What is Baptism?
Water baptism can be more fully appreciated when a believer understands its significance. Scripture references are included in this article to facilitate a more organized study. Please make use of these references as you read through this study. The more understanding you have, the more you cherish this act before God and man.

There are churches who misuse this ceremony from God by reducing it to an act belonging to an individual church or denomination. The effect of this misuse is to take a sacred ceremony belonging to God and diminishing it to the possession and regulation of man for determining membership. Water baptism is a sacred event between believers in Jesus and their Savior. It is a testimony of their faith in the righteousness of Jesus as their Savior, not their trust in man to save them. When they leave the waters of baptism, they are taking a work of God with them for the rest of their days on earth, no matter where they attend church.

Water baptism is a visible display of submission to God as a believer obeys His command to be baptized. It is also a testimony that one is confessing faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Pictures of Baptism
Many things in the Old Testament were given by God as a shadow of things to come (Hebrews 10:1). Israel was saved from death in Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb. Upon leaving Egypt, they traveled through the Red Sea where their enemies were destroyed.

This is a picture of a believer's salvation from the world through the blood of Jesus (1 Cor 5:7). When one is saved through Jesus' blood, baptism in water washes away the enemies of one's old lifestyle (1 Cor 10:1-2). This is an outward display of the spiritual path of salvation through the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ. In order to escape the enemies of the old lifestyle, believers need to be baptized into Jesus Christ as Israel was baptized into Moses.

Slaves are under the authority of their master until their master's death. Pharoah's authority over Israel ended with his death in the Red Sea. This brought Israel under the authority and protection of Moses, God's delegated authority. The waters of baptism take believers from the authority of Satan and bring them under the authority of Jesus. This makes it easy to see that water baptism before one accepts and confesses salvation through the blood of the Passover lamb is not a valid water baptism.

John the Baptist, or literally the immerser, baptized people in the Jordan River for the repentance of their sins. Water baptism was not a new ceremony that John the Immerser decided to employ. No, it was a command for mikveh, or washing, that God gave Israel after they were baptized in the Red Sea. One command for mikveh was for people to wash themselves in the pool before entering the temple to worship.

The people could wash by the temple, so why did they go to John in the wilderness? One reason was because of the spiritual conviction of their hearts. From all around the country, people would come to be baptized in this "baptism of repentance" for their sins (Mark 1:4-5; Acts 13:24). It was a public confession of their conviction of their sin that they were leaving behind. This was God's way of preparing the people to receive Jesus Christ as the Messiah (Luke 7:29-30) and foreshadows water baptism today (Acts 19:3-5).

When one initially receives the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin, one confesses faith that Jesus is the Son of God and one's personal Savior. Today, water baptism is a public, visible testimony that one is acting on the conviction of one's sin and faith in Jesus as one's personal Savior. In obedience and submission to God, believers are water baptized for the repentance of their sin. As they are being baptized for the repentance of their sin, they are also prepared to receive an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

This progression of confessing Jesus as Lord and then being baptized in repentance of sin is seen throughout the New Testament (Acts 2:38-41; Acts 8:12-13, 35-38; Acts 16:14-15, 32-33; Acts 18:8). The Apostle Paul himself confessed Jesus as the Son of God and was then baptized in repentance of his sin (Acts 9:17-18).

There is also a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit of God that takes place in one's soul and spirit. By faith, the Holy Spirit renders the authority of Satan and the old sinful passions of the world inoperative through spiritual participation in the death and burial of Jesus (Col 2:11-13; 1 Pet 3:18-22; Luke 7:29-30). As with physical filth, the filth of a believer's mind is washed away and one can more easily think upon those things that are good and pure. Yes, they try to return, but now there is an act of God's Spirit equipping a believer in his victory over sins that held him captive.

There have been many testimonies of believers being washed from their past lifestyles. People losing their desire for cigarettes, addiction of drugs and alcohol are among the many testimonies of a literal work of God in a believer's body, soul and spirit.

Literal or Symbolic
As with much of the Bible, arguments have long existed on whether there is a literal work in baptism or if it is merely a symbolic work. It is not really an either/or issue. Rather, it is both. It is two within one, two non-contradicting aspects of water baptism. Those embracing the figurative burial with Christ should never diminish the fact that there is a literal act of the Holy Spirit that occurs when a believer emerges from the waters of baptism. Likewise, believers who can testify of a literal work of God should see that there is another aspect that God is using in this holy ceremony to increase their faith.

The Pharisees could not see Jesus as the Messiah because they were not baptized with John's baptism of repentance (Luke 7:39-30). This is just one reference to the evidence of a literal work of God in the waters of baptism. Yet there is also a symbolic aspect, which is the resurrection of the righteous.

Water baptism symbolizes believers being buried with Jesus two thousand years ago. Through faith, believers died with their Savior. Just as they died with Him, they will also be resurrected with Him (Col 2:12; 2 Tim 2:11; Rom 6:3-8)! The resurrection of believers is just as certain as the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:20-22). David saw the resurrection of the righteous when he declared that God would quicken us, or make us alive, and bring us up from the depths of the earth (Psa 71:20). The coming believers' resurrection is after the likeness of Jesus' resurrection.

Water baptism is a picture of believers being buried and resurrected with Jesus. While this is yet a symbolic picture of a believer's resurrection, soon this will be a very literal event. Just as literal believers emerge from the waters of baptism, those who have physically died will literally emerge from the dust of the earth. Note: Those who are alive at the resurrection of the righteous are given glorified bodies in the twinkling of an eye.

