What I Believe About Baptism in a nutshell
What I Believe About Baptism
Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 2-22-12
A friend recently asked me what my ideas about baptism were. It was a good time to synthesize my ideas about baptism in a concise way. This is what I came up with. I believe that baptism is an outer expression of an inner spiritual reality. Baptism does not save us. A person is a Christian before the actual, public water baptism. Repenting of our sins and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross saves us. When we come to Jesus in this way, we are completely forgiven of our sins by our holy God. This is atonement. When a person accepts Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. We become new creations, with a new hope and a changed life direction. We are set free from the power of sin to live a new life in Christ. This is redemption. Such peoples’ hope is in God’s kingdom. They seek Jesus and his Kingdom as of first priority. (Matt 6:33) They become children of God. They are saved and God sees them as his precious children. As they live out their pilgrimage on earth, they grow in Jesus’ likeness, his holiness, and in his image. This is sanctification. Baptism is a symbol and public declaration of our faith. It reveals atonement, redemption and sanctification.
There are different ways of having a baptism. Some do sprinkling and others do full emersion water baptism. I am more inclined towards full emersion water baptism. I like full emersion water baptism; because it is an apt expression of what dedicating our life to Jesus is all about. (It also seems to me to be part of the American Christian experience.) Going into the water we die to our sins and this world. When we rise up, the grace of Jesus washes our sins away and we are new creations. Our rising up out of the water symbolizes our rising up to newness of life in Christ. It is a public event. We publically declare our faith before all of God’s people.
There is a time of preparation before the baptism. This preparation may include a couple of Bible studies about baptism; the memorizing of the Lord’s Prayer; the Apostles’ Creed and the Ten Commandments. It may also include a preparation of a personal testimony about the grace of Jesus in the person’s life.
Baptism is one of the most important events in one’s Christian life. (It is right up there with conversion, marriage, graduation, etc.) It is a very special and holy time. It is a time of public celebration.
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