Why Are We Baptized?

So for those who are keeping track of our progress in answering the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” questions for acquiring knowledge, we have now answered the first three to this point in the series; namely the who, the what, and the when questions.

First, who is it that should be baptized? Those who have professed a saving faith in response to an understanding of the gospel. Baptism is not done on account of assurance of that salvation, nor is it appropriate for those who have not yet professed their faith.

Next, we’ve answered the what is baptism question, stating that baptism is an ordinance, or perhaps better understood as a clear and uncluttered command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And lastly, we’ve tackled the question of when are these people to be baptized? And we discovered throughout Acts that it was done rather quickly, and on account of a reasonable profession of faith alone.

Although in answering these first questions we’ve certainly touched on the remaining topics to one degree or another, I certainly hope that you are now clear on these three matters. So if you are just now joining us, or wish to review these subjects, I would encourage you to do so on our YouTube channel.

And today, I would like to turn to the question “why?” Why is it that we baptize?

To be clear, the simplest answer is to be found in Matthew 28:19,

Matthew 28:19 LSB

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Here, as Jesus gave this great commission to His disciples, he commanded them to baptize those who would become disciples on account of their proclamation of the gospel.

But that answer falls far short of us comprehending the meaning behind why He gave this command.

To help us consider that meaning of baptism, I want you to turn with me to Joshua 4:20-24, because I think that this will help us start framing-in our understanding of why we baptize in accordance with His command.

Joshua 4:20–24 (LSB)

And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. Then he said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’

then you shall make your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land.’ For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is strong, so that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.”

Now if you will recall, when Israel crossed the Jordan river in Joshua 3, the water was stopped up as soon as the feed of those carrying the ark of the covenant dipped in the edge of the overflowing Jordan, the water was stopped up, and the people all crossed on dry ground. In Joshua 4:1-3, God commanded that one man from each tribe took a stone from the middle of the Jordan where the priests stood, and carried them away with them.

And now, here in verses 20-24, we see why - so that the stones would be erected into an altar at Gilgal as a picture-lesson of the miracle that God had wrought in bringing the people into the promised land, something that you could see and touch, with the express purpose of reminding God’s people of the miracle He had wrought.

Just like that stone monument, the ordinances of Christ, the Lord’s Supper and believer’s baptism are not the thing itself, they are not the miracles of Jesus’ shed blood for our sin, not the miracle of our union with Jesus Christ through faith. However, their purpose is to be a living picture, not of dead stones but of living ones, a thing we participate in, to likewise serve as a reminder to us of the miracle God has worked in our lives by immersing us into Christ Jesus at our salvation.

Just as certainly as communion is commanded to us to do in remembrance of Christ, and to bring afresh to our minds and hearts the death of the Lord Jesus Christ until He comes, so, too, is baptism meant to bring our hearts and minds back to our miraculous union with Christ. It is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is a picture of our being united with Him in that death.

Now in Romans 6:3-10, which we have been studying recently, we see the true, spiritual baptism, or immersion, into Christ Jesus:

Romans 6:3–10 (LSB)

Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died has been justified from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Now I remind you, that in this whole portion of Romans 6 we just read, there are absolutely no commands, there is no command to baptize here. Instead, what Paul is talking about is something that is true of us, he’s referring to a specific, finished work of the Holy Spirit revealed in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For also by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” and answering what body he’s talking about, down in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”

The idea of being immersed in Christ is the heart of what it means to be in Christ; that is, this is where that starts, it is an act not by men, nor by a priest, nor even by getting wet – it is an act done by the Holy Spirit whereby He supernaturally brings us into a true and lasting union with Jesus Christ Himself!

In other words, these verses in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 6 are not about the picture of the thing in believer’s baptism, but the thing itself.

I think we can make this yet more clear if we turn to Acts 10,

Acts 10:34–35 LSB

And opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most truly comprehend now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does righteousness is welcome to Him.

Now you will recall, I trust, that Acts is the history of the early church, and that it records for us a series of transitions in the development and growth of the early church.

And in these verses, we see an enormous shift occur; to this point the gospel had gone out first to the Jews, and then transitioned to include the Samaritan half-breeds, part Jew and part Gentile; and many in both of those groups had believed. But here, we have this full-on gentile who happens to be a God-Fearer; Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who has summoned Peter to his house in Caesarea, to hear a message from him.

And immediately now, Peter understand the vision given Him by God, that no type of people are beyond hope of redemption, even these God-fearers, those far off and distant from God according to man’s reasoning.

And so in the following verses he preaches a simplistic message by today’s standards to those people assembled before him, to Cornelius and his relatives and his close friends he had gathered in preparation to hear Peter.

Acts 10:36-43 “As for the word which He sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— you yourselves know the thing which happened throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

“And we are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree.

“God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He appear, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

“And He commanded us to preach to the people, and solemnly to bear witness that this is the One who has been designated by God as Judge of the living and the dead.

“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

What Peter preached to them was gospel of Jesus Christ, giving his witness of the One who has been designated by God as Judge of the living and the dead, just as Christ had commanded him to preach, saying “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” in Matthew 28. And in Acts 10:43 Peter declares the way of salvation, “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” It’s not just my testimony, he says, but every true prophet declares this one thing, that through faith in the name of Jesus Christ, meaning faith in the totality of who Jesus is, and what He has done, through that belief in Him comes forgiveness of sins.

