What We Believe About Water baptism
When someone decides to "get right with God", part of the acknowledgement and declaration of accepting Jesus as his/her savior and Lord is being baptized. Baptism has been part of the church since its inception on the day of Pentecost. It is an exciting time, but there are many questions regarding baptism that should be clarified. Many conflicting ideas regarding this topic have developed over the centuries and have become a major dividing point between denominations.
First off, we want to state that we do not have the definitive answers on any doctrine. However, we do have some conclusions from studying the Bible on this topic of baptism. This doctrinal statement is what we at Life Bridge believe God teaches regarding baptism. In this statement we will attempt to answer the following questions:
Let's take a look at each of these questions.
What is baptism?
Water baptism is the response by faith to the grace of God by someone who has accepted the death of His son Jesus Christ as the atonement for their sins. Submitting to baptism declares to God and the world that we have put to death our old sinful nature and have been resurrected to a new life in Christ Jesus. It is through Christian baptism by the power of Holy Spirit that we are identified with Christ as a disciple of His and have assurance of the forgiveness of our sin.
Two ordinances were given by Jesus Christ to His church. Baptism is one and Communion or the Lord‘s Supper is the other. Baptism is commanded by Christ as one of the steps in someone becoming a disciple of His.
Matt 28:18-20
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The process of baptism is very simple, but the results are very profound. Something happens during baptism that remains a mystery; it is much like what happens during a wedding ceremony as two people become one. No one sees it happen, and no one can really explain how it happens. We just believe it does through faith. Something very spiritual and mysterious happens to a person during a believer‘s baptism as well, and it cannot be fully explained. But, through faith we believe what God‘s Word says regarding this holy act.
Author and Pastor, Max Lucado, puts it like this: “The human mind explaining baptism is like a harmonica interpreting Beethoven: the music is too majestic for the instrument. No scholar or saint can fully appreciate what this moment means in heaven. Any words on baptism, including these, must be seen as human efforts to understand a holy and mysterious event. Our danger is to swing to one of two extremes: we make baptism either too important or too unimportant. Either we deify it or we trivialize it. One can see baptism as the essence of the gospel or as irrelevant to the gospel. Both sides are equally perilous. One person says, “I am saved because I was baptized.” The other says, “I am saved so I don’t need to be baptized.” The challenge is to let the pendulum stop somewhere between the two viewpoints. This is done by placing it where it should be: at the foot of the cross. Baptism is like a precious jewel-set apart by itself, it is nice and appealing but has nothing within it to compel. But place baptism against the backdrop of our sin and turn on the light of the cross, and the jewel explodes with significance. Baptism at once reveals the beauty of the cross and the darkness of sin. As a stone has many facets, baptism has many sides: cleansing, burial, resurrection, the death of the old, and the birth of the new. Just as the stone has no light within it, baptism has no inherent power. But just as the stone refracts the light into many colors, so baptism reveals the many facets of God’s grace.”
What is the process of baptism?
The physical process of baptism begins with a confession of your faith in Jesus Christ. Next, you stand, sit, or kneel in some water. Another Christian then lowers you completely under the water while stating that you are being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then you are brought back up out of the water. You could also literally call this "immersion".
Because some faiths sprinkle water on people instead of immersing them, the obvious question is whether this is OK. Since the only consistent answers should come from the Bible, we recommend using it to find your answers. It is interesting that nowhere in the Bible does anything but "immersion" take place. Baptism, in the New Testament was always accomplished by completely submersing someone in water.
This makes sense if you realize that "baptize" is a transliteration of the original Greek word 
(baptizo). In turn, baptizo comes from the root word 
(bapto), a term used in the first century for immersing a garment first into bleach and then into dye, both cleansing and changing the color of the cloth. (Note its similarity to baptism's cleansing of sin and becoming a new person through Christ.) Stated another way, when you process cloth to change its color, you are said to "baptize" it. If sprinkling of any kind was to be practiced, it would seem that a different Greek word would have been used, but it was not.
At Life Bridge Christian Church, unless there is absolutely no means of immersion available, we will always baptize by immersion.
What does the Bible say about baptism?
