Water Baptism

WHY BE BAPTIZED?

Baptism is closely linked with believing in Jesus Christ. Some scriptures place them side by side as part of becoming a Christian: Mark 16:16 states ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’. Acts 2:38 ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven’. Acts 22:16 ‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on His name’. Matthew 28:19 ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.

1. Command for all believers: 

Acts 2:38 states: 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'. John 2:5 says: 'Whatsoever He saith to you, do it'.

2. Jesus did it:

Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be Baptized by John. See Matthew 3:13-17.  Wherever Jesus goes we have no alternative but to follow Him. We are His disciples. He is our example. We should follow His steps.

3. Apostles practiced it: 

Acts 2:41.    Jerusalem.

Acts 8:12.    Samaria. 

Acts 8:36.    Ethiopian Eunuch. 

Acts 10:48.  Cornelius' House. 

Acts 16:33.  Jailer at Philippi.

4. Symbolic sign of the forgiveness of our sin: 

By complete washing of the inner man with the blood of Jesus. 

5. Sign of being a disciple:

A disciple of Jesus Christ.

6. Making a break with the old way: 

Declaring that we now trust in Christ, are dead to our old sinful past, and are now rising in the power and strength of Christ. We identify with Christ and declare complete allegiance before all principalities and powers. Read Romans 6:3-5.  We are Baptized out of love and obedience and copying our Lord Jesus. When we choose to follow Christ we must ask "What can I do to please Him?" I don't want to miss out on anything in this life that is in God's will for me, even if others don't agree or they think it is non-essential. Jesus believed it was the way to make a start to His ministry. He certainly didn't need to deal with His own sin, yet He was baptized in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:16).

Bible memory verse: Colossians. 2:11-12 Learn these verses:

'In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead'.

Every believer needs to be baptized:

The Bible makes it very plain that every believer needs to be baptized. It is such an integral part of Christian initiation that the New Testament takes it for granted that a profession of faith in Christ will be followed more or less immediately by water baptism. 

Consider the following verses: 

Acts 2:41 'Those who accepted His message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day'.  Acts 18:8  'And many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized'. Jesus at the Jordan - See: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11 and Luke 3:21-22. Can you find two reasons why Jesus was baptized?  You may find the key to one reason in Matthew 3:15.  Write these reasons down.

WHAT DOES BAPTISM DO FOR THE BELIEVER? 

1). It is an act of obedience to Christ:

A clear demonstration that we know and acknowledge our new Lord, who said; “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them satisfaction in obeying the Lord”. Our baptism will set a pattern of obedience to His lordship in our lives as a whole.

2). We have new life in Christ:

The next and immediate step in Christ's plan for our lives is baptism. Romans 6:2-4 states: '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'. We can see from this scripture that by being baptized, we are associating ourselves with Christ's death. We are showing that 'our old being (our old life before we became a Christian) has been put to death with Christ on the cross' (Romans 6:6). We are showing that our life is committed to Christ. It is important to remember that we prove this commitment not only on the day of our water baptism but each and every day of our Christian walk. We do this by living our lives according to HIS word, HIS will and HIS spirit.

Some other Scripture references for you to study: Galatians 3:27, Acts 8:12 and Ephesians 4:5

WHO SHOULD BE BAPTIZED? 

Baptism is for believers only. Which implies a certain level of mental development and maturity. (See Mark 16:16, John 4:1-2,  Acts 2:38 and Acts 18:8)

Children are baptized, but only when they have a clear understanding of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and because they want to be obedient to Him.

WHY FULL IMMERSION?

Baptism by sprinkling, strictly speaking, is a contradiction in terms. The word "baptize" is an Anglicization of a Greek word meaning to dip, immerse, submerge or plunge into a liquid. It was used by dyers to describe the act of dipping material in dye. New Testament baptism is by full immersion.

"Unlike a piece of cloth immersed in dye that it might take on its  colour, we have by faith plunged into Jesus and become so  completely united to Him that the death He died was our death, and the resurrection life He possesses is now our life too".

Billy Graham.

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