Should I be baptized after or before coming to faith?

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I was baptized before conversion. Should I be baptized again after coming to faith? No one is ever required to be baptized again. Baptism, by its very nature, can only happen once.

Now, of course, the people who want to baptize you after you come to faith don’t believe you’ve really been baptized before. They would say that they are not promoting being baptized again; they are promoting being baptized, properly, once.


There are some groups who actually do talk about being baptized again, but that is to misunderstand the fundamental nature of baptism. Baptism is a sacrament that speaks of the reality that the Christian life has a beginning. You pass from death to life. You pass from unbelief to faith. The sacrament of baptism marks that reality in a profound way for the Christian. To say you could be baptized over and over again would implicitly say that you could pass from death to life over and over again, which is not at all what we believe. So, the singularity of baptism as the sacrament of the beginning of the Christian life needs to be carefully preserved.

W. Robert Godfrey says: 

"We believe, as Christians, that baptism does not have to occur after faith. In some circumstances, it’s perfectly legitimate for baptism to occur before faith, and yet it remains a valid sacrament. That is what Christians believe the Bible teaches about baptism. The sign and the thing signified are not identical. The sign can precede the thing signified, or can the sign can come after the thing signified."


Menzies from Pentecostal Doctrine says:

"In Mark 16:16, believing precedes baptism. When the deacon Philip went to Samaria, his preaching and miracles brought “great joy” in that city (Acts 8:8). “When they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12). Their baptism came after they believed. At the house of Cornelius, they not only believed, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and praised God before they were baptized in water. At Philippi, Paul told the jailer, “ ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and your household’ ” (Acts 16:31). It is clear therefore that water baptism is intended to be a pubic ceremony in which open witness is made to the community that the believer has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.


But Sproul doesn't address the issue saying; 

"Baptism is the sacramental sign of the New Covenant. It is a sign by which God seals His pledge to the elect that they are included in the covenant of grace. Baptism signifies several things. In the first instance, it is a sign of cleansing and the remission of our sins. It also signifies being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, being buried and raised together with Christ, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, being adopted into the family of God, and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Baptism was instituted by Christ and is to be administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The outward sign does not automatically or magically convey the realities that are signified. For example, though baptism signifies regeneration, or rebirth, it does not automatically convey rebirth. The power of baptism is not in the water but in the power of God. The reality to which sacrament points may be present before or after the sign of baptism is given."


The Catholic Empire says:

"While baptism is a symbol of the effusion of the Spirit and of regeneration, which follows as a consequence of this effusion, it neither proves nor insures regeneration. The Church of Rome has long taught that regeneration is inseparably connected with this ordinance. From that church this scheme has spread, with some variations, through several of Protestant denominations."

 

In short, we may state our objections to the Catholic Empire water-baptism-regeneration as follows:

  • Water baptism is the work of man; salvation is the work of God.
  • Thousands of persons have submitted to water baptism, whose lives showed that they had never been converted.
  • We have at least two instances recorded in the Bible where salvation was effected before the administration of water baptism:—1. The thief on the cross, 2. Cornelius and his household.
  • “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 Jno. 1:7.






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