2. To identify with
Jesus Christ
“He that saith he
abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, EVEN AS HE WALKED” (1Jo 2:6). When a
Christian claims to abide in Jesus Christ, they ought to walk in the same steps
that their master walked in. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the
Jordan River. "Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus
answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to
fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and
lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:13-17). Since John was administering a baptism
of repentance, he could not understand why Jesus who was sinless needed to be
baptized. Since Jesus was our substitute He was not baptized on His own behalf
but on our behalf. He told John that this was necessary to "fulfill all
righteousness." Likewise if we desire to be true imitators of our Lord
Jesus Christ and fulfill everything that is right in the eyes of God we ought
to be baptized like He was.
The scriptures also make it clear that John the
Baptist was not sprinkling water on people's heads in a cathedral in Bethabara
but was fully immersing them in the Jordan River. "And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of
Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in THE RIVER OF JORDAN, confessing
their sins” (Mar 1:5). John the Baptist immersed them in a large volume of
water till they were fully dipped or submerged. Some ancient Greek writers use
the same word "baptizo"
when referring to ships that had been sunk in a war. This further confirms that
one has to be fully immersed in the water and not merely sprinkled. Also Jesus
was 30 years old by the time He was baptized and not an infant, "Now when all the people were
baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the
heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in
thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age
being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli” (Luk
3:21-23). This is important to note because He had reached the age of consent
or adulthood since today we have some groups that baptize infants and claim to
be following the Bible. This infant baptism is a false doctrine and has no
grounds in the scriptures. Infant baptism is not regarded as baptism in the New
Testament.
3. To follow the
practices of the early church
Whenever people were born again and received
Jesus as their Lord in the New Testament they were always baptized. Some
examples include the baptism of the first believers on the day of Pentecost, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and BE BAPTIZED every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly
received his word WERE BAPTIZED: and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls” (Act 2:38,41). These first converts were
baptized in their thousands as soon as they had received salvation and this
pattern continued throughout the New Testament. Apostle Peter went ahead to
baptize a group of Gentile converts at Caesarea in Cornelius' house, "Can any man forbid water, that these
should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And
he COMMANDED THEM TO BE BAPTIZED in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him
to tarry certain days” (Act 10:47-48). Apostle Paul also went ahead to
re-baptize Christians who had only been baptized with John's baptism of
repentance, showing that once someone has been baptized wrongly before, they
can still be baptized in the right way again, "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they
said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the
baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this,
they were BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS” (Act 19:3-5). In the
early church, all who were newly born again and those who had never been baptized
received this ordinance as soon as possible and this should be our standard
too.
4. In obedience to God's
Word
“And Samuel said, Hath
the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in OBEYING THE
VOICE OF THE LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams” (1Sa 15:22). When a believer has understood from the scripture
that they ought to be baptized but still refuse, they can not reap the harvest
of blessings that only obedience can bring. They open themselves up to attack
from the devil since he can now use this as a legal ground to penetrate their
lives. Jesus gave us a command and not a suggestion when He stated that, "He that believeth AND IS BAPTIZED
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mar 16:16).
This is not a suggestion but a command and must be obeyed if we are to doers of
the word and not mere hearers, "But
be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jam
1:22). Added to that, once someone knows that they should be baptized according
to the scriptural practice but choose to disobey they are actually living in
sin, "Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, TO HIM IT IS SIN” (Jam 4:17).
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