And unlike what happened at Pentecost in Jerusalem, they didn’t need to be told anything else - they were saved right then and there, while Peter was still speaking in verse 44; in Peter’s report of this to those at Jerusalem in Acts 11:15, he even says that this started as he began to speak, not even needing to wait until the end to hear the full message!

It is vital for us, however, to realize that Peter was also a witness to their union and immersion into Jesus Christ as they savingly believed in Acts 10:45-46, and received the Holy Spirit just as the circumcised, the Jews and Half-Jew Samaritans, had also received the Holy Spirit at the first:

Acts 10:44–46a (LSB)

While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and magnifying God.

This, to Peter, was a confirmation of these God-fearing Gentiles’ true acceptance by God, in a form Peter and those 6 Jews who had come with him most certainly recognized from what had happened on the day of Pentecost; they spoke in tongues, meaning other languages, they magnified (or exalted) God!

Peter for his part, also remembered the words of Christ recorded for us in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

These Gentile God-fearers had been brought into a state of union with God, they were united to Christ, and the same as all believers everywhere had received the Holy Spirit to abide in them. Peter and those Jews who were with him weren’t able to see this indwelling, but they most certainly recognized its effects, even saying before the council in Jerusalem Acts 11:17, “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?” God, through this external an unique sign, had declared to the Jews present that a second transition had occurred, not only had the half-breed Samaritans been accepted by God alongside the Jews, but now the God-fearing gentiles were also fully accepted into Christ.

What was Peter’s immediate response? “Baptize them!” That’s what his answer was about; read it here in Acts 10:47-48,

Acts 10:47–48 LSB

“Can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for a few days.

Did their baptism with water save them? No. Did their baptism with water unite them with Christ? Again, no.

Peter himself later wrote in 1 Peter 3:21, “...baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” It’s the immersion into Christ that saves, the baptism without water – not the baptism with water which can only remove dirt!

This account of Peter’s preaching to Cornelius and the crowd at his house, their salvation and uniting with Christ in the baptism without water, and now Peter’s comment to those Jews with him, “Can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized?” indicate a certain clarity on the part of Peter as to a number of things, first of all precisely what Jesus meant in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”, water baptism is precisely what Jesus was commanding His followers to do.

So immediately, in a direct response to their salvation as evidenced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they were baptized in a water baptism. Peter wisely included the men he had brought with him from Joppa in this, Instructing them do the work of baptising these new believers. He spread out the work and more importantly the witness to other believers, for he could be certain that those believers still caught up in the national pride of Judaism would take issue with what had occurred, had there not been other men of the faith involved, partaking in and administering the ordinance of believer’s baptism given by Christ in Matthew 28.

The water baptism did not itself change the relationship of Cornelius and those he had gathered to hear Peter with God, but rather water baptism was something done in direct response to their salvation. They were not justified because they had been baptized, but rather were baptized because they had been justified!

Their baptism with water did however, serve as a vivid and distinct picture for Cornelius and those assembled with him, as a tangible and memorable reminder of their being united with Jesus Christ; in a personal sense, much the same as the stones in Gilgal served as a reminder to God’s people Israel of Him bringing them into the promised land. “See that third stone up? That’s the one our tribe brought!” is certainly more memorable than some pile of stones that some other group of people had set up. Tangible, and personal reminders!

And baptism in water does that admirably! There’s something memorable about solemnly presenting yourself to be submerged into the water, to be completely immersed in the way a ship sinks into the ocean to remind us with vivid, remarkable freshness of the dying to our self and our former way of life, and being raised up out of the water into a new life, as a new creature in Christ Jesus.

But there is something else here in baptism that we dare not miss, and it would be easy for us to do so: water baptism serves as a confessional act, a statement in action to those around us of our new relationship with Jesus Christ.

The immediate purpose of the stones taken from the Jordan and set up at Gilgal in Joshua 4 was in order to provoke future generations to ask “What do these stones mean?” They served as a mechanism for the people of God to effectively declare, “This is what Yahweh your God did! He caused Israel to cross this Jordan on dry land, the same way that He had done at the Red Sea!”

In the same way, our water baptism provides each believer a platform by which they may declare their new identity in Christ, primarily to other believers. Note this in the case of Cornelius’ household – all of those who were there were in Christ by the end of the sermon and before the water baptisms; Paul and the 6 men with him (11:12), and Cornelius and those gathered with him who all listened to the word and were saved in verse 44. Water baptism, too, serves to edify and encourage the faith of the gathered saints of God!

We should note that there will be occasionally those outside the body of Christ who may witness this baptism, but this declaration is not primarily for those people, but for we who are inside the church. It serves to remind us of our own baptism, and the great truth it portrays!

And finally, water baptism serves as an initial token of commitment, that I have received the instruction from the Lord, and because He is Lord – κύριος, the one who alone holds the right of ownership, and therefore in my confessing Him Lord, I am inherently declaring that I am owned by Him and therefore I am His slave – that when I am baptized in water as a believer, I am putting the first installment of my commitment to His commands by being baptized. I have promised Him loyal obedience in all things, and so given the prominent position which baptism had in His great commission in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” as a brand new disciple of Jesus Christ, I now am obeying this first command given to His disciples.

So, rather than refusing His clear and uncluttered command to be baptized, it is clear that all who become a new believer in Christ Jesus ought to themselves be baptized.

Why are we baptized in water after salvation? Because it draws out for us a vivid, memorable picture for us of our union with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Because it confesses that new union we have with Jesus Christ as a declaration to other believers. Because it demonstrates our commitment to being obedient to our Lord and Savior.

Let us Pray!