Q & A: Baptism #1

Why should I be baptized?

First and foremost because Jesus commands it! Jesus’ last words on earth (known as the Great Commission) begin, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth, 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…” (Matthew 28:19). Just forty days after Jesus gave the Great Commission the apostle Peter preaching the good news of Jesus to a crowd of thousands answers the question, “What must we do?” saying, “’Repent,’ Peter said to them, ‘and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Further, Jesus, Himself set the example of baptism, “When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As He was praying, heaven opened… And a voice came from heaven: You are My beloved Son, I take delight in You!” (Luke 3:21-22).

Second, baptism is a visible demonstration of an inward reality. Acts 18:8 reports, “Crispus, the leader of the Synagogue, believed the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, they believed and were baptized.” Hearing and believing are inward acts. When Jesus said, “Anyone who has ears let him hear” (Matthew 11:15, NAS), He was not merely referring to the physics of sound waves and eardrums. He was referring to the volition or will of the hearer. This is why Romans 10:9 sums up the gospel response as, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.” The visible or outward expression of that belief is baptism, “So those who accepted his message were baptized” (Acts 2:41a).

What is the meaning of baptism?

The word “baptize” (BAPTIZŌ) originates from the ancient mercantile world and means “to dip” and “signifies the dyeing of a garment. Therefore, to baptize means “to immerse.”

Baptism in the New Testament was baptism by immersion.“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). “…both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water. . .” (Acts 8:38-39)

Baptism illustrates our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus by signifying our own spiritual death, burial, and resurrection. When baptized a person is immersed into the water signifying death and burial then raised up out of the water signifying resurrection to a new life, “Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life” (Romans 6:4) and, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12).