What is Water Baptism?

Jesus introduced water baptism in connection with His Great Commission (Mat 28:19). He said that new disciples were to be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus meant this to be a permanent practice in the church and we encourage all believers to be baptized in water!

Baptism is the public profession of your faith.

Baptism is done before a group of people who witness your confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism is not the only way we profess to be a Christian, but it is an important way.

Baptism symbolizes your cleaning from sin.

Baptism throughout the New Testament indicated that a person had “repented” or turned away from sin. The apostles often referred to the fact that believers were washed from sin. Peter stated that the water in baptism symbolized not the cleansing of the body from dirt, but the cleansing of the conscience. (1 Peter 3:21)

Baptism symbolizes your union with Christ in His death, burial, & resurrection.

When you become a Christian, you die to sin and your old way of life and you begin a whole new life. Romans 6:8 states, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” The very act of baptism (being immersed in the water and coming up out of the water) is a picture of what happens to you spiritually.

What Does Baptism Mean?

In early times baptisms were held in public places where family and friends could gather. This public witness marked the believer as a follower of Christ. Today, baptisms often take place in church buildings for the sake of convenience, but a public statement still is a part of the meaning. The person who is baptized identifies with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The apostle Paul explained that baptism also symbolizes the believer’s union with Christ: “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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” (Romans 6:3–4). Immersion in the baptismal waters symbolizes the end of the old way of life. Coming up out of the baptismal waters pictures the new life found in Christ. The person who was previously dead in sin has been made spiritually alive by the same power that raised Jesus from the grave. Water baptism identifies a person as a disciple of Christ and celebrates the passage from an old life into a new life in Christ. It is an outward sign of an inward change.

How Should You Be Baptized?

The Bible word for “baptize” means to “immerse, douse, or saturate.” In the two full descriptions of baptism found in the New Testament, individuals were immersed in water. Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River to identify Himself as God’s Son: “As soon as he was baptized, [he] went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). The apostle Philip baptized the Ethiopian by going down into a body of water and coming up with him (Acts 8:38–39). In both of these examples, a large enough quantity of water was required to immerse the person. Because of the meaning of the word baptize and the mode of the first baptisms, we practice baptism by immersion.

Is Water Baptism Necessary for Salvation?

The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by grace through faith and according to God’s mercy (see Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). The thief on the cross next to Jesus had no time to be baptized; yet Jesus promised that he would be with Him in Paradise that day (see Luke 23:43). The Bible contains no record of Jesus baptizing anyone—a strange omission if baptism was essential for salvation. The Apostle Paul declared, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel…” (1 Corinthians 1:17). This clearly indicates that salvation is a response of faith to the gospel—not the act of baptism. Therefore, water baptism is not an act of salvation, but an act of obedience.