Preface
The position elaborated in my last post - that I'm a Baptist who would not insist on immersion in every case - almost cost me my ordination. The committee, composed of a retired Bethel theologian, a denominational executive, and a prominent conference pastor, was in no mood for heresy; and it was only my assurance that I would not trumpet this at my review that they allowed me into the club. (What red flags are posted to my dossier at headquarters I can only guess. It would explain why I'm never invited to speak or take part in committees...). Having shared this, it may come as a relief to some that I now present the case as to why Baptists should insist on immersion.
Post
One of the most basic observations about baptism by immersion is that there's a lot of water involved. This most likely went unnoticed in the early years of the Church when you were baptized in a river or lake because - well, there's usually lots of water in these places. It became more noteworthy when baptism had to be built into a church's architecture. That one had to construct a basin capable of holding several hundred if not thousands of gallons of water sticks out in a setting where dryness is otherwise appreciated.
Anyway... that there's lost of water involved reflects a profound spiritual truth woven throughout the scriptures: God brings life out of water.
In Genesis 1 the series of creation days begins with the presence of a great mass of water, an unfathomable deep (Hebrew t'hom). Subsequently, on days two and three God is removing this water and not until this is complete does He create living creatures. This, by the way, seems to be Peter's point of reference when he reminds his readers "that long ago by God's word the heavens and the earth existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water," 2 Peter 3:5.
In Genesis 6-7 creation is reversed as God judges a wicked world in the waters of the flood. But in ch.8-9 a new creation emerges out of the waters under the powerful influence of the wind (the Hebrew for wind is the same word for spirit by the way...). Noah and his wife are essentially a new Adam and Eve in a new world - described in terms which recall Eden - a world which has been cleansed of its wicked inhabitants by the waters of the flood.
In Exodus 14 water is once again a prominent figure in God's saving plan. Israel has been brought out of Egypt by God's powerful exertions but is trapped between the armies of Pharaoh on the one side and the Red Sea on the other. Just as in Genesis 1 God parts the waters and brings forth dry ground upon which Israel escapes. "Was it not [the LORD] who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep (t'hom), who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?" Isaiah 51:10.
There's one more old testament incident to consider but we need first go to the new testament for a context. Paul asks in Romans 6 "don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life," vv.3-4.
Of course this is the text which most Baptists refer to that connects baptism with Christ's death and resurrection. But this seems like a huge metaphorical leap - how in the world did Paul make this connection?
Recall that Jesus, in debate with the Pharisees, said that no miraculous sign would be given to them save for the sign of Jonah saying, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," Matthew 12:40.
What makes the book of Jonah unique is that it records the prophet's experience rather than his proclamations. Most noteworthy of these is when his disobedience to God's call is judged by the prophet being cast overboard into the raging sea. He is enveloped by the waters as he sinks down to the depths - "...into the deep, into the very heart of the seas," Jonah 2:3.
But here he is swallowed by a great fish by which his life is saved. During this time the prophet repents of his disobedience, apparently vowing to go to Nineveh if his life is spared (2:9). Accordingly, God commands the fish to spit the prophet out. With this the waters of judgment, the waters of death are parted and a new Jonah emerges from the depths of the sea - a Jonah who now takes the message of God's love to the nations. Baptism by immersion is therefore an allusion to one of the most fundamental pictures of redemption in scripture and therefore an apt symbol for our new life in Christ.
