When someone obeys the gospel of Christ, should we praise that person, or should we praise God? Is it right to do both? Does it matter? Does the Bible speak to this?
In writing to the saints in Rome, the apostle Paul recounted their conversion saying, Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:16-18 NKJV). In this context, Paul did not thank them for obeying God; rather, he thanked God for their obedience. In other words, the grateful response to their act was directed toward God, not them.
Today, some are confused as to whether it is right or not to applaud someone when he or she is baptized into Christ. If we look at the above Scripture, our praise and thanksgiving should be directed towards God. How do we express thanksgiving to God? The Bible says we can do it through prayer: We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1:2). We can also offer thanks through singing praise to Him: Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15). It is common today for a congregation to sing a hymn and say a prayer after someone is baptized. We thank God in song and in prayer for His grace in Christ that we can be forgiven of our sins.
To applaud by clapping hands would be a response of praise directed toward the person. This act implies that the person did something meritorious. But we know that we could never do anything that merits our salvation. Jesus said, regarding obedience, does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise, you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do’ (Luke 17:9,10). We must obey God to be forgiven, but Jesus is the one who earned our salvation, and thanks belongs to Him.
This is not to say that we cannot rejoice with the person who has just been cleansed of all their sins and added to the church of Christ. Scripture tells us that the Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39) after he was baptized. We can express our rejoicing in song (James 5:13). We can share our joy with them personally: Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). But although this is a happy occasion, we need to remember that it is also a solemn occasion. For it takes us back to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).
I pray that there will be a lot of baptisms here in the coming year. That means souls are being saved. May we ever remember that they and we are saved because of the grace of God. Brotherly, Jamie
