Baptism - Part Two

"By grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8). The salvation spoken of here is that which having been "dead in our offenses and sins" (Eph. 2:1) we were "made alive together with Christ" (Eph. 2:5). This "regeneration" (to be covered in a forthcoming lesson) is not by repentance nor is it by baptism. In other words, you are not made alive by repentance and you are not made alive by baptism. Regenerating salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
That being said, we can now go on to take a further and deeper look at how baptism relates to this matter.

Note: In this lesson, I intend to focus mainly on the significance of being baptized in water at the time one first believes (according to the examples in the Bible). I have decided to cover "being baptized in the Holy Spirit" once we have finished with this aspect of baptism.

In "Baptism - Part One", the examples given in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts should have clearly answered many questions concerning water baptism. Now we must begin to address the more difficult and serious questions, such as, Why is water baptism so important if we are saved by grace through faith? Can a person be saved if they have not been baptized in water? And if so, why then is there the need to be baptized? Let's begin by seeing what else the Bible says about baptism from the letters of the apostles Paul and Peter.


According to Romans 6:3-4, those who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death. In fact,through baptism they have been buried together with Him. This surely indicates that baptism is a deep and spiritual matter.


In First Corinthians 1:13-17, Paul writes of some who were baptized (obviously in water) by him in Corinth. Yet, his emphasis and concern was not for the act of baptism, but for the name in which they had been baptized, that is, Christ, and no other. He also made it clear that he was not sent to baptize, but to announce the good news of Jesus Christ.


First Corinthians 12:13 tells us that it was in one Spirit that we were all baptized into one body (the body of Christ). This Spirit is the Spirit of truth apart from which there is no reality in the matter of baptism. Biblical baptism is not a religious ritual; it is a spiritual reality.


Knowing Galatians 3:26-27 is also essential for a proper understanding of baptism. It is through faith in Christ that we become sons of God; it is into Christ that we are baptized.


According to Ephesians 4:5, there is just one faith and one baptism. This corresponds to the previous verses from Galatians. The one faith is in Christ; the one baptism is into Christ. Our faith and our baptism are not in or into any other person, ministry, or Christian sect, but in and into Christ alone.
Note: In Hebrews 6:2, the word "baptisms" comes from the Greek word baptismos not baptisma. Although baptismos is a closely related word, it refers to ceremonial washings and not the unique baptism of believers into Christ. It is also used in Mark 7:4, 8 and Hebrews 9:10.


As in Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12 also shows us that we were buried together with Christ in baptism. It goes on to say that "we were raised together with Him through the faith of the operation of God.


First Corinthians 10:2 and First Peter 3:20-21 present two examples of water baptism foreshadowed in the Old Testament. One is that of Moses and the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea, and the other, of Noah and his family surviving the flood of God's judgment. The Israelites, having by faith and obedience followed God's instruction regarding the Passover, were led out of Egypt, passed through the Red Sea, and continued on their journey back to the land promised them by God (Exo. 12-14). Noah, by faith and obedience to God's word did all that God commanded him in building the ark to prepare for the coming flood of His judgment (Gen. 6:22) after which he and his family would have an entirely new beginning.

Chapter 11 of Hebrews, the rightly called "faith chapter", speaks both of Noah and the building of his ark (v. 7) and Moses who led the children of Israel out of Egypt (vv. 27-29). In both cases, it was faith and obedience to God's word that enabled them to experience a kind of salvation.

In order to receive and experience the salvation God intends for us all, we also must have faith in and obedience to God's word.

The Lord Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Our faith is in Christ; baptism is our obedience. Luke 7:29-30 says that by not being baptized, the Pharisees and the lawyers had rejected the counsel of God. Those who had been baptized were those who acknowledged that God was righteous. Baptism is a physical manifastation of our faith in Christ; it is obedience to His counsel and our acknowledgment of His righteousness. So then, Believe and be baptized and you shall be saved!

Partly because of what seems to be an acceptable length for a blog, it appears that I must continue this topic with a Part Three in the next lesson.


Some matters that still need addressed:
1) So, can someone be saved if they have not been baptized in water?
2) What about the thief on the cross?
3) What about death bed experiences?
4) What about the second half of Mark 16:16?
5) What about portions of the Bible like Romans 10:9-10 that talk about how to be saved with no mention of baptism?
6) My thoughts of why there is confusion about baptism among believers today.

To be continued.

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