Letting Christ Transform You From The Inside Out
Religious people didn't invent baptism, God did. God doesn't "need" us to be water baptized in order to let us into Paradise someday. Rather, "we" need it. He created it for our good and commands every follower of Jesus to submit to it. Water baptism, experienced God's way, will ignite our faith journey.
God invented water baptism as "the" way for us to pledge our loyalty to Jesus and know with certainty that we have been forgiven and truly belong to Him. It is not a "good work" that we do to somehow receive God's forgiveness. No one baptizes himself. Rather, it is an act that we "submit" to as another person asks us to confess our faith in Jesus as Lord and plunges us into and out of the water, which symbolizes a watery grave. It is symbolic of us submitting to God and marks the very first step of our jouney as a born-again believer.
It is also a litmus test of our faith in Christ. It clarifies the gospel and gives us an opportunity to share our faith in Jesus. It separates the fans of Jesus from true believers. Anyone who refused to be baptized was very likely not a true believer. Apart from the thief on the cross, there are no unbaptized believers mentioned in the bible.
Water baptism is much more than just a public proclamation of our faith. It is the God ordained way for us to "experience" our new birth with our senses! It is a blessing from God!
Here are some thoughts and scriptures to consider regarding water baptism:
1. Jesus modeled water baptism.
Matther 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus came to the Jordan River to have John the Baptist baptize him. John tried to talk Jesus out of it, but Jesus told John that it needed to be done because it was God's will. It was at Jesus' baptism where Jesus identity as God's son was made known to not only John, but to all the spiritual realm (angels and demons). In a like manner, at our baptism, God proclaims to all that we are His beloved child and that we belong to Him!
2. Jesus mandated it for all disciples (followers) of Jesus.
Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.”
3. Water baptism is where we get to "experience" the death of our old self, burial and resurrection with Jesus to a new life. It empowers our faith. All of this would be meaningless to someone who doesn't have the ability to understand its significance. That's why babies were not water baptized.
Colossians 2:12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Romans 6: 1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 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.
4. Here's a summary of what happens at your water baptism:
In a manner similar to a wedding, your baptism validates the pledge you have made to God. It convinces your brain that this is all real!
Continue to daily nurture that beautiful Holy Spirit in you by feeding on the words of Jesus and spending time with Him in prayer. God has a great adventure in store for you.
When we come to faith in Jesus as the Son of God and choose to turn away from our old (sinful) way of life and follow Him, we enter into the "great exchange". We exchange our life for his life. We surrender our old broken life to Jesus and we receive his life-giving Spirit. We don't just become a better version of our old selves. Instead, we are re-created! We are reborn! The old is gone, the new has come.
As a result, we are no longer defined by our past and we will never be alone! His Spirit, which now lives within us, give us wisdom and power to complete our life's journey.
Even though this all happens the moment we place our faith in Jesus, God knows that we need some way to validate this. He knows we need to experience things with our senses in order for them to stick. God uses baptism as a means of validating our new identity and empowering us for our new mission.
At our water baptism we are immersed in water by someone else. It is something we "surrender" to.
Baptism, in a similar way, was also created for us because "we" need it.
God knows us best (the bible says he knows every thought in our mind and every hair on our head). God knows what we need.
God did something similar with the Sabbath in the Old Testament.
In Mark 2:27 Jesus stated, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." This meant that the Sabbath was created for us because "we" needed it; it wasn't because God needed it.
Churches of Christ: Mainline (COC) and International (ICOC)
1. General View: Baptism is the actual point in time when you, as an adult who has come to faith in Christ, becomes a born-again Christian (forgiven of your sins and filled with the Holy Spirit). Infants and very small children are not able to come to that faith and therefore are not baptized until later. They are considered "saved" until they reach the age of accountability.
2. New Perspectives from current and former COC & ICOC ministers/members:
Edward Fudge:Eleven Outline Studies on Baptism
Edward Fudge: Baptizing Children - summation of articles from his gracEmail.
Max Lucado:Oak Hills Church Baptism Explanation
Charlie Fordham: The 9.5 Theses of Salvation
3. The Catholic, OrthodoxChurch
- General View: Baptism is a ritual which actually has the power to save you. You don't have to have faith or an understanding of anything related to Christ. Your parents' faith on your behalf is sufficient.
4. The Reformed Church, Many Baptists & Evangelicals
- General View: Baptism paints a picture of what Christ has done for you on the cross and in his resurrection. It is a ritual that has no saving power. It is not necessary for salvation. It is a nice thing to do as you follow Christ, since Christ was baptized. Many in the Reformed Church (Lutherans, Episcopalians) baptize babies. Others wait until they are old enough to decide for themselves.
