Understanding Baptism (Church Basics)

Biblical theology of baptism. Does a good job In painting discontinuity between Old and New Covenants with regard to baptisms. Explains well the significance of baptism for the individual and the church. Good biblical details along with practical help for pastors and people. Could be a bit technical for a new believer without some guidance.

best book on baptism I've read. Treats the pedo-baptism position fairly, then fairly dismantles it imo. concise and to the point.

This book, and really the entire series, are perfect for church classes and basic training for leaders. The book is clear, accessible, and thought-provoking. It's my go-to book for our baptism and membership class.

This book was a profound help in giving greater clarity to the ordinance of baptism, and especially the importance of doing so in the context of a Christian community.

“The Christian life is a churched life.” This simple, yet profound statement under-girds a new series of books Church Basics edited by Jonathan Leeman from B&H. This series is aimed at the average church member and each book addresses a specific part of church life of which every church member ought to be both knowledgeable about and involved in.Understanding Baptism answers basic questions like What is Baptism?, Who Should be Baptized?, and How Should Churches Practice Baptism? This book, as well as all those in the series, are written, and thus the questions are answered, by those who take a Baptistic understanding of church government, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Even those Christians who have a different understanding of these church life issues will benefit from these books if they want to learn the other side and want to be challenged about their own position. Leeman defines baptism as follows: “Baptism is a church’s act of affirming and portraying a believer’s union with Christ by immersing him or her in water, and a believer’s act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and his people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world.” (6)Understanding the Congregation’s Authority addresses basic issues about the congregations role in the church such as what Jesus expects of his understanding-the-congregations-authority-by-leemandisciples in the church, the role Adam had and how that relates to church members, and the role pastors play in a church members discipleship. Too often is our churches the pastors (and its even worse if there is only one full-time pastor) and elders (though this is not always the case with them) are expected to do the lion share of church ministry. But is this the case? Is a pastor supposed to master all ministries so that he can be the only one ministering to everyone else? This book argues no and provides a solidly biblical case for the every-member-a-minister mindset. This is congregationalism, which is to say that, while the elders lead a local church, the congregation rules the church because that’s their God-given responsibility.Understanding the Lord’s Supper first presents a biblical theology of the Lord’s Supper and then answers questions like Who can Celebrate it?, Who can Administer it?, and How Should Christians Approach it? I encourage Christians to read this book and the book on baptism together and to read the book on baptism first. The baptism book will help you understand how baptism unites individual Christians together and this book on the Lords’ Supper will help you see how those united Christians express their unity to the world and reaffirm their unity with each other. Jamieson defines the Lord’s Supper as follows: “The Lords’s Supper is a church’s act of communing with Christ and each other and of commemorating Christ’s death by partaking of bread and wine, and a believer’s act of receiving Christ’s benefits and renewing his or her commitment to Christ and his people, thereby making the church one body and marking it off from the world.” (25)The Church Basics series is decidedly Baptistic, solidly biblical, immediately practical, and church focused. This series seeks to ground its claims in Scripture and, though it addresses the topics from a certain viewpoint, it interacts with varying positions to show its differences, which only serves to strengthen its conclusions. This is an immensely helpful series that can benefit new believers as they seek or orient themselves to this new thing called the Church and it will further serve other Christians who are looking to grow in their knowledge of these issues so they can be better involved in their local church.

I was saved and baptized over thirty years ago and I have always felt like I have a pretty good understanding on the act of baptism. When I received Understanding Baptism in the mail I figured it would be a quick read (it's only 74 pages) that would basically be addressing issues for new believers.Well I was sort of right because the book (booklet?) does reach out to new believers but it was also written for the more mature believer that is just wanting more specifics and of course it is also designed for the church leadership. Pretty diverse audience if you ask me, but it works. Bobby Jamieson doesn't beat around the bush with anecdotes and cute stories, instead he addresses the issue head on.Let me give you a little taste of his style with this passage from the chapter How Should Churches Practice Baptism?:"Baptism is a church's act of affirming and portraying a believer's union with Christ by immersing him or her in water, and a believer's act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and his people,thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world. In baptism, a believer commits to God's people and God's people commit to that believer. Therefore, where a church exists, baptism should confer church membership. The church doing the baptizing should, by that very act, be inducting this new believer into their number. Baptism isn't just a prerequisite to church membership; normally, baptism begins church membership. Church membership is the house, and baptism is the front door." (pg.67)After reading this short text I think the reader will not only come away with a greater understanding of baptism but also a more precise understanding of the role of the church in the act. I read the book aloud to my husband on a recent road trip and it sparked some interesting and in depth conversations.I think this would make a wonderful resource for small groups or even Sunday or Wednesday night services where most of the participants are believers. I think often a person is saved and then proceeds to baptism (or not) without the knowledge of what that signifies both to the person being baptized and the body of believers (the church). With that in mind I highly recommend this book to church leadership with the hope that they will then share it with their membership.I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.

Great book, quite helpful when helping others to look at the issues it covers