1. Baptismal Regeneration—That baptism saves. Only Jesus saves (see Rom. 1:16).
2. Infant Baptism—That babies need to get baptized. (See Matt. 19:14). Note that everybody who was baptized in the Bible exercised faith, infants cannot do this.
3. No Baptism—That somehow baptism is not important. John. 14:15 teaches us that to love Christ is to keep His commandments. Baptism is one of these commandments.
4. Pouring or Sprinkling—That somehow these can be considered “baptism.” John baptized people in the Jordan river (Mark 1:5; also see Jn. 3:23). Jesus Himself when he was baptized “went up straight way out of the water” (Matt. 3:16). What is clear in the Bible is that baptism is a symbol of the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:3,4 and Col. 2:12). Nothing other than immersion could adequately picture such an event. Besides, the fact is that the word ‘baptize’ literally means “to dip” or “to immerse.” This shows us the proper method.
Note: There are other false teachings about baptism like that of misapplying 1 Cor. 15:29.
DAVID CLOUD: 1 Corinthians 15:29 speaks of the “baptism of the dead.” It is very difficult to know precisely what this was. Following are two good possibilities: (1) It could refer to sects which practiced some sort of baptism for the dead. “History indicates that there were sects which practiced baptism for the dead. Paul may be referring to them when he said, ‘Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?’ But notice the change in pronouns in the next verse: ‘and why stand we in jeopardy every hour?’ Notice ‘they’ are baptizing for the dead and ‘we’ are standing in jeopardy. Paul does not include himself nor any Christian with those who were baptizing for the dead! Paul simply questions, ‘Why are they doing it if there is no resurrection?” (Tanner, Baptism for the Dead). (2) It could refer simply to the act of baptism itself. We are baptized for the dead in the sense that we are baptized to symbolize Christ’s dead, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). “As they receive baptism as an emblem of ‘death’ in voluntarily going under the water, so they receive it as an emblem of the resurrection unto eternal life in coming up out of the water; thus they are baptized for the dead, in perfect faith of the resurrection” (Adam Clarke). In cases like this, when it is very difficult to be certain that only one interpretation is true, I tend to think that more than one might be true.
