Is water baptism essential for salvation

Baptism is a topic that has divided Christians for centuries. Does the Bible teach infant baptism or believer's baptism? Is Baptism a necessary part of salvation or a sign of salvation?

The ministry of Jesus began with Jesus going to meet John the Baptist in the wilderness and being baptized in the Jordan River. When Jesus came up out of the water the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God was seen descending like a dove and the Father spoke, saying, "You are my beloved, Son; with you, I am well pleased" (Mar 1:11). After His resurrection, Jesus sent His disciples out into the world and told them, "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" (Matt 28:19). When the church began in the book of Acts we read that three thousand people were baptized, all of whom had received the word preached by Peter (Acts 2:38-41).

The disagreement among Christians is whether or not baptism is an essential part of salvation, or is a person saved by grace alone through faith alone.

The Catholic Church:

• teaches that babies are born with original sin that is transmitted from generation to generation

• considers this to be the first holy sacrament

• believes original sin and placement within the faith of the church is completed

Some Protestant Churches:

• believe a person does not receive forgiveness outside baptismal

The Oneness Pentecostals:

• teach that a person has to be baptized in Jesus’ name alone in order to be saved

With all the variations in belief and practices on baptism, it is important for a believer to know what the Bible teaches.

First, baptism is an invention of God, not man. It is important for us to know that the idea and practice of baptism were created by God, not by a man-made religion or denomination. This gives God the final say in how it is to be performed and for what purpose. In the Old Testament, there were examples given of New Testament baptism. Peter says that the flood in Genesis was one example. "eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 3:20-21 ESV). The Apostle Paul says that the nation of Israel was baptized when they passed through the sea and were baptized into Moses (1 Cor 10:2). The New Testament opens with John the Baptist preaching repentance in the wilderness of Judea and baptizing men and women in the river Jordan while they confessed their sins (Matt 3). Jesus even came to John and was baptized in the Jordan at the beginning of His earthly ministry. Jesus had his disciples baptize those who came to them, and they baptized more disciples than John did which troubled the religious leaders (John 4:1-2).

Second, the New Testament church practiced baptism. After the resurrection, Jesus commissioned the disciples to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matt 28:19). Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and preached Jesus and the crowd that was "cut to the heart" received the word and were baptized, about three thousand souls (Acts 2). In Acts 10 Peter visits the household of Cornelius where a group of Gentiles was meeting and the Holy Spirit came upon the group just like it had the disciples and Peter commanded the group to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were in prison when the jailer came to them and asked, "Sirs what I must do to be saved" (Acts 16:30)? They responded, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (31). That same hour he was baptized along with his family (33).

Third, baptism in Scripture was always a conscious decision of the person being baptized. The crowd on the day of Pentecost asked, "What shall we do?" The Jailer asked Paul and Silas, "What I must do?" The Gentiles in the household of Cornelius were baptized only after Peter discussed it with them. Philip told an Ethiopian eunuch about the good news of Jesus and as they were traveling in a chariot together the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized" (Acts 8:36)? Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized the eunuch after saying, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." A conscious decision excludes the possibility of infant baptism. A newborn baby is unable to understand the concept of sin and salvation and the purpose of baptism.

Fourth, faith always precedes baptism. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has fully redeemed us to God the Father, and we are fully forgiven through the work of the cross. The faith that we have as Christians is not a mystical faith, it is that we trust in the finished work of the cross for our salvation. Paul put it this way, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph 2:8-9). In the book of Galatians, Paul clearly lays out the argument that we are not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 2:16). To demonstrate the connection, Paul gave the Old Testament example of Abraham and said, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" (Gal 3:6). Therefore, we can say that Baptism alone does not save, salvation is found when we come to faith in Christ and His finished work. This faith is to be followed by baptism, A person's baptism might be an hour after faith or within minutes of receiving faith making baptism a part of a person's salvation story but not THE way of salvation as if the water is the substance of our salvation.

The theology of baptismal regeneration does not work logically with the whole of Scripture. To believe that baptism is the way of salvation by default requires one to believe that the way of salvation has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. A message that the prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles preached against. "I did not come to destroy the law" (Matt 17). Paul demonstrated the connection of faith in the Old and the New Covenant with the example of Abraham. The logical inconsistencies of baptismal regeneration are many. For instance, the thief on the cross was saved by faith alone, without baptism. The Gentiles in the house of Cornelius received the Holy Spirit, a clear sign of salvation, and were baptized after Peter explained it to them (Acts 10). There are also examples of deathbed conversions where a person is unable to be baptized, and examples of people dying before having the opportunity to get to a place of water to be baptized. Since the God revealed in the Bible is a God of logic and reason and never changing, these are major issues for someone who holds to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Another issue is when the Apostle Paul was confronting division in the church at Corinth. He said, "I am glad that I baptized none of you." Then he made a distinction between the Gospel and baptism when he said, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ is emptied of its power" (1 Cor 1:17 ESV). The logical problem this poses for baptismal regeneration is obvious. If baptism were required for a person to receive Christ, these words would not have been written by Paul.

What then is the purpose of baptism?

The purpose of baptism is to demonstrate the death of our old self and our resurrection into a new life. Paul wrote, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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." (Rom 6:3-4). The only method which demonstrates death and resurrection is baptism by immersion. When John was baptizing, he chose the location because "water was plentiful there" (John 3:23). After Jesus was baptized, "He came up out of the water" (Mark 1:10). When Phillip baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch it is recorded, "they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him, and when they came up out of the water...." (Acts 8:38-39). The purpose of baptism is to identify us with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ!

What hinders you today from being baptized? If you believe with all your heart you may and you should.