Baptism
There are many questions about Christianity that have caused confusion for people over the years and baptism is one of the biggies. What is baptism? Why should we get baptized? Baptism is a public confession of an inward commitment.
When a person receives Jesus as their personal Savior, he/she should also allow Him to become their Lord (master) and identify with Him in everything. Peter proclaimed in Acts 2:38, that you need to repent and be baptized. Repentance means to change, to turn. (A baby does not recognize sin as such and therefore cannot change or turn from sin. As a result, we do not perform infant baptisms. Instead, we dedicate babies to the Lord.)
When we ask Jesus to become our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and takes up physical residence within our lives. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to change or turn from sin (John 14:16-17, 16:7-14). After this conversion, baptism is one of those identification processes that we should partake of. Jesus is our ultimate example (John 13:13-17) and was baptized Himself by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34).
At the great commission found in Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples to go into all the world, teaching and baptizing. In the book of Acts, Peter tells the new Jewish converts to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). Philip baptized new believers (Acts 8:12). Saul after his miraculous conversion was baptized (Acts 9:18). Over and over again in the Scriptures, we see baptisms being performed. It was a part of the early church and should be a part of our church lives as well.
When a person receives Jesus as their personal Savior, he/she should also allow Him to become their Lord (master) and identify with Him in everything. Peter proclaimed in Acts 2:38, that you need to repent and be baptized. Repentance means to change, to turn. (A baby does not recognize sin as such and therefore cannot change or turn from sin. As a result, we do not perform infant baptisms. Instead, we dedicate babies to the Lord.)
When we ask Jesus to become our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and takes up physical residence within our lives. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to change or turn from sin (John 14:16-17, 16:7-14). After this conversion, baptism is one of those identification processes that we should partake of. Jesus is our ultimate example (John 13:13-17) and was baptized Himself by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34).
At the great commission found in Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples to go into all the world, teaching and baptizing. In the book of Acts, Peter tells the new Jewish converts to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). Philip baptized new believers (Acts 8:12). Saul after his miraculous conversion was baptized (Acts 9:18). Over and over again in the Scriptures, we see baptisms being performed. It was a part of the early church and should be a part of our church lives as well.