
Starting Right With Believer’s Baptism
Baptism is the first step every believer should take in his or her walk with Christ.
Acts 8:35-39
In a race, how you end up has a lot to do with how you begin. If you begin strong, you have a much better chance of winning. The same is true in education – learning advanced things as an adult is much easier if you learned the basics as a child. Many businesspeople have learned the importance of getting their business off to a strong start. And what is true in those areas is also true of your Christian life. If you get off to a strong start by obeying what the Bible tells you to do, you will find it much easier to grow strong in your walk with Christ.
In the early church the Lord took a preacher, Philip, and moved him into a unique evangelistic effort in Samaria. Philip saw a man who was riding a chariot and reading from the prophet Isaiah. That man had great authority. He was the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, and he had recently been to the city of Jerusalem to seek the truth of God. So the Holy Spirit nudged Philip to talk with that Ethiopian eunuch.
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth,” the Ethiopian said out loud, reading from Isaiah 53. “In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth” (vv. 32-33). As Philip heard these words, he asked the Ethiopian, “Do you know what those words mean?” Then he began to explain the gospel to that religious seeker:
Baptism:
That’s a great passage of Scripture. Philip preached unto him Jesus. Not denominationalism, not empowerment, not politics, and not economics. He preached unto him Jesus, and as soon as that man believed, Philip baptized him. Many people misunderstand baptism. Some act as though, since baptism doesn’t save us, it isn’t important. Other people make the mistake of saying, “If you don’t get baptized, you’ll never go to heaven.” Baptism isn’t necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience. Obedience is necessary if you are going to experience joy and growth and fruitfulness in the Christian life. Believers dare not minimize what the Bible so emphasizes.
The Biblical Method of Baptism
As we read the account in Acts 8, there are several facts about baptism that are clear. First, it takes water to baptize someone. Second, the person is to be baptized if they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Third, baptism is the act of immersing someone in water. The word in Greek, “baptidzo,” means “to immerse in water.” When the Ethiopian asks, “What doth hinder me to be baptized?”, we could also translate that, “What hinders me from being immersed?” The Bible says they both went down into the water, so it was a big enough body of water for two men to wade into, and the one immersed the other.
That method wasn’t incidental. When we read about the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1:9, we find out the Lord was baptized in the same way: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.” Jordan refers to the Jordan River, so Jesus went down into the Jordan River to be immersed. He wasn’t baptized near the Jordan, or with water from the Jordan, but actually into the Jordan. The next verse reads, “and straightway coming up out of the water . . .” Now, if He came up out of the water, He had to have been down in the water. Jesus was baptized by immersion.
The Meaning of Baptism
Baptism speaks of what God did for you when He saved you. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” This is the key to understanding baptism.
When we are saved, we die to sin. We die to the old way of life. God forbids that we who have been saved should continue to live sinful lives. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). Christian, this is your biography. This passage describes the past, the present, and the future of every Christian.
The Christian’s Past
The Christian’s Present
The Christian’s Future
The Motive for Baptism
There are three reasons for getting baptized. First, it proclaims your commitment to Jesus. It is a way to say, “Lord, I am identifying myself with You, openly and publicly.” It doesn’t make you a Christian, but it certainly does demonstrate that you’re a Christian. Wearing a wedding ring doesn’t make me married, but it does show that I am married and am not ashamed of letting everyone know it. I belong to a woman I love with all my heart, and my wedding ring is a way of showing it. When Jesus was baptized, He was identifying Himself with us. When you are baptized, it publicly identifies you with the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, it portrays your conversion to Christ. Your baptism is a testimony that you are a believer in Jesus. You are saved and you want everyone to know it. Your friends see you being baptized, and they hear you proclaim what Christ has done for you. I have known many people who were saved watching a friend’s baptism. Third, it pays attention to your command from God. Baptism is not a suggestion, it is a command from our Heavenly Father. In Matthew 28:19-20, Christ said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” We are to observe that which Christ commanded, which is to baptize. After Peter h ad preached the gospel to Cornelius, he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, according to Acts 10:48. Baptism is His command, and we are to obey His commands. One of our motivations for baptism is that we wish to obey the commands of our Master. Baptism can’t save us. It’s an outward expression of an inward reality. But it is an act that Christians are called to obey.