Is Water Baptism for Today?: Books by Kenneth P. Lenz

By Kenneth P. Lenz

This brief book is intended as an effort to address the concerns of those who wonder if the ordinance of water baptism is an ordinance that should be practiced today, as well as to encourage a fuller understanding for those who believe it is not an ordinance for today.  In addressing these concerns, we will be looking more particularly at the teachings of those who hold to a mid-Acts Pauline dispensation viewpoint with regard to the subject of baptism, such as those in the Berean Bible Society (est. 1940), the Grace Gospel Fellowship (est. 1944), the Grace Ambassadors (est. 1958), and others.  Most of this material can also relate to those who hold to a post-Acts (or Acts 28) "ultra-dispensation" viewpoint.  It is my prayer that God will guide us in understanding His Word and His Church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Agape Book Ministries
• Release date: Nov 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223163190

Book preview

1.  Introduction

This essay (now offered as a brief book) is intended as an effort to address the concerns of those who wonder if the ordinance of water baptism is an ordinance that should be practiced today, as well as to encourage a fuller understanding for those who believe it is not an ordinance for today.  In addressing these concerns, we will be looking more particularly at the teachings of those who hold to a mid-Acts Pauline dispensation viewpoint with regard to the subject of baptism, such as those in the Berean Bible Society (est. 1940), the Grace Gospel Fellowship (est. 1944), the Grace Ambassadors (est. 1958), and others.  Most of this material can also relate to those who hold to a post-Acts (or Acts 28) ultra-dispensation viewpoint.  It is my prayer that God will guide us in understanding His Word and His Church.

Please allow me to briefly introduce myself and the reason for my passion about this subject.  I have served for over twenty years as an associate pastor in Evangelical churches and as a chaplain.  I also had a career in teaching for a Bible Institute and a few Christian colleges.  Courses I have taught, which relate to our subject of baptism, include Survey of the New Testament, New Testament Epistles, and History of Christian Thought.  Furthermore, my Ph.D. studies included years of research and writing on the topic of baptism, culminating in an 86-chapter dissertation, titled Water Baptism and Spirit Baptism: As Taught in the Scriptures (which is now available as an e-book).

In my studies, I recognized that there were a couple of Christian denominations that did not practice water baptism, including Quakers and the Salvation Army, and I understood their reason as being not to confuse baptism with the sole responsibility of faith for salvation.  However (and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit), it was only in more recent years that I came to realize that there are several Christian groups who not only do not practice water baptism, but who firmly believe it was a practice for a previous dispensation, and is not to be administered in the current Church Age in which we live—with the conviction that it could even bring damnation to the person’s soul (as if relying on works or the Mosaic Law).

As already intimated, the topic of water baptism is interrelated to the doctrines of mid-Acts and post-Acts dispensationalism.  Therefore, this book will address, to some degree, those dispensational viewpoints, since they are foundational to our topic.  A sequel e-book is also now available at no charge, with the title What Scriptural Evidence Is There for a Mid-Acts or Post-Acts Dispensation?  That book goes more into depth on those doctrinal positions, for readers who are interested.  In addition to the two e-books in this series (which can also be printed on demand at a modest cost), I have also edited two books written by the late H. A. Ironside, which relate to these topics and are also being made available as e-books at no cost.  These two books are titled, Baptism: What Saith the Scripture (originally written in 1901) and Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: Ultra-Dispensationalism Examined in the Light of Holy Scripture (third edition published in 1938).

While exploring the neighborhood around a hospital where I serve as the Chaplain, I came across a church called Grace Bible Church.  It appeared to be an Evangelical church and I met with the Pastor.  He told me that they were associated with the Grace Gospel Fellowship and he invited me to attend a series of studies on baptism.  He also supplied me with a book published by Grace Publications, Inc., and I went to the denomination’s website to view additional videos from a seminar related to the Grace Gospel Fellowship belief that we are not to practice water baptism in this Age of Grace.  Therefore, I chose the title for this book, Is Water Baptism for Today? and I have included much of the teaching I received from the seminar and materials provided to me.  However, please understand that the material in this book relates to all denominations, groups, and schools that hold to a mid-Acts dispensational viewpoint, and most of the material (particularly in terms of baptism) relates to post-Acts dispensational groups as well.

