Should Christians Baptize the Dead? | (un)ANSWERED

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We've all experienced the odd occurrence in the Bible and was left with fringe questions.

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Watch and listen as we leave no question unanswered.

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Many readers of the Bible will come across 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 29 in their reading, and they'll see something that shows baptism for the dead.

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And if you're like me, you've looked at that and you've been confused. What does that mean? Is Paul actually arguing that Christians ought to participate in the baptism for the dead?

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And so you're wondering, maybe some of you don't know, what is that? And that practice, baptism for the dead, is primarily done today by those in the

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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints that is Mormons. And what they'll do is they'll get this specific baptismal attire, they'll go to their local

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Mormon temple, they'll be given the name of the deceased person, and in proxy as a representative, they'll be baptized in water.

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And in that way, there's hope for this deceased person in the afterlife, that their position later on in the heavenly realm will change.

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But we have to ask ourselves, is this truly a biblical practice? And that's what we're going to look at today.

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What does 1 Corinthians 15 verse 29 truly tell us?

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And does it actually argue in the Bible that we as Christians should practice baptism for the dead?

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On this episode of Unanswered, we're going to go through five main reasons as to why the

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Bible does not endorse baptism for the dead for Christians. The first reason is that after we are dead, our fate is sealed.

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That's what the Bible shows. We can see that first in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27.

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It says, You see, at least in some part, the judgment comes immediately after someone is dead.

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That means God will determine whether they go to a holding place in heaven or a holding place in hell awaiting the final resurrection.

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We don't see them in a place where they can change their position. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 8 says,

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I prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. You see, when a believer dies, they are instantly with the

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Lord. The opposite is true as well. When an unbeliever dies, they will be away from the presence of God.

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This is particularly highlighted in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16.

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Jesus gives us the story. He says that there is this rich man who's built up his storehouses.

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He's never given anything to the poor. He's lived an evil life and he goes down to Hades at his death.

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Then there is Lazarus. This man was lame. He was laid at the door of the temple every single day.

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Dogs licked his sores and yet he was a righteous man. It says that he,

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Lazarus, at that time of his death, went down to Abraham's bosom. He was comforted there.

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Why am I bringing this up? Because at one point, the rich man is burning.

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He asks Father Abraham, in whom he's across a chasm which is fixed between them.

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He asks Father Abraham, would you have Lazarus to dip his finger in a cup of water and bring it to me that I may cool my tongue?

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This is what Father Abraham says. He says, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able and that none may cross over from here to there.

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That's the reality. Baptism won't do it. Baptism won't change the fact that there's a chasm fixed between those who are unrighteous and those who are declared righteous by God.

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It further says, please, go send someone to my brothers.

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But Father Abraham says, it doesn't matter even if someone from the dead goes to them.

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They won't repent even if they have Moses and the prophets. You see, for this principle to be true, the parable has to be true in reality.

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That is to say, Jesus is not lying. Jesus is telling the truth. Someone cannot change their position after they've already died, including the rich man.

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Now, the second reason as to why baptism for the dead is not a biblical practice is revealed in the standard for salvation.

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You see, it says, Jesus went preaching throughout the kingdom. Repent and believe.

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That is the standard all the way throughout the New Testament. Repent and believe. How can someone who is already dead repent and believe?

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They can't. Luke chapter 24 says this, How can a dead person do that?

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Acts chapter 10 verse 43. You see, the person that is already deceased, in whom a living person is the proxy and representative of, even their faith, even if they were a true believer, they can't transfer their faith to this dead person.

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They can't transfer this belief in Jesus, and they'll be saved, or they'll change their position in heaven.

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And lastly, Romans chapter 10 verse 9 says, I don't even think

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I need to tell you, a dead person can't move their mouth, they can't confess

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Jesus as Lord, and they can't believe with a dead heart, with a no longer beating heart in Jesus Christ.

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They are in a position in Hades that cannot be changed. The third reason as to why baptism for the dead is not endorsed by the

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Bible is revealed in the nature of baptism. First off,

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I have to say, there is not one instance in all of the Old or New Testaments that shows

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Christians, believers, Israelites, anyone who are declared the people of God performing baptism for the dead.

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We just don't see it. But where does baptism really begin? We see in some ways in antiquity, there was rabbis and teachers in Judah who would gain followers, they would gain disciples, they would make proselytes, and they would baptize these proselytes as they began to follow them.

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Then these followers would learn from them. They would go wherever they went. That is one of the instances of baptism.

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The next one that we see, the very first one in the New Testament, is with John the

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Baptist. John the Baptist came, and according to the Word of God, he came as the forerunner in the spirit of Elijah.

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And he came baptizing a baptism of repentance. In fact, he was out in the wilderness and he called to all people, all those who were looking for cleansing from sin, even though knowing ultimately that it wouldn't fully cleanse them from their sin, he was called to prepare the people, to prepare their hearts, to have them ready for the coming of the

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Messiah. You see, the forerunner was there to proclaim, Jesus is coming. John then reports that one is coming after him who's not going to baptize in water.

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He's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. At the moment of regeneration, there is the baptism of the

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Holy Spirit. That's the gift of God in Christ. It's going to precede a water baptism.

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In fact, that is inferred in the Great Commission in Matthew 28. It says, go therefore.

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Preaching the Gospel, making disciples of all the people in all nations, and then baptizing them in the name of the

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Triune God. That baptism of the Holy Spirit then would be an inward reality.

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Jesus commands, as we saw, that they would be expressed outwardly through water baptism. Except that water baptism doesn't save a single soul.

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That water baptism is an indicator, if you will, of that inward change. And it is commanded by God.

