MEMBERSHIP WITHOUT BAPTISM

1.0. Introduction
Christian baptism has often been presented as a total repudiation of one’s socio-cultural heritage
and accepting a name, a style of life alien to one’s own. I believe that this paper presentation
encourages or challenges the Churches to follow Christ more closely. It will also show the whole
Christian life, including liturgy, theology and spirituality can find an expression, which is native
to this land. This paper mainly deals with what is the meaning of baptism? Is it a public
profession of ones personal faith in Christ or does it also necessitate incorporation in to a visible
community of believers? What is relation between ecclesiology and soteriology?

2.0. Etymology of baptism

The word, ‘baptise’ comes from the noun form of the Greek word ‘Baptisma’. The verb form is
“baptizo”. Both these words derived from the word, “bapto”, which means, “to dip”.1

3.0. Definition of Baptism

Baptism is the divinely appointed ordinance by which a Christian, in figure or picture, confess to
others, by submitting to his immersion in water, not only his faith in the Son of God, but his
spiritual identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection on his behalf.

Christian baptism is the act by which a person, who has trusted Christ as his own personal Savior
and Lord, openly and publicly identifies himself with the Lord Jesus Christ. (According to N.T)

It is important to notice that baptism is only the figure or symbol or illustration. The ordinance
itself has no saving virtue. It does not make a person a Christian, but simply marks him as a
Christian.2

4.0. N.T. Concept

Matt 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…. Baptism does not make disciples; it only marks
them as being disciples. Mk 16:16, here baptism simply indicates the normal outward evidence
that a person has believed on Christ. It is said only that he who disbelievth shall be condemned.
It is not said that he who is not baptized shall be condemned
The N.T tells us exactly how disciples are made; it is most decidedly, not by baptism, but
through faith in the Lord Jesus. According to Acts 10:19-26, how did these people at Antioch
become disciples? The answer is found in verse 21. It was through the preaching of the word “ a
great number believed and turned unto the Lord”. Notice, there is not a word said about them
being baptized. It was here that the disciples were first called “Christians”. Thus, discipling is
done, not by baptism but through the preaching of the gospel, and faith on the part of the hearer.3

Luke 19:1-10, Zecchaeus, the publican received Jesus in his house and he surrendered himself to
Jesus will. As a result Jesus blessed Zacchaeus saying, “To day is salvation come to this house

1
Alfred P. Gibbs. Christian Baptism (USA: Walterick Publishers, 1966), 27
2
Ibid.,
3
Matthew A. C. Christian Baptism. (Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1992), 119.
for as much as he also is a son of Abraham, not only Zacchaeus, but his household is also
blessed. Jesus’ salvation has come to Zacchaeus and his house, but they were not baptized. There
is no record. One of the thieves who was on the cross received Jesus Christ and prayed to him.
As a result he was privileged to enter into paradise with Jesus. It was not due to baptism.4

Paul’s concept: Gal 3:26, It says we are the children of God “through faith in Christ Jesus”. It
does not assert that we are the children of God through baptism. Nor does it say that we are
children of God through faith in Christ, plus baptism; but through faith in Christ Jesus plus
nothing.5

By submitting to baptism the believer as it were puts on Christ as badge, or uniform, that marks
him out as one already belonging to Christ. Here a few scripture passages in which the way of
salvation is declared, and in none of them is a word said about baptism being necessary for
salvation. Acts 13:38-39; 16:14-15; 16:30-34; 18:8; Rom 1; 15-17; 3:20-26; 4:5; 5:1,7-10;
8:12,29-30; 10:9-16; 1Cor 1:14-18; 6:11; 15:1-8,Gal 2:14-20; 3:26;Eph 1:13; 2:8-10; 4:30;Col,
1:12-14,15:1-8; I The 1:2-6;Titu 3:3-7;Heb 9:13-14; 10:12-14; I Pet 1:18-19; I Jn 5:9-13.

According to I Cor 1:14, Paul wrote: “ I thank God I baptized none of you but Crispus and
Gaius”. From this it is surely clear that Paul was not of the opinion that baptism was essential to
Salvation. Again he says, “ Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (Vs, 17). This
simply means that baptism was not the chief thing with Paul. His chief work was to present
Christ to the soul through the preaching of the gospel, and thus lead men and women to a saving
knowledge of Son of God.6

5.0. Historical Snapshots

It is essential that the whole discussion be explored from an appropriate historical perspective.
We ca not properly evaluate the churchless Christianity movement without being cognizant for
several important milestones in the history of the church’s understanding of ecclesiology. To
properly reflect on this, for historical reference points must be considered: the Nicene Creed, R.C
ecclesiology in the middle ages, the Reformation, and the later protestant creedal affirmations
regarding the church.