We realize that there are differing opinions within Christianity as to the necessity as well as the role of baptism. Because of that, we stress once again that the Bible should be the only basis for any doctrine of the church. On the issue of baptism, we feel it is best to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to the reader through the Word of God. We have found that most people that have no preconceived ideas regarding baptism will see that the Bible is pretty clear on the necessity of baptism in the process of being born again. Please read these verses with an open heart and let the Holy Spirit speak to you.
Acts 2:38–41 (NLT)
38 Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation!"41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
These verses record Peter, preaching the first message of salvation on the day of Pentecost. He is responding to the Jews who have been convicted of their sin after hearing his message. After being convicted they immediately wanted to know how they could be forgiven and be made right with God. In his response, Peter clearly ties repentance and baptism together as the means of forgiveness of their sin and for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
One of the clearest passages that ties baptism to the salvation process is Acts 22:16. In this verse the apostle Paul is re-telling what Ananias said to him in response to God‘s command to ―go to Damascus and you will be told everything you are to do‖. This is what Paul was told to do by Ananias:
“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name”. 'NIV
As we can clearly see here, baptism was not merely an optional act, but rather a part of the process of ―calling on His name‖. In his sermon on the day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2:21, Peter referred to a prophecy from the book of Joel which said:
“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” NIV
Romans 6:1 – 7 (NLT)
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.
This word picture that Paul paints shows us that the mode of baptism (immersion) dramatizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In the same way that He went through these things, our old nature is to "die" and we are to be "buried with Him through baptism into death" and raised to "walk in newness of life" (live like Jesus). So we do not just try to be a better person, we bury the "old person" in the water and become a "new person" through our acceptance of Christ. It is like a new birth and a new beginning for us. It is the start of a new life!
Galatians 3:26 – 27 (NLT)
26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.
Baptism is where we receive a new identity in Christ! Again we see faith and baptism tied together.
As you can see, these passages clearly indicate the importance of baptism in the transformation process of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Baptism is not optional, but rather a requirement in being reborn as a new person in Christ.
Because there is so much different teaching on this topic, one of the major questions people have regarding baptism is:
Are we saved by baptism or by faith?
It appears pretty apparent from scripture that we are not to choose between faith or baptism as a means of salvation, but rather they are both important in being born again.
People are saved (forgiven of their sin) and enter into a relationship with God by believing that Jesus is the Christ (the Savior), that His death was the atonement for their sin, and then repenting of their sin (turning away from sin and drawing closer to God) and putting their faith for salvation in Him alone. Once a person admits his sin and turns to Christ for salvation, some step must be taken to proclaim to heaven and earth that he/she is a follower of Christ. Baptism is that declaration, and is the initial and immediate step of obedience by one who has declared his faith to others. Let‘s look at some of the key verses of Scripture that deals with salvation.
Eph 2:8-9 NIV
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
This verse, when taken by itself, leads many to believe that salvation is strictly by faith and baptism plays no part in it. However, we must look at all of Scripture to understand all that God says regarding any specific doctrine. So let‘s look at another verse that describes what God says regarding His plan for salvation.
Mark 16:16
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
As clear as this verse is in emphasizing the necessity of baptism, many try to claim that the latter part of this verse proves that baptism is not required. There is a well stated rule in biblical interpretation that states:
"there may always be more conditions for salvation than are found in any one Bible verse, but there can never be less".
Let‘s look at another verse which shows the importance of baptism.
1 Peter 3:21 (NLT)
And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In this verse Peter makes it clear that baptism in water is included in the salvation process. Baptism is not an outward cleaning, but saves us through an inward cleaning. It is an appeal to God for a good conscience and asks God to take away the guilt of our past sin. Baptism is a physical act that allows us to realize the cleansing that takes place as we confess our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Instead of viewing baptism as an obligation which is placed on us to be saved, we should rather view it as a unique privilege granted to us by God through which we can declare our faith to Him and be united to Christ.
So important was baptism in the 1st century church, that as far as we know, every single convert in the New Testament was baptized immediately upon accepting the gospel message. The question that should be asked is: why would anyone who claims to have accepted the death and resurrection
of Jesus as atonement for their sin, not want to immediately declare their new birth through baptism?
