Baptism

households were counted. It was understood that when the head of the family
joined the Way, the whole houshold automatically received it. But at the
Pentecost this counting heads of families would not work because some had
their families with them. Hence we are given the count as 3000 souls. "They
are said to be three thousand souls (which word is generally used for persons
when women and children are included with men, as Gen. 14:21, margin,
Give me the souls; Gen. 46:27, seventy souls), which intimates that those that
were here baptized were not so many men, but so many heads of families as,
with their children and servants baptized, might make up three thousand
souls." (Mathew Henry’s Commentary) The disciples of John were only men
gathered together without their families when Paul addressed them - probably
in the Johannanite Essenic tradition. That leaves only Simon the Sorcerer who
turns out to be an apostate. As can be read he was a power hungry loner.
In the context of modern missiological situations, we need to look at the
jailer’s confession. The head of the family confessed and the entire family
was baptized. This is very similar to Abraham's case. Abraham believed God
and the covenant symbol was given to all the tribe. In modern missiology we
come across similar situations in people's movement. We have the chief of
the tribe confessing and all the tribe is baptized. This is one trouble with self
based- individual based Christian faith at the expense of organic faith of the
community. Both are relevant. We need to consider the family as the basic
unit, if not the tribe as a whole.
It appears to me that suspension of infant baptism and the introduction of the
believer’s baptism is a development due to the disintegration of the household
and family and marriage. Salvation of the individual without an underlying
organic family, community is simply the product of the capitalism based
entirely on self – "everyman unto himself".
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