Understanding Baptism (Series: Church Basics)

By: Jonathan Leeman, Bobby Jamieson

Narrated by: Daniel Patterson

What's the big deal about baptism?

Jesus commands his disciples to be baptized, and it's a glorious picture of a person's union with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Still, many Christians feel unclear about the topic, having more questions than answers.

This short work provides a biblical explanation of baptism. What is it? Who should be baptized? Why is it required for church membership? And how should churches practice baptism?

©2017 eChristian (P)2017 eChristian

Personal Paradigm Shift

I've been a nondenominational or reformed Baptist for over three decades. I thought I understood baptism. But faced with tough questions like - exactly who should be baptized (infants?) or when ( 12, 16, or 18 years of age), or how does baptism align with the new and old covenant - I realized my understanding of baptism was cursory at best. If you are in a position of leadership at your church - if you are expected to provide biblically based answers to questions about what baptism symbolizes, how baptism ties to covenant theology, who should be baptized, and when - you will find this concise, yet scripturally rich book to be very helpful - and perhaps even transformational. Bobby Jamieson's approach to describing baptism turns what could be a dry, theological topic into a rich study. Rather than just looking a few individual "proof texts", Jamieson describes baptism within the greater narrative arc of the biblical story of salvation - how the act of baptism testifies God's grace in the new covenant - testifies that a person has been born again, has received a new self, has been inwardly renewed by the Spirit of God. Baptism points to the promise of new life fulfilled in Christ in the life of a believer. Baptism says that heart consecration has happened in Christ.

Kudos to Bobby Jamieson for distilling so much relevant material in such a short audiobook. Kudos as well to Daniel Peterson, the narrator who delivers the content with a voice smoother than Perry Como or Frank Sinatra. Out of all the books I have read or listened to this year, "Understanding Baptism" on Audible has been the most significant. Highly recommended.

Hard-Lined but overall useful

I was shocked by how hard-lined this book was for believer’s baptism. The author goes so far as to deny communion to those who have been baptized as infants which essentially makes that a Gospel issue (if he is being consistent). A decent book otherwise to which I was largely in agreement.