DB Clips: What is Baptism and is it Required
Today we’re looking at the question, what is baptism, and is it required? As with anything in the Bible we must understand what it meant to the people at the time. That’s because God spoke to people in a way that they understood.
The first time we see baptism in the Bible is from John the Baptist. This wasn’t a shocking thing to the people who went out to get baptized, because it wasn’t something new. Baptism was a not uncommon practice in the time of the Roman empire. When someone committed to a religion they would be baptized.
In the Old Testament God took the cultural practice of animal sacrifice and made it something new. We don’t want to go too far down the rabbit hole of Old Testament Sacrifices and their meaning in this DB clip, but God took something they understood and used it to demonstrate His love and desire to be amongst His people.
So, if baptism was a common practice at the time, what meaning did God apply to it that was different from the culture? In Christianity baptism illustrates Christ’s burial and resurrection. Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead. Baptism is a demonstration of our death to sin, and new life in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 2:12 says “Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
This is our spiritual recreation of that act, as well as a public declaration of our faith in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come”
Thus, we use baptism as a remembrance of His death and resurrection and a public declaration that we live this new life in Him.
Who then should be baptized? If we look at the early church in the book of acts, we see in Acts 2:41 and 8:12-13 that everyone who believed was baptized. In the great commission Christ tells His disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This partially also answers the question of why you should be baptized. One, Jesus Himself commands it in the great commission. We are also following Jesus’ own example as he was Himself baptized before starting His ministry. Finally, it is our public declaration of our faith in Jesus.
Does that mean that baptism is required for salvation? There are many who believe that it is a requirement for salvation due to scriptures like Mark 16:16.
This states, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
There is a lot to be said about this, but the short version is while baptism is grouped like this with salvation in places, many other places that speak of salvation don’t mention baptism. In fact, this verse itself does not say those who don’t believe or aren’t baptized will be condemned, it only speaks of those who don’t believe.
In addition, Jesus himself gives us a clear example with the thief on the cross of someone receiving salvation without baptism.
It is not a question of am I saved without baptism, but rather if you have found faith in Jesus, why wouldn’t you be baptized? Once again, I acknowledge that this is a very brief overview and simplification of a very deep debate.
We will continue then under the assumption that all should be baptized, but it is not a requirement for salvation. That being the case, why do we believe that baptism should be done via immersion rather than sprinkling?
The first is that the Greek word for baptism, baptize means to immerse or dip under water. We also see the example of Jesus being baptized by immersion. Lastly, baptism is compared to Christ’s burial.
This again is a deep topic that we are only giving a brief overview.
So, when should you be baptized? Right away. In the book of Acts baptism universally takes place after salvation. If you haven’t been baptized yet we would love to baptize you. You can speak with any of our pastors about how to get baptized.
Baptism is not just a symbol of our salvation, but a celebration. It is a wonderful thing to witness someone give a public declaration of their faith. We take baptisms seriously at Desert Breeze and we love to celebrate them.
If you’d like to learn more about this topic, go to our website at dbcc.com, click on Grow, then sermons. Look for the teaching series on Colossians and click on the sermon titled “Beware of Religious Legalism.”
Thanks, and God Bless.