I. BAPTISM IS THE COMMAND, EXAMPLE & PRACTICE OF CHRIST
There are two ordinances (=Direct Commands) that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded for His disciples to carry out. These two ordinances are BAPTISM and the LORD’s SUPPER. Through baptism a person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ enters into the family of God and publicly commits his or her life to Christ and to the Church of Christ. Baptism happens only once and is the ceremony of initiation or entrance into holy Covenant with God. The Lord’s Supper is a repeated and regular part of the Christian’s life, a continual re-affirming of the Covenant made at baptism. It is also known as Communion, because at the Supper, the family of God comes together to be united in worship and to be spiritually united with Christ through remembering His great once-for-all-time sacrifice.
Why must a Christian be baptized?
(1) Jesus Commanded Baptism
Baptism is a command for the believer to obey. It is not optional, and it should not be put off until a person “feels ready”, for obedience is not a matter of feeling, it is a matter of respect and honour for the authority of the One commanding.
As we see in the Great Commission Jesus gave His disciples, baptism is a command from the Lord Jesus Christ. He commanded His disciples: Go and make disciples, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. If is a direct command for them to baptize, then it is also a direct command for new believers to be baptized.
Baptism is also an Apostolic command. The 12 Apostles are the personal representatives of Jesus Christ, carrying His authority. On the day of Pentecost, which was ten days after the Lord had ascended to heaven, the Apostle Peter preached a great convicting sermon, and when he finished, the Jewish people who were listening cried out: “What must we do to be saved?!” The Apostle’s answer: Repent and be baptized! (Acts 2:38)
Therefore we see that baptism is a command of Christ Himself that was confirmed and carried out by His Apostolic representatives.
(2) Jesus Exemplified Baptism
But baptism is not only the command of the Lord Jesus, it is also the example that He set. We should get baptized following His example, because He Himself was baptized.
John the Baptist was a prophet who was preparing Israel for the coming of the Messiah. He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and the people were coming out to him and were confessing their sin, being baptized in the Jordan River. According to Matthew chapter 3, Jesus also came to John to be baptized by him. But John protested at the impropriety, for Jesus was without Sin and did not need to undergo a baptism of repentance, for He had no Sin to repent of. John told Him, “You should be the One baptizing me!”
Jesus answered him, Leave it be now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. What does the Lord mean with this reply? He means that by submitting to a baptism of repentance when He has no Sin to repent of, He is identifying Himself with sinful humanity in order to represent them. In doing so, He is going above and beyond the requirements of righteousness in obedience to God.
(3) Jesus Practiced Baptism
Not only is baptism the command of Christ and the example of Christ, it was also His practice in ministry. We see in John 4 that Jesus had new disciples baptized as part of His own earthly ministry: ...Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself did not baptize, but only His disciples). (John 4:1-2) Here we learn that becoming a disciple of Christ and getting baptized are closely linked. One becomes a disciple of Christ by being baptized. This is also implied in the Great Commission, that making disciples of all nations comes in the form of baptizing them. Therefore, someone cannot really call themselves a Christian or a disciple of Jesus Christ until he or she is baptized.
So why should a believer be baptized? (1) Because the Lord commanded it, as did His Apostolic representatives, (2) because He laid down the example of getting baptized Himself, and (3) because it was part of the Lord’s own practice during His earthly ministry. These three reasons ought to settle any hesitation over being baptized, though the fact that the Lord commanded it is sufficient in itself, for if your Master and Lord commands something, you do it, no questions asked.
II. BAPTISM IS FOR BELIEVERS ONLY
Baptism is for those who have repented of their sin and placed genuine faith in Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. This is called “Believer’s Baptism”. In every example in the New Testament, faith in Christ comes before baptism.
Some denominations believe that it is legitimate to baptize infants. This is known as “Infant Baptism”. They believe that just like babies in Israel were circumcised to enter into the covenant between God and Israel in the Old Testament, there is a parallel that new covenant babies can be baptized as entering into the covenant between Christ and the Church as a pledge of their future faith. There is just one problem... this is not taught in the New Testament. Infant baptism is not Biblical.
