Starting Out - Christian Baptism (Study 4)

Christian Baptism

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Becoming a Christian is the most important step of your life. Your sins have been forgiven. You have peace with God. And the Holy Spirit is within you to help you live a new life.

Being a Christian means belonging to God’s family, so you should also join a Christian Church (we will consider this in detail in our next study). Many societies have a special ceremony by which they receive new members. When you join a church, you will normally go through a ceremony called Believer’s Baptism. You may be invited to make a public statement of your faith in Jesus Christ, after which you will be immersed in water (and brought back up again!). Let us explore what this is all about by asking four questions:

1. WHY BE BAPTISED?

Because Jesus commanded this identifying mark for His followers!

Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What do you think is meant by this passage?

As Christians, we should be baptised to obey Jesus’ instruction.

2. WHO CAN BE BAPTISED?

Baptism is only for true disciples, that is, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). No-one should be baptised who has not first repented of their sin:

Acts 2:38 (NIV)
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.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

And then believed on Christ:

Acts 8:12 (NKJV)
But when they believed Philip as he preached
the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,
both men and women were baptized.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

It is important to note that only believers should be baptised. This is why we do not baptise babies who are too young to believe. Instead, for children, we do as Jesus did: we bless them.

3. WHY IMMERSION?

Because we believe that when the first Christians baptised people they did so by immersing the whole body in water — not just a part of it. In the Greek language, in which the New Testament was written, the word translated "baptise" actually means "to dip" or "to immerse". Believers were not sprinkled with water. It is clear from the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:36-39) that a great deal of water was involved. Like all travellers the Eunuch carried drinking water. He could easily have spared a few drops to be sprinkled with. Instead, he waited until he came to a suitable pool to be baptised in:

Acts 8:36 (NKJV)
Now as they went down the road, they came to some water.
And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"

What do you think is meant by this passage?

In addition, immersion is a vivid picture of what it means to become a Christian. It illustrates our death to sin and our resurrection to new life in Christ. This point will become clearer as we consider our next question.

4. WHAT DOES BAPTISM SIGNIFY?

a) Baptism is like a bath. When we take a bath, we wash away dirt from our bodies. Baptism reminds us that, in becoming Christians, our sins are washed away. They will never be counted against us by God:

Acts 22:16 (NKJV)
And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'

What do you think is meant by this passage?

Baptism is a helpful picture of cleansing from sin, but be careful! We ought not to think that the water of baptism cleanses us. Only the blood of Christ can remove our sins, and this happens when we turn to Christ and walk with Him:

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

b) Baptism is like a burial. That does not sound very cheerful, but in fact it is good news! For in becoming a Christian we have turned away from wrong doing — we want to die to it. As we go into the waters of baptism, we show that we are burying our old life:

Colossians 2:12
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.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

Christians are no longer the old person they once were:

Colossians 3:9 (NIV)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

What do you think is meant by this passage?

c) Baptism is like a birth. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He opened the way to a new life. As we come up from the water, we show that we are beginning a new life with Christ. The old life has been buried; the new life has begun! In this way, baptism is like a birth:

Romans 6:4 (NKJV)
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

A Christian is a new person in Christ:

Colossians 3:10 (NKJV)
and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

What do you think is meant by this passage?

d) Baptism is like a badge. People wear badges when they want to make a statement to the world. Baptism is our way of telling everyone that we are now followers of Jesus Christ. It is the visible declaration of our allegiance to Him, since we are baptised in His Name (Matthew 28:19).

Jesus does not want secret disciples. He requires us to own Him before others. If we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us:

Mark 8:38 (NIV)
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

What do you think is meant by this passage?

e) Baptism is like a bond. We cannot have Christ without His Church. If we want to be joined to Christ, we must be joined to His people too. Baptism shows we are linked with other Christians with the same "badge":

Ephes. 4:5-6 (NKJV)
one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

What do you think is meant by this passage?

SUMMARY

So we see that baptism is a rich symbol of what Christ has done for us and of what commitment to Him involves. Are you a true Christian and following Christ? Then you should be baptised!

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