Here are the accounts of Jesus' baptism in the bible:
Matthew 3:13-17 - The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Mark 1:9-11 - The Baptism of Jesus
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:21-22 - The Baptism of Jesus
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;with you I am well pleased.”
1. God validated Jesus at his baptism in water:
God encouraged Jesus at his baptism. He validated the fact that Jesus was his beloved Son and told him that He was pleased with him.
God does the same for us too! For us, our baptism is like an adoption ceremony. We were already adopted by God in His heart. However, baptism is what makes it "real" for us. With our senses we get to "experience" a removal of our old identity and a new birth into our new identity. We get to smell the water, hear ourselves splash down into it and feel it cover us. We get to hear our baptizer validate the fact that we are being baptized "into the essence/name of Jesus" and that our sins will no longer define us or be associated with us. We get to hear ourselves confess that "Jesus is now our Lord".
2. God announced to John the Baptist and all the forces in the heavenly realms that Jesus was (and is) His Beloved Son.
Just like Jesus' baptism is where God announced Jesus' true identity as His Beloved Son, God does the same for us! God announces that we have become his adopted children at our baptism. All the spiritual forces witnessed Jesus' baptism. Just like at Jesus' birth, I believe the forces of good celebrated with Jesus and were eager to see him begin his official ministry. To the forces of evil in the spiritual realm, I believe God says, "this person is now my adopted child and you will be sorry if you try to touch him/her".
3. God empowered Jesus with a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit to equip him to now begin his official ministry, which first included being led by the Holy Spirit to fight the spiritual forces of darkness.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. This passage explains where he went after that.
In Luke 4:1-2 the bible says,
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
Jesus already had the fullness of the Spirit of God living inside him from his conception in the womb. Yet, at his baptism I believe he was empowered by the Holy Spirit in a new way to begin his ministry. In a similar way, I believe that baptism is where we are empowered/gifted by a special rendering of the Holy Spirit to begin our official ministry (in the name/essence of Jesus). We are empowered to fight Satan and demonic forces, to overcome temptation, and to minister to others.
In Acts 2:38 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.
This word "for" is translated from "eis" in Greek. It is used interchangeably throughout the bible to mean either "in order to" or "because of".
For example: Telling someone to take their medicine for a cold could also be phrased in the following manner, "take medicine because of your cold".
Both views of "for" can be correct in this passage of scripture. It's not wrong if someone believes that baptism is where their sins are actually washed away. It's also not wrong if they believe that baptism is where God is declaring that their sins have been washed away.
This was the first sermon preached after Jesus ascended to heaven. Here is where the Apostle Peter gets up and tells the people how to respond to their new understanding that Jesus is their awaited for Messiah and King:
Acts 2:38-42 - (NIV)
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.
I believe that we are restored to God, and receive the Holy Spirit (He and Jesus' indwelling Holy Spirit mentioned in John 16), the moment we turn to Him, acknowledge the truth of our brokenness and deliberate sinfulness, and accept Jesus' payment of our sins with his precious blood. I don't believe water baptism is part of THAT process.
However, I believe that baptism "saves us" or "keeps us safe" in the sense that it sets us apart from the corruption in the world. God's validation of his love for us and our new identity in Christ keeps us "safe" from the lies of Satan regarding our identity. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit that we receive at our water baptism also "keeps us safe from the corruption in this world" by empowering us to both live a "holy life" and "fight the evil forces in the spiritual realms."
If you come from a Church of Christ background and really have wondered about that view of baptism, it might be helpful to reference the links above to two Max Lucado and Edward Fudge's perspectives on baptism. However, here are a few quotes regarding baptism from Edward Fudge (a senior member of the Church of Christ and former Church of Christ minister):
Baptism is a visible manifestation of trust in Jesus Christ as Savior:
-- a declaration of, commitment to, and reliance on the perfect work which Jesus accomplished and by which alone sinners are set right with God (Col. 2:12).
-- a silent declaration that the believer died and rose again when Jesus died and rose, for he was our representative who acted in our stead (Rom. 6:1-11).
Baptism is a formal request to God for a good conscience, based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (1 Pet. 3:21).
It is the means for subjective cleansing, as one calls on the name of the Lord for salvation (Acts 22:16). By it, one is saved or delivered from identification with this crooked generation, inasmuch as baptism marks off one as a believer over against the unbelieving world (1 Pet. 3:21).
We are saved from sin by grace (not by baptism) through faith (not through baptism). Baptism is a visible, tangible confession of that faith, an act of obedient trust in Jesus Christ who only is the Savior of the world.
Baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) -- for (in the sense that) it expresses the faith by which one obtains remission of sins (Acts 10:43), faith in Christ's blood which was shed for remission of sins (Matt. 26:28).