God's Church: Baptism- What Does It Mean?
Baptism- What Does It Mean?
Biblically, baptism is associated with…
1. Forgiveness… Acts 2:38 NLT Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
2. Union with Christ… Romans 6:1-10 NLT "Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? (2) Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? (3) Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death? (4) For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. (5) Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. (6) We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. (7) For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. (8) And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him. (9) We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. (10) When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God."
3. Making disciples… Matthew 28:19 NLT "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
4. Repentance… Acts 2:38 NLT "Peter replied, 'Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
This is not to conclude that water baptism effects forgiveness, etc., but that it is closely connected with those things that begin the Christian life.
Baptism may be defined as an act of association or identification with someone, some group, some message, or some event. Baptism into the Greek mystery religions associated the initiates with that religion. Jewish proselyte baptism associated the proselyte with Judaism.
John the Baptist's baptism associated His followers with His message of righteousness (he had no group for them to join). (Incidentally, John was apparently the first person ever to baptize other people— usually baptisms were self-administered.)
For James and John to be baptized with Christ's baptism meant to be associated with His suffering… Mark 10:38-39 NLT "But Jesus said to them, 'You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?' (39) 'Oh yes,' they replied, 'we are able!' Then Jesus told them, 'You will indeed drink from My bitter cup and be baptized with My baptism of suffering.'"
To be baptized with the Spirit associates one with the body of Christ… 1 Corinthians 12:13 NLT "Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit."
And, with the new life in Christ… (See Rom. 6:1-10 Union with Christ above)
To be baptized into Moses involved identification with his leadership in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt… 1 Corinthians 10:2 NLT "In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses."
Love to all, Pastor Mike
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