Immersion or Sprinkling
Another issue that has arisen in the last two thousand years is whether water baptism should be by immersion or sprinkling. First, much of this dispute comes from a lack of understanding of the washing that was required to worship in the temple. This mikveh was an immersion of the body, just as Israel was immersed below the surface of the Red Sea.

Secondly, this question can most easily be answered with a question. Are people buried with a sprinkle of earth or immersed in the ground? As stated previously, baptism is symbolic of a believer's burial with Christ. Sprinkling steals both the symbolic burial and spiritual burial of believers with Jesus. God demands that His commands be fulfilled according to the pattern He has given, not according to man's pattern. As discussed in the opening of this study, this is a command and ceremony of God, not man.

The answer to this dispute can be answered in yet a third way. The Greek word for baptism is baptizo. Baptizo literally means to submerge. Baptism is burial, not sprinkling. When bodies are buried, it is never even a consideration to sprinkle them with earth. Bodies are submerged in the earth.

Requirements for Baptism
Faith in Jesus as the Son of God for one's personal salvation is the only requirement for water baptism (Acts 8:37-38; Mark 16:16). This rules out infant baptism, since infants cannot confess faith in Jesus as their Saviour. Infants do not have the ability to have faith in Jesus and are, therefore, not to be baptized. In addition, there is no biblical precedent for infant baptism in the entire Bible.

All believers are command by God to be water baptized. Peter commanded new believers in Jesus to be baptized, making it mandatory. Water baptism is not an optional "accessory" to salvation (Acts 10:34-48; Acts 2:38-39; Luke 24:47).

Is one saved before being water baptized? Yes, the thief on the cross was not baptized, and yet he went to paradise (Luke 23:43). Salvation is by faith, not by the act of water baptism. Water baptism is the outward evidence of the change that has occurred in the heart. As the body without the spirit is dead, faith without works is dead (James 2:17-26). If someone confesses faith in Jesus as his personal Savior, the life of his faith will be seen in his willingness to obey God's command to be water baptized.

Baptism of Fire
Egypt is a picture of the world where one is under the authority of Pharaoh, a picture of Satan. Through the blood of the Passover lamb, a picture of Jesus Christ, the Red Sea washes away the enemies of Egypt. This is a picture of water baptism. On their journey to the promised land, Israel lived under the cloud. This is a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is the beginning of a believer's life with God, not the completion. Throughout the rest of a believer's life on earth, as well as in eternity, he will grow in his knowledge of God.

Water baptism is preparation for the believer's baptism of fire (Mat 3:11; Acts 1:5). God's baptism of fire is a spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit of God, empowering believers to speak in other "tongues" or languages (Acts 19:2-6). This is first mentioned in Acts two at the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, which foreshadows this next step in God's plan of salvation.

The Feast of Pentecost began at Mt. Sinai, when God gave His commandments to Israel. When God gave His law, "all the people saw the thunderings" (Exodus 20:18). Exodus does not say the thunder but "the thunderings." It is believed that God's voice split into different voices, or into different languages, so that all the nations would understand God's commandments.

The Midrash, by Rabbi Moshe Weissman: In the occasion of Matan Torah (the giving of the law), the Bnai Yisrael (the children of Israel) not only heard Hashem's (God's) Voice but actually saw the sound waves as they emerged from Hashem's (God's) mouth. They visualized them as a fiery substance. Each commandment that left Hashem's (God's) mouth traveled around the entire Camp and then to each Jew individually, asking him, "Do you accept upon yourself this Commandment with all the halochot (the law) pertaining to it?" Every Jew answered "Yes" after each commandment. Finally, the fiery substance which they saw engraved itself on the luchot (tablets of stone).

Centuries later, on this same day, on the Feast of Pentecost, the same thing occurred (Acts 2:1-11). The early church saw this as a fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost where God spoke (Hebrews 12:18-19). In describing the Feast of Pentecost (Exodus 20:18), Hebrews says, "And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words." "Words" is translated rhema in the Greek and means an individual word. Their understanding of what occurred on Mount Sinai at the first Feast of Pentecost is exactly what Hebrews declares happened. A study of the Bible reveals the attention God took to reveal His plan for man's salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Pentecost at Mount Sinai was a miqra, or rehearsal, of the Pentecost after Jesus' resurrection. They both occurred on the same day where the people were as one (Acts 2:1-2; Exodus 19:2). Israel came to Mount Sinai, and believers have come to Mount Zion (Exo 19:11; Hebrews 12:22). At the first feast God spoke with "the voice of words" and, in the second instance, believers spoke in other words (Acts 2:1-11). The finger of God wrote His commandments on tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18), and then the Spirit of God wrote His commandments on man's heart (2 Cor 3:3; Heb 8:10). The letter of the law kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). There were three thousand killed at Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:28) and three thousand brought to eternal life when God sent His baptism of fire(Acts 2:41).

From the first Feast of Pentecost at Mount Sinai, one can see there is much more to Pentecost than just speaking in other tongues. Pentecost is for mankind to hear God's voice in his heart, "that he might instruct thee." (Deu 4:33-36).

Salvation, through the blood of the Lamb of God, is preparation for water baptism where one is delivered from the authority of Satan. Water baptism, in turn, is preparation for baptism in the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is much more than receiving tongues. It is receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit's voice in one's heart. Having the voice of God write His Word on one's heart is preparation for maturity and continual growth in the believers' eternal salvation.

Copyright © 1998 Eternal Hope Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 466, Ellerslie, MD 21529. www.ehope.com. Not-for-profit use and/or reproduction of this material is encouraged, providing attribution is given and all copies are in its entirety.