At the outset, I must mention that I very much appreciate the position that the Grace Gospel Fellowship (GGF) churches and others unwaveringly hold to regarding salvation being by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  While those were a few of the five "solas of the Protestant Reformation, in reality, some denominations have wrongfully added water baptism as being helpful (if not necessary) for salvation.  I am also in full agreement with GGF and others that the passages of Romans 6:3–4, First Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:4–5, and Colossians 2:11–12 are in regard to the baptism in the Spirit—and not a baptism in water!  In other branches of Christendom, such verses that refer to the baptism in the Spirit are often interpreted as referring to water baptism."

Furthermore, some branches will teach that a baptism in water brings about the baptism in the Spirit.  Therefore, my book Water Baptism and Spirit Baptism includes a chapter titled Distinguishing between Water Baptism and Spirit Baptism, which demonstrates that water baptism neither brings about nor even accompanies the baptism in the Spirit.  We know this based on many scriptural evidences, including every recorded instance of the baptism in the Spirit.  Throughout this extended essay, I will refer the reader to chapters in my printed book (abbreviated as WBSB) to find more extensive and detailed information in support of the points made here in this more condensed presentation.  (That comprehensive book could be used as a reference book, and it could also serve as an excellent condensed edition by simply reading the Summary and Conclusions chapter at the end of each section.)

The chapters that follow are intended to follow in a logical sequence, and the writer is devoted to applying the ABC’s of interpretation: being accurate, biblical, and consistent.  To God be the glory.

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Editorial Note: My writings follow The Chicago Manual of Style; however, I apologize for the fact that in the process of converting my manuscripts into e-book formatting, the Draft2Digital conversion process did not maintain many of my paragraph indentations and non-indentations of first lines (such as when a paragraph continues following a block quotation).  Yet I trust this book and my other books will be easy to read and the paragraphs quite understandable.  Thank you and may God bless you as you read.

2.  Old Testament Purification Rites

While we need to distinguish between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we also need to distinguish between the purification rites in the Old Testament being distinctly different from John the Baptist’s unique kind of baptism, as he was called of God to prepare the people of God (the Jews) for the Christ (i.e., Messiah).  Based on readings, lectures, and studies I have heard, it appears that many of the pastors and teachers in the Grace Gospel Fellowship do not make such a distinction, and then they further believe that when Christ instituted water baptism (Matt. 28:19–20), He was adding yet another purification rite to be observed in order to manifest faith for salvation (citing Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38, which we will look at later in this essay).  Such teachings are clear signs of a mid-Acts dispensationalist church or school.

One piece of misinformation—and it is foundational to the conclusions that they draw—is the claim that those Old Testament (O.T.) purification rites were baptisms and that the Septuagint translators had used forms of the Greek verb "baptizō (and its noun form, baptisma") when translating O.T. verses from Hebrew into Greek.  The fact of the matter is that there are only two times when forms of the word "baptizō are found in the Septuagint (LXX), and forms of baptisma" are never found there, though forms of those words are found 120 times in the New Testament.  Furthermore, the two times that forms of the Greek word "baptizō" occur in the Septuagint are not in regard to purification rites, as we will see.  The purification rights of the Old Testament involved the use of various actions (such as sprinkling, washing, etc.), various substances (such as blood, water, etc.), and for various circumstances (such as after touching a dead body, after being healed of leprosy, etc.).  Please see the Endnotes for a listing of O.T. verses used by GGF pastors and others that try to illustrate those purification rites as being examples of baptism (and even of the Greek word "baptizō").¹

Of the two times when forms of the Greek word "baptizō" are found in the Septuagint, one is of Isaiah being immersed in fear (Isaiah 21:4), with that word being used in a figurative sense, such as when English versions use the word overwhelmed.  The other time is of Naaman having

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Clear and Insightful
What a deal — offered for free!
The book has a very logical flow and is quite interesting.