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We see in Romans 6, verse 4, it says, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the

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Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life. You see, baptism, water baptism, shows that we've been buried along with Christ.

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We've been raised to new life. It is Christian baptism. That is the function. And then finally we see in 1

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Corinthians chapter 12, it says, For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body.

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It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or Greek, we've all been baptized into one body.

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That is the function of baptism. So the question would be, in the midst of proselyte baptism, baptism for repentance by John, or the

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Christian baptism that is given by the Holy Spirit that express outwardly through water, where in all of those expressions of baptism do we see baptism for the dead?

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Now after this, this leads us to our fourth reason why baptism for the dead is not endorsed by the

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Bible. Now it's time to really get to the heart of this controversy. We have to go to the text itself.

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1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 29. But before we can dissect that, we have to consider the verse in its context.

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We go all the way back to verse 1. We see from verses 1 to 19,

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Paul is saying that Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to many, and he says, even to me, the least of all the apostles.

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Then he goes on to say that if Christ wasn't raised from the dead, if there is no resurrection of Jesus, then we are all to be pitied.

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We'd all be doing what we do in vain. We'd be believing in vain. And so it's crucial to the

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Christian faith that Christ indeed was raised from the dead, that there is a resurrection.

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Then in verses 20 through 23, we see the order of the resurrection, that Christ himself is the first fruits from the dead.

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He was raised with a glorified body first. Then at the end of all days, we come.

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We are raised from the dead to glorified bodies. Finally, in verses 24 through 29, we see the triumphant Christ, that all things are in subjection to him and his rule and reign.

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In fact, Christ is going to rule and reign until all his enemies are defeated. In fact, that includes death itself.

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He will abolish the rule of death. And finally, that comes to our verse.

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Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?

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And you see, what has happened from verse 1 all the way to verse 28 is

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Paul has been writing to the church at Corinth. He's been writing to Christians, and he's using words in the first person, like I and we, and then all of a sudden, in verse 29, we see a change.

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It goes to the third person. We see him use words like they and those.

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This is significant. Why? Because the I and we were one camp, and that camp was

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Christians. Then it's changed all of a sudden in verse 29, and the new camp are not

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Christians. And he's using third -person language with they and them. So to understand if they or them are the right translations for our

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English Bible, we have to look at this word baptism in verse 29. In the

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Greek, it is baptizontai. That is in the present passive indicative third -person plural, which is saying they are being baptized.

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They are baptized. It is pointing to someone else, not the audience with the church at Corinth.

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And also we can see with it being in the indicative, it is not an imperative, which is to say

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Paul is not commanding the Christians at Corinth to baptize for the dead. This is completely different.

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This is a completely different audience. What's Paul's point then in verse 29?

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It goes along with the rest of the verses in chapter 15. It's that the resurrection was true.

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Christ really did rise from the grave. And the promise is that after Christ, we will rise again too.

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There is a resurrection. It is a true reality. Even so much so that he says in verse 29, even the pagans believe that there's a resurrection.

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Why? For they baptized the dead. Otherwise, why would they? Why would they baptize for the dead if they didn't believe there was a resurrection?

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That's his whole point. And if we go back to verse 12, we can see Paul asks, how is it that some of you believe there is no resurrection of the dead?

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Meaning that verse 29 is an indictment on all those people who thought the resurrection wasn't a true reality because even the pagans believe there is.

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And that leads me to my fifth and final reason as to why baptism for the dead is not a biblical practice.

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It is indeed pagan. You see, one article states that historians have found just north of Corinth was a town called

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Eleusis. And in Eleusis was a pagan cult that worshiped their deity by baptizing people by the sea and in proxy for those who are dead in hopes that those who are dead would have a better afterlife or they themselves would have a better afterlife.

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Even Homer quotes this in his Hymn to Demeter. And so what we know is that Corinth was an economic center.

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There'd be people coming through and influencing others and they would syncretize their worship with other false deities and other false religions.

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And so it's very likely that those who are practicing this baptism for the dead in Eleusis then influenced people in Corinth.

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But not the Christians at the church in Corinth. It was not something that they practiced.

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To this day, Mormons are the ones who are still practicing this pagan ritual.

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In fact, Mormons have taken some form of Christianity, they've syncretized their false religion and they've mixed it with the occult, with Freemasonry, making themselves the ultimate false religion with paganism instituted in it, including this practice.

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And it all hinges upon that verse. 1 Corinthians 15 .29. That's the only place.

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But as you saw, they misunderstand the exegesis of it. These were pagans, not

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Christians practicing this. So the question is, why do Mormons do this? Why do they do this to this day?

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And the reality is, it all is based upon their false gospel and their false Christ. They have a gospel that can't save.

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They have to add their own works and deeds to it. It's a salvation by works. They make baptism a work that is necessary to be saved.

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So if you can imagine, and as they preach all about family and eternal family, you can imagine how they have loved ones, they have relatives and friends who are already passed, and it's sad, but they're gone.

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However, for them, they have some glimpse, some hope of a second chance.

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If they could be baptized in proxy for that loved one, for that person who's already deceased, in their minds, they believe that this person can now have a better chance in the heavenly realm.

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But that's not the case. And I'm sorry to say that. Because my hope for those people is to come to faith right now.

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Right now, in the one true and living God. And that's the call. If you're alive today, the call is to repent and believe.

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That's what Jesus commanded. Believe on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

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So the Bible speaks with absolution on this topic. The dead right now, at this moment, they're either waiting for eternal salvation in the presence of their

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God, or there are those who are awaiting eternal damnation to be in hell forever.

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Today, right now, while you still live, if you're watching, it's time to turn to Christ.

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So in the question of whether or not baptism for the dead is biblical, never.