Baptism

Baptism is just as imperative as gospel teaching. When it comes to making disciples (the central mission Jesus Christ gave his church), baptizing is right alongside teaching all of Christ's word as the means by which his command is carried out. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20a,emphasis added)."

With Christ's authority, his church is sent into all nations to teach all Christ taught, all of which centers on Christ's gospel. What is this gospel? It is that Jesus, though completely innocent himself, died in the place of sinners to bear the penalty their sins deserve: the righteous wrath of God and eternal separation from him in hell. After dying as our substitute, Christ was buried then physically rose again on the third day, forever victorious over sin and hell.

Through faith in this gospel, sinners are saved from their just condemnation, cleansed of every vestige of their sin, and spiritually raised as completely new creations of God. As the gospel is proclaimed by the church, the Holy Spirit of God applies the truths of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection to dead sinners, causing them to see their sinful guilt, to know that Christ died for sinners, and to believe the life-giving message of Christ. We call this moment of conversion "the baptism of the Spirit" which every single convert to Christ experiences when he or she is supernaturally brought into Christ's church.

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit”
(1 Corinthians 12:13, emphasis added).

Water baptism, therefore, is a visible picture of the inner reality of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism recalls and rehearses the same gospel truths already applied to the Christian by Spirit baptism. As an outward physical symbol of an inward spiritual reality, water baptism makes the spiritual nature of the gospel visible in a picture. Going down into the water is a picture of dying with Christ. Being raised up out of the water is a picture of being resurrected with Christ unto new spiritual life, completely cleansed by the Spirit.

Water baptism does not save, Spirit baptism does. Yet the gospel is made gloriously visible, tangible through water baptism. As such, water baptism in itself proclaims the gospel. It is a church's corporate testimony to one another. It is a testimony to the world. It is the believer's own testimony of the gospel he or she has come to embrace.

And when the Christian faces trials and struggles to grow in grace, he only needs to look back at the truths expressed in baptism as the motive for ongoing sanctification. He only needs to remember how the Spirit united him to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection in the gospel.

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-4).

Which baptism is Paul talking about, water or Spirit? Well...both! If you understand the correspondence between the reality (Spirit baptism) and the picture (water baptism), you understand that the physical symbolic picture of water baptism cannot do anything other than point to the reality it represents. It is the status we already have in Christ (thanks to the Spirit) that causes us to have power and motivation to fight sin. For disciples, baptism rehearses the cleansing power of the Spirit who applied the gospel of Christ to our souls. This is a sure foundation and motive for experientially growing in power over sin and living unto God by the Spirit's power.

We cannot obey Christ's command to make disciples without baptism. Therefore, baptism cannot be treated lightly. Just as we cannot conceive of a healthy disciple of Jesus Christ taking lightly Christ's life-giving Word, we cannot conceive of a healthy disciple who casually attends to, or dismisses outright, the sacred ordinance of baptism. Baptism is fundamental to discipleship. It is indispensable to showing ourselves to be Christ's disciples. How do we make disciples? By baptizing them and by teaching them.

If you are a believer in Christ and have not been baptized, you must take this step of discipleship and publicly proclaim what the Father has given to you, what Christ has accomplished for you, and what the Spirit has done inside you. Additionally, if you are convinced that you were not a believer when you were baptized (as is the case with those baptized as infants), you should get baptized as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Glory be to God in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!