The Naked Bible Podcast

Acts 22:16 is a passage that often provokes debate due to its apparent connection between baptism and “washing away” of sins. But that idea is connected to other phrases in succession in the passage. How should Acts 22:16 be interpreted amid these other phrases and the verbal actions described? This episode takes listeners into some Greek grammar for the answer.

1 Peter 3:14-22 is an odd, controversial passage since it amalgamates, baptism, salvation, Noah, the ark, and Jesus’ descent to preach to spirits in the Underworld. The key to understanding the passage is to recognize that Peter embraces the worldview of non-canonical Jewish literature like 1 Enoch and seems an analogy between the events of Genesis 6-8, salvation, and baptism.

How should baptism be done — immersion, sprinkling, or pouring — and can we gain any clarity about this from the biblical text? This episode of the Naked Bible focuses on the mode of baptism, focusing on the Greek word baptizo, frequently translated “baptize” in the New Testament. Is the meaning of this word sufficiently clear to settle the mode issue? Does it matter?

Getting the Baptism-Circumcision Relationship Right: Adult and Believer’s Baptism In the previous episode,  we talked about how to articulate a biblically defensible doctrine of infant baptism, one that avoids the theological problems created when one fails to say only about baptism what one can say about circumcision. Getting that relationship right also helps us talk about the baptism of adults.

Getting the Baptism-Circumcision Relationship Right In the last few episodes, we saw how some of Christianity’s historic creeds made statements about baptism (particularly infant baptism) that muddles an otherwise clear gospel presentation. The problem is a failure to say only about baptism what one can say about circumcision. Getting that relationship right is the key to articulating a biblically defensible doctrine of infant baptism, and has implications for believers baptism as well.

Contradictions over baptism and salvation in creeds, continued (Part 3). In the previous episode, we saw how the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechisms offered muddled, contradictory statements on salvation by grace through faith and what happens at baptism. This episode details more of the same, this time in the Westminster Confession.

Contradictions over baptism and salvation in creeds, continued (Part 2). In the previous episode, we saw how the Belgic Confession was, in places, clear on its articulation of the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. And yet when it discussed baptism, these ideas were muddled, creating theological confusion. This episode details more of the same, this time in the Heidelberg Catechism.

In the first podcast episode on baptism, I made the comment that many well-known Christian creeds are internally contradictory when it comes to articulating the clear gospel (salvation by faith in Christ apart from any work or merit of our own) and baptism. That might seem hard to swallow, but it’s true. In this episode, I illustrate the problem via the Belgic Confession, whose clear description of the gospel turns to muddled thinking when it comes to the section on baptism.

Inaugural Episode: Introducing the series on understanding and misunderstanding baptism. Everyone knows about baptism, right? What’s there to think about? Turns out quite a lot. Christian traditions all have positions on baptism, but it is rare to find a coherent articulation of the topic that doesn’t create theological dilemmas with other points of doctrine. Don’t believe that? Then you need to listen to the Naked Bible Podcast’s series on baptism, starting with this episode.