Baptismal Cognizance: What You Knew When You Were Baptized

The assembly of Christians with which I meet, and have been a part of for the last 16 years, is discussing the concept of "baptismal cognizance." In other words, what does a person need to know and/or believe at the moment of his/her baptism. To those groups who teach and practice adult baptism, this is a vital topic.

Jesus commissioned his apostles, "Go therefore 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 remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt 28:19–20). On the day of Pentecost after Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter is reported to have said, "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him" (Acts 2:36, 38–9).

One of the first questions I would ask is this: What did the 3000, who were baptized on the day of Pentecost in response to Peter's urging, know and/or believe when they submitted to baptism? I ran across an article online in which the author, in my opinion, assumes way too much. This author confidently states...

"The answer is quite simple. 1st century Jews, proselytes (Gentiles who had become Jews), and God-fearers (Gentiles who had not become Jews, but worshiped God) were knowledgable about God, sin, atonement, the coming Messiah, and His coming kingdom. In fact, the Jews gathered on Pentecost (Acts 2) were probably far more knowledgable about the God of the Bible than most mature Christians are today.

When Peter explained that they were speaking in tongues because, “This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel,” the people understood what he meant. They understood that judgement was about to come upon them because they had “crucified and killed” the Lord Jesus Christ. They understood they needed to save themselves from that crooked generation (Acts 2:40). Which is why they asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) and why 3,000 of them responded when Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38)."

From my studies over the last 15 years, especially in regard to Second Temple Judaism (i.e., the beliefs and practices of Jews from the restoration of the temple in 5th century BCE to its destruction in 70 CE), I am convinced we cannot generalize what everyone knew and believed. First of all, there wasn't just one practice of Judaism, but in fact, there was a plurality of Jewish beliefs and practices. Even a casual reading of the gospels reveals the very real differences between the leaders of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Zealots. But there were other groups as well who co-existed, debated and disagreed with one another in the 1st century CE. And then there were the Jews who didn't believe or practice any form of Judaism.

To assume that all 3000 had exactly the same knowledge about "God, sin atonement, the coming Messiah, and his coming kingdom" and "were far more knowledgeable about the God of the Bible than most mature Christians are today" is a statement based on wishful thinking rather than on historical accuracy. The "Bible" as we know it didn't exist as a singular, uniform book at this time. Some books that didn't make the canon of scripture for the Hebrew Bible, were considered by some groups to be sacred and some that did make the canon were not considered sacred by some groups. Much like Christianity today, there was a variety of beliefs and practices among first century Jews. So we can rule out knowing uniformly what each of the 3000 Jews who accepted that Jesus was the Christ knew and/or believed at the moment of his/her baptism.

It is impossible to say with sincere confidence exactly what any individual who is reported to have submitted to baptism in the book of Acts knew and/or believed at the moment each of them was baptized. In some cases we know what they were told/taught, but that doesn't guarantee that they understood, when they heard those words, what you understand when you read those words. The only way to know for sure would be if it was accurately recorded, in their own words, what each person said that he/she understood, believed and/or knew at that moment.

It is so easy for us to read into these biblical accounts what we know and/or believe, right now, about baptism. However, most of us, if we were baptized years ago (in my case, decades), cannot, with absolute certainty, say what we knew or believed at the exact moment we were each baptized.

So where do we go from here? All we can know is what these believers were taught prior to submitting to baptism, as recorded in the biblical accounts. It has always been a disciple's responsibility to teach the gospel and baptize those who, to the best of their knowledge, believe the good news. But to discern exactly what each person knows, understands and/or believes at the moment he/she is baptized is beyond our human ability. Only Jesus knew what was in the heart of a person (John 2:24–25). And so, in this we can have confidence: God knows the very thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12-13). To him, and to him alone, we must all give an account.