Why Should I Consider Baptism?
In the World War 1, a severely injured man who knew he had only a short while to live was lying in a trench and talking to his close friend.
“Listen, Dominic. You’ve lived a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. but there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, take my good name, my life, and quickly hand me your papers, that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death.”
That is a picture of the good news that God offers to each person. We can start again. That is what baptism indicates - we take on the identity of the Lord Jesus and he takes away our sin. The great difference is that this exchange is an honest offer.
Becoming a Christian involves entering into a two way contract or covenant with God, our creator. The covenant God makes with his people requires both parties full commitment.
“‘This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.’” Jeremiah 31:33
What does it mean for us to be God’s people and what has God promised us, his people? A repeated comparison the Bible uses is to a great marriage, we are the Bride of Christ and baptism symbolises the marriage ceremony.
OUR ROLE
We must ‘repent’, that is ‘rethink the focus of our lives,’ and accept that we were created by God for his purposes. This is made clear by looking at some of the many Bible passages on baptism.
John’s Baptism
John the Baptist was a popular preacher who reminded his hearers that God sees people’s hearts and therefore all come under his judgment. He called on his hearers to repent which means turn back to God, beg for his forgiveness and determine to live in ways that will please him. This was similar teaching to that of the Old Testament prophets. John’s coming as a precursor to the coming of God’s Messiah was foretold by Isaiah 700 years earlier,
“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way - ‘a voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Isaiah 40:3 quoted in Mark 1:2-3
John recognised that people need to make a public stand to demonstrate the new path they are going to take in the future,
“And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the river Jordan.” Mark 1:4-5
Jesus himself was baptised by John, not because he had any sin to turn from, but to identify himself with all of us and to demonstrate that John’s message was indeed God’s message.
Jesus’ Baptism
When John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, Jesus continued this same teaching ministry but he started in the north, in Galilee, and his message had an additional flavour. He began to teach them about the Kingdom of God and, by inference, that God’s King had arrived.
“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. the time has come,’ he said, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” Mark 1:14-15
Jesus’ disciples would then baptise those who responded to this teaching about repentance and who wanted to be admitted to the Kingdom of God.
Early Church Baptisms
After the extraordinary happenings at Pentecost, seven weeks after the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter stood up and addressed a massive crowd of people in Jerusalem. He reminded them about Jesus, his recent death and resurrection. God’s one and only Son, their Messiah, had been executed but his miracles, teaching, resurrection and the supernatural gifting of his disciples, (they could all explain the gospel in different languages), was evidence that Jesus was no ordinary man. His teaching reminded them of those of the Old Testament prophets and this resonated with people’s consciences, those God-given instincts we all have. Many people were ‘cut to the heart’. ‘What shall we do?’ they cried out. Peter replied,
“Repent and be baptised, 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
The whole Bible emphasises that without genuine repentance, a turning back to allow the God who made us and who revealed himself in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Saviour, no-one can ever be acceptable to God. But why is baptism added as a condition for receiving the Holy Spirit? Without the Spirit of God in us there is no salvation. There has to be a public affirmation of our new allegiance. Just as marriage is a public event, so becoming Christian must be open and public.
Some years later Paul wrote to the churches and explained the necessity for an open acknowledgment of our allegiance to Christ.
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
Baptism is that initial public acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is now my Lord. The crowd who listened to Peter at that first Pentecostal sermon were repeatedly told that it was their response to Jesus Christ that determined whether they would be accepted by God or not.
“With many other words he (Peter) warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted the message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” Acts 2:40-41
The phrase ‘added to their number is repeated throughout the book of Acts and it is clear that public baptism was considered to be the rite of admission to God’s church. Philip went to preach the gospel about Jesus in Samaria,
“But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised.” Acts 8:12
Later Philip explained ‘the good news about Jesus’ to an Ethiopian ruler who clearly had Jewish roots. He clearly understood and accepted the rule of Christ and said,
“Look here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?” Acts 8:36
Some early manuscripts include the following explanation,
“Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ The eunuch answered, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Acts 8:37
When Peter went, rather hesitantly, to explain the gospel to the family and friends of Cornelius, a Gentile centurion in the Roman army he was astonished to see the Holy Spirit come upon Gentiles. Peter then said,
“‘Surely no-one can stand in the way of their being baptised with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ So he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.” Acts 10:47
It would appear that this was a group turning to Christ. It is a shame that in the west the emphasis has moved to being solely individualistic. If the head of a household or group turn to Christ, it is reasonable that the whole group follows that lead.
Some years later Paul and Silas were preaching the good news in Philippi but they were beaten and imprisoned for doing this. However God intervened, an earthquake shook the foundations of the prison and the doors were flung open. To allow prisoners to escape was very serious and their jailer was about to kill himself thinking he had lost his charges. When Paul called out to say they were still present, the jailer asked,
“‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptised.” Acts 16:30-33
Clearly the apostles recognised that submission to baptism indicated that a person wanted to be saved, the jailer and his family agreeing to live under the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Coming under Christ’s control is our side of the covenant or contract. God knows our hearts. In Shakespeare’s play, ‘Richard II’ Lord Bolingbrooke bowed before the king, but Shakespeare makes it clear, ‘But in his heart he was not really his servant’. The ritual of baptism without repentance is an empty charade. The rite of baptism saves nobody if our hearts are not given over to Christ.
