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12/04/2023
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By Jonathan Jenkins
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When Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, just moments before He would ascend back to Heaven, He told his disciples: “‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18b-20 CSB ). There are many important commands given in this commission, including baptizing others in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism is what Christians call an ordinance of God. Southern Baptists, for example, consider baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the only two ordinances instituted by Jesus Christ. According to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, “Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.” This is a great explanation of the Biblical understanding of baptism, but what does the Bible specifically teach about this ordinance?
When we get to the New Testament, John the Baptist is the first person we read about who was baptizing people in water. What was the purpose of his baptism? In Acts 19:4, Luke writes, “Paul said, ‘John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.’” So, John was telling people to repent (turn away from what they were doing) and get prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven is here. John’s baptism of repentance was the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3- “3A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.” John’s duty was to prepare the way through repentance and baptism, leading to Jesus, who can completely cleanse people through faith. John’s baptism of repentance allowed people to be forgiven of sin and showed that they had repented in their hearts.
What happens once Jesus enters the scene and begins His ministry? In Mark 1:8, John the Baptist tells his followers: “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus came, he began a new baptism. A baptism of the heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ focus throughout His ministry was not to get people to follow the law perfectly but to be born again (John 3) through belief in Him as the Messiah. The act of water baptism through water became a symbolic action that happens after one is saved by faith. In Romans 6:3-5, we get a beautiful explanation of the symbolism of baptism, “Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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 newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin.” While the New Testament does not teach that salvation comes through baptism, it does teach water baptism as an act of obedience that follows true salvation, which comes by faith alone. Acts 2:41 reads, “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.” We can see here that only those who accepted the message were baptized and that they were baptized shortly after they were saved. No Christian should ever get saved through faith yet be disobedient in baptism.
Baptism, like the Lord’s Supper, is a way in which believers do two things: they show other Christians that they have been saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), and they also proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers. In my church, when we have a baptism, we often have a kid or adult who asks about the baptism and gets saved after seeing this symbolic act of obedience. Baptism that follows a genuine salvation but is not the regenerative force of salvation is baptism, according to the scriptures.
When we get to the New Testament, John the Baptist is the first person we read about who was baptizing people in water. What was the purpose of his baptism? In Acts 19:4, Luke writes, “Paul said, ‘John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.’” So, John was telling people to repent (turn away from what they were doing) and get prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven is here. John’s baptism of repentance was the prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3- “3A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.” John’s duty was to prepare the way through repentance and baptism, leading to Jesus, who can completely cleanse people through faith. John’s baptism of repentance allowed people to be forgiven of sin and showed that they had repented in their hearts.
What happens once Jesus enters the scene and begins His ministry? In Mark 1:8, John the Baptist tells his followers: “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus came, he began a new baptism. A baptism of the heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ focus throughout His ministry was not to get people to follow the law perfectly but to be born again (John 3) through belief in Him as the Messiah. The act of water baptism through water became a symbolic action that happens after one is saved by faith. In Romans 6:3-5, we get a beautiful explanation of the symbolism of baptism, “Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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 newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin.” While the New Testament does not teach that salvation comes through baptism, it does teach water baptism as an act of obedience that follows true salvation, which comes by faith alone. Acts 2:41 reads, “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.” We can see here that only those who accepted the message were baptized and that they were baptized shortly after they were saved. No Christian should ever get saved through faith yet be disobedient in baptism.
Baptism, like the Lord’s Supper, is a way in which believers do two things: they show other Christians that they have been saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), and they also proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers. In my church, when we have a baptism, we often have a kid or adult who asks about the baptism and gets saved after seeing this symbolic act of obedience. Baptism that follows a genuine salvation but is not the regenerative force of salvation is baptism, according to the scriptures.