Christians who are united by the Gospel first and foremost recognize that in common settings they can worship alongside, fellowship and work together with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have a different perspective on this ordinance (while strongly but respectfully disagreeing on the Biblical interpretations behind those perspectives), because everyone agrees on the fundamental significance of Baptism and Communion, where Baptism is public entrance into covenant with Christ and His Church, and Communion is maintenance of that covenant.
III. BAPTISM IS BY IMMERSION IN WATER
Some churches believe that other modes of baptism are legitimate, such as sprinkling or pouring. But the word in the Greek is baptisma, and the verb is baptizō, and it literally means “immersion”, “to immerse, submerge.” It originally comes from the cloth-dyeing industry where cloth would be dipped or dunked or immersed in the coloured dye.
Examples of baptism in the New Testament confirm the practice of full immersion:
● Acts 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
● Mark 1:10 And when [Jesus] came up out of the water, immediately He saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
● John 3:23 John the Baptist also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized.
● Mark 1:5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to [John the Baptist]. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Baptism clearly means immersion, both in the word itself and by examples of immersion-baptism in the New Testament. But the Apostle Paul also clearly indicates immersion through the symbolic meaning that he applies to baptism: baptism represents dying (going down into the water), burial (being under the water), and resurrection (coming up out of the water), so that we have died along with Christ to sin in order to be resurrected to new Life in Him.
IV. BAPTISM SIGNIFIES DEATH & RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST
What is the meaning of baptism? The meaning of baptism is revealed in two passages of the New Testament: Romans 6 and Colossians 2.
Romans 6:1-8 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. 6We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
Colossians 2:11-14 In [Christ] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Both of these passages teach that immersion in the waters of baptism give us the picture of death, burial and resurrection.
A believer takes part in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ symbolically. This portrays what has already taken place spiritually in the heart of the believer by faith. A believer has died to his old self, crucified with Christ, to be buried and then raised to new life in Christ. Baptism is the symbolic enactment of what has already taken place in the heart the moment God opened your heart to receive the truth of Jesus Christ, when He brought you from death to life. As a believer you have died to your old self, crucified with Christ, to be buried and then raised to new life in Christ. Baptism is an act of repentance, for dying to self means totally surrendering your life to the triune God.
The waters of baptism symbolize not only death but also purification, being cleansed of sin. This does not mean that the ceremony of baptism actually washes away sin, for that happened earlier when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Instead, baptism demonstrates a symbolic picture of what has already taken place in the heart through faith. This also does not mean that if you sin after you’ve been baptized that you need to get baptized all over again in order to wash away those new sins. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is a perfect, once for-all-time sacrifice. Your righteousness before God does not ultimately depend upon your actions but upon Christ’s perfect Righteousness that you have claimed as your own by faith. This does not free the Christian up to go out and live like the devil. Instead, out of repentant awe-filled gratitude, the believer seeks to grow in holiness, to grow up into the Righteousness of Christ that he or she is wearing. This is the proper response of thanksgiving for all that God has done. This the new creation life of the Christian!
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the New has come!
This dying to self is not just a one-time act but a daily discipline: And [Jesus] said to all, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
(Romans 12:1)
In both Romans 6 and Colossians 2, the key idea is that death with Christ and new life in Him means putting sin to death in the flesh and pursuing the newly re-created life of holiness that is pleasing to our Lord and Saviour. The new life in Christ is not simply a switch that is flipped and suddenly we are made holy with no problems. In our new life there will still be stumbles, failures, setbacks, continued sinning, for we will continue to struggle against sin as the Holy Spirit works in our lives. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Gal 5:16-17)
This process of being made holy is called “the Sanctification process”, and it is lifelong. It will not fully be complete until heaven. For by a single offering [Jesus] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
It is through baptism that a believer enters into covenant with God. We are baptized “INTO THE NAME OF the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. This is covenant language, for we are entering into a new familial relationship with the Triune God based on solemn oaths and promises. In the Old Testament, ancient covenants involved death. A person would cut animals in half and then ceremonially walk between the halves with a solemn oath: “May this be done to me if I break my covenant promises!” We see this happening in Genesis 15.
