Water Baptism

Love Walk Church Amelia Island

Foundations class

Lesson 2- Water Baptism

The importance of Baptism is made very clear in the Bible.  Our Lord’s commission to teach all nations and preach the gospel to every creature includes “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is a public declaration of faith in Christ by the believer before man.  It is the outward testimony of an inward work of grace.  Not only does water baptism show the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it also shows our identification with Christ.  Baptism is our full declaration of our own death and new life in Christ.  It doesn’t save, it symbolizes the new birth and commitment to Christ. 

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. Matthew 28:19

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16

2 Corinthians 5:14-17 Declares we are:

       Dead to sin

       Dead to self

       Dead to the old life

Seven reasons we should be water baptized

1.     It is a command of Jesus Matthew 28:19

2.     It is a mark of a good conscience towards God.  1 Peter 3:21

3.     Jesus himself was baptized. Matthew 3:13-17

4.     It symbolizes a circumcision of the heart, a “cutting off” of the old life.  Colossians 2:11-1241

5.     It is a foundation doctrine of the early church.  Acts 2:41 Acts 10:47-48

6.     It is an outward confession of what has happened within. It expresses our identification with Jesus. Romans 6:1-11

7.     We identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. 

Definition and mode of baptism

The mode of baptism is by immersion, as seen in the definition of the word.  The word baptize, or Vaptizo (βαπτίζω) in Greek, means to bury, immerse, and submerge.  Never does it mean to sprinkle or pour.  Every passage where the word is used in the New Testament either requires or allows the meaning of immerse.  Passages speak of baptism “in Jordan” and “in the river Jordan.” John baptized near Salim because the depth of water was sufficient.  The testimony and practice of the early church fathers is that immersion was the only mode of baptism.  Therefore, no modern church has the right to change or modify the New Testament commands on baptism, or to change the literal and commonly known meaning of submersion.  (Vaptizo)

 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Matthew 3:16 

 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Mark 1:10

he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Acts 8:38-39

Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. John 3:23

Some use Isaiah 52:15, Ezekiel 36:25, and Hebrews 10:22 to prove sprinkling as a mode of baptism, but the first scripture does not refer to water.  The Hebrew word Noyah means to leap or spring up for joy.  It refers to the nations rejoicing when they come to know Christ.  The ordinary word for ceremonial sprinkling is zarak, not noyah, as is used in Ezekiel 36:25, Exodus 29:16-21, and Leviticus 1:5, 11.  The last passage refers to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, not water.  Hebrews 10:22 1 Peter 1:2 No sprinkling of water as baptism is found in the New Testament. 

Not Jesus Only

As Christians, we firmly believe in the Trinity of the Godhead, or three distinct persons in the Godhead.  By the authority and recognition of all three persons in the Godhead, not by the authority of Jesus only.  He is the one encouraging us to recognize the full Trinity of the Godhead.  Baptism does not save us from our sins, only the grace of Christ does.  It is an outward expression of an inward work.

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. Acts 2:38

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. Matthew 28:19

Infant Baptism

Although it is perfectly normal and scriptural to dedicate our newly born children to God, there is no scriptural support for infant baptism.  In fact, it is contrary to the word of God that states that baptism is the answer of a clean conscience towards God.  1 Peter 3:21

What baptism means:

1. It is the proclamation that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for our sins and justification and symbolizes our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ:

a.     Into the water- death. As we go down into the water, we are saying that just as Jesus Christ died for our sin on the cross, even so we have died to sin in our lives.  There has been a complete break with the past; a death! 

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

b.      Under the water- burial.  Just as Jesus Christ was buried in the tomb when we are lowered beneath the water, our lives as sinners are regarded as put out of sight.  Paul speaks of being “buried with him through baptism” Romans 6:4

c.     Out of the water- resurrection.  Just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the power of God, we are lifted from the water to live a new and distinctive life, the life of Christ himself. 

The life we live as Christians must express these two great truths: we are dead to sin and alive to God.

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.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:4-5

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

2. It is the public confession and dedication that shows we have died to the “old life” and have risen to a “new life” in Christ. Know you not, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death.  Romans 6:3

3.     It is the outward sign of the inward cleansing of our sins and circumcision of the heart. 

In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism.  Colossians 2:11-12

4. It is the leaving behind your old Adamic sin nature and receiving the DNA (Divine Nature of the Almighty) of your new heavenly Father. And say, thus says the Lord God unto Jerusalem, your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.  Ezekiel 16:3

This was our problem: we were all born to lose.  Now we’ve been born again to win! 

Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.

  2 Corinthians 2:14 

The spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

  1 John 5:8

Homework:

Read: Romans 6

Memorize: Galatians 2:20