What REALLY Happened At Baptism? Part 1
Text: Acts 2:38, Acts 8, Is 53-54
Definition of Baptism
The word baptism itself comes from the greek root word "Bapto" which means immerse, dip (Liddel and Scott Lexicon) as opposed to pour or sprinkle.
Thayer Definition:
1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge, to wash, to overwhelm
Act 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent
(not just from sin BUT change your mind about the law (righteousness through works), about rejecting Jesus as the way to salvation, the Son of God), and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8: 13: Simon (spiritual senses sensitized, he was amazed)
Acts 8:26-39
- Philip preached beginning from that scripture (Is 53), Jesus (righteousness by faith, unveiling of Jesus).
- Condition for Baptism; "if you believe with all your heart you may"
- The water was a reminder from Is 54:9 (which is after Is 53) of God's covenant to Noah of peace and mercy upon a coming generation of people of the NEW COVENANT! We are that people. No wonder the eunuch wanted to get baptised so quickly!
- They went INTO the water and came up OUT of the water.
- The Eunuch went away rejoicing (a fresh consciousness of Jesus and righteousness by faith).
Where did Jesus die to sin? NOT AT BAPTISM. It was at the CROSS. That is why He gave us the baptism. It is a typology of the CROSS! Just like Holy Communion, it is not a new event every week but a reminder of one significant event that points to the FINISHED WORKS of JESUS on the CROSS!
It does not only mean death to our old life, it means death to the law, self consciousness, sin consciousness and its consequences; and alive to GRACE, Alive to Christ, Alive to RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Mat 3:15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he *permitted Him.
Gen 1:26: when God made man in His own image, He said, "Let US make man in our own image". Who is us? It's the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Notice that at the baptism, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present as a firstborn among many brethren. At baptism, man was restored to the original design; in the image of God! Clothed with glory and honour again, back at the 2nd creation of man; man came back into a full cycle and relationship with God!
In Summary:
- Is Baptism important? It was important to Jesus, to the early church and even to the devil. Matt 10:32
- When do I get baptized? In general, when we have an awareness of our sinful condition, that we cannot overcome sin in our own strengths.
- Is Baptism the guarantee of going to heaven? Am I a Christian only when I get water baptized? NO! It is the profession of faith that saves us. Rom 10 especially verses 9-10; John 5:24, 3:36
- Do I need to get water baptized before I'm allowed to take Holy Communion? The Bible places no such restrictions. It is not in the heart of our heavenly Father to place restrictions on coming to Him. Everything He does, He does to remove barriers because His whole objective is to love us and to make himself known to us.
- Do we need to get baptized often? It's up to our own personal convictions. Jesus never did it, neither did any of the disciples and unlike the Holy Communion, Jesus never used the phrase "do this often". Having said that, we can understand if anyone wants to get baptized again as it is such a beautiful sense of identification with our LORD JESUS. Declaring to the world, "I am a child of God".
Samuel Hari © GROW BM
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