5.1. Nicene Creed: On the earliest statements embraced by the church is found embedded in the
Nicene Creed (325A.D). The phrase is, “I believe in one, holy, apostolic church”. Two of these
words are of particular significance of this discussion: Apostolicity and Catholicity. Apostolicity
may be in jeopardy if some churchless Christians continue to we allow that these churchless
Christians are essentially orthodox in their doctrine, one is still left with an important discussion
concerning their recognition of the Catholicity of the church, i.e., the universality of the church.
Do non-baptized followers of Jesus fully reflect the catholicity of the church? Are they an
expression of the true mystery of catholicity which defies all human organizational efforts or are
they a fracturing of the visible community of faith which exists around the world which, despite

4
Ibid., 205.
5
Alfred P. Gibbs. Op. cit., 127.
6
Ibid.,
its many organizational and theological differences, nevertheless confess Jesus is Lord in concert
with other believers from around the world.7

5.2. R.C. Ecclesiology in the middle age (Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus):
The phrase Extra Ecclesiam Nulla salus, (outside the church there is no salvation) was first
coined by Cyprian of Carthage who argued that the doctrine was based on Jesus’ words, “unless
you eat my body and drink my blood, you have no part of me”. The doctrine was more fully
articulated by Pope Innocent and by pope Boniface VIII who identified salvation with being
sacra mentally, connected through the church. Thus, to not be receiving the sacraments –baptism,
absolution, the Eucharist and so forth is to cut yourself off f room Christ. From the traditional
Catholic perspective, there is absolutely no room for an unbaptized follower of Christ who does
not belong to Christ’s holy church.8

5.3. The Reformation: One of the biggest theological challenges in the reformation was that the
movement seemed to be an assault on the catholicity of the church. The fathers interpreted the
church’s unity as not merely or invisible, but Episcopal. The apostolic authority of the church
was conveyed and continued through the Episcopal laying on of hands from; Peter to the present.
Luther responded by a re-articulation of ecclesiology witch was not as tied to the structural and
sacramental connection with a particular church organization, but the mystical communion of an
Episcopal chain of the laying on of hands, but the true church is in apostolic succession when
and only when it teaches what the apostles taught. Thus, Protestant Ecclesiology found its
apostolic legitimacy through the doctrine of sola scriptura. Luther defines the true church as the
sancta, catholica, Christiana, i.e. a Christian, holy people. The emphasis, he argued, has always
been on the people of God, not the organizational structure to which they belonged. For Luther,
the true, organic church has a both ‘ visible and invisible’ nature. The visible church contains
both unredeemed sinners and those who are saints by God’s divine works. The invisible later
church, in contrast, consists of all true believers throughout time and space the composition and
the number of which is known only to God.9

5.4.Later Protestant Creedal Formulations Regarding the Church

As the number of Reformation churches grew, a new crisis of ecclesiology developed. Each new
branch of Protestantism was forced to articulate its own understanding of the true marks of the
church. The Augsburg Confession states that “the church is the congregation of saints (the
assembly of all believers), in which the gospel is rightly taught and the sacraments rightly
administered (according to the gospel). The emerging reformation churches tented to affirm the
spiritual nature of the church, but set forth certain ‘marks’ of the church, which could only be
embodied in visible communities.10

6.0. The Discussion on Baptism in India Today

The positive response to Christ in the modern Hindu tradition can be traced from Raja Ram
Mohan Roy, Gandhi, Swami Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Vinoba Bhave.e.t.c. They

7
Timothy C. Tennent, The Challenge of Churchless Christianity “Doom Theological Journal,” (2/2, July’ 2005),
167.
8
Ibid., 169.
9
Ibid.,
10
Philip Scaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom, Vol-III (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983), 499.
all consider that the church or membership as unnecessary to understand Christ or to follow his
precepts.

Samartha: He summarized some characteristics of the Hindu response to the ‘unbound Christ’.
The stress is on an anubhava or experience of Jesus. 11
Some testimonies quoted here;

Vinoba: “I declare on behalf of the whole of the country that we accept Christ and his message,
and are eager to live upon that. We take Him as one of our family.

