Untitled Sermon (4)

Significance of baptism

Synopsis

The NT uses a variety of images to explain the meaning of baptism, such as dying and rising with Christ, sharing in his death and being cleansed from sin.

Baptism is a symbol of the death of Jesus Christ

Lk 12:50 Jesus Christ described his death as a baptism or a flood overwhelming him.

Luke 12:50 (NIV) — 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

See also Ps 42:7; Ps 69:1–2; Ps 88:7; Mk 10:38–39

Psalm 42:7 (NIV) — 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

Psalm 69:1–2 (NIV) — 1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.

Psalm 88:7 (NIV) — 7 Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.

Mark 10:38–39 (NIV) — 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,

Baptism is a symbol of the burial of Jesus Christ

Ro 6:3–4 Immersion in water symbolises how the old sinful life is buried with Christ.

Romans 6:3–4 (NIV) — 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Dying to sin and sharing Jesus Christ’s sufferings, symbolised by baptism, is a lifelong process:

Ro 8:13; Col 3:5

Romans 8:13 (NIV) — 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Colossians 3:5 (NIV) — 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Baptism is a symbol of being saved from the flood

1 Pe 3:21 The flood/baptism symbolises both judgment (the death of sinners and the death of Jesus Christ) and salvation (those in the ark and those in Christ passing safely through judgment).

1 Peter 3:21 (NIV) — 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

See also Ge 7:6–7

Genesis 7:6–7 (NIV) — 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Baptism is the gospel equivalent of circumcision

Col 2:11–12 The “circumcision in Christ” may refer either to his death on the cross or to baptism.

Colossians 2:11–12 (NIV) — 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

See also Dt 10:16

Deuteronomy 10:16 (NIV) — 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

Baptism recalls the exodus

1 Co 10:1–2 In and through the exodus experience Israel was united with and obedient to Moses, as Jesus Christ’s people are to him.

1 Corinthians 10:1–2 (NIV) — 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

See also Ex 14:19–24

Exodus 14:19–24 (NIV) — 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.

Baptism symbolises washing from sin

Ac 22:16 Baptism is an outward sign of cleansing from sin and from a defiled life and conscience.

Acts 22:16 (NIV) — 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

See also 1 Co 6:11; Tt 3:5; 1 Pe 3:21

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV) — 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Titus 3:5 (NIV) — 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

1 Peter 3:21 (NIV) — 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Baptism is a symbol of putting on Christ

Ga 3:27 Baptism is seen as putting on Christ, as one might put on a coat or garment, and thus be “clothed with Christ”.

Galatians 3:27 (NIV) — 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Baptism as a symbol of unity

Eph 4:5

Ephesians 4:5 (NIV) — 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

See also 1 Co 12:13

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV) — 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.