (John 1:35-40; Matthew 10:1-4). Though Jesus was credited with baptizing more people than John the Baptist had baptized, our Lord did not personally baptize anyone, but His disciples performed the baptisms (John 4:2). Since the apostles were involved in both the ministries of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ, which included baptisms, it is logical to infer that the apostles themselves had been baptized, too. The reason that our Lord gave for His submission to be baptized was “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Therefore, the apostles of John the Baptist as well as the apostles likewise needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteous, meaning that baptism was required to be pleasing to God since the time of the ministry of John the Baptist. Further, since the apostles were administering baptism, it is reasonable to conclude that they had received what they were dispensing.
The baptism received by the apostles and the disciples of John the Baptist was before the cross and different in purpose from the baptism of the Great Commission (Mark 16:16), which was implemented after the cross of Christ (Acts 19:1-7). The baptisms of John the Baptist and of the Great Commission were the same in form, but they differed in purpose. The difference between the two baptisms was enough for those who were baptized in John’s baptism after the cross of Christ, when it was no longer valid, to be baptized anew in the name of Jesus (Acts 19:5; 2:38).
However, there is no record of anyone who was baptized in John’s baptism when it was valid, before the cross of Christ, being baptized anew in the Great Commission baptism. Acts 2 does not record the baptism of the apostles or of anyone who had been baptized previously when John the Baptist’s baptism was valid. Instead, the approximately 3,000 in Acts 2 who were baptized were from among the 15 nations of Jews in attendance (9-11), and they were “added to the church” (47 NKJV) or “added to their number” (47 ESV). The 3,000 converts were added to the disciples, inclusive of the apostles. The Lord’s church began with the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Joel 2:28-3:2; Acts 2:16-21), and the new disciples essentially were added to the charter members of the church.
There was no more reason for those who were baptized in John’s baptism before the establishment of the church to be baptized in the Great Commission baptism than for anyone who obeyed any tenet of Patriarchy or Judaism over the prior centuries to be baptized in the Great Commission baptism. The blood of Jesus Christ was effective for the benefit of faithful children of God before the cross of Christ since the world began (Hebrews 9:15).
Submission of a Wife
Louis Rushmore
Please, could you help me explain what it means for wives to submit to their husbands? Or, does submission have limits, and if yes, what are the limits?
A husband is the head of his wife (1 Corinthians 11:3). As such, wives must submit to their own husbands (Ephesians 5:22; 1 Peter 3:1). Ephesians 5:24 says that wives are to submit to their husbands “in everything.” Colossians 3:18, though, reads, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (NKJV). It is proper for wives to obey their husbands, but this obedience extends only to what is proper “in the Lord” or as a Christian.