Book review: The Messiah’s Baptism - Moving Beyond the Ritual Washing by T. Alex Tennent
Messianic Publishing LLC/2018/164 pages/$15.99 paperback (Amazon.com price)
Reviewed by Jim Burns on 12-14-2025
The Messiah’s Baptism is the second of two books that T. Alex Tennent authored addressing the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church from a biblical perspective. His first book, The Messianic Feast - Moving Beyond the Ritual, I highly recommend reading as well. The teaching that water baptism is required by the Lord Jesus Christ for all believers is almost universal in not only the Roman Catholic Church but mainline Protestant denominations as well as many non-denominational church bodies. Certain technical aspects are debated as to how this act should be performed, what phrase should be spoken over the one being baptized, how old one should be before being baptized, whether it is necessary for salvation, and other such points of contention. What is almost never questioned is the act of water baptism itself. Tennent in his quest to “prove all things” and “hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) did a great job of revealing that the Lord did not intend water baptism in the New Covenant. Instead, believers should be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not with water.
In the first two chapters the author reveals that the Greek to English translation of baptism means to immerse or wash. He also shares what baptism meant to first-century Jews at the time when Jesus and John the Baptist ministered. Jewish ceremonial cleansings with water played an integral role in ritual purity for centuries before the arrival of Jesus the Christ. John the Baptist said that God called him to baptize in water to prepare the people for a visitation of the Lord which was congruent with the long Jewish history where a washing was required before certain important events. Tennent goes on to state that the focus of these baptisms was not just on outward purity, but an inward ritual cleansing in making oneself right with God. The author also points out that there were proselytes (a Gentile wanting to convert to Judaism) in the New Testament at the Festival of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-10) who needed this ritual baptism into the Jewish faith.
John the Baptist understood that the Messiah’s baptism would supersede the water baptism that he was called to bring. Tennent draws attention, in chapter 3, to how John contrasts his water baptism to the Holy Spirit baptism of the Messiah with the use of the word “but”: “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). At what is called the Great Commission, Jesus gives instruction to go out and baptize/wash all nations. Tennent makes the case based on history and scripture that Jesus used the common natural-to-spiritual idiom telling the apostles to make disciples of all nations by spiritually washing/baptizing them in His name. If the Messiah intended to go back to John’s water baptism and not move forward to his spiritual baptism/washing, then why did the Apostle Paul say “Christ did not send me to baptize,” as well as thank God he baptized only a few people in water (1 Corinthians 14, 17)?
I was glad that the author noted, on page 34, that some scholars dispute the original presence of the triad statement “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” of Matthew 28:19 arguing that it was a later addition to that verse - possibly around the time of the Council of Nicaea. They quote alternate endings for that verse based on early writings by Greek historian Eusebius that exclude the word “baptizing” and end with “make disciples of all nations in my name.” Tennent goes on to state that “Interestingly, the only other scripture where Jesus mentions baptism such that it could possibly refer to water is in another contested scripture. Many scholars believe that the ending of Mark 16:9-20 may not be original due to the manuscript evidence.” (Tennent provides a footnote guiding the reader to a valuable summary at the bottom of the page).
In chapter 4 the author takes a deep-dive into Jewish natural-to-spiritual idioms that were used in the first century. He asserts that early Jewish Messianic followers often used many terms figuratively, whereby they did not actually mean the natural or literal object, but the spiritual truth or aspect behind it. To properly interpret many scriptures on baptism, this natural-to-spiritual idiom must be understood.
Chapter 5 reveals how key scriptures have been misunderstood because of the Roman Church’s narrow focus on water baptism and their overlooking of Jewish idioms. Tennent’s Bible college degree and Greek language knowledge serves the reader in this chapter. As the Roman Church lost spiritual light and entered the Dark Ages, it was stressed to the masses that water baptism was vitally important. The Messiah’s baptism and the Holy Spirit infilling were largely ignored. The reason for this: Having authority over who would be baptized gave the Church substantial control – even over kings and nations! Being filled with the Spirit of God was no longer emphasized, but outward religious ceremony and ritualistic observances were. Tertullian, called the Father of Latin Christianity, wrote the following around A.D. 180 in his treatise titled On Baptism: “Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness we are set free and admitted into eternal life!” Later in his treatise, the Early Church father loosely quotes Ephesians 4:5 where Paul speaks of one baptism, and he applies it to the Roman water baptism where he is speaking out against a group of Messianic Jewish believers who teach against water baptism! He writes how these Jews, whom he referred to as “heretics,” were excommunicated from the Roman Church due to rejecting water baptism.
