Baptisms in the New Testament Trivia Quiz

Answer: John the Baptist

Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, as per Matthew 3:13-17. Initially John didn't want to baptize Jesus, indicating he was not worthy of doing such a thing for Christ. However, Jesus convinced John such action should be taken when He said, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

Scripture states that when Jesus came up from the water, "t6he heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'."

According to Wikipedia, the Jordan River is 251 kilometres (156 miles) long and empties into the Dead Sea.

Answer: Lydia

Lydia, the seller of purple cloth in Philippi, was converted and baptized by Paul, as per Acts 16:11-15. According to Scripture, after Lydia became a believer in a resurrected Jesus Christ, members of her entire household believed and were baptized. Going strictly by Scripture, she was the first Christian in Europe.

Incidentally, many theologians believe Lydia was a dynamic and wealthy woman as the purple cloth she sold was a commodity that only the very wealthy could afford in Biblical times.

Answer: Ananias

After his dramatic conversion to Christianity, Paul was baptized by Ananias, as per Acts 9:10-19. According to Scripture, Paul, who was known as Saul at the time, encountered Jesus Christ on a road to Damascus and was not only shaken to his inner core, but was left temporarily blind. Scripture tells of Ananias placing his hands on Paul and scales fell from his eyes and he was able to see once again. With his sight regained, Paul was baptized.

There are two other men in the New Testament who shared the name Ananias. The first Ananias was struck dead for withholding money from the early church, as per Acts 5:1-11 while the second Ananias was the high priest involved in Paul's trial before Felix, as per Acts 24:1.

Some interesting trivia: Although there are three different men with the name Ananias in the Bible, their accounts are listed in only Acts. In other words, the name Ananias appears nowhere else in Scripture.

Answer: Cornelius

Acts 10:32-48 provides an account of Corneilus and members of his household as well as personal friends being baptized by Peter.

According to Acts 10:1, Cornelius was a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. As the name implies, a centurion was in charge of one hundred soldiers. Cornelius is one of several centurions mentioned in the New Testament.

Cornelius lived Caesarea, an ancient city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about sixty miles northwest of Jerusalem. It was the Roman capital of Judea.

After meeting with Cornelius, Peter ordered the people be baptized in the name of Jesus. In other words, he was absolutely convinced the teachings of Jesus should be preached to the Gentiles. In Acts 11:1-18, Peter had to defend his actions before other church leaders in Jerusalem, but after hearing all the facts, they too became convinced the Gospel message should be preached to Gentiles.

Answer: repentance

The missing word is repentance. The word repentance played a major role in John the Baptist's ministry. According to Scripture, a large number of people repented of their sins and were baptized by John in the Jordan River. However, the Pharisees and Sadducees apparently saw no need to repent and they infuriated John with their self righteousness.

The word 'repentance' is also used in Mark 1:4 in the KJV and the NIV.

Answer: Acts

Details about Peter converting and baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch are found in Acts 8:26-40. Going strictly by Scripture, the Ethiopian eunuch was the first believer in Africa in a resurrected Jesus Christ.

Some trivia about the eunuch: Acts 8:27 describes him as an "important official", as he was in charge of the treasury for Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.

Philip is referred to as Philip the evangelist in Acts 21:8. When making reference to him, many people today call him Philip the evangelist to avoid any confusion with Philip, one of the original Twelve Disciples.

Answer: Ephesus

The baptism of twelve men by Paul took place in Ephesus, as per Acts 19:1-7. The men had been baptized by John the Baptist and told Paul they were not aware of the Holy Spirit. Paul responded to them, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."

Scripture states when the twelve men heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Answer: Philippi

Philippi is the correct answer. According to Acts 16:16-40, Paul and Silas ended up before the magistrates in Philippi after they drove demons out of a slave girl who was capable of telling people's fortunes. With the demons no longer living in her, she lost the ability to tell fortunes and her owners were furious as she brought them much profit.

Acts 16:19 states the owners of the slave girl seized Paul and Silas and "dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities". And this is where things turned ugly. Scripture states a crowd ended up attacking the two church workers and after they were stripped, flogged and severely beaten, they were thrown into prison. Despite their condition, Silas and Paul "were praying and singing hymns to God" shortly after midnight while with their feet in stocks!

Then a miracle took place. According to Scripture there was an earthquake and "immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed." And then things get even more incredible. The dynamic duo stayed put and did not make a break for it. When the jailer was amazed to find out his prized prisoners had not escaped, Silas and Paul seized the opportunity to convert him to Christianity. Acts 16:33 states the jailer's entire household came to believe in God and were baptized.

Answer: True

There is no account in Scripture about John the Baptist being baptized. To suggest he was baptized would be pure speculation.

The Website Thywordstruth.com offers this information as to why John was not baptized: "John was the divinely appointed forerunner of Christ. (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6; Matthew 10:17-13) His baptism was from God. (Matthew 21:24-26) There is no reason to believe that the divinely prophesied and appointed forerunner needed to receive the baptism that he was sent to administer."

Scripture, however, leaves little doubt that John baptized a large number of people. Matthew 3:5-6, in the NKJV, tells of the multitudes coming to John to be baptized: "Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."

Answer: Simon the sorcerer

The baptism of Simon the sorcerer is recounted in Acts 8:9-13. According to the passage, Simon had previously practised sorcery in the city of Samaria and "astonished the people". However, when Simon saw Philip converting a number of men and women and baptizing them, he also believed. Scripture states Simon was baptized and continued with Philip, being "amazed" upon seeing the miracles and signs which were done.