Twin City church of Christ Blog
“March 5, 2024 - Christ Did Not Send Me to Baptize”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsChrist Did Not Send Me to Baptize
Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:14-17
The divided allegiances in the Corinthian church stem from an improper elevation of men (“I follow Paul” and “I follow Apollos”). Paul asks, “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”(1 Cor 1:13). The obvious answer is no, yet he is making the connection between baptism and the one we subsequently follow. Why be baptized into Christ and then follow Paul? “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius”(1 Cor 1:14). This is an odd statement because it sounds as if Paul wants to limit the number of people baptized. The reason Paul is thankful that he baptized so few is not because baptism is problematic, but “so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name”(1 Cor 1:15). He then seems to be racking his brain to remember who else he baptized in Corinth: “I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else”(1 Cor 1:16).
Why all this discussion of baptism? Paul has a point to make: “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power”(1 Cor 1:17). Paul is not saying that Jesus doesn’t want him to baptize people or that baptism is unimportant. His point is about who performs the physical act of baptism. Paul’s mission is to preach the gospel, pointing people to Jesus and reconciling them to God. Gospel preaching does not leave people as followers of men, but of Jesus. When people respond to that gospel, it doesn’t matter who baptizes them—yet without the gospel being preached, all the baptisms in the world mean nothing. This is Paul’s true purpose.
It is a mistake to think that Paul is denigrating baptism with this statement. After all, Paul teaches people to be baptized (Gal 3:27, Col 2:12) and was baptized himself (Acts 22:16). He is correcting the mentality that the people who teach and baptize are of special importance. What matters is Jesus who died to make salvation possible, in whom we believe, and into whom we are baptized.
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One Thing to Think About: Do I tend to think of certain people as more important than they are?
One Thing to Pray For: Faith in the power of the gospel of Jesus
