"NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION - WATER BAPTISM"

Good Evening to All!

Contrary to "popular belief", water baptism is a very important part of Salvation. I have got scripture upon scripture to prove this statement. Not only that, it is a command of God that we be baptized. He doesn't care if we are baptized in a lake, river, baptistery or even a bath tub, as long as we completely go under water. After all, have you ever heard of getting clean by sprinkling water on yourself? If we expect to be cleansed of our sins we need to completely cover ourselves with water.

If God thought it was important for Jesus to be baptized, what gives us the right to think that it isn't necessary anymore? Yes, that is exactly what a lot of people think. I have had people (even people who say they are devout Christians tell me this. They claim it is just "symbolism". Well, yes, it is symbolic, it is symbolic of our love for Christ. That we want to be part of His family, to be buried with Him, and resurrected with Him. We are wanting Him to "wash our sins away" so that we can start our "new life" with Him being the center of it. There are a lot of "type and shadows or symbolism in the Bible, but that doesn't make it any less important that we are to follow God's Word and obey it if we want to spend our eternity with Him.

Water baptism. Water baptism is part of salvation. (1 Peter 3:21). It expresses faith in God by obedience to His Word. He that believeth and be baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16) 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).

The scriptural mode of baptism is immersion in water, and only this method retains the biblical symbolism of baptism as a burial. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. (Matthew 3:16) (36)And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? (37)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. (38) And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. (39) And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:36-39) Faith in Christ and repentance from sin are necessary to it's validity; thus infant baptism is not proper.

(6) And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. (7) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (9) And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (10) And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (11) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (Matthew 3:6-11) Acts 2:38 I have already quoted. 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 8:37).

The Biblical significance of water baptism is as follows: (1) God remits sins at water baptism (Acts 2:38; 22:16). God erases the record of sin and cancels its penalty. He washes away sins, burying them forever. (2) Baptism is part of the new birth (John 3:5; Titus 2:5). (3) Baptism identifies a person with Jesus' burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). It indicates he died to sin by repentance and is burying his past sins, the dominion of sin, and the sinful lifestyle. (4) Water baptism is part of the one baptism of water and Spirit that places believers into Christ (3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) 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 6:3-4) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27 and One Lord, one faith, one baptism, (Ephesians 4:5).

It identifies them personally them personally with Jesus and is part of the entrance into His family. (5) Baptism is part of spiritual circumcision (Colossians 2:11-13). The Bible teaches that baptism should be administered in the name of Jesus Christ. This means invoking the name of Jesus orally (Acts 22:16; James 2:7) and rebaptizing those who have been baptized some other way (Acts 19:1-5). The name of Jesus in the baptismal formula expresses faith in His true identity, atoning work, and saving power and authority. The name of Jesus is the only saving name, the name by which to receive remission of sins, the highest name and the name in which Christians are to say and do all things (Acts 4:12; 10:43; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 3:17). Thus using Jesus' name is the proper way to fulfill all the purposes for baptism.

The Bible records five historical accounts of baptism in the New Testament church that describe a name or formula. In each case, the name is Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; and 22:16). The Epistles also allude to the Jesus Name formula (Romans 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12). Even Matthew 28:19 refers to this formula, for it describes a singular name that represents all the redemptive manifestations of the Godhead, and that name is Jesus (Zechariah 14:8; Matthew 1:21; John 5:43; 14:26; Revelations 22:3-4). Moreover, Jesus is the name described in the other Great Commission accounts (Mark 16:17; Luke 24:47).

I know I have been taking a chance doing this series. I understand that we are not all of the same faith and I am not trying to convert anyone. What I am doing is giving you scriptures to check into so that when I do talk about Jesus' Name Baptism, or the importance of certain symbolic gestures, you will know where I get my information from. This is not meant to be a "teaching blog" for I am not qualified to teach. All that I know is what God puts on my heart and what He has written in His Word. I hope you will take this as "food for thought". If it helps to get you motivated into "digging" more into God's Word whether you agree with what I say, or not, it will be worth it. Of course when I say "whether you believe what I say", I am talking about my personal dialog, not the scriptures, for those you MUST believe.

Tomorrow will be lighter reading, as it is Bible Challenge night. I do hope that you will take the time to look up some of these scriptures above. A lot of them I did not type out because this post was already so long. I hope that I succeeded in peaking your interest into the Word of God, and did not lose you because of its length. If I could have figured out a good stopping point before it got lengthy, I would have broken this post down into two separate posts.

As I have said many times, I write like I talk, and if you believe what my hubby says, I NEVER know when to quit! LOL!

Good Night to All and May God Bless!