Chapter 6 takes a closer look at why Paul stated Christ did not send him to baptize. After reviewing multiple key New Testament passages Tennent concludes that the reason why Paul water baptized a few believers, then stopped, is because the Lord revealed New Covenant truth to Paul. When Paul comprehended this, he completely halted doing water baptisms. He soon understood that water baptism was not imposed in the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:10) and that it was going back to Old Covenant ceremonial washings. Like Peter and the other disciples, Paul did not have full knowledge at the very beginning, but as God’s Spirit led them, they all came into more truth just as the Messiah said it would happen as stated in the book of John. At the end of this chapter Tennent lists six points to keep in mind in regards to the occasional use of water baptisms in the New Covenant era. He concludes the chapter with an interesting reveal on how early (around A.D. 200) ritualized communion and baptism doctrines crept into the church through Tertullian’s writings.
Tennent initiates chapter 7 by reminding the reader that with most Bible doctrines there are always one or two verses that just don’t seem to fit in with established truth from other scriptures. He believes that this could be a result of translation issues or from not understanding the idioms in which the scripture was written. He also mentions that in rare cases it results from the scripture being a later addition of counterfeit content that was not in the original Greek documents (portions of 1 John 5:7-8 are listed as an example). One major rule of hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) is that you do not allow one or two verses to overturn the main body of truth that is clear from the rest of scripture. Instead, you consider if those one or two odd scriptures can be interpreted so they harmonize with well-established truth from the whole Bible. As for explaining whether the Lord wants water baptism or his own Spirit baptism, the most difficult verse is 1 Peter 3:21, where Peter really seems to say that baptism in water is what saves you. Tennent lists ten facts which counters the water baptism saves argument concluding that it is the Messiah’s Spirit baptism that saves us - by our believing in and appropriating the atonement the Son provided for us through his death and resurrection.
In chapter 8 the author states that the Messiah’s baptism and the Holy Spirit infilling are often two separate phases. The Holy Spirit baptism that Jesus provides takes place when one believes in his sacrifice on the cross and receives his cleansing and forgiveness. When we repent and ask Jesus to forgive us and come into our hearts, we are “born again” by God’s Spirit. Tennent also addresses the subject of speaking in tongues which he describes as a “heavenly prayer language in which a Spirit-filled believer can pray directly to God. In rare instances (such as in Acts 2:4-12), God may inspire one to speak in a known earthly language that is not their own, but normally, speaking in tongues is in an unknown language.”
Chapter 9 begins with a list of twelve reasons against water baptism in the New Covenant with Bible verses included to reinforce Tennent’s points. At the bottom of page 146 we read this interesting statement: “Jesus said that if he does not go away, the Holy Spirit (and thus his baptism) would not come (John 16:7 and John 7:37-39).” Speaking spiritually, if there were no Passover Lamb of God and no first fruits offering (the Resurrection), then Pentecost could not spiritually come. Incidentally, this is yet another proof that Jesus is not God as specific events needed to occur with Jesus in order for the Father to send His spirit. Tennent concludes this chapter by informing the reader that the water baptism sacrament was not the baptism/washing that the Messiah wanted. Instead the Messiah’s focus was always on the Spirit baptism that he would provide.
Chapter 10 contains a list of questions which the author commonly gets asked in regards to baptism. I believe that his answers served as thorough/biblically-accurate responses. The book concludes with an index of baptism scriptures and a bibliography.
My final comments: Although T. Alex Tennent is a unitarian, he holds to Socinian Christology (views Jesus as merely a human prophet, with no angelic status before his birth to Mary) which unfortunately influences his writings in at least one area. On pages 45-46 Tennent states: “Many commentators have misunderstood Jesus in the scriptures where he said he came down from heaven, thinking he meant this literally and had previously lived in heaven: For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me (John 6:38). The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him, because He said, I am the bread that came down out of heaven (John 6:41). But the Messiah was only comparing himself to the manna, called the bread of heaven.” I vehemently disagree. It is true that Jesus is the bread of heaven, but it is also true that he existed in heaven, with intermittent appearances on earth, as the Angel of the Lord as referenced by John 8:58 and Hebrews 1:3. In fact, Dr. Charles Gieschen wrote an entire book on the angelic existence of Jesus before his birth to Mary titled: Angelomorphic Christology - Antecedents and Early Evidence.
Additionally, Tennent hasn’t properly developed a comprehensive systematic theology in regards to how salvation comes about as evidenced by his comments in three different areas: 1) Page 65/fourth paragraph: “But being filled with the Holy Spirit is not required for salvation.” 2) Page 90/first paragraph: “No, the truth is that they were saved and washed by believing and were thus ready for God to infill them with His spirit…” 3) Page 98/first paragraph: “Thus, his Holy Spirit baptism/washing is required for salvation, but the Holy Spirit infilling is a second phase - and not required for salvation.” These confusing statements contradict what was stated in Acts 8:14-17 which Tennent shares in paragraph three of page 98! The Unitarian Paulician Church of Christ believes that everything that an individual needs to know about how to become saved is contained in Ephesians 1:13-14: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…
Despite the above issues and the book frequently revisiting subject matters that had been addressed in previous chapters (made for some laborious reading at times), one should not ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’ in regards to the primary message of this book. A reader will never think about baptism the same way again. Therefore I issue a final 4 out of 5 rating on this book.
