~5 min read
Ps Paul Cheng
1 Corinthians 15:29
“…one of the most difficult phrases to interpret…”
Dear Bethelites,
If someone were to ask you, “Do you believe in the resurrection?” Most certainly, you would answer, “Yes, of course!” But believing in the resurrection is one thing, it must also be evidenced in our lives. A right understanding of the doctrine must lead to a right way of behaviour. The reality of the resurrection ought to change the way we live our lives; it ought to motivate us to live our Christian lives.
I. Motivated To Believe And Be Baptised
1 Corinthians 15:29, Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptised for the dead?
Here, the Apostle Paul asked, “What about those people who are baptised for the dead?” If they did not believe in the resurrection, how would they explain why the believers were baptised for the dead?
Perhaps, baptised for the dead, is one of the most difficult phrases to interpret, and it has no less than 30 different interpretations. This phrase has also been wrongly used to support certain strange and heretical ideas.
Most certainly, Paul did not mean vicarious baptism (or “baptism for the dead” which was the practice of baptising a person on behalf of someone who was dead, or a living person receiving the sacrament of baptism on behalf of the one who was dead).
The explicit command given in the Bible is “to believe and be baptised.” We are to baptise the one who is alive, not the one who is dead. Salvation is by personal faith in Jesus Christ, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Baptism is the outward sign of an inward faith. Baptism does not save a person; he or she who is baptised is already saved by faith. If a person cannot be saved by being baptised, how much more can someone who is dead be saved through baptism. That is unbiblical.
Let us consider some of the possible interpretations of this phrase, baptised for the dead.
(1) The first interpretation is that in those days, the people were practising vicarious baptism or baptism for the dead. Although Paul did not approve of it, here he was quoting to the Corinthians that if they did not believe in the resurrection, why then did they practice the vicarious baptism or baptism for the dead.
(2) The second interpretation is that Paul was referring to the baptism of the young converts who took over the place of the older brethren who had died, which means some of the older believers had died, and the younger believers were then being baptised to take over the place of those who had died.
(3) The third interpretation is that Paul was referring to the phrase baptised for the dead with an interest in the resurrection of the dead, or the people were being baptised in view of the hope of the resurrection.
(4) The fourth interpretation is the one which most conservative theologians believe to be the right one. The Corinthians were baptising the young converts based on the testimonies of those brethren who had died. Allow me to briefly explain this understanding. The original Greek word for can be translated as “because of.” In other words, these young converts believed and were baptised because of the persuasive testimonies of those brethren who had died. That is what baptised for the dead, or baptised because of the dead, means!
In the New Testament, baptism is closely associated with salvation. Although a person does not have to be baptised to be a Christian. But as an obedient Christian, he would be baptised, with the obvious exception of a believer who has no opportunity to be baptised before death (e.g. the believing thief on the cross). If you remember the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (and once they have believed), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (emphasis mine). So, in the early church, a person who was saved was assumed to seek baptism. Therefore, when they asked if a person was baptised, it was equivalent to asking if he was saved.
If this is the right interpretation, (which I believe it is), then Paul was simply saying that people were being saved and baptised because of the exemplary lives and testimonies of the faithful believers who had died.
Dear friend, isn’t it true that some of us came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because of the testimonies of those brethren who had passed away? They could be our grandparents, parents, pastors and preachers; while they were alive, they shared the gospel with us, and they had lived exemplary lives, and today, we have come to believe and are baptised, because of their testimonies.
More often than not, the testimonies of the dead are greater than those who are alive. We have heard countless stories of how the husband would not come to Christ despite the wife sharing the gospel with him at every opportunity. But when the wife died, he could not bear the thought of not seeing her again, and his heart was then drawn to the gospel because of this strong desire to see her in heaven and be united with her in heaven. We have heard stories of how children would not come to Christ despite the mother pleading and praying with them. But when the mother died, the prospect of not seeing her forever caused them to hear the gospel of salvation and be saved. The amazing thing is that on the day of their baptism, these people would share how they had come to believe and were baptised because of the testimonies of their loved ones who had died. The dead were the ones who had sown the seed of the gospel.
A word of encouragement to all those brethren who have been sharing the gospel with their unbelieving loved ones. Your loved ones may have rejected the gospel again and again. Please do not give up! Your loved ones may not come to believe in Christ during your lifetime; but do you think it is not possible for God to convict their hearts even at our funeral service through the preaching of the gospel? When the reality of life and death, heaven and hell, and eternal separation truly sets in, that is when their hearts would be drawn to the gospel of Christ, by the grace of God.
Thus, to recap, if there is no resurrection and no hope of a future life, Paul asked this question, “Why are the people coming to Christ because of the testimonies of the believers who have died. If the dead rise not at all, why then are they (those believers who are alive) being baptised because of the testimonies of those who have died?
(To be continued in the next pastoral chat)
In Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng
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