Let us be clear, being dunked in water does not save anyone; however, when combined with faith in Jesus Christ and an attitude of full surrender to Him as Lord, baptism unites us with Christ in a way that only baptism can.
As we see throughout the New Testament, salvation and baptism are always tied together. So let‘s get back to the question: "Are we saved by faith or are we saved through baptism?" The Bible seems to indicate that salvation is a process that begins with faith, which leads to repentance and is consummated through baptism.
Because of the clear commands in Scripture to be baptized, we believe that someone who comes to faith in Christ should be baptized as soon as arrangements can be made. If you‘ve been around churches at all, you have most likely run into the following philosophies:
- "Baptism is just an outward sign of an inward grace, so it can be done any time in the future that is convenient."
- "You need to 'grow in Christ‘ (become good enough) before you are ready to be baptized."
- “To join our church, you have to be baptized into our church."
As we have seen, the Bible always places believing in Christ for salvation, repentance and baptism together. They are not separated. The immediate response of baptism by the people in the book of Acts, who believed the gospel message, seems to indicate that the necessity to be baptized was a significant part of that message. Consider these references:
Acts 2:41 - 3,000 people were baptized after believing on the first day of the Christian church. Verses 38 and 39 make it clear that this is the way that it will always be done. That is, all people who accept Christ as their savior will come to Him in this way.
Acts 8:26-39 – In this section of scripture we see Philip being sent by the Spirit to the road to Gaza. Here, Philip explains the gospel to an Ethiopian who the Holy Spirit led him to. Philip and the Ethiopian man did not think baptism could wait until later. You will also notice he did not take just a handful of water and "sprinkle" the eunuch, but rather "went down into the water". The Bible states that all Philip did was "preach Jesus to him" (verse 35) and then the eunuch said that he wanted to be baptized (verse 36). This means that the preaching of Jesus includes preaching the need to be baptized.
Acts 22:16 - After an encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road, Saul (later renamed Paul) decided to accept Jesus—and was baptized.
Acts 10:47-48 - Cornelius and those with him were commanded to be baptized, becoming the first non-Jewish converts to Christianity.
Acts 16:13-15 - Lydia and her household "believed" and were baptized.
Acts 16:16-34 - The Philippian jailer "believed" with his household and they were baptized—and this was in the middle of the night!
The Bible is clear. Faith and baptism are inseparable. Thus, you may ask "when is the right time to be baptized"? The answer is, when you believe. If you "believed" some time back and were not baptized, then this should become a priority for you to fulfill what God says regarding your relationship with Him.
There is another question that is frequently asked:
Do we believe that someone who is not baptized could go to Heaven?
We have found that this question is usually asked by people who themselves have been baptized, but have family members or others they know who have not been baptized and are concerned about their relationship to God. Or, it is asked by someone who knows what the Bible says but has not been baptized due to pride or fear.
The main section of scripture that is used to defend the argument of baptism being optional is the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). The problem with that argument is that Jesus had not yet died or resurrected. This was still the Old Testament and Jesus never commanded baptism until after His resurrection, hence, this is not a valid reason to say that God does not require baptism.
However, to answer the question, yes we do believe it is possible for someone to go to Heaven without being baptized. However, we do not see this as the norm or what is clearly laid out for us in the Bible. Only because of God‘s grace and mercy, and because only He can know a person‘s heart, we believe that if there are circumstances that prevent someone from being baptized immediately or maybe they have never been taught about baptism, they could be saved even though they were not baptized. It is not our position to determine anyone‘s status with God; all we can do is teach them what we believe the Bible clearly says.
The danger here could be to ignore baptism because there is a possibility that God will ―let me in‖ whether or not I have obeyed His command and followed His clear instruction regarding baptism. Our warning is, do not test God! If we are wrong in this, the worst thing would be someone was baptized, which is clearly commanded by our Lord anyway. But if those who say that baptism is optional are wrong, the consequences are eternal!