Baptism is the equivalent of marriage. Indeed the relationship between God and his people is often compared to marriage, the church being the Bride of Christ. We are meant to live in a glorious, fulfilling, close relationship with our Lord and Saviour and an ideal Christian marriage is meant to illustrate this fact.
GOD’S ROLE
All people are, at heart, selfish sinful people. It is this that separates us from God. It was classically demonstrated by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they chose to disobey God and instead of accepting what God determined was right and wrong, went their own way. They ate of the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil.’ We have all followed in their footsteps. We have all put ourselves at the centre and rejected the rule of God - that amounts to spiritual treason, a most serious offence.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
“There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands; there is no-one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12
The good news is that although we are in a desperate state, God has acted to give us an answer. Throughout the world animal sacrifices have been offered to make peace with God. The word ‘sacrifice’ literally means ‘to make holy or sacred’. God introduced this to teach people that there is a solution to their rebellion against him. Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, ‘brought an offering - fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.’ When God instructed his people aboutsacrifices he made it clear that the life of a perfect animal had to be forfeited if atonement was to be given.
Clearly the death of an animal, however perfect the specimen, could not of itself atone for our sin - the word ‘atone’ means to make us at one with God Almighty.’
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” Leviticus 17:11
These animal sacrifices were symbolic and looked forward to the day when God would send his own Son to die and pay the price for our sin. This ‘once for all time’ sacrifice could only be made by God as there was no-one else capable of or good enough to take responsibility for sin. God’s sacrifice of himself for us is the pivot of history for all peoples. This is why sacrifices are no longer necessary as we now have the world-changing event to look back to. John the Baptist said of Jesus,
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
When God acted to free his people after 400 years captivity in Egypt, his people had to make a sacrifice of a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts of their home. When they did this the ‘angel of death’ would pass over their houses, but those homes without this remedy suffered the death of their firstborn sons. This is the origin of the Jewish ‘Passover’ celebration that Jesus said pointed to himself and to his coming death to bear the sins of his people.
Paul emphasised this in one of his letters,
“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
I Want To Stand Where You're Standing
There is, allegedly, a gravestone somewhere in America that has this inscription:
"I want to stand where you're standing"
Beneath these words the story is told of a young man who was part of a firing squad assigned to kill someone found guilty of treason during the American Civil War.
The young man loaded his gun and raised it to take aim, he closed one eye and focused the other on his target. His eye blinked in shock as it met the gaze of the guilty man tied to a post. Immediately he lowered his rifle and walked over to his commanding officer and told him:
"I know this man, he has a wife and children. If I kill him I will be destroying, not only his life, but theirs too. I won't do it."
But the punishment for treason was death. The price had to be paid.
So the young man walked over to the traitor and uttered these fateful words:
"I want to stand where you're standing"
As a result the prisoner was released and the young man was put in his place. The guilty man got to return to his wife and children, the young man's life ended that day.
Whether this story is true or not it illustrates what it was that Jesus did at the cross. We are like the man with a host of rifles aimed at his chest. We are guilty of sinning against the God who made the universe.
But, like the merciful soldier, God, in His grace, sent us His Son to say to us:
"I want to stand where you're standing"
Jesus took us out of the firing line and put Himself in our place. As a result we get to stand where Jesus stands, in God's love and favour, not because of what we have done but because of what He has achieved through dying on the cross.1
Our salvation depends on the fact that God has acted by sending his one and only Son to die for us.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
This is the Christian ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’. It is the urgent message all need to respond to.
“We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM
Baptism portrays both sides of this covenant but the emphasis of this Christian sacrament is on what God has done to save us. He washes away our sin and he gives us new life. Originally when a Roman soldier enlisted in the Roman army he made a sacred oath of allegiance, a sacramentum,’ to the Emperor but in this sacrament the Emperor also committed himself to care for the soldier. It was the church Father, Augustine of Hippo, who defined a Christian sacrament as an outward sign of an inward grace that Christ had instituted. When Jesus commissioned his apostles and through them, his church, he said,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20
It is a disaster for people to be baptised who have no interest in obeying Christ. When we are baptised we take on the new family name, Christ’s name. Just as a new wife takes her husbands name, so we, as the bride of Christ, take on His name. When others see us they should see us as part of God’s family.
Baptism is an enactment of what Christ has done for us. He died and he rose again to give us eternal life. When we accept baptism , what we are essentially doing is accepting what he has done for us. He died to take our sin away, to wash us spiritually and he rose to give us new life. Baptism is essentially a sign that we accept who he is and the forgiveness he has won for us.
Promise to God
Clearly baptism is also an individual’s promise to God and therefore to God’s people.
The significance of baptism is far more than a good bath after a game of rugby, it signifies a spiritual washing. Peter saw a correlation between Noah and his family being saved ‘through water’ and baptism saying,
“ . . . this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God.” 1 Peter 3:21
The baptised person has pledged to live as God wants.
