Later nineteenth-century revivalists stressed the primary importance of public acts: the sinner must repent and witness to their conversion in some public way, such as “walking the aisle” or “coming forward to the altar.” An interesting byproduct of this was that baptism came to be viewed as a means to witness to one’s conversion, especially to nonbelievers. There is little if any biblical warrant for this, but many have come to see witness as the fundamental meaning of baptism.
Gordon T. Smith, Beginning Well, 97
And that is exactly right. The Bible speaks of baptism in many ways (here’s [1] my meditation on one of them) but never as a public witness of one’s faith. I often wondered where that came from and after reading Smith, I felt like I should have slapped my forehead and said, “Yeah. Of course!”
Smith’s book is very good. It is provoking in some ways but it challenges some old assumptions too. I’m reading it slowly and carefully, more carefully than I do other assigned readings. Part of my problem is that I am also reading Victor Hamilton’s Handbook on the Pentateuch at the same time. It likewise is excellent and is causing me to read slowly and reflectively. I am struggling to keep up with my reading but for good reason. It is very good!