A word about baptism
You have probably heard the expression that “Baptism is the outward expression of the inward change.” In one sense that is very true. Baptism, or being immersed in water, follows a person’s accepting Christ as their Savior.
Jesus is quoted as saying; “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16 NIV. In these verses Jesus explains the sequence. Belief first then baptism. Baptism is linked to believing or to saving faith in Christ. However, Jesus does not say that a person who believes but is not baptized is condemned.
The classic example of a person in the New Testament believing but not being baptized is the thief on the cross who was dying along with Jesus. The Savior promised the believing man, on that very day, he would be with Jesus in Paradise. This man is one of the few “non baptized” exceptions in the Bible. In the book of Acts, which records the beginning of the church, every time a person is converted, baptism follows. The first disciples of Jesus took baptism very seriously.
Both Peter and Paul, writing in the New Testament pointed to an Old Testament example to explain the significance of believer’s baptism.
Peter wrote to the church saying: “After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 3:19-21 NIV)
During the time the ark was being built, Noah, the “preacher of righteousness” was saved by his faith, however, not until the floods came and the old way was destroyed, was Noah and his family separated from the sin and evil of the day. The water of baptism does not cleanse from sin, only the blood of Jesus can do that. Going through the water signifies the separation from the old way of sin and death.
Paul further explains this in his letter to the church in Corinth: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (I Corinthians 10:1-2 NIV)
Paul reminds the church that the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt. They were saved from the angel of death by putting the lamb’s blood on their doorposts and lintels. It was not until Moses led the people through the Red Sea in a symbol of baptism, that they were finally freed from the grip of the pharaoh and the slavery of the old life.
In these two pictures, the apostles give us a rationale for baptism; it is not for salvation, we are saved by grace through faith alone. Baptism separates us from the former life of slavery and sin. We are free to follow Christ, escaping the dominion of sin and satan. Therefore baptism is both the act and the symbol of separation from the old life. Baptism is an important step of obedience for the Christ follower.
When my wife and I were in Japan as missionaries, we would often hear Japanese people say that they believed in Christ but were not yet baptized. For them, baptism was the line of demarcation. Often it meant that they would be disowned by their family and cut out of the family line. It meant that they could no longer honor their ancestors or worship at the family “god shelf.” These Japanese clearly knew the implications of baptism and taking a stand for Christ and, sadly, many could not make that step of discipleship.
Today baptism is a marvelous picture of our lives in Christ. As we are standing in the water we stand in the name of the One who created us; The Father. We are brought into the water and covered by it in identification with the Son who died for us and was buried. Then we come out of the water and are raised in new life in the Spirit. We are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In some ways, baptism is like the marriage ceremony. People can enter into the marriage covenant (salvation) and not consummate the marriage immediately (baptism.) Is the person married? Of course, yet it is only in one sense. The fullness of the covenant is shared in the act of marriage and becoming one flesh. Baptism is an important part of the salvation covenant for the Christ follower.
