Christ Did Not Send Paul to Baptize – What?

Sometimes it is easy to misunderstand passages of scripture and especially so if we

are getting all kinds of help doing so. Paul's statement in 1 Cor. 1:17 is such a
passage. It reads as follows: "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel." (1 Cor. 1:17a NKJV) What is Paul saying here? Is he saying that Christ
does not care whether or not disciples are baptized? Is he saying it is unimportant
and makes no difference to one's salvation whether he/she is baptized? It is the
purpose of this article to show the folly of taking that kind of stance based on this
scripture.

Let me begin by asking a question that must be answered if one is to take the
position that baptism does not matter and that Paul was teaching that in this
passage. Here is the question, if it did not matter, if it has nothing to do with
salvation, if Christ did not want Paul to baptize why did Paul baptize? He says in
verses 14 and 16 that he baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of
Stephanas. In Acts 19:1-7 Paul came to Ephesus and found 12 men there that had
not been baptized properly and he baptized them. Why? Why if Paul felt it was
unnecessary? One also finds others who were baptized either by Paul or by a
companion of his as a result of Paul's teaching on the subject - Lydia and her
household (Acts 16:14-15) and the Philippian jailer and his family (Acts 16:29-33).

Why if Paul felt baptism was unnecessary did he teach baptism in Rom. 6:1-7, 1 Cor.
6:11, 1 Cor. 12:13, Gal. 3:26-27, Eph. 5:25-26, Col. 2:11-12, Titus 3:5, and if Paul
wrote Hebrews as many believe he did in Heb. 10:22?

If baptism does not matter and Paul did not care whether people were baptized or
not then why was Paul baptized? Was more required of Paul than anyone else in
becoming a Christian? The command to Paul by Ananias, a man sent directly by the
Lord himself (see Acts 9:10-16) to Paul (at that time called Saul), was "arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins." (Acts 22:16 NKJV)

Most today, if they were to be consistent in what they teach, would have to tell you
that Ananias was mistaken and could not possibly have meant what he said about
Paul having sins to be washed away for they say a man is saved from his sins at the
point of faith and thus Paul had no sins to be washed away so they know more
about it than the man sent directly by the Lord himself to Paul. They also would
have to tell you, because they believe man has no part in his own salvation other
than faith, there was nothing Paul could do to help himself contrary to what Ananias
told him.

One also has to ask another question if one is to interpret 1 Cor. 1:17 as teaching
that baptism does not matter to Paul or to Christ. Actually, two questions. (1) Why
was Paul, an apostle, exempt from the command Jesus gave to the other apostles
just before his ascension to heaven in Matt. 28:19-20 where the command was, "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things
that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age"? (NKJV) Is he some kind of special apostle who was exempted from this
command to baptize? Did the disciples made by Peter, John, and the other apostles
have to be baptized but not those made by Paul? I hope you do not believe that.
What Peter, John, and the other apostles were commanded to do Paul was also
commanded to do or else he was not required to fulfill the Great Commission as
they were and who believes that?

(2) Which disciple was it in Matt. 28:18-20 that Jesus said would not need to be
baptized? I might add the disciples that were made were to be taught "to observe
all things I have commanded you" which was what - to go make disciples and
baptize them. Matthew 28:19-20 settles the matter of whether baptism is essential
to salvation by itself, no other passage is needed, unless of course one can
deliberately disobey Jesus and still be saved. But, there are many, many other
passages teaching the same necessity of baptism as essential to salvation.

Paul in 1 Corinthians was writing to the church that he established there. He says of
it "I planted" (1 Cor. 3:6 NKJV); "I have laid the foundation" (1 Cor. 3:10 NKJV); "For
though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have
many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Cor.
4:15 NKJV).

The record of the establishment of the church at Corinth is found in Acts chapter 18.
As a result of Paul's preaching the text says, "And many of the Corinthians, hearing,
believed and were baptized." (Acts 18:8 NKJV) Were the converts Paul made left
unbaptized because Paul thought it was unimportant and did not teach it? Not
according to this text. He said in his letter to the church at Corinth he was not sent
to baptize but it is certain he taught it or else how did the Corinthians learn about it
and why were they baptized? If Paul did not do the actual baptizing (and he did not
do it according to 1 Cor. 1:17) then it is certain some of his helpers or assistants did
on his behalf.

According to the Acts 18 account the Lord spoke to Paul telling him he had many
people in Corinth (verse 10) and directing Paul to not hold his peace but to speak up
in preaching the gospel (verse 9). Paul spent 18 months in Corinth preaching (verse
11).

In 1 Cor. 6:11 Paul, after speaking of sins that will prohibit one from inheriting the
kingdom of God (verses 9 and 10), says to the Corinthians, "And such were some of
you. But you were washed…" (NKJV) Now what kind of washing would it be that
would make a difference in one's salvation - that would cleanse one? Might it not
well be the same washing Paul had when he was baptized? "Now why are you
waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of
the Lord." (Acts 22:16 NKJV) Yes, washing (baptism) makes a difference in that it
spiritually speaking washes away sins in obedience to the command of God.

But, that is not all Paul has to say to the Corinthians on the subject of baptism. In 1
Cor. 12:13 he says to them, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."
(1 Cor. 12:13 NKJV) That body, the only body that matters with regards to one's
salvation, is the body of Christ of which he (Christ) is the Savior (Eph. 5:23). Now
read Paul's words carefully here. He says "we were all baptized into one body." All
means every one of us, no exceptions. How many disciples did Jesus say should be
baptized back in Matt. 28:19? None were to be exempted, not a single one. In New
Testament times there was no such thing as a Christian who had not been baptized.
That has not changed with time even if men will have none of it today and reject it
entirely.

Did Paul personally do a lot of baptizing in Corinth? No! Did he preach it and see
that it was done? Yes! Why did he not do a lot of the baptizing himself? The
answer is he had those working with him who could and would do the work. Paul's
primary mission was to preach the gospel as an inspired man. An uninspired man
can baptize another but in the days before they had a written New Testament it
took inspiration to preach the gospel and thus it is easy to understand why an
inspired man's first duty would be to preach. Such a man could always, or nearly
always, find help to do the baptizing. As already shown 1 Cor. 12:13 and Matt.
28:19 prove that every Christian at Corinth was baptized (see also again 1 Cor.
6:11).

Paul most certainly did not mean that Christ sent him out into the world to preach
that baptism was a non-essential and that none need to be baptized for it was Jesus
himself who said, "he who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16 NKJV)
and that "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God" (John 3:5 NKJV) and it was Paul who was commanded to "arise and be
baptized" to have his sins washed away (Acts 22:16 NKJV). One can also read the
passages Paul wrote on the subject of baptism listed but not discussed earlier in this
article (Rom. 6:1-7, Gal. 3:26-27, Eph. 5:25-26, Col. 2:11-12, Titus 3:5) to see Paul's
teaching on the subject and the importance he placed on it.