Only One Possible Meaning

Very similar to the Biblical expression washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5) is the expression washing of water. Both of these expressions refer to water baptism, and both refer to salvation. This is a tough pill to swallow for the modern Church, which has robbed baptism of its rightful role in salvation, replacing it with “the prayer of faith.”

We find the declaration that Christ cleansed the Church by the washing of water in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians (5:25-26). Could these words mean anything other than baptism? If they don’t speak of baptism, then what is this water in which the Church is washed?

Christ also loved the Church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that he might present to himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27; NASB).

An argument could be made that since this washing of water is with the Word [there are Bible translations that instead say through or by the Word] that the water symbolizes Scripture reading. But that would be redundant, like saying “Scripture reading with the Word” or “Scripture reading through/by the Word.” It wouldn’t make sense.

The Word Is Instrumental

To get the right interpretation, we have to give the due weight to the preposition with. It’s there to separate the water and the Word, and to make a distinction between the two. In other words, Paul is saying that the Word is instrumental in making the water a washing. That’s his idea because that’s how we use the word with—it means instrumentality.

Paul is saying that the water—which is baptism—is only effective when it’s accompanied by the living Word. Isn’t that the experience of everyone who is baptized? They hear the Word with faith, it becomes alive to them, and as a result, they get baptized. The Word of God is instrumental in getting someone baptized.

A Life-Giving Word

In addition, there’s the question of what the most suitable translation of the word rhema is. In the original Greek, the word translated Word is rhema. Now, in the Greek language, rhema is different from logos, a more popular Greek word for word.

Logos is used in John 1:1 which says ‘In the Beginning was the Word.’ Logos means a knowledge, a science. Today, in English you see it used as a suffix for many of the sciences such as geology, biology, astrology, sociology, cancerology, and ecology. All those logys come from the word logos and they mean ‘the study of’ or ‘the science of.’ But rhema is a different kind of word. It means the active word which brings things to life--the spoken word which activates its hearer.

A great example of this kind of word is the one Jesus spoke of in John 6:63. He uses rhema there.

The best translation of Ephesians 5:26’s expression ‘Jesus cleansed the Church by the washing of water with the (life-giving) Word’ is to understand the preposition with to mean by. That is, the Word of God is instrumental in how the Church gets washed with water. Preaching precedes baptism.

Paul is saying that baptism (the washing of water) has the effect of cleansing someone’s soul when accompanied by an active invigorating hearing of God’s Word. The word rhema implies that there is a reviving revelation which opens the door of the person's heart, so that they seek baptism.

True Love

Christ died for his Bride on the Cross and cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. He died with this objective: to sanctify the Church. That’s what the passage means when it says that he might sanctify her. He wanted to set her apart from other entities—that is, from synagogues, other religious organizations, from armies, sports clubs, schools, colleges, from institutions, political bodies, businesses, and even from families. Jesus set the Church apart from all these.

This is true love. Jesus reserved his Bride for himself, having set her apart by washing her in water. This is love because the Bride is not a naive child. What we see in Christ’s relationship to the Church is not that outlawed practice of child marriage. The bride has a mature understanding of what she is doing—she has comprehended the Word!

Comprehension Precedes Commitment

In addition, this passage proves that baptism is only for those who have reached adolescence, the age of reason. Baptism is a washing of water through the Word because anyone who enters the New Covenant does so willingly. There is full consent and full understanding of the terms of the covenant.

Learning God’s Word is necessary for a proper baptism. Comprehension precedes commitment. There has to be mental assent if a person will submit to the demands of the New Covenant, and the New Covenant begins at baptism.

Let’s take the Philippian jailer’s family as an example. Each member of the family was baptized, but first each one believed in God (Acts 16:34). That belief was born of comprehension, for Paul and Silas first ‘spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house’ (v. 32).

There was no baby among the members of the Philippian jailer’s family. Their faith was based upon an understanding of the message Paul preached to them. In fact, never in the entire NT ministry of the apostles is there the slightest indication that an infant was baptized. On the contrary, baptism is always the choice of a mature person freely entering into a lifetime covenant with God.

Catholic Baby Baptism

Children are in the age of innocence. That is, they do not incur guilt for any bad things they do. Their bad actions do not count as sin in the legal code of God. Because they have no guilt, God would never condemn them. He would never send them to Hell or to what the Catholic priests call Limbo. I’ve never met a Catholic parent who willing to believe that babies go to this Limbo because they know by common sense that God could not be so cruel or unfair.

Very few Catholics baptize their children fearing that God will condemn a child for “original sin.” Indeed, few people in their heart believe that babies are born with Adam’s guilt. Most people baptize children to consecrate them to a Christian life. They say they are “christening” them—that is, they are supposedly making them Christians. However, the problem with such thinking is that we can’t make anyone a Christian. We cannot save anyone, only God can. Jesus spoke about this in a conversation with the apostles:

‘… it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:24-26).

A Better Option

I’d rather take the long road of disciplining my child to help them form a good conscience and a free will which opts for Christ than to take the "shortcut" of baptizing them as a baby. I’d rather wait until my child demonstrates conversion to Christ. If my child has the freedom to choose baptism on his own, I have not robbed him of the opportunity to demonstrate love to God. But if I baptize him as a baby, I have set him on a path of confusion. A good parent will allow their child to believe with all their heart (Acts 8:37) and so be baptized.

The only baptism that counts in God’s sight is when a person, hearing and understanding the Gospel, is cleansed… by the washing of water with the Word. For the same reason we oppose child marriage or child labor, we oppose child baptism. You can’t force an immature minor to enter into a contract they do not understand. Love dictates that you must allow time for them to develop their own free will rather than impose a lifetime commitment on them—and baptism is a lifetime commitment!