Because God has created mankind with a free will, He will not force
His gift of salvation in Jesus Christ on anyone. Only those who receive
this gift by faith and are baptized into Christ will enjoy its blessings.
In our last study, we discovered that the primary meaning of faith is the
surrender of the will to the truth as it is in Christ. Faith says to God,
“Yes, I accept my history that you have provided for me in Your Son
Jesus Christ. I accept His death as my death, His burial as my burial, and
His resurrection as my resurrection to newness of life.” This conversion
experience, which is referred to as the new birth or regeneration, is confessed
by baptism.
The word baptism was first coined by those who dyed cloth. In Bible
days there were basically two kinds of materials—cotton and wool—both
of which were white in color. Many of the people preferred to use colored
material, the favorite being purple. The ones who dyed the material used
the word “baptize” (baptizo in Greek) to describe the dyeing
process. They took the white material, submerged it totally in a purple
dye so that the cloth which went in came out purple.
Jesus used this word baptism to describe the conversion or new birth
experience. By being immersed in the waters of baptism, the believer is
saying good-bye to the old life of sin, which by faith is surrendered to
the cross of Christ, and when the believer is raised out of the waters of
baptism, this signifies the resurrection of the believer to a new life in
Christ. This study will answer the question of why baptism is necessary
for salvation.
1. What human response, besides believing, is essential for salvation?
Mark 16:15,16 ______________________________________________________
2. In what three names should a believer be baptized?
| Matthew 28:18-20 |
(1) _________________________________ |
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(2) _________________________________ |
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(3) _________________________________ |
Note: All three members of the God head are involved in the salvation
of mankind. God the Father chairs the plan of salvation, Christ is the Saviour
of the world, and the Holy Spirit is the active agent in the experience
of salvation.
3. While the act of baptism is performed by the pastor, Who is the
One who actually baptizes us into the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 12:13 ______________________________________________________
Note: We are baptized into the body of Christ (verse 27) by the
Holy Spirit. The expression “made to drink into one Spirit” means
we have experienced the new birth and are now born form above. When the
Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us, because of our obedience to the gospel,
we have been baptized into the body of Christ. We receive the life of Christ
and have become one with Him.
4. What does the Bible say to those who have joined the Church but
do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them?
Romans 8:9 ______________________________________________________
Note: Only when we have experienced the new birth and have the
Spirit of Christ dwelling in us are we truly Christians and have experienced
salvation.
5. Instead of living the old life of sin, what kind of life should
we live when we experience the new birth?
Romans 8:10 ______________________________________________________
Note: Before conversion we had only one life, the life of sin
and that is all we could do; we were dead spiritually. But now we have received
a new life, through the new birth experience. This life is the righteous
life of Christ. We must now allow this righteous life to dominate us.
6. What happens to us when we have been baptized into Christ?
Galatians 3:27 ______________________________________________________
Note: True baptism says, “Not I, but Christ.” Every
Christian must confess with Paul: “I am crucified with Christ, but
I am still living; however, it is not I who lives but Christ who lives in
me. And the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved
me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
7. What does it really mean to be baptized into Christ?
Romans 6:3 ______________________________________________________
Note: When the phrase “baptized into Jesus Christ” is
used in the Bible, it is not referring to the act of baptism but to its
experience. When we are baptized into Christ we are also baptized into His
death. His death becomes our death.
8. As Jesus was raised up from the dead, what does Paul say happens
to the believer who has been baptized into Christ?
Romans 8:4 ______________________________________________________
Note: In this world we begin life by birth and end it by death.
In the gospel plan we experience the very opposite. We begin our Christian
experience by our death to the old life and in exchange end up with the
eternal life of Christ. What a bargain!
9. What is the result of being planted in the likeness of Christ’s
death?
Romans 6:5 ______________________________________________________
Note: The word Paul used in the Greek is “grafted,”
which is a joining of two branches together so that they become one. By
baptism we have surrendered or identified ourselves with Christ’s death
and His resurrection and we become one with Him.
10. What are the consequences of being crucified with Christ?
Romans 6:6 ______________________________________________________
Note: The Greek actually says: “the body of sin might be
deprived of its power.” Through the new birth experience we receive
a life that is able to subdue the old life of sin.
