Question:

I have a question on baptism. I have read all the usual stuff by Presbyterians, but I still am bothered by all the historical stuff about Christians and even Jews baptizing by immersion.

Answer:

What should be determinative as regards the issue of the mode of baptism is not uninspired history but the inspired word of God. Hebrews 9:10 speaks of "divers washings" (Greek: baptismoi, baptisms) which were in use under the O.T. ceremonial law. Three of these are identified, right in this context, as sprinklings (vv. 13, 19, 21; cf. also 11:28, 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:2; Isa. 52:15).

In Acts 1:5 baptism with water is compared with baptism with the Holy Spirit. How was the baptism with the Holy Spirit performed? By "pouring out" (Ac. 2:17-18). That this surely agrees better with sprinkling than with immersion should be evident to all but the closed-minded.

An excellent defense of infant baptism is the book Children of the Promise by Robert R. Booth (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1995).