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Who can perform Baptisms?

Oct 22, 2009 Print This Post

This past weekend at Riv, we did one of my favorite things we do as a church: baptisms. It is so awesome to hear people publicly share their stories of faith and then have someone who is important to them perform their baptisms. Often, when we do this the question comes up:

Why do “lay people” at Riverview perform most of the baptisms? Shouldn’t the pastors do that?

I figured since I get this question often enough, I’d do a quick blog post on it.

Commentators are generally agreed that Jesus’ Great Commission applies to all Christ-followers. Here it is:

Matthew 28:18-20 “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,​ baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

If you take this to be applied to all believers, then Jesus is telling each of us to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey him. Now, even if you don’t agree that passage applies to all Christians, then you still see the New Testament supports the idea that any Christian can perform baptisms. Here’s a breakdown of every passage where someone performs a baptism in the early church:

Acts 2: Peter preaches (for a long time…which means they got a late start on the baptisms) and 3000 people are baptized in a single day. Let’s assume for a second that only the apostles performed the baptisms. If that was the case, each one of them would have had to perform 250 baptisms. I think it’s reasonable to assume that other people helped in the baptisms (perhaps the newly baptized)!

Acts 8: Philip preaches and we are told “many” were baptized. There is no indication who performed the baptisms. Later in the chapter, we see Philip baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch.

Acts 9: This is perhaps the most telling passage for our particular situation – the baptism of Paul. Here are a few of the verses…I’ll bold a few relevant parts:

Now there was a believer​ in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord!” he replied.

The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

Acts 9:10-12,17-18 

Who did Jesus send on this mssion? A “believer” named Ananias. He appears to be the only person in this story except Paul so we can imply that he performed the baptism.

Acts 10: Paul preaches and then “gives orders” that the new believers would be baptized. He doesn’t perform any of the baptisms himself.

Acts 16: Either Paul or Luke baptize Lydia and her family. Later on they baptize a jailer and his family.

Acts 18: Crispus and his family are baptized. Paul was there, but there is no indication whether or not he performed the baptism.

Acts 19: Paul baptizes 12 dudes.

1 Corinthians 12: Here’s another telling passage. Paul talks about the fact that Jesus didn’t call him to baptize people but to preach the Gospel. He struggles to remember who he baptized and who he didn’t. He shrugs it off as no big deal.

That’s it. That’s every recorded instance of a baptism from the point the church was started in early Acts forward. Did you notice what was conspicuously missing? Any local pastors (elders) other than Paul performing any baptisms at all. Instead, we have:

4 instances of Paul baptizing someone or recalling baptizing someone.
3 instances of people being baptized but no reference to who did it.
1 instance of Philip (a disciple of Jesus) baptizing someone.
1 instance of a “believer” baptizing someone.
1 instance of 3000 people being baptized in one day, presumably by a bunch of people.

Here’s the bottom line: both from Jesus’ Great Commission and the example of the early church, we can conclude that any follower of Jesus can perform a baptism. This is not a function of the leadership of the church, rather a function of anyone who is making disciples (which should be all of us).

That’s why it is so cool when people pick someone spiritually significant to them to perform their baptism. It shows the baptism to be part of the discipleship process.