BURIED IN BAPTISM

Who is Baptism For?

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Baptism is for disciples of Christ. It is for those people who have been awakened to the fact that they have sinned against a holy God. They deserve death and hell. They can do nothing to save themselves, because their righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. But they feel a sorrow over their sins and a longing for forgiveness and righteousness. That feeling of sorrow over sins and longing for righteousness is the beginning of repentance. Repentance leads to a change of mind and a change of the direction of their life. It turns them from sin to the only one who can save them: Jesus. They realize that Jesus’ perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection is their only hope to be saved. So they turn to Him and trust in Him to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. They bank their eternal destiny on Christ and His power to save. In other words, they are people who have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ.

What Does Baptism Demonstrate?

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The act of baptism demonstrates the fact that we have been united with Christ by faith. Our old self has died and we have been raised up to walk in newness of life. So being lowered in the water pictures our old self dying, and being raised out of the water pictures being resurrected as a new person.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

So baptism is a reminder that the old person I was is dead and gone. I’m a new person through the saving work of Christ. I have been set free from the penalty and power of sin. And now I am called to live a life of continually turning from sin and following Christ.