Baptism Week 1

What Baptism is & What Baptism is not

What Baptism is

A public declaration (Identifying with Jesus)

Sharing in his death burial & resurrection

Signs of a new life

Repentance & remissions of sin

What Baptism is not

A religious ritual

Something to appease the conscience

A certainty of salvation

Membership into a church, denomination or group.

A cleansing from sin

Baptism’s original meaning

The word Baptism means baptizo in the original language of the bible. It means to be immersed, not sprinkled.

Immersion is the act of being submerged and then emerging from the water. It is symbolic of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Through immersion, believers symbolically participate in the death burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Examples in the new testament of going down into the water (immersion)

Matthew 3:13–17 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””

Acts 8:12 “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.”

Key Points

Once they believed

Things concerning the Kingdom

The name of Jesus Christ

All were baptized (men and women)

What is saving faith (belief)

A saving faith: Is the knowledge of, trust in, and commitment to Jesus Christ that is required for salvation, it is worked out in our lives.

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.””

What the Bible Says to the Believer: The Believer’s Personal Handbook (You Are Given a New Life—A New Beginning, a New Start)

You Are Given a New Life—a New Beginning, a New Start

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Co. 5:17).What the Bible Says to the Believer: The Believer’s Personal Handbook (2. You Are Given a New Life—A New Beginning, a New Start)

How do you become a new creation? Note the words of verse 17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new person.” It is being in Christ that makes you a new creature, a new creation. When you truly believe in Christ, God counts and credits you as being in Christ. You become identified with Him; that is, you are counted and considered to be in Christ.

To be in Christ also means that you walk and live in Christ day by day. In other words, you do not “walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Ro. 8:1, 4,). It means that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, [you] should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit. 2:12). It means that you bear the fruit of the Spirit (Ga. 5:22–23). It means that you abide in Christ, that you become as connected and attached to Christ …

Why was Jesus sent?

To save us from our sin

Matthew 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

To grant us eternal life & life more abundantly

John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Life: immortality, resurrection from the dead, entrance into heaven, name written in the book of life

Zoe Life: Living out your physical life here on earth with Jesus on a daily basis even in the most difficult of times.

Things concerning the kingdom

Luke 17:20–21 “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.””

Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

The Name of Jesus

Philippians 2:10 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,”

Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

All were baptized

John 1:26 “John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.”

*Jesus is the one you want to know

Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Romans 6:3–4 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

According to the New Testament there is only one baptism

Ephesians 4:4–6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

He who believes

There’s been much controversy regarding baptism, such as it being a requirement for salvation (to be saved)

Given the evidence in the New Testament all throughout the early churches evangelism efforts, the preaching of Jesus and His Kingdom, baptism usually followed a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross.

In Closing

A public declaration

An act of faith

A willingness to be identified with Jesus

Coming out of the water as a symbol of newness of life

Questions and Answers