Christian baptism is a visual proclamation of the gospel. It is the public profession of faith through complete immersion in water. As such, baptism is one of the first steps of Christian obedience. It is the doorway into the home of the new covenant community of believers (Acts 22:16). As a covenantal sign, it is one of the two ordinances of the Christian church.
Jesus commanded baptism, and it is done in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). This act represents our death to sin in Christ and announces our newness of life in Christ. Baptism is a physical sign of a spiritual reality and an outward profession of an inward position. We baptize by immersion, if you are physically able, for two reasons. First, the word “baptize” means “to plunge, dip, or immerse.” Second, every baptism recorded in the Bible is by immersion. And Jesus himself was baptized this way, though his baptism was different from ours (Luke 3:21–22, Matt 3:13–17, Mark 1:9–11). Going under the water pictures our union with Christ in his death and burial (1 Pet 3:21). Coming up out of the water pictures our union with Christ in his resurrection (Rom 6:3–4).
Baptism is a strictly Christian act, so it is for believers only. Jeremiah promised a new covenant unlike the old one: God would write his law on their hearts, every member would know the Lord, from the least of them to the greatest, and he would forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (Jer 31:31–34). The new covenant community is therefore a regenerate community, not a mixed one. And in Scripture, regeneration and faith always come before baptism (Acts 2:41; 8:12; 10:47–48). Baptism is not necessary for salvation, and it has no saving power in itself (Luke 23:42–43). But it is a matter of humble obedience, and it gives us a chance to proclaim the gospel to others.
*A note on the position taken here: the view set out above is credobaptism; baptism administered to those who profess faith, rather than to the infants of believers. Paedobaptism extends the covenant sign to believers’ children. Baptism is a secondary issue in the sense that Christians who differ on it remain Christians, though it is not a small one, since it shapes the practice of the local church.
