“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”
(Romans 6:4).
Every Christian has a testimony of God’s grace at work in his or
her life. That testimony may vary on many points regarding the
circumstances of the salvation experience, but the common theme
for every witness is “Jesus Christ died for me.” Both the Lord’s
Supper and baptism remind us of the message of the gospel –
that by Christ’s death, He saves us from sin and binds our hearts
together as one. Therefore, we understand baptism to be a visual
testimony of one’s experience with Christ.
“...united with Him in the likeness of His death…”
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).
As a Baptist church, one of our biblical distinctives is the position
we take on believer’s baptism. In keeping with our commitment
to the Scriptures, we believe the Bible teaches that we are to
baptize by immersion those who put their trust in Christ. In other
words, baptism is for those who are believers already (Acts 2:41,
8:12, Matthew 28:19-20). The water of baptism has nothing to do
with cleansing or the washing away of our sin. Only the blood of
Christ can do that (Ephesians 2:13, Hebrews 9:14, I Peter 1:18-19).
Instead, the water of baptism represents death and the grave, just
as in many places in Scripture water portrays God’s judgment in
death, such as the condemnation of the world of Noah through the
flood, or the drowning of the Egyptian army in their pursuit of the
Israelites. In baptism, the picture painted by the water in the visible
outward symbol is that of a “water grave” into which the believer is
immersed, lowered as into the tomb. As the believer is then raised
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from the water, the image of resurrection to new life is portrayed
in the minds of those who witness this act of faithfulness to the
command of Christ.
Colossians 2:12 reflects this identification with Christ as: “…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”.
The act of baptism saves no one from sin. Our salvation depends
entirely upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ. We can add nothing
to that through baptism or any other deed we perform ourselves
(Ephesians 2:8-9). It all depends on the perfect sufficiency of the
redeeming grace of Christ who died to pay the penalty for our sin,
once for all.
Other Christian churches equally committed to the Scriptures
have differing perspectives on both the mode and meaning of
baptism. However, we see that the “plain sense” approach to the
New Testament teaching and narrative on this subject lead us to
conclude that baptism is for those who have already been born
of the Spirit to eternal life in Jesus’ name. Many see it as a sign of
the covenant promise of God to be administered prior to one’s
salvation, but in reading the New Testament we do not find any
evidence that this was the practice of the early church, or that this
is supported by the teaching of the epistles to the churches.
Rather than practice baptism as a covenant promise as do many
Christian churches, we find that the clearest, most direct evidence
in the New Testament’s teaching and in the early church’s practice
indicates people were baptized after their conversion and not
before. This follows consistently with the meaning of baptism as a
symbolic expression of the believer’s identification—first with the
sacrificial death of Christ, and then with His resurrection life.
In practicing baptism by immersion, the mode itself is significant
in two ways. First, the literal translation of the Greek word for the
verb “to baptize” is “to dip, to immerse”. The word was used when
the writer would speak of dyeing cloth, as the fabric was “dipped”
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into the dye; or of tempering a piece of metal, heating it, shaping
it, then “immersing” it into water. Therefore, in order to follow the
teaching of the Scriptures and to remain as faithful to the text as
possible, we believe that we continue the biblical practice of baptism
when we immerse the believer in water. This is the mode of baptism
that we see Jesus Himself experiencing (Matthew 3:13-16, Mark 1:9-10),
though Jesus’ baptism was certainly not because of any sin, but as
He says, “to fulfill all righteousness.”
Second, immersion most accurately portrays in visible form the
verbal testimony given by the believer. When the Scriptures read,
“buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might
walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), they speak of the identification
of the believer with
“...walk in newness of life” in Christ
Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. The baptismal practice
of lowering and raising the person down into and up out of the
water gives strong visual impact to the testimony.
The command of Christ to His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 in what
is known as the Great Commission instructs them to make disciples,
and then to do two things with the new followers of Christ – teach
them His commandments and baptize them in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church, then, has a responsibility
to be faithful to this commission in every way. First, we take the
mandate to make disciples very seriously. Secondly, we follow
through with each new believer by teaching and training them in
what it means to walk with Christ and grow to maturity in Him.
Thirdly, we ask those who come to faith in Christ and commit to
be His disciples to be baptized as He commanded. Therefore, each
person desiring membership in the body of Christ here at Christ
Baptist Church must be baptized by immersion after becoming a
believer in order to practice what we believe is the New Testament
model for those who belong to the Savior.