Baptism unites us with Christ
.jpg)
"Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Acts 2:38
Baptism saves you as an appeal to God for a good conscience
"For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 3:18-21
Repentance and baptism are connected to both forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit
"Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far away,
as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”” Acts 2:38-39
“Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.” Luke 3:3
Don't wait
"And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’"
Acts 22:16
Believe and be baptized; they go together
"He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:15-16
Buried with Christ when baptized; with him raised to new life
“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.” Colossians 2:11-13
United with Him in his death; we will also be raised to life as he was
"Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)" Romans 6:3-7
"Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you." Romans 8:9b-11
It may seem mysterious, but we enter into life by dying to the sinful nature through the provision of Jesus Christ.
Our sinful selves are crucified with Christ so that sin would no longer dominate us and we would no longer be enslaved to it.
We are buried with Christ when we are baptized, set free from the power of sin and can live a new life because we've been made alive in Christ and forgiven.
Just as we are united with him in the likeness of his death, we will be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection. God will also make our mortal bodies alive through his Spirit!
He died to break the power of sin; so you also should consider yourselves dead to power of sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ:
"And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace." Romans 6:8-14
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galations 3:27
This same idea is demonstrated in Colossians:
"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
Colossians 3:3
The word used there for hidden also means keep secret, conceal (Strong’s Concordance #g2928). The world encourages individuals to just be “yourself” and celebrate who you are by following your (sinful) heart. But scripture tells us to find our lives, we must die to the sinful nature. He has predestined us "to be conformed to the image of his Son" such that we are hidden with Christ in God (see Romans 8:29). We are clothed with him like we're wearing Christ camo by living righteously as he did. That’s where we will actually find life. And then we will be revealed with him as shown in verse 4:
"When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:4
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared and gave his disciples these instructions:
"So the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
For all who want to be disciples of Christ (receive his teachings), we are to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the Bible, John baptized in the Jordan River but I know of no specific type of water requirement in scripture. The example given in scripture is immersion rather than being sprinkled with water. The Greek word translated baptism, is baptizō, which Strong's defines as "to immerse, submerge; to make overwhelmed (ie fully wet)." Hold your breath, submerge, and come up. People have used various forms of a body of water including a lake, pool, hot tub, bathtub, horse trough, or in a church baptismal. All you need is a disciple of Christ who can baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Now to summarize and get your name in The Book of Life