Dear Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I have read some of the answers on your website related to the requirements of a valid baptism. You have mentioned a confession of your belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is required, and in accordance with I Timothy 6:12, that confession should be made before “many witnesses”. My question is what would be your interpretation of “many witnesses”? The Bible says when “two or three have been gathered in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). However, this is not said in the context of a confession before baptism.<\/p>\n
When Philip baptized the eunuch in Acts 8, were they by themselves, or were there others present? The context would seem to indicate it was just Philip and the eunuch although we cannot speculate whether that was the case or not. There may have been others present but the text may not have recorded such. I know of people who have been baptized outside of a public worship assembly. There may have only been the person baptizing them present or maybe one or two other people there. Would you consider their baptism to be valid if this was the case?<\/p>\n\t
In the case of the eunuch, he was sitting in a chariot reading (Acts 8:28). Later he commands the chariot to stop (Acts 8:38). This implies that there is at least one other person driving the chariot. But reason would tell us that a high court official traveling such a long journey would probably be going with a larger group.<\/p>\n
It takes two or three to serve as a witness. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established<\/em>” (II Corinthians 13:1). Even if we take the minimum, Philip and the chariot driver would make two witnesses to the eunuch’s confession.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Dear Jeffrey, I have read some of the answers on your website related to the requirements of a valid baptism. You have mentioned a confession of your belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is required, and in accordance with I Timothy 6:12, that confession should be made before “many witnesses”. My…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,51],"class_list":["post-44621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-acts","tag-confession"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-saying-yes-enough-to-confess-christ-before-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":0},"title":"Is saying “yes” enough to confess Christ before baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I enjoy reading your articles on your web site. I find your answers to questions biblically sound and with justification. I'm having trouble with confession, perhaps you can expound on it for me. Is simply answering \"yes\" when one is asked to confess Christ (before baptism) enough? Should the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-said-to-make-the-good-confession\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":1},"title":"What should be said to make the good confession?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Before I was baptized, I confessed that I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I still do. If you look at I Timothy 6:12-13, Paul says Timothy made the\u00a0good confession in the presence of many witnesses and then says that Jesus made the\u00a0good confession in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23716,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-proper-thing-to-say-as-you-are-baptizing-someone\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":2},"title":"What is the proper thing to say as you are baptizing someone?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I read an article that asks what does someone says before they baptize someone else. It almost answered my question but not completely. I have always been taught that it is not a proper baptism unless the proper things were said. After taking their confession and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-confession-need-to-be-taken-before-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":3},"title":"Does a confession need to be taken before baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are having a problem with words in our congregation. When you baptize someone should you say the words \"I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins?\" Or should you just immerse them and say nothing?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68208,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-baptism-was-a-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":4},"title":"If Baptism Was a Work","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The claim is made that baptism cannot be part of the salvation process (the process from lost sinner to saved and justified in Christ) because it is claimed that \"baptism is a work\" and \"we are saved through faith and not of works\" (Ephesians 2:8-9). However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44070,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-didnt-say-jesus-is-lord-do-i-need-to-be-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":44621,"position":5},"title":"If I didn’t say “Jesus is Lord,” do I need to be baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello there, Thank you for the articles and answers on your website.\u00a0 I believe they stand on good biblical ground and are a blessing to Christians and the world. I have a question about Romans 10:9.\u00a0 Many years ago, I was immersed in water for the remission of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}