In baptism, the death that forms the basis of the covenant is that of Jesus Christ. The waters of baptism identify a believer with Christ’s death. In going under the water, a believer is—as it were—walking through the halves of Christ’s body, dying along with Christ, dying to the Old Self, dying to self, dying to Sin, to rise from the dead with Christ as a New Creation, now alive in Jesus.
Baptism is an act of covenant-making with God, where a person surrenders his or her entire life to God to be reoriented from rebel-slave to adopted-heir. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, then, is the subsequent fellowship celebration that rejoices in the new life while remembering how that new life was obtained, re-affirming the covenant. Therefore, in light of this, it becomes clear that baptism must come first. It makes no sense for a person to partake in the covenant celebration (Communion) without having first entered into that covenant (through baptism).
V. HOW WE IDENTIFY WITH CHRIST & ENTER INTO GOD’S FAMILY
When Jesus submitted to a baptism of repentance that He did not have to undergo because He was Sin-less and had nothing to repent of, He was identifying Himself with us sinners so that as our representative He could go to the cross as our substitutionary sacrifice. In a parallel way, when we are baptized into Christ, we are identifying ourselves with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We are called by the Gospel to die to sin and to the old self, as we participate spiritually in the crucifixion of Christ (Galatians 2:20), and we are called to new created life with a new self in Christ. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come! (2Cor 5:17) God made Him who knew no sin to become a sin offering for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2Cor 5:21).
As we identify ourselves with Christ in the new life He has given us, we are joining ourselves to Him by entering into the Body of Christ, which is the Church. Jesus loves His Church. The Bible uses the imagery of the Church as the bride and Christ as the groom to show the intimate relationship of love between Christ and His beloved Bride.
There are many people who claim to be Christians today who want nothing to do with the Church. They think they can stay home and watch sermons on TV or YouTube videos online as a replacement for joining with the Bride and Body of Christ. But those who truly love Jesus will love what Jesus loves... and Jesus LOVES His bride! (If you claimed to love me but hated or disdained my wife, I would count you a foe, not a friend, because I expect those who love me to also love her whom I love.)
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, by faith in Him we become members of His family and joint-inheritors along with Him in the inheritance of an eternal Kingdom promised by God the Father. Jesus is the true and legitimate Son of God, but we receive the privilege of being adopted as sons and daughters of God. To use royal language, we are now adopted into the royal family as princes and princesses, brothers and sisters to the Heir-Apparent Crown-Princely Son.
When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saying, “He is family.” Through baptism we are also identifying ourselves with all others who have received Christ in faith and have been baptized. We are saying that they are family too. In fact, in baptism we ask the whole family of God to treat us like one of the family.
VI. BAPTISM IS A PUBLIC CONFESSION OF FAITH IN CHRIST
An important element of baptism is the fact that it is a confession of trust in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, and it is done in public. It cannot take place in private or in secret. If you truly love Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, you will be able to (and have the desire to) declare that love and allegiance for Christ before witnesses.
This provides accountability before the church, for they will have borne witness that you have indeed been baptized into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and have committed yourself by repentant faith to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is similar to a wedding ceremony where the bride and groom publicly declare their love and commitment to one another, and they can then be held accountable to their vows by the witnesses.
Baptism is implicitly public in and of itself, that to profess faith in Jesus Christ through the act of baptism should happen in the presence of witnesses, before the church. Virtually all baptisms in the Bible are public, with at least a few witnesses present. When you are baptized “into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”, you are automatically making public testimony of your faith in the Triune God. Even the original baptisms carried out by John the Baptist demonstrated public confession, for when the Jews were being baptized, they “confessed their sins”. This shows both public repentance and faith in the promise of the Messiah in connection with baptism. Hebrews 10:22-23 places baptism and confession side-by-side: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hear these words of the Lord: Whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38).
Here the Apostle Paul is exhorting his younger protégé Timothy:
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith! Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1Timothy 6:11-12) Paul mentions the good confession that Timothy had made in the presence of many witnesses. Baptism is not mentioned in this passage, but this kind of good confession of faith in Christ made publicly would occur most probably in the setting of baptism.