11. What is our condition if we are dead in Christ?
Romans 6:7 ______________________________________________________
Note: The actual word Paul used is “justified” which
means freed or acquitted. The law of God condemns sinners to death. The
moment we die in Christ through our baptism experience, the law can no longer
condemn us because we have met the justice of the law in Christ. We are
set free and now have peace with God (see Romans 5:1).
12. What is the final result of this whole baptism experience?
Romans 6:8 ______________________________________________________
Note: Christ did not come to change the death sentence that we
all deserve but to fulfil it. The choice the gospel confronts us with is
either choosing to die in Christ or choosing to die outside of Christ. If
we choose to die out of Christ there is no resurrection. But if we choose
to die with Christ we have the hope of resurrection. Christ has conquered
the grave and His resurrection now becomes the blessed hope of the believer.
13. When we are buried with Christ in baptism how are we risen with
Him?
Colossians 2:12 ______________________________________________________
Note: Our part is faith; God does the operation. The moment we
believe in Christ, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and we become
spiritually alive.
14. When we have been quickened or made alive by the presence of the
Holy Spirit, what does God do for us?
Colossians 2:13 ______________________________________________________
Note: God is just in forgiving all our sins because we died in
Christ. He has a legal right to say “Yes, all your sins are forgiven.”
15. We have seen that baptism is more than an act. It’s above
all an experience. How does this experience of baptism affect our outlook
on life and our Christian living? Note what the exodus of the Jews from
Egypt to Canaan teaches us.
Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-5.
Note: Paul uses the Exodus of the Jews as a type of salvation.
Crossing the Red sea is a type of baptism. Moses symbolized Christ, therefore
Egypt symbolized the world, Pharaoh symbolized Satan, and Canaan symbolized
the kingdom of heaven. Even though the Jews had crossed the Red Sea, their
hearts were still in Egypt. When a person is baptized only in the act and
the heart is still in the world, the act of baptism is a sham and it cannot
save that person. It is the experience of baptism that saves us in Christ.
16. Another example of Scripture’s use of the Exodus as a type
of baptism is found in the story of Joshua.
Read Joshua 4:1-9.
Note: When the Jews came to the Jordan river in the Exodus, God
said to Joshua, “Take twelve stones from the wilderness, and place
them in middle of the river Jordan and take twelve stones from the river
to the promised land and build an altar.” Those twelve stones represented
the church. The sinful life of Egypt, which the Jews had brought with them,
could not be taken into Canaan, it must be buried in the Jordan. Only the
new resurrected life which God offers us in Christ can enter heaven.
17. At the time of the flood what were Noah and his family saved by?
1 Peter 3:20,21 ______________________________________________________
Note: The ark Noah built represented Christ. Only Noah and his
family, with all the animals on board, were saved. In the same way, only
those who enter into Christ by baptism will be saved when this world is
destroyed by fire. Baptism, therefore, is rightly defined as the door through
which we make our exit from this present world and enter the church of Christ
which is destined for heaven.
18. With Paul, what must we glory in?
Galatians 6:14 ______________________________________________________
Note: When we have experienced baptism we have the hope of salvation
and a new outlook on life. We can say, “I have been crucified with
Christ. I have said good-bye to the world and now I live; yet it is not
I but Christ who lives in me.” The fruit of this experience is holiness
of living. When we have been baptized into Christ we have dedicated ourselves
not to live for self but for Christ. When the Bible says to be holy as God
is holy it simply means to let Christ live in us.
Baptism by immersion becomes important and of value only because of
what it signifies. It is not the act of baptism itself but it is our union
by faith to Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected, symbolized by baptism
that saves us.
19. What did the Ethiopian eunuch request of Philip when he heard
the good news of the gospel?
Acts 8:36 ______________________________________________________
Note: This Ethiopian was probably the finance minister of Ethiopia
who had come to celebrate the Passover feast in Jerusalem. On his way back
he was reading from the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah when Philip approached
him. The Ethiopian requested Philip to join him and explain who the prophet
Isaiah was talking about. Philip took this opportunity to preach Christ
and Him crucified. The Ethiopian’s heart was convicted and, as a result,
the first Gentile was baptized into the Christian church.
20. Wouldn’t you like to make the same request that this Ethiopian
did? __________