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Believer’s Baptism
By Lynette Schaefer
How much importance should Christians place on baptism? Does
it save us or not? What does it really signify and is it an optional choice or
a commandment from God? What method of baptism is considered Biblical and why?
- There are so many different opinions on what baptism
means because of background or tradition. Some believe it is
sprinkling infants, others think it is pouring, others believe it is
dipping or immersion. Biblically, it has nothing to do with a denomination
or a tradition. The word “baptize” simply means to plunge, submerge,
immerse. In every case in the Bible, if you make a study of baptism, you
will find that those who were baptized were immersed. They were never
infants who were sprinkled. The reason is because baptism should follow a
confession and declaration of faith by the individual. Once a person
converts to Christianity and is a true believer, then the outworking of
that is the act of being baptized.
- Baptism is a commandment. This is an act to
publicly identify with Jesus Christ. In Acts 8:26-40 we have the story of
Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip meets him and finds him reading
Isaiah Chapter 53, and he wanted to know what it meant. So Philip sat
down and began to explain Jesus to him. The eunuch understood the
message, and when they came to some water, he said in verse 36: And as they went
on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See,
here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? So it
is recorded that they both went down into the water where the eunuch was
baptized. Another example is in Mark 16:15-16 (the Great Commission)
where it says: And he said unto them, Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Now it doesn’t mean here that if you are NOT baptized, you are not saved;
it is stating that those who are saved, if they are faithful and true
believers, will follow through and take seriously the commandment to be
baptized. In Matthew 3:16 we see that Jesus Himself was baptized as an
act of obedience.
- What it signifies. First of all, water baptism
never saves! The only thing that can possibly save someone is the atoning
Blood of Jesus Christ and a personal relationship with Him! What baptism
declares is a public confession of an inward profession of faith. Baptism
symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore,
when a new (or even not so new) Christian is baptized, he or she is
declaring to others their public commitment to walking with Jesus and
being His disciple. Baptism is only for believers who have already come
to Jesus confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness, making Him the
Lord of their life. Can we get to Heaven if we are not baptized? Yes we
can, but the question is, do we want to face the Lord and have Him ask us
why we refused to be baptized when we could have and should have been? It
is a simple, yet profound act of obedience to the Lord when we follow
through and commit ourselves to do it for Him. It has a symbolic
connotation of cleansing, dying to the old life, and allegiance to the new
life with a new Master.
- Baptism is not just water baptism. When a person converts
from being an unbeliever to a believer, he or she experiences what is
called the New Birth.(2 Cor. 5:17) That is, by the Holy Spirit he is
regenerated anew and becomes a new creature. So here, it is called Holy
Spirit baptism. Water baptism has nothing to do with conversion. Without
Holy Spirit “baptizing” us through the conversation/regeneration process,
we can’t be changed. A good example of Holy Spirit baptism is the first
Day of Pentecost, when 3,000 people were saved when they accepted Christ.
(Acts 2:1-4)
I urge you as a believer, if you haven’t been baptized
already, that you would make that commitment to do this for the Lord. You will
be blessed for so doing, because He will be pleased by your love and obedience
to do what is Biblical and right. Don’t let Satan hinder you from this because
you have a fear of water, don’t like getting wet, of making a public
confession, etc. God will equip you to do this when you go to Him about it.
Questions or comments? E-mail
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