.png)
Learn About
Baptism
Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change, symbolizing a new life in Christ. It’s a step of obedience and faith, showing the world that you’ve chosen to follow Jesus. If you’re ready to learn more about baptism and what it means, we’re here to guide you through the process.
When you are baptized you are depicting your death—the death of the person you were without Christ—and your new life lived with Christ.
How important is Christian baptism? Well, on the founding day of the Christian Church—the day of Pentecost—St. Peter’s hearers asked him what they must do. He answered, “repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
When people came to Christ in Samaria, we are told that Philip the evangelist preached “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ…[and] baptized, both men and women.” When the Gospel reached the first Gentile converts, in Acts 10, Peter commanded that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Upon St. Paul’s conversion in Acts chapter 9, “He got up and was baptized.” In chapter 16 of Acts, we have the record of the first European convert, a lady named Lydia, who came to faith at a Bible study. We read, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message...she and the members of her house were baptized…” In Philippi, a jailer asked Paul and Silas what he should do. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,” they told him, and we read that, “he and all his family were baptized” that very same night.
So how important is Christian baptism? One last Scripture quote: The last thing Jesus said to his disciples before leaving them to return to heaven was, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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.” Baptism is part of the great commission our Lord gave to the church. In other words, baptism is not an option. If you have determined to follow Jesus Christ, you must be baptized.
But what difference does it make? Does baptism magically or mechanically change my position before God? Does it guarantee heaven? If it is only an outward demonstration of inward faith, why do it at all? Isn’t faith alone enough? Just what is baptism?
There are three things that every Christian should know about baptism. We will be looking primarily at Paul’s letter to the Romans, the sixth chapter. I want to suggest to you that baptism is a Decisive Act of Faith, if is a Dramatic Act of Faith, and it is a Declarative Act of Faith.
Baptism is a Decisive Act of Faith, it is a Dramatic Act of Faith, and it is a Declarative Act of Faith.
To repent is to change from the inside; to change one's mind and heart. Baptism is the announcement that we have repented.
baptism was always adult, as opposed to infant, baptism. Baptism held something of the same place that “going to the altar” has held in evangelical churches for the last century. When a person was ready to make his decision to follow Christ, he was baptized. He may have been convinced previously of the truth of Jesus’ claims and of the faith. But at his baptism he embraced Christ himself. He committed himself to follow Christ. Going under the water didn’t make him a Christian. His faith in Jesus Christ made him a Christian. Apart from that his baptism would only have made him wet. That was the case with Simon in Acts 8. He was baptized into the name of Jesus, but St. Peter could say to him, “You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord... For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Being baptized did not make Simon a Christian because his heart was not right before God to begin with. He lacked the faith that is essential in bringing a person into a right relationship with God.
So if baptism itself does not automatically make us right with God or guarantee us heaven, what does is do? Why be baptized? First, baptism is a decisive act of faith. It is a decisive step away from sin and toward obedience to Christ. Some words just go together. Peanut butter goes with jelly. Ham goes with cheese. Reel goes with rod. Baptism goes with repentance, and repentance is a decisive work. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told his hearers to “Repent and be baptized.” To repent is to change from the inside; to change one’s mind and heart. Baptism is the announcement that we have repented.
Baptism is the demonstration that we have made the once-for-all choice to follow Christ. In the early days of the church, if a man became a Christian, he might well be excommunicated from the synagogue, refused entrance to the temple, and was ostracized by his family. It was a costly decision to make. But when he made it, he sealed his decision by being baptized.
Paul alludes to this kind of decisiveness in Romans 6:1. “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? May it never be!” Shall we remain in sin? Shall we stay where we are, be satisfied with a life we know is sinful? Or shall we go on? Those who are baptized have made their choice. They will not stay where they are. They will move ahead with Christ. The Australian coat of arms pictures two animals: An emu, a flightless, graceless bird, and a kangaroo. Not a lion or a tiger. Not an eagle or a falcon.
Why did they choose two such animals? Because they share a common characteristic with which the Australians identify: Both the emu and the kangaroo can only move forward, not back. The emu’s three-toed foot causes it to fall if it tries to go backwards, and the kangaroo is prevented from moving backwards by its large tail.
People who are baptized have chosen the emu and the kangaroo for their coat of arms. They are going forward with Christ. They have made the decision, and by the grace of God they will not turn back. No more indecision. It is God’s way from now on.
Baptism is the demonstration that we have made the once-for-all choice to follow Christ.
That is what the person being baptized has said to God. "A dozen times, yes." And a dozen times "no" to the old life without Christ.
Recently a young couple was married at the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in San Francisco. When the bride was asked, “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband,” she replied, “I don’t know.” People who are baptized do know. They are like the widow who had been seeing a gentleman regularly before he returned to his own city. After he left, he sent her a letter, requesting her hand in marriage, and asking her to communicate her answer by telegram. She went to the telegraph office and asked how much a telegram would cost. She was told so many spaces for so much money. She used every space she could. Here is what she sent. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.”
That is what the person being baptized has said to God. “A dozen times, yes.” And a dozen times “no” to the old life without Christ. The word the church has used to describe baptism in “sacrament,” which comes from the Latin, “sacramentum”, the pledge a Roman soldier took to be obedient to death. Baptism is a decisive act.
