The Meaning of Baptism

There are many beliefs on baptism.  Most tend to be traditionally biased, while few remain unbiased.  Most people get baptised because they feel that they're obligated due to the Church's faith — to become accepted by their pastors and/or congregation because of baptism's supposed traditional necessity.  Baptism is an acceptance and necessity, but not into the will of man.  Baptism is many things, which I will be covering.  If you get baptised merely out of traditional obligation, what good does that do?  There is no meaning to it in your heart if you do it just because you feel obligated and pressured to do it.  The purpose of baptism is to publicly acknowledge to all people and to God that you are committing your life to Christ, and because of this your sins are justified, and I will explain all that in just a moment.  If you do it out of obligation, you first of all don't have a clear understanding of what baptism is (which is the purpose of this blog entry), and it secondly does not mean anything to you and the baptism therefore becomes ineffective, for it was not you who chose to become baptised.  Christian teachers who teach baptism often teach what they want to believe about it, at least from my experience.  Or they simply don't fully understand its meaning.  Here, however, I will strictly be using Scripture, which is indubitably unbiased and truthful.

Don't think of baptism as a tradition because it's not a tradition; it is a holy acceptance into the will of God.  God has no traditions.  Man, not God, mandates traditionalism.  God simply has commands that we all must strive to fulfil.  As Jesus said to the Pharisees about their traditionalism, "But you say, 'If a man tells his father or mother:  Whatever benefit you might have received from me is Corban' " (that is, a gift committed to the temple), "you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.  You revoke God's Word by your tradition that you have handed down.  And you do many other similar things" (Mark 7:11-13).  Jesus is speaking against the rabbis' teachings that have been against God's Word.  This custom of Corban that the rabbis initiated allowed a person to devote all of his material goods to God.  The rabbis allowed this Corban tradition to excuse sons from meeting the material needs of their aging parents, which is unbiblical.  When Jesus says that they do "many other similar things," He was emphasising that the Corban practise was representative of their other hypocritical Pharisaic practises.  Jesus described this as hypocrisy when He said, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:  These people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men" (Mark 7:6-7).  In the case of baptism, don't get baptised just because man says it's necessary for your faith in the Church.  By doing so you worship Him in vain, not really getting baptised through truthfulness — you don't really mean it.  One must not feel vain or shame when doing so either.  To reiterate, baptism is the public testimony and confession of your inward, private, spiritual identification and commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ.  Rather, get baptised when you know you're ready to fully commit yourself to Christ in your renewed sanctification.

Now, the real question is:  What is baptism?  To put it simply, baptism is the purification — the cleansing — of your sins, as well as a further commitment to God, as I've said abundantly already.  But what does that mean?  You may be wondering, "How can I be purified from sin when I still have the tendency to commit sin, and haven't I always been committed to God?"  If you've gotten this far to become baptised, then yes, you have always been committed to God.  However, getting baptised is the public acknowledgement of it — letting everybody know that you are going to completely submit your life to the lifestyle of Christ.  Baptism is telling God that by the coming of the Messiah, every sin that you have committed — from the least to the greatest of them — will be forgiven.  Baptism represents that you believe with all your heart, mind, and soul that your sins will be forgiven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at His return — all past, present, and future sins.  Here is the ultimatum of baptism:

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.  For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin's claims (Romans 6:3-7).

When you're baptised, your old self — all your sinful lusts and other desires — were crucified.  You nailed your flesh — your old life — on the cross so that you may be able to walk in a new life (verse 6).  And by doing so you will be resurrected when the Messiah comes just as He was resurrected when His flesh was nailed on the cross (verse 5).  Your old life having been crucified, sin is no longer able to control you as it used to.  When you die, your sins will be justified (verse 7).

