THE MEANING OF BAPTISM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Colossians 2:12 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When a person makes their decision to believe in Jesus as Savior, one of the most important next steps outside of a dedicated commitment to know Jesus and live like Him is to be baptized.

Baptism is one of the two major sacraments that you will find in any true Christian church (the second is communion) and if the baptism is biblical, it will be baptism by immersion which means the person being baptized goes under water for a brief moment before reemerging.

Before Jesus came, John the Baptist (also referred to as the Baptizer), was baptizing believers in the Jordan River. By his own admission, his baptism was one grounded in the repentance of sins.

“I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be His slave and carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with His winnowing fork. Then He will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into His barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” Matthew 3:11-12

Through John’s baptism, the God believer was confessing that they were a sinner and wanted to get right with God through spiritual cleansing but John wanted all those who came to him that a greater baptism was ahead and that baptism came through Jesus, the One John would proclaim as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). While John only baptized with water, Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Spirit” and “fire”.

So what made the baptism through Jesus so much different than John’s?

We turn to our verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians for the answer. He wrote:

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. v.12 NLT

Paul had never visited the church in Colossae but he knew that Christians were baptized there. This was obviously reported by Epaphras, an emissary from the Colossians who visited Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome (Colossians 1:7-8).

With this in hand, Paul reminds his brothers and sisters in Christ of the meaning of their baptisms, that when they went beneath the water, they had shared in the burial of Jesus before emerging into “new life”, resurrected from the dead just as Christ was. Of course, this new life is an intentional turning from a life of sin to a life where Jesus is followed, a life mimicking His. The intended focus of Paul was on Jesus and the simplicity of the true Gospel message for you will remember that the purpose of this letter was to nullify false teachings that were trying to infiltrate the church.

Friends, there is power in baptism when you understand what it truly represents. For me, it’s an emotional time every chance I get to see someone choose to share in the symbolic death and resurrection of Jesus, knowing that a day will come for them when both will happen for real. In the end translation, baptism won’t save anyone, only Jesus can do that, but it does carry significant meaning to the Christian believer that they are willing to acknowledge and honor all their Savior has done to bring them a new life in Him and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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