As mentioned above, baptism is very much like a marriage ceremony. A man and women have already declared their love to one another privately and made commitments to other, but a wedding is the time that they do this openly and publicly, before family and friends as witnesses in the sight of God. In a very similar way, the moment a person truly repents of their Sin and puts their faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in His work on the cross as the only sacrifice that can remove that Sin, he or she is given the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is Himself God, and the new believer can have the certain expectation and assurance of salvation. This normally happens privately, in the secret places of the mind and the heart. But baptism is a new Christian’s joyful opportunity to stand publicly before friends and family as witnesses in the sight of God and declare his or her devotion to Jesus Christ, all for the glory of God. The Lord Jesus said this: Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before others, I will disown before My Father in heaven... Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it. (Matt 10:32-33, 37-39)
At our church, we often sing this song at baptisms:
I have decided to follow Jesus (3x) no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow (3x) no turning back (2x).
The world behind me, the cross before me (3x) no turning back (2x).
Will you decide now to follow Jesus? (3x) No turning back (2x).
The lyrics of this simple chorus are based on the last words of a man from India in the mid-1800s. He and his family had decided to follow Jesus Christ in spite of opposition in his village. When commanded to renounce his faith by the village chief, the man declared, "I have decided to follow Jesus." In response to threats to his family, he continued, "Though no one joins me, still I will follow." His wife was put to death, and he himself was executed while singing: "The cross before me, the world behind me." This display of faith is said to have led to the conversion of the chief and others in the village.
Many believers from all over the world have lost friends, family, jobs, houses, even their lives for the Name of Jesus... all because of their public confession of faith in Him. But He is worth it all.
Whatever gain I had, I counted [it] as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. —Paul, Philippians 3:7-8
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the Founderand Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Baptism is where a believer takes a public step of obedience in becoming a disciple of Christ and joining the Body of Christ: the Church, simultaneously becoming a member in the local church. Baptism is the making of a personal covenant between God and the believer, where God is revealing His grace on full display, and the waters of baptism are the covenant sign that the believer will wear in their memory from that day forward. It is a symbol of dedication of the Christian toward Christ, turning away from sin in repentance toward new life in Christ by faith. Such a covenant can by no means be taken lightly, for it is the expression of a solemn oath made between God and you: God swears by Himself—for
there is nothing higher by which He can swear—that He will be your God, and you by the waters of baptism are swearing that in Christ you will be God’s child. At the same time, baptism is also a covenant with the Church, bound with fellow believers as making up the united Body of Jesus Christ.
VII. DOES BAPTISM SAVE A PERSON?
This is an important question, because we’ve been emphasizing how important baptism is and how necessary it is for obeying Christ. But there are some groups that think that a person must be baptized in order to be truly saved. We believe Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and not because of any good work. Baptism is a good work of obedience, so if we think that FAITH + BAPTISM = SALVATION, then a person is really saved through faith plus at least 1 good work, the good work of baptism.
Therefore, we believe that baptism itself does not save, nor does it contribute to salvation. Instead, it is the first step taken by a new believer and first expression of obedience to Christ to be baptized into His Name.
If someone has confessed genuine faith in Jesus Christ but is killed in a car accident on the way to his baptism, is he saved by faith, or was he not saved because he was not able to be baptized yet? Scripture promises that salvation is by faith alone.
But then we may ask, if salvation is by faith alone, is baptism necessary at all, then? Yes it is, because the evidence of genuine faith is obedience to the Lordship of Christ, and He commanded baptism of His disciples. So baptism is not necessary for salvation, but it is certainly necessary for obedience to the Lord Jesus. If someone refuses to be baptized, they are disobeying Christ, and they are not bearing genuine fruit of true faith.
Under the Old Covenant, there were many physical signs that served to remind an Israelite that he was set apart to God: circumcision, the Kosher diet, ceremonial uncleanness, not wearing mixed fibered clothing, not shaving the sideburns. In the New Covenant, the two physical signs that reminds us as Christians that we are set apart to God are Baptism and
Communion. We remind ourselves of our baptism, that we have died to ourselves to be raised to new life in Christ, and we maintain our discipleship of life in Christ through the observance of Communion, which reminds us regularly that we are not our own, that we have been bought with no less a price than the precious blood of the Lamb of God.