Very deep water, a firey topic

Christians around the world stopped to think about Baptism this past Sunday as our Lectionary readings are dedicated to remember also the Baptism of our Lord.

Two months ago headlines across the nation ran articles regarding a Later Day Saints practice called Posthumous Baptism. That article prompted a discussion in our house. The headline read “LDS still baptizing Jews.” (POST REGISTER- NOV 11, 2008) My initial response years ago would have been “who cares?”

Now, as a pastor, and being called upon to respond to questions about other people’s practices, I had to stop to think through the issue. In doing so, I find that it puts me in a much different place.

This practice which is so important to my LDS neighbors, and probably to one or two of my own family members just seems downright strange to the average mainline Christian. To others it is entirely offensive.

This is my attempt to explain why the Later Day Saint Church practice of Posthumous Baptism is offensive to families whose members died practicing another faith. This is just one person’s personal reflection. I offer it to help create understanding, not to attack.

As I see it there is a significant difference in Orthodox Christianity’s (by which I mean virtually any Christian Church: spectrum running from Roman Catholic to Presbyterian. Anabaptist, Evangelical) understanding of salvation and Later Day Saints teaching. Rather than attempt to explain how the LDS Church teaches salvation I will limit my remarks to what I understand- what I believe about baptisms and its significance in the work of salvation. I will look at scripture, tradition, and apply reason to the issue.

For me the most important scripture describing the work of baptism is found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

“when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” ( Colossians 2:12 NRS)

Baptism initiates, that is, it begins an act of change within the one who is baptized. So we baptize our children to begin the process, to incorporate them into the Church, which is the body of Christ in the world. It is initiation into a mystical living body. Baptism starts a process of sanctification, which we Methodists delightfully describe as “going on toward perfection.” In any orthodox understanding sanctification simply cannot occur posthumously. Baptism therefore, has no value once the vessel, the human body has ceased operations.

Luke tells of an encounter of Paul in Ephesus which also tells us more about baptism and what occurs. He writes

“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “no we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
Paul said “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.” (Acts 19:1-7 NIV)

This clearly indicates something of value occurs ONLY for the living.

Lastly, looking at the Gospel of Matthew we find more about what should happen surrounding baptism.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)

Here we see several key points. 1) People of all nations are included in the invitation to learn (“become disciples”), 2) baptism occurs in the threefold name once the initiative to become a student (disciple being a Greek word for student) is taken, 3) Continued learning is a follow-up condition of being disciples of Jesus Christ, 4) Jesus promises to be present to all disciples at all times.

So looking strictly at texts from Scripture, there simply is no value, in my mind, for any proxy posthumous baptism.

What does tradition have to say about Posthumous baptism?
Some scholars suggest that baptism for the dead was practiced by some early Christian groups, continuing until at least the late fourth century. John A Tyedtnes, a Hebrew and early Christian scholar at Brigham Young University, Utah writes:
“That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them." The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage.
History shows that any early tradition of baptism of the dead was rejected.

Now, let me share a related line of thought which comes from my experience.

While completing work on my Master of Divinity Degree, our Christian History class was required to do genealogical research. The purpose of which was to trace the religious heritage of our ancestors. In this project many students discovered interesting and little known facts about their family history. While many were presently confessing membership through mainline protestant denominations large numbers of us could look back just one or two generations to find the Family Faith situated in the Roman Catholic Church. My maternal lineage includes four Irish Catholic lines. My husband’s family lines also have several Irish Catholic lines. All these lines carried forward the Christian faith through infant baptism, and we continued the practice for our children.

In the class we discovered that much of the changes in households of faith were due to mixed marriages in the present generation. More often than not the practice of faith remained very constant for centuries. The exceptions seemed more notable. Persecution at the time of the rise of Nationalism brought on many conversions of faith, a coincident event with the Protestant Reformation. Before that the Inquisition was a huge motivator to conversion for Jews to Christianity. More than one student discovered at least one family line of former Jews, originally from Spain but then migrating to the Philippines. While difficult to identify the actual cause, the presumed most plausible cause for conversion was persecution. Historical evidence led many to believe the families converted publicly but privately remained devout Jews who practiced the traditions and festivals of their faith in secret. The primary documents used to prove our connections and movements among the households of faith were diaries, bibles, certificates of baptism, letters and photos. So many surprises and great joys of discovery as well as sorrows and laments for those who considered the violence perpetuated on previous generations were experienced in the process of this class assignment. In the process I was surprised and delighted to learn of my great-great-great grandfather, Rev. Thomas Wright, who was an Episcopal priest in our family history. Would any dare to perform proxy posthumous baptism for this man, I would be insulted. I hold the thought that this saint has joined me in the consecration of Holy Communion throughout my appointment.

That seems to be the essence of the rub. Those of us who take our practice of religion seriously are most offended by the thought that practitioners of another form of religion which now desires acceptance as Christian like all others would regard our ancestors faith as insufficient and incomplete, which is more directly an insult to our understanding of significance of the work of God either in Jesus Christ or the work of God independent of Jesus for our Jewish neighbors.

As a minister in the United Methodist Church I accept as effective any baptism previously performed by any minister of the Christ’s Church. Roman Catholic or Baptist, Lutheran or Episcopal, Independent Christian or any of the Congregationalists, all are accepted if claimed by a prospective member. Fundamentally, it would be an insult to the work of the Holy Spirit to insist upon performing a second baptism if someone where to desire to unite with my congregation. I view proxy posthumous baptisms as an equivalent insult, not just to the practitioners a faith tradition, but more importantly to the Holy Spirit which both the Old and New Testament give witness to.

Sadly, the practice of Posthumous Proxy Baptism sets the Church of Jesus Christ Later Day Saints miles apart from the Church which sees itself as the Body of Jesus Christ at work in the world. So, I am left with one question for our friends in the Church of Jesus Christ Later Day Saints, which Paul asked the disciples at Ephesus; “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”


Father in Heaven, at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan you proclaimed him your beloved son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Grant that all who are baptized into his name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns One God, in glory everlasting. AMEN.