The topic for this week is “baptism.” The reason I wanted to write on this subject this week is because there seems to be some misconceptions about what the purpose of baptism really is, and what it means for the believer. For the sake of argument and to defer any misunderstandings let me point out that the baptism referred to in this blog is “water baptism” and not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is another subject for another time and will surely be addressed by this blog in the future.
The misconception about water baptism that I want to touch on this week, is the thought that because a person has been baptized, then that person is saved, and therefore, has a position guaranteed in Heaven. I have heard it stated by some in conversation that they are assured of salvation because they have been baptized into the church. But does baptism lead to salvation? Acts 16:31 tells us that to be saved all we must do is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,”[1] and Ephesians 2:8 says, “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” So, what the Bible tells us is that we have been saved by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we really dig into the Scripture, we will find that our faith “is a gift of God.” Now seeing that we are saved by belief (faith) in Christ we should understand that there are no other requirements. Sure, verses like Mark 16:16 can be quoted, “he who believes and is baptized will be saved,” yet, that does not claim that baptism is a requirement of salvation. Look at the latter part of the verse “but he who does not believe will be condemned,” believe is the operative word in both instances, and here Jesus demonstrates that baptism is not required for salvation.
To further refute the idea of baptism being required we can look to Jesus’ conversation with the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43). He asked Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom (v.42),” and how did Jesus respond? Did He say that there was nothing He could do since the thief wasn’t baptized? NO! He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise (v.43).” So, even Jesus’ statements prove that baptism is not required to be saved.
That leads to the question, then what is the purpose of baptism? To simply state it, baptism is an act of faith in-and obedience to-our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Look at His command in 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.” Another aspect of baptism is that it is a public declaration of our allegiance to and identification with Jesus. For this we can look at Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The believer’s baptism is a representation of being identified with Christ’s death on the cross and symbolizes our move from death to eternal life. Paul summed this up beautifully in Romans 6:3-6, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 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. 5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
It is my prayer that this has cleared up some of the confusion surrounding “water baptism,” and how it pertains to the believer. Although, this was not an extensive study into the topic, but I hope we understand that baptism doesn’t save us. The only thing that saves us is the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. If you haven’t placed your trust and faith in Christ, now is the best time to do it because the next five minutes are not promised.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and I hope the Lord has blessed you in some fashion for doing so. As always, your comments or questions are welcomed. Remember God didn’t leave us in the dark about what He desires for us and from us, He had it written down. So, don’t rely on someone to tell you what He said, get in the Bible and converse with Him yourself. He’s waiting on ya!
Blessings,
Pat
[1] All Scripture references taken from the NKJV, unless otherwise noted.