WATER BAPTISM (Holiness.com
Response)
Hello Dear Brothers
and Sisters in the Lord,
Certain of our Visitors have been greatly interested in the
subject of Christian water baptism. Many excellent authors
have penned numerous pages, even entire books, on the subject
of water baptism. I will therefore not attempt to produce an
exhaustive study of the subject of water baptism. I will
attempt in the following lines to answer at least one question
that seems to be a common subject of controversy for visitors
of WWW.HOLINESS.COM.
The question that I am referring to is: "In whose name should
one be water baptized?"
Christian Baptism - There are various types of baptism. Here,
our discussion centers around the ordinance or ceremony which
is to be performed after one has become a Christian. This is
exactly the baptism Christ commanded his apostles to carry out
with persons who have converted to Christianity - Matthew
28:19 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost:"
Let me first say that I was baptized by immersion in water
which is the mode practiced by many Christians that adhere to
Pentecostal teachings. The reason many Pentecostals prefer
this mode of baptism has to do with the symbolism that baptism
represents. I know that many have spent much time documenting
the debates surrounding the mode of baptism (for example total
immersion as opposed to only partially dipping the baptism
candidate in water). I will not spend time in arguing the pros
of immersion at this time as I wish to quickly summarize the
issue of what the Christian Baptism represents.
Water baptism is symbolic and is meant to illustrate the
substance/reality of things independent of the symbol (the
water baptism). What I am trying to demonstrate in the
previous sentence is that it is grossly incorrect to believe
that being baptized in water makes an individual a Christian.
Water baptism is not the agent or mechanism that makes one a
Christian, it is a symbol of the conversion that should have
already occurred prior to water baptism. Central to what is
being illustrated by water baptism (being covered or
symbolically buried under the water) is the fact that a
Christian shares in (or rather benefits from) the death,
burial and resurrection of Christ. How does a Christian share
in Christ's death burial and resurrection? Well, when a sinner
asks God to forgive him/her of his/her sins, this sinner must
not only be willing to forsake all sin, but the sinner must be
willing to accept Christ as the ruler and Savior of his/her
life. And, how is Christ the Savior? He is our Savior as he
literally died for our sins and was buried in a real tomb.
However, Christ showed that He had power even above death by
rising from his tomb. This resurrection also proved that God
the Father accepted the sacrifice that Christ made on our
behalf.
All persons are born with the condition of being infected with
a sinful nature. God's justice requires that sin cannot be
overlooked. Although it is mankind's natural (or rather
spiritual) need to have fellowship with God, He cannot come
into union with us while we maintain our sinful life. Further,
God's just nature requires that he punish sin.
But wait, Jesus willing to take our punishment that we justly
deserved for being sinners, died on the cross for our sins.
Thus, Christians share in Christ's death because our
repentance and union with Christ is possible only through the
virtue and power of His sacrificial death on our behalf. This
union between Christ and Christian is not a mere
cold/estranged relationship; a Christian is literally,
baptized (surrounded and enveloped) into Christ & His love and
power.
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