Swami Akilananda: He feels that Hinduism has already appropriated Christ. Jesus is an
embodiment of divine love; so a Hindu worships Him as veritable God. Not only are “ his
teachings applicable to our daily life but if they are not followed, life is not worth living.12

Gandhi: He realized that Jesus belongs “not only to Christians but to entire world, to all races
and peoples”.13
Finally they stated that the problem for Hindus is not the profession of faith in Jesus, but the
joining of a church through the rite of baptism.

Eusebius: “we, the followers of Christ, have one and the same mode of life and manner of
religion as those friends of God in days of old”.14

Keshab Chandra Sen.: He insisted that Christianity in Asia must take on an Asian garb. He
wanted “ the true Asiatic Christ, divested of all Western appendages”. He found the Western
churches very narrow minded, unchristian in their attitude to one another and blind to the
spiritual values in other religions and cultures. Hence he did not ask for baptism, but instead
proposed the “New Dispensation” or Hindu Church of Christ.15

Herbert Hoefer: Herbert hoefer in his Churchless Christianity has compiled data from people
living in rural Tamil Nadu and in urban Chennai, who ere devoted followers of Christ, but who
have not joined a visible Christian church and, indeed within the Hindu community. He does not
call them Christians, but Jesu bhakta, i.e. devotees of Christ. Hoefer’s research suggests that
there are more non-baptized followers of Jesus in Madras than there are formal, visible
Christians in the traditional sense.

K.Subbarao: He borne in 1912 in A.P; began a movement centered on Jesus, after he had vision
of in 1942. He preached that we must become Christ, not Christians, what is important is to live
and die like Christ. Jesus is sad guru to be followed. He is the only one can dispel the darkness
of ajnana. Subbarao did not accept baptism. (He had prayer meetings Christmases).16

11
Julian Saldanha Unbaptised Disciples of Christ. “Third Millennium” (1/3, July’1998), 21.
12
Ibid., 21.
13
Ibid.,
14
Ibid.,
15
M.M Thomas The Churches Mission And Post- Modern Humanism. (Tiruvalla: CSS, 1996), 157.
16
Ibid., 158.
Kandiswami Chetty: He publicly confessed his faith in Christ as the only Savior, but did not
want to be baptized. In 1933, he started the “ Fellowship of the Followers of Jesus”. He
described its aims as follows “ to promote a sense of unity and fellowship among the members
on the basis of their common attachment to Jesus; to encourage among members a corporate as
well as a personal life of consultation and communion with God as revealed by Jesus; and to
cultivate the habit of active co-operation with every movement tending towards the
establishment of the Kingdom of God among men.17

Richard V.Taylor: He holds that baptism of converts is unnecessary and in some case
undesirable. He referred to a group of women in Sivakasi, Tamilnadu, who confess the Lordship
of Christ, but who, because of cultural constrains have remained unbaptized up to the third
generation.

M.M Thomas: He felt that in the Indian context, baptism is like circumcision in O.T. times. The
mark of transference of communal affiliation. Since baptism is a ‘transfer of communal
affiliation’ is understood in India as an act of Hostility towards one’s own culture and social
background, it makes a travesty of the true nature of baptism. There fore, according to Thomas,
we should not insist that the sacrament of baptism is a mark of true church.18

7.0 Conclusion
So far we have seen regarding baptism, I believe that Jesus apparently gave much greater
importance to teaching than to baptizing. Baptism does not produce the new birth, it does not
bring about the salvation of the soul, it does not make disciples, it does not introduce the believer
into the body of Christ, it does not bring about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it does not wash
away sins, it does not bring a person into the house of God.
Unbaptized disciple of Jesus Christ would offer greater scope for the Good News of Jesus Christ
to influence non-Christian society from within. Keeping in touch with individuals or groups who
are unbaptized “ yesu bhaktas” should be included among the ministries of the Christian
Churches. We must count not Christians, but persons committed to God’s reign.

Bibliography
C, Matthew A. Christian Baptism. Madras: The Christian Literature Society, 1992.
Gibbs, Alfred P. Christian Baptism USA: Walterick Publishers, 1966.
Saldanha, Julian. Unbaptised Disciples of Christ. “Third Millennium”1/3, July’1998), 21.
Scaff, Philip ed., The Creeds of Christendom, Vol-III Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983.
Tennent, Timothy C. The Challenge of Churchless Christianity “Doom Theological Journal,”
2/2, July’ 2005): 167.
Thomas, M.M. The Churches Mission And Post- Modern Humanism. Tiruvalla: CSS, 1996.

“The challenges of churchless Christianity”

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/papers/ets/2005/Tennent/Tennent.pdf

17
Julian Saldanha. Op. Cit., 24.
18
Timothy C. Tennent. Op. Cit.,170.