What this is saying is that baptism is the promise of your resurrection with Christ.  Colossians 2:12, 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.  As always, everything is based on your faith.  If you faithfully believe this will happen, then the promise will happen through baptism.  You cannot heartlessly get baptised.  Baptism is the repentance of your past and future sins.  But just because your future sins will be justified and forgiven does not mean you can take advantage of that and that you can do whatever you want and get away with it, otherwise I have no doubt that your judgement will be more stringent than originally planned.  This isn't just any kind of repentance.  This sort of repentance is the only way to receive the Holy Spirit.  Jesus will help you turn from your sins and help decrease the likelihood of the same, and newly, committed sins.  Philippians 2:13, ...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Consider this:  When you're baptised, your body is now dead.  Galatians 2:19-20, For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.  Pre-baptism is the life of the flesh.  Post-baptism is the life of the Holy Spirit.  You will certainly know the difference when you experience the full effect of baptism.  When Paul says that he has been crucified with Christ, this goes hand-in-hand with Romans 6:8 (that our old selves are crucified with Christ).  Your old self — your flesh — is dead.  You now live and walk in the Spirit.  However, keep in mind that it wasn't you who did this.  God does it to us.  It is God who crucifies our old self and who gives us the Holy Spirit, God and Jesus now fully in us.  This is why we are baptised in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for we receive them all simultaneously (Matthew 28:19).  When you're baptised, you are dead to the Law, which is the law that Moses had established to the Israelites.  That is no longer an obligation, and it hasn't been since Jesus' crucifixion.  When you're baptised, God confirms your own confirmation of Christ's crucifixion, and because of this you don't have to merit your salvation or sanctification.  It is a true gift from God.  You are now dead to the self and are alive to Christ.  You are literally a new person because you are now in Christ.  Second Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  Baptism is acknowledging our inability to save and sanctify ourselves through our own works — that only Christ can do so (Titus 3:5).

Keep in mind that just because you were baptised, it doesn't mean that it's impossible for you to commit a sin and that you can't be guilty of that sin.  Romans 6:11-13, Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires.  Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning.  Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given a new life.  And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.  In other words:  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Peter 3:21).  So the desires of your flesh are not gone, but your conscience towards God (being steadfast from committing sins) is now much more active.  If you say you have no sin or that it's impossible for you to sin now, then God and the truth are not in you (I John 1:8).  Therefore, the baptism would be meaningless.

If you want to have the full and complete experience with Christ, you have to deny your flesh — your way of life.  Luke 9:23, Then He said to them all, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me."  In order to follow Him completely, you must deny all the desires you want because face it, you don't really need them, do you?  That's pretty much what Ecclesiastes illustrates.  After all, it is God who gives us the desires of our hearts if we take delight in Him (Psalm 37:4).  To pick up your cross daily you have to constantly deny your lusts and materialistic desires and keep pounding the flesh with God's Word and His will.  This is very hard to do; no one can do it perfectly.  But it is your perseverance that God delights in.  Matthew 10:22, "...but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."  (Other translations utilise the phrase, "stand firm in the faith.")  Denying your self — your old way of life — is what baptism is all about.  You deny and destroy your old self, walking in the new self with Christ, picking up your cross daily.  First John 2:6, ...the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.  To go with Jesus — to be with Him — you have to walk just as He walked, and this includes baptism, for Jesus was also baptised:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him.  But John tried to stop Him, saying, "I need to be baptised by You, and yet You come to me?"  Jesus answered him, "Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfil all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him to be baptised.  After Jesus was baptised, He went up immediately from the water.  The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him.  And there came a voice from heaven:  This is My beloved Son.  I take delight in Him (Matthew 3:13-17)!

Because of Jesus' personal baptism, we can receive the Holy Spirit in much of a similar way that Jesus made it possible for us through His baptism, and God delights in us doing so.  That's why Jesus allowed John to baptise Him:  to illustrate to us how we receive the Holy Spirit through Him and that it pleases God.  Again, baptism is not a traditional necessity.  It is, however, a spiritual necessity — it is a command from God Himself.  John 3:3-7:  Jesus replied, "I assure you:  Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him.  "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?"  Jesus answered, "I assure you:  Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again."

When Jesus says "born of water and the Spirit," He is talking about baptism, for the submersion of the water with your willing commitment to Jesus Christ is the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  It's not the submersion of the water that gives you the Holy Spirit or your own work; it is your sincere, personal choice of making the decision to commit yourself to Christ that enables God to gift you with the Holy Spirit.

And now I urge you all with Acts 22:16, " 'And now why do you wait?  Rise and be baptised and wash away your sins, calling on His name.' "