Why Did Paul Say He Was Glad He Didn't Baptise?

 Dear Apologist, if baptism is so important, why does Paul express gladness that he was sent to preach rather than baptize and baptized only a few people? 

There are some Christian traditions which erroneously believe Baptism is a mere sign with no sacramental significance.  As a proof-text for their ideology, they often point to Paul’s statement in 1Corinthians where he says he is grateful for not being sent to baptize. These Christians assert that Paul would never have said such a thing if Baptism was as important as Catholics say.

 First, we have to understand these statements in light of what Paul said just prior (in verses 11 through 15).  

 "I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name." - 1Corinthians 1:14-15 

Paul was dealing with an abuse in the Corinthian church whereby people would break into factions based on who baptized them.  So you had the people who were baptized by Barnabas living at odds with those whom Apollos had baptized.  Upon hearing of this, Paul expressed thanks that he had baptized only a few people.  He did not say this because he thought Baptism was unimportant, but because he recoiled at the idea of someone harming Christian unity in his name.  

As for why Paul said he was not sent to baptize; there is a simple answer here as well.  It doesn’t take much expertise to baptize someone.  Just pour the water and say the words.  But preaching and debating does take a great deal of skill and knowledge – the kind of skill Paul had.  Thus there was a division of labor in Paul’s ministry.  Paul focused exclusively on preaching while the others would do the baptizing.  

Interestingly, he actually gives a clue as to who did the Baptising in his ministry troup.  Later in Chapter 3 he says: 

"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." - 1Cor 3:5-7

Get the dad-joke in there?  Apollos is the one who watered.  He was the designated baptizer of the group. 

For more on what the Bible and the early Christians say about Baptism, check out this post from a while back.