We believe that once someone who has given his/her life to Christ is informed about what the Bible says regarding baptism, he/she will want to be baptized as soon as possible. We would be very skeptical about someone‘s faith if they study the Scriptures on baptism and still refuse to be baptized. However, regardless of what we see as being a very clear necessity in the life of a believer, the decision to be baptized is something that each individual must deal with on his/her own.
Why don’t you baptize infants?
Due to the culture that we are part of in the Green Bay area, which has a religious history that has been influenced heavily by Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions, we are asked this frequently.
More specifically, some may ask whether infants or young children should be baptized. This question has been a source of division in the church for hundreds of years, and both sides of the argument use scripture to defend their position. The real issue that needs to be considered is why would an infant need to be baptized in the first place?
As we have stated, throughout the New Testament, baptism is considered to be a part of the salvation process; because of that, the question that needs to be answered is "Does God apply special grace to those who are incapable of making a decision regarding repentance and being baptized". We believe the answer to this question is yes. Even the Roman Catholic Church has acknowledged recently that it seems possible that God does extend grace to infants and children, and children who die before being baptized will most likely be saved.
In the Bible we don‘t see any specific instances where children were baptized. We believe that is because until a certain point of maturity, they are unable to truly understand the concept of separation from God because of their sin. We wait until someone is at the age when acceptance of Christ is possible.
We also realize that people mature at a different rates and that many children are able to comprehend the significance of their need for salvation and baptism much earlier than others. Also, only God knows when that actually takes place and will convict their heart when they are ready. We acknowledge also that there are some adults who are mentally incapable of understanding their position with God and believe that He will show special grace on them as well.
We do, however, believe that when an infant comes into a believing family, it is a proper thing to dedicate that life to the Lord. During a dedication, the parents and church make a covenant to raise that child in the ways of the Lord and teach that child what they need to know to lead them into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The dedication of a child can be done during any corporate gathering of the fellowship.
If you were baptized as an infant, you may be questioning whether you should be baptized as an adult. First, we want you to know that the intention of your parent(s) was for you to be in a right relationship with God. They did what they were taught was correct, and it was a significant act of faith on their part. We believe that your baptism (christening) as an infant was a dedication of you to the Lord and was a significant step in your parents‘ commitment to raise you into faith in Christ. However, as you have seen what the Scripture says regarding baptism, it is pretty clear that faith and repentance should precede baptism. This is only a decision you can make. Please spend time praying, searching the Scriptures, and asking God what you should do. We know He will reveal the truth to you regarding the next step you need to take in your journey with Him. Please make this issue a priority in your prayer time.
Prerequisites to Baptism
The only things that we believe the Bible says are prerequisites to baptism are:
- Faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and a clear understanding of the cost of following Jesus.
- True repentance of sin.
- Confession of faith.
To help you understand the significance of this covenant you will be entering into and what each of the above prerequisites mean, we suggest that you go through a short study entitled "This Is Eternal Life" before making the decision of giving your life to Christ and demonstrating your commitment through baptism.
A baptism can be arranged just about any time that is convenient for you: either during worship assembly on Sunday morning or any other time during the week. Baptisms may be performed by a pastor, an elder or someone that you prefer to do the baptism. It is always special when someone has the person who led him/her to Christ or their Life Group leader do the baptism. The only prerequisite is that the one performing the baptism be themselves a baptized believer in Jesus Christ.
What Now?
The only question left to ask is, "What will I do now?" The question of why you should be baptized has hopefully been answered, but you must now ask yourself "Why wouldn‘t I be baptized?" It is clear that it is something God expects everyone to do who desires to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you were sprinkled as an infant, or maybe you accepted Christ as your savior and have not yet been baptized because you were told it wasn‘t necessary for salvation. Whatever place you find yourself, be assured that baptism is a step you should take to be in a right relationship with God.
If you have more questions or wish to be baptized, please talk to an elder, your Life Group leader, or the pastor. We will make arrangements for your baptism as soon as possible.
Contact the church office at (920) 494-4042, for more information or to make baptism arrangements.
Copyright 2011 Life Bridge Christian Church, 2496 Glendale Ave, Green Bay WI 54313, 920 494-4042