Baptism is also a dramatic act. By that we mean that baptism dramatizes outwardly and visibly what God has done for us inwardly and invisibly. We baptize by immersion. Some baptize by sprinkling and some by pouring and we have no argument with them at all. But the word baptize literally means, “immerse.” It was used of people being drowned (don’t let that frighten you if you are intending to be baptized), and of ships sinking; it meant to plunge, sink, drench, or overwhelm. When a person is immersed in baptism, we see a dramatic depiction of what God has dome for that person in Christ. Look again at Romans 6.
Our faith unites us to Jesus Christ. Look at the “with him” phrases in the first few verses. Verse 4: “Buried with him;” verse 5: “united with him” (twice); verse 6: “crucified with him;” verse 8: died with him.” If that list is not impressive enough, listen to this. “I have been crucified with Christ,” Gal. 2:20; “We died with him,” 2 Tim. 2:11; were “buried with him,” here and in Colossians 2:12; “made alive with him,” in Colossians 2:13 and Ephesians 2:5; and “raised with him,” Ephesians 2:6. When we believe in Jesus Christ, when we receive him, we are incorporated into Christ. That means that—somehow—what Christ has experienced, we experience. We are never said to share in his birth or baptism, but in his suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, and some day, his reign. Baptism means that we are joined to him, made part of his body, so that Paul can say, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one Body.”
This is how the picture works and why we practice baptism by immersion. When you, the baptismal candidate, go under the water, it is a picture of your death. The man or woman you used to be died and was buried. When you are brought up out of the water, it is a picture of resurrection. You have been raised to new life. Only, it is not the old you any more. It is you united to Jesus Christ, now and always. Baptism pictures the union with Christ that faith accomplishes.
Baptism pictures the union with Christ that faith accomplishes.
We think of baptism as a pleasant ceremony and sometimes forget that the picture here is of death and burial.
Baptism is a dramatic act of faith. When you are baptized, you are depicting your death—the death of the person you were without Christ—and your new life lived with Christ. We think of baptism as a pleasant ceremony and sometimes forget that the picture here is of death and burial. On the one occasion that Jesus spoke of baptism, which he must undergo, he was referring to his death. Baptism reminds us that with Christ we died, that we have, verse 5, “been united with him in his death” and, verse 6, that we have “been crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
Perhaps you have been to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington. Etched in the black granite are the names of 58,156 Americans who died in that war. Most visitors who travel to the Memorial are deeply moved. Some walk slowly and reverently down its length without pause. Others stop before certain names, remember their buddies or sweethearts, dads or sons, and wipe away the tears.
But for three vets—Robert Bedker, Willard Craig and Darrall Lausch—a visit to the memorial must be especially poignant, for they can find their own names carved into the stone. Because of data-coding errors, each of them was incorrectly listed as killed in action. Dead—but alive. That is what baptism is for believers. It reminds us that we died to sin in Christ, but are alive to God through him. When you are baptized, you find your own name carved into the stone.
In churches where infant baptism is practiced, the child’s Christian name is given him at baptism. The reason is that baptism speaks of the new identity we have in Christ. Baptism dramatizes the truth that you are a new person. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passes away—look! all things are new.” Paul could say, “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live; yet, no I.” (Notice he has a new identity) “Not I, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God.”
A new person. A new identity, because you are no longer just you—but you united to Christ. That is the key to successful Christian living. The key to dying to self and living to God. It is already true in Christ. Instead of trying harder, live by faith in the Christ who has already done these things and will do them in you.
One last thing: baptism is declarative. When you are baptized you are publicly declaring yourself for Jesus Christ. You are taking your stand with him. You are saying, “I belong to Jesus. I am united with him.” Because of that, you must let him live through you.
On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio is a portrait with the following inscription: James Butler Bonham—no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom.
No literal picture of Jesus exists either. But the likeness of Jesus—the one who sets us free—can be seen in the baptism and the subsequent lives of those who have given themselves to him. This is his declaration: “Look at these people, and you will see what I am like.”
A new person. A new identity, because you are no longer just you—but you united to Christ.
Some Commonly Asked Questions
It’s completely normal to still have questions about baptism, and we’re here to help! If you’re wondering about the meaning, process, or timing of baptism, you’re not alone. Below are answers to some common questions, but if you’d like to talk with someone, we’d love to connect with you.
I was baptized as an infant. Should I be baptized again?
When I was baptized, I was not a Christian. Should I be baptized again?
My child wants to be baptized. Is he/she old enough?
I was "sprinkled" when I was baptized. Should I be baptized again?
In the Scriptures we only see adults baptized. Though some very good Christian people would disagree, I believe that only those who have personally chosen to trust Christ and follow him should be baptized.
Yes. Baptism is the outward sign of an inward grace. The first time you were baptized, you had not received the grace. You had not yet been brought into the body of Christ by his Spirit—the inward and spiritual act of which baptism is an outward and visible symbol.
If your child is old enough to give a clear confession of faith in Jesus Christ and understands what he/she is doing, your child is old enough. But make sure it is his/her desire, not merely yours.
Were you a believer then? If so, then there is no need for you to be baptized again, and good reason not to be. Being baptized twice actually dramatizes the need to be placed in the body of Christ more than once. Although you didn’t understand the meaning of baptism then, you do now; ask God for the grace to live it out.If you were not a Christian when you were sprinkled, poured, immersed—whatever the mode—then you should be baptized now that you believe.