By Bill Starr (Elder)
What do we believe?
Baptism is immersion into water following a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ done in response to the grace of God.
Why do we believe this?
Matthew 28:19-20 – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Why does it matter?
Baptism is a requirement for church membership at Living Hope. The reason for this is that the New Testament makes baptism a normative part of becoming a Christian. Notice that Jesus said “make disciples, baptizing them”. We see the early church doing this in Acts 2:41 where following Peter’s first sermon it says “those who received his word were baptized”. In Romans 6:1-3, Paul is writing to the church in Rome that he has never visited and he assumes that all of the Christians have been baptized –“…do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” Paul believes that all of the believers in Rome know what baptism is and have been baptized so that he is able to appeal to the meaning of that baptism as a basis of his instruction to Christians.
We believe the Bible clearly teaches that the mode of baptism is immersion. The Greek word translated “baptize” means to dip, plunge, or immerse. This is the common understanding of the word in Greek literature inside and outside the Bible. We can also see that immersion makes the most sense when we look at the account of Jesus’ baptism by John (Mark 1:5) and the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip (Acts8:38-39). Immersion also gives the clearest picture of baptism – a visual representation of our being buried in Christ and raised to new life. Though baptism does not have any salvific merit, it does portray visibly what has already transpired internally during our conversion.
Look at what Jesus says – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. Jesus has the absolute right and the power to do as he pleases in heaven and earth. No power on earth can frustrate the will of Jesus when he exerts his power to achieve it.
This is how we can confidently go forth and make disciples. We are to do this in all nations and into all the people groups because the authority of Christ extends over the whole earth. To be a disciple is to die to self and follow Christ in newness of life. Baptism is the symbolic act of that conversion experience where I cross over from being dead to being alive, from enemy of God to child of God, from acting as my own king to serving the one true King, from running and hiding from my Creator to returning to the One who made me. Baptism signifies in an outward way what it means to be a disciple – death to self- reliance and a new life of faith following Jesus.
If you are a follower of Jesus and you have not been baptized, what is keeping you from taking this step to publically identify with Him?