Lost in Translation

James' Baptism

Here's a short article on this key subject. Enjoy! Justification by Faith

I just ran across a website with free Powerpoint backgrounds. For you pastors and fellow missionaries who use that program, check it out at: www.brainybetty.com

Here's a little something I've been pondering. Why don't we see very much discussion in the NT about baptism? Why don't we hear of new believers struggling with the step of baptism? Why didn't anyone hesitate in being baptized after they were saved?

Granted, there may have been some people that had difficulty with baptism, but the NT doesn't give any such hint.

In constrast, many new believers seem to struggle with baptism today. Our friend James has struggled with this step for two months. Praise the Lord that he's finally convinced that he needs to go ahead with it.

Here are a few thoughts I've had: First, I'm thinking that baptism was more of a "normal" event in ancient times to mark a major transition than it is today. No one questioned John the Baptist about why he was baptizing people. I haven't researched it much, but I think that certain baptisms were a part of Judaism (let me know if I'm wrong).

Another thought is that being buried into the death of Christ had more significance for the first Christians than for many of us today. When they accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, they were going against the grain in a big way. Jewish people were in hot water because they were supposedly rejecting a major tenet of their religion ("Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is one"). Gentiles were in hot water too because they were rejecting the pantheon of gods, thus reverting to almost an "atheism." For these reasons, I think that the early Christians already knew that they were going to be considered "rejects." For this reason, they gladly embraced their new community of faith and its initiation rite--baptism.

I also like how Peter "commanded" that the people be baptized (Acts 10:48). And they didn't argue at all! If anyone has any additional thoughts on this matter, let me know.

Latin culture is definitely different from American culture. The other day I was talking to one of James' Colombian coworkers. She mentioned missing her husband. "Oh, he must be in Colombia, right?" "No," she said, "my husband is so-and-so here in Costa Rica." The funny thing is that the wife is 23 years old, and the husband must be in his middle forties. I asked James about it later. "Oh, that's normal in Latin culture," he said.