Washed by God
Saul, later to become the apostle Paul, met the Lord Jesus on his way to persecute Christians in Damascus, and soon afterwards a Jewish Christian called Ananias went to visit him. Ananias said to him,
“The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” Acts 22:14-16
Paul uses this picture when he contrasts the old sinful life led by many before they became followers of Christ and had their sins washed away.
“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral not idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
This is a lovely picture of the radical transformation that occurs when we become followers of the Lord Jesus. Not only is the penalty for sin taken by Christ on his cross but he also gives us His Spirit to enable us to live a Godly life as his representative.
Involved with Christ
When I first witnessed a baptism, I mistakenly thought of it as just signifying the candidates desire to ‘die to the old life and to be raised to live a new life.’ It was all them and their decision. The Bible’s emphasis however is not primarily on me and my decision but on the Lord Jesus. It was he who died to pay for my sin and it was he who rose from the dead to show the world who he really was and so confirm that God had accepted his sacrifice. When I am baptised I am associating myself with Christ - with his death and his resurrection. As I go under the water I am associating myself with Christ’s death, I am accepting his death as a substitute for me. As I come up from the water I am thanking him for the eternal life he has won for me. It is true that as a result of my being in Christ I must die to self and must live for Christ but even that is only possible because the Lord through the gift of his Spirit enables this. It is because Christ rose from the dead that we know that we who belong to him will also rise after our own deaths to be with him.
Merielle was a patient of mine with advanced cancer. She committed her life to Christ in hospital but was then transferred to the local hospice for terminal care. She was holding firmly onto her Saviour even though she was becoming more tired. We looked at a great verse that reminds us that if we belong to Christ we need never fear God’s judgment..
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Romans 8:1
To help her understand the significance of this verse, I wrote her name on a piece of paper and placed it inside the Bible,
“Let this Bible represent the Lord Jesus and this piece of paper represent you. Because you are now ‘in Christ’ when God looks at you he does not see your sins at all, he will see that you are in Christ and therefore see ‘his righteousness’. Furthermore Jesus is now in heaven and because you are in Christ you will go with him to be with him there.”
A new family
God has always intended that his people should come from all nationalities, sexes and social backgrounds. When we become Christians and are baptised into Christ we are given, as it were, a new spiritual passport. We become citizens of heaven, we join a new family. Our spiritual brothers and sisters come from all backgrounds. What a joy it is to travel round the world and to meet fellow believers and to instantly recognise that unity we have in Christ. We all have different roles in God’s body, the church. A few of us will be ‘stomachs’, people who digest God’s word and pass it on to nourish other parts of the body. Many more are active ‘hands’ who don’t stop helping others either practically, spiritually or financially. There are so many parts to God’s body and we all need each other. A Christian who does not get immersed in a church, a local body of people who love the Lord Jesus and are committed to live by His Word, will soon become picked off by Satan.
If you watch lions or hunting dogs looking for prey, they quietly approach animals that are weak and at the edge of the herd. Consequently we all need to watch out for the welfare of each other.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8-9
It is for this reason that it is a Christian’s responsibility to make meeting up with other local Christians a priority.
“And let us consider how we may spur on one another towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
The day when Christ returns will be the day of salvation for those committed to him but a day of judgment for everybody else. This is why working together in the local church is vital, so that we don’t fall away and we prevent others from doing so.
Paul emphasises the unity that there is in the body of Christ whilst recognising the different roles we will all have,
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 baptised 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 And so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
A new commitment
Baptism is therefore a sacrament that is a formal association of a person with the God of the universe who died for him or her and rose to take him with him to heaven. Before we go to heaven we are called to die to self and live a new life as God’s ambassadors or representatives. There is no way that God’s people can continue to live the sort of lives they previously lived before Christ entered their lives. Paul wrote a beautiful passage that emphasises this radical change that occurs when we are in Christ. It is this involvement with Jesus Christ that guarantees that we are given eternal life. We will then also have a resurrection body.
“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 baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised 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.
5 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. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin – 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:1-14
This passage describes so well what Christ has won for us and what out response must be. This is the meaning of baptism. It is a call to a radical new life. Jesus made this very clear,
“Then he called the crowd to to him along with his disciples and said, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Fathers glory with his holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
Hopefully when we get married, we do not embark on marriage in a half-hearted way - that would be a recipe for disaster. The joy and peace comes from marriage when we are immersed in our partners concerns. We live for them. So it is when we are baptised or married to Christ. What a joy and privilege this salvation brings but what responsibilities come with this new status.
An enquirer who had been coming to our church for several months was asked whether he had accepted Christ and was willing to be baptised. He replied that he was only dipping his toe in the water! He was clearly not yet convinced about who Jesus is or his need for forgiveness. There is no place for toe-dipping on those two issues, Jesus is either God’s Messiah and our Saviour or he isn’t, either we are rebellious sinners against God or we aren’t.
BVP
1Told by Rico Tice and Barry Cooper in "The Real Jesus”, The Good Book Company booklet
