Doctrine
"...buried with him by baptism into death... even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Romans 6:4
Once a person has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, the very first step of obedience He asks is baptism. Yet few subjects are more tangled with confusion. Who should be baptized — infants, or believers? How should it be done — by sprinkling, or by immersion? And what does it accomplish — does it wash away sin, or picture a work already done? Let us lay aside the traditions of men and see what the Bible plainly teaches.
Throughout the New Testament the order never changes: first a person believes, and then he is baptized. Faith always comes first; baptism follows as its fruit. When the Ethiopian official asked to be baptized, he was met with one condition.
"...See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Acts 8:36-37)
If thou believest, thou mayest. There is the rule. On the day of Pentecost it was the same — those baptized were those who had first received the Word.
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41)
This is why we baptize believers, and not infants. A baby cannot believe, cannot repent, cannot receive the Word — and Scripture never once records the baptism of an infant. Baptism is for those old enough to trust the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves and to confess Him.
Some point to the households that were baptized, as though infants must have been included. But the Bible tells us these were believing households. Of the Philippian jailer it is written that he rejoiced, "believing in God with all his house."
"...and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." (Acts 16:34)
The whole house heard the Word, believed, and were baptized — a house of believers, not of unconscious infants. Nowhere does Scripture set baptism in the place of anything else, or apply it to any but those who first believe.
The word "baptize" itself means to dip, to plunge, to immerse. And every account in the Bible bears this out. Men were baptized where there was much water, going down into it and coming up out of it.
"...and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water..." (Acts 8:38-39)
They went down into the water and came up out of the water — words that make no sense of sprinkling a little water upon the head. More than that, the meaning of baptism, as we shall see, is a burial; and a man is not buried by having a handful of earth sprinkled upon him, but by being wholly laid beneath it. Immersion alone can picture what baptism was given to picture.
Why immersion? Because baptism is a living picture of the believer's union with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Going down into the water pictures death and burial with Christ; rising up out of it pictures resurrection to a new life.
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4)
"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:12)
So in baptism the believer testifies before all: "My old life is dead and buried with Christ; I have risen with Him to walk in newness of life." It is a sermon preached without words, a beautiful and public confession of an inward reality.
Here we must be very clear, for many souls have been deceived into resting their hope upon baptism instead of upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism does not wash away sin, does not give the new birth, and does not save. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, apart from any work — and baptism is a work.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
The thief on the cross was never baptized, yet the Lord Jesus Christ assured him he would be in paradise that very day. And the apostle Paul, who certainly preached the gospel that saves, plainly set baptism apart from that saving message.
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." (1 Corinthians 1:17)
If baptism were necessary to salvation, the apostle Paul could never have said such a thing. And lest any misunderstand, the apostle Peter, in the very verse where he links baptism with salvation, carefully explains that it is not the outward washing of the body that saves, but the inward reality it pictures.
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 3:21)
Baptism is a figure — a picture. It saves in the sense that a wedding ring "makes" a marriage: it declares and pictures a union that is already real. The water cleanses the body, not the soul; only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse the soul.
One account settles the matter beyond dispute. When the apostle Peter preached to the household of Cornelius, the Holy Ghost fell upon them while he was still speaking — they were plainly saved and indwelt by the Spirit of God.
"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." (Acts 10:44)
Only then, seeing they were already saved, did Peter call for them to be baptized.
"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" (Acts 10:47)
They received the Holy Ghost first, and were baptized afterward. Baptism did not save them; it followed and confessed the salvation they already had. That is the unchanging pattern of the New Testament.
Some point to Peter's words at Pentecost — "be baptized... for the remission of sins" — as though baptism procured forgiveness. But the little word "for" often means "because of" or "with a view to," as when a man is rewarded for his work; and the whole of Scripture, including Peter's own later ministry to Cornelius, shows that forgiveness comes by faith, and baptism follows it. So too when Ananias told Saul to "wash away thy sins," the washing is a figure, and the saving act is named in the same breath — "calling on the name of the Lord."
"...arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16)
We must never read one verse in a way that contradicts a hundred others. Faith saves; baptism confesses. To make the picture into the Saviour is to rob the cross of its glory.
If baptism does not save, why be baptized at all? Because the Lord commanded it, and love obeys. It is the first step of following Christ, and a public confession of Him before a watching world.
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 10:32)
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was baptized, leaving us an example; and He commanded His people to baptize new disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28:19)
In the New Testament, baptism was never delayed. The eunuch was baptized the same hour; the three thousand, the same day. A believer who loves his Lord will not put off this glad act of obedience.
Baptism is also the doorway into the fellowship of the local church. Those who were baptized at Pentecost were "added" — joined to the company of believers, to walk together in worship, teaching, and service. So it remains: the believer is saved by faith, confesses Christ in baptism, and takes his place among the Lord's people in a local assembly.
Two questions remain for you. First, have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? For until you have, baptism can do nothing for you; it would be but a burial of a man not yet made alive. But if you have trusted Him, then a second question follows: have you obeyed Him in baptism — as a believer, by immersion, confessing Him before men? If not, why delay? It is the first and gladdest step of a life of following the Saviour who loved you and gave Himself for you.
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."Romans 6:4