Baptism: A Picture of Change

Ephesians 4:22–24 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires3, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Baptism is in a sense a picture of the change that Christ has done in our lives. Baptism should not be a means of salvation, but rather a testimony of the our salvation. It is done in obedience to the plan God laid out in His Word. Baptism is a major marker and milestone in the life of a believer.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503–19

Painted between 1503 and 1517, Da Vinci’s alluring portrait has been dogged by two questions since the day it was made: Who’s the subject and why is she smiling? A number of theories for the former have been proffered over the years: That she’s the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo (ergo, the work’s alternative title, La Gioconda); that she's Leonardo’s mother, Caterina, conjured from Leonardo's boyhood memories of her; and finally, that it's a self-portrait in drag. As for that famous smile, its enigmatic quality has driven people crazy for centuries. Whatever the reason, Mona Lisa’s look of preternatural calm comports with the idealized landscape behind her, which dissolves into the distance through Leonardo’s use of atmospheric perspective.

Baptism Symbolizes:

1. The old man

Romans 6:2 “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Ephesians 4:22 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,”

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

2. Death to ourselves

Romans 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Ephesians 4:23 “and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,”

3. The new man

Romans 6:4 “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.”

Ephesians 4:24 “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Colossians 2:13 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”

4. A testimony to the world and fellow believers

Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

1 Peter 3:21 “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Acts 2:41 “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Matthew 3:11–17 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””