The Truth about Baptism
One of the highest privileges of being a pastor is getting to baptize someone. Each time I baptize someone, I always spend time talking with them to make sure he or she understands what baptism is and why we are doing what we are doing.
Sometimes people tell me they are getting baptized to have their sins forgiven and to become a Christian. Others say they want to get closer to God. There are a few who want to be rebaptized. They’ll tell me that they didn’t understand everything there was to understand about being a Christian or that they’ve wandered from God and made some bad decisions in their life. They want to be baptized to recommit their lives to God.
This allows me to share with them what baptism is according to the Bible and what is the only appropriate reason to be baptized.
So, let’s talk about what baptism is and what it is not.
BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE US
Taking a step of baptism does not give you eternal life. We receive eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
John doesn’t say to get baptized for eternal life - he says to believe in Jesus and you’ll have eternal life. Notice he also doesn’t say it’s both. He doesn’t say, “Believe and get baptized to have eternal life.” No, it’s just “believe.”
Here’s how Paul talks about salvation in Ephesians:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…
(Ephesians 2:8)
Notice that there is no mention of baptism. Paul says it is by grace you are saved. Grace means it is a gift, and a gift is received. We receive the gift of salvation through faith. Not faith and baptism. Just faith.
So, again, this is what baptism is not. It is not a step we take for our salvation and to secure eternal life.
BAPTISM IS A COMMAND
While baptism is not required for salvation, it is a step that is commanded by God to take after we have received eternal life by grace through faith.
After Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection, He met with the disciples before ascending back to heaven, and here is one of the things we are told by Matthew that He told them:
18 Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20)
So even though baptism is not required for our salvation, as you can see here, it is an important step that Jesus wants us to take after we have received salvation through faith.
BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH
After the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, Peter stood up and shared the gospel with several thousand people. As they began to see that they had missed who Jesus was, they were grieving and said to Peter, “What must we do?” Here’s what Peter told them:
38 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. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
(Acts 2:38-41)
Peter first, tells them to “repent and be baptized,” which at first glance can seem to go against what I said earlier, but what Peter is saying here is to be baptized based on the forgiveness of your sins that you receive.
He is saying to first repent, which here means to turn from their unbelief in Jesus and turn to Him in belief. Then after you’ve been saved through belief (faith), follow that salvation experience up by being baptized.
And they were! Immediately (v. 41). They believed in Jesus for eternal life and then were baptized through immersion.
And you could go on and on throughout the book of Acts and see the same thing many times.
The Ethiopian who came to believe with Philip in Acts 8 was immediately baptized.
The same is true with Paul in Acts 9, and with the Philippian jailer and his family (Acts 16) who came to believe in Jesus and then were immediately baptized.
This is the biblical perspective of baptism. Get saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone, and then be baptized in water.
BAPTISM IS A SYMBOL OF CHANGE
Baptism gives us a picture of what happens to you the moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation.
SINS WASHED AWAY
The first thing it symbolizes is that your sins have been washed away by Jesus the moment you believed.
Here is what Paul says in Ephesians about the forgiveness that comes through Jesus:
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.
(Ephesians 1:7)
Here’s the way the apostle John puts it:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9)
If you confess that you are a sinner and receive Jesus by faith, then at the moment of salvation, He cleanses you from all of your past, present, and future sins.
So, when you go under the water, it symbolizes that all of your sins have been washed away by Jesus.
The water is not doing that during the act of baptism. Jesus is not forgiving you during the baptism. He already did that, and this is just showing what Jesus did in your heart the moment you believed.
DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST
The second thing baptism symbolizes is your death, burial, and resurrection in Jesus.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.
(Romans 6:3-4)
Paul is not using the word baptism here in this passage to refer to water baptism. He is saying that when we put our faith in Jesus we are immersed into Him.
In other words, what happened to Jesus, happened to us.
Jesus died, was buried, and then He was raised to life again. You and I experience a co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection in Christ through our salvation.
Our old self dies (in Adam), that old self is buried, and then we are raised up to new life in Christ.
Baptism gives us a picture of this death and resurrection that occur in us the moment we put our faith in Jesus for salvation. When you go under the water, it symbolizes your death and burial, and then when you are raised up, it symbolizes the new life you now have in Christ.
The act of baptism isn’t doing those things. Those things happen the moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation. This is just showing everyone what has happened in your life.
BAPTISM IDENTIFIES YOU AS PART OF THE CHURCH
Baptism doesn’t just show that your sins have been forgiven and that you’ve been raised with Christ; it also identifies you as being part of the church now.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-14)
Paul is referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happens the moment we receive Jesus’ gift of salvation by grace through faith.
The Spirit comes to dwell in us, regenerates our hearts, and unites us to Jesus and to each other.
He is the Head of the church and we are His body. We are connected to Him and each other.
So, when we are baptized in water to show our death, burial, and resurrection in Christ, it also reveals that by being in union with Him we are a part of His Body (the Church).
When we are baptized, we are identifying ourselves before others in this world as part of the Church because of Jesus’ finished work in our lives.
BAPTISM ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE
Baptism does not save us. It is not required to go to heaven. We do not get baptized to get closer to God, nor get rebaptized because we’ve made some bad decisions in our lives.
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The moment we receive His grace by faith, we are completely forgiven, given new life, and become part of the Church forever.
Baptism shows others what happened to us when we were saved. Our sins were washed away. Our old self died, was buried, and we were raised up to new life in Christ. We became part of His Body and are now united to Him and to all others in His family.
If you’ve never been baptized after coming to faith in Jesus, don’t miss out on celebrating your salvation and showing the world the new life you have in Christ!
