Baptism
I hear a lot of people explain that they were baptized as a symbol of their faith. They describe it as an “outward sign of an inward change.” Baptism is much more than symbolic. It is the place where God's grace and our Faith meet. It is the place where we are forgiven of our sins and given the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38-40 says, “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
It is the place where we die to ourselves, are buried with Christ and arise born again, into a new life clothed with Christ. Romans 6:3-8 tells us, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
Baptism is not a work. It’s not a symbol. It's not an activity. It is a life changing event, an event that marks our forgiveness, our adoption into God’s family, our receipt of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our new birth into a life of Christ.
Two important things to understand about baptism are; when should we be baptized, and how shall we be baptized.
Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. So it stands to reason that only those that are guilty of sin need to be baptized. Sin is the willful disobedience to God. This occurs when we do wrong and we know better. Many churches baptize babies, stating that they are born in sin because of the sins committed by Adam. Romans 5:12 tells us, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Adams sin introduced sin into the world, but if you read the last three words of that verse it says, “for everyone sins.” Babies, are born innocent and do not need to be baptized because they have not committed sins. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3. “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” The children were not necessarily baptized but they were innocent. That’s what baptism is for, is to remove our guilt and restore our innocence. Now there will come a time, for most, that they will lose their innocence and have a need to be baptized.
The final question is “how should we be baptized?” The word “baptized” in Acts 22:16 is translated from the Greek word “baptize” which means to submerse or immerse, much like a sunken ship. As mentioned above, Romans 6:3 tells us that everyone that is baptized into Christ is buried with Christ. It describes our coming up out of the waters of baptism as something like Jesus resurrection. It makes sense that Paul intended to buried to mean buried. Can you imagine burying someone by sprinkling a little dirt on their heads or dipping them into dirt? Along with this is the fact that all of the examples of baptism given in Scripture are immersion baptism.
So baptism is for the guilty, it is done by immersion, and it is the point at which we are cleansed, forgiven, indwelled, adopted, and born again.
I hear a lot of people explain that they were baptized as a symbol of their faith. They describe it as an “outward sign of an inward change.” Baptism is much more than symbolic. It is the place where God's grace and our Faith meet. It is the place where we are forgiven of our sins and given the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38-40 says, “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
It is the place where we die to ourselves, are buried with Christ and arise born again, into a new life clothed with Christ. Romans 6:3-8 tells us, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
Baptism is not a work. It’s not a symbol. It's not an activity. It is a life changing event, an event that marks our forgiveness, our adoption into God’s family, our receipt of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our new birth into a life of Christ.
Two important things to understand about baptism are; when should we be baptized, and how shall we be baptized.
Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. So it stands to reason that only those that are guilty of sin need to be baptized. Sin is the willful disobedience to God. This occurs when we do wrong and we know better. Many churches baptize babies, stating that they are born in sin because of the sins committed by Adam. Romans 5:12 tells us, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Adams sin introduced sin into the world, but if you read the last three words of that verse it says, “for everyone sins.” Babies, are born innocent and do not need to be baptized because they have not committed sins. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3. “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” The children were not necessarily baptized but they were innocent. That’s what baptism is for, is to remove our guilt and restore our innocence. Now there will come a time, for most, that they will lose their innocence and have a need to be baptized.
The final question is “how should we be baptized?” The word “baptized” in Acts 22:16 is translated from the Greek word “baptize” which means to submerse or immerse, much like a sunken ship. As mentioned above, Romans 6:3 tells us that everyone that is baptized into Christ is buried with Christ. It describes our coming up out of the waters of baptism as something like Jesus resurrection. It makes sense that Paul intended to buried to mean buried. Can you imagine burying someone by sprinkling a little dirt on their heads or dipping them into dirt? Along with this is the fact that all of the examples of baptism given in Scripture are immersion baptism.
So baptism is for the guilty, it is done by immersion, and it is the point at which we are cleansed, forgiven, indwelled, adopted, and born again.
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