Water baptism: what is it's place today?

Response to comment [from a Christian]:  "It has a place in obedience to the one you profess to love."

That's right. It is the first act of obedience by a Christian.

The Roman Catholic teaching of infant baptism is not biblical.

Response to comment [from a Christian]:  "I have but one baptism, as per Ephesians 4:5. It is when I was baptized in water at which time God forgave my sins and I received the gift of the Holy Spirit, as per Acts 2:38."

The act of baptism does not save a person.  Baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation.  

[The Believer's Baptism by Adrienne Rogers (paraphrased notes)]  Baptism is not necessary to salvation but it is necessary to obedience; obedience is necessary to joy, growth and fruitfulness.  We dare not deemphasize what the Bible emphasizes (Ac 8).  Jesus began his public ministry by being baptized and he concluded his ministry by commanding baptism.

Baptism is not about denominational preference.  It is about about what the Bible says

The biblical method is immersion (v38).  In Mark 1:9, Jesus was in Jordon (the river) literal "in to" Jordon.  Jesus took a 60-mile trip to be baptized by John.  There was a lot of water there.  In John 3:23, Jesus baptized and John was also baptizing because there was much water there.  It takes a lot of water.  There can be no mistaking about it.

Baptize means "immerse".  It was an ordinary word. It is an untranslated word.  In 1611 when translating from Greek to English, men came upon the word baptism and they had a problem.  The king did not practice biblical baptism.  He had learned from the traditions of men not the Bible.  They said if we translate it, it will be embarrassing to the king and if we translate it any other way, any one who knows Greek will laugh us out of the church.  So, they transliterated it.  It is a Greek word jammed into English.  They did not have courage to say what it is.  It means "to immerse".

The method is wrapped up in the meaning.  You cannot change the method without the meaning.  What did God do for us when he saved us?  When we get saved we die to sin, die to the old way.  God forbid we continue to live sinful lives (Ro 6:1).  We were baptized into his death. We are buried with him by baptism into death.  We were buried with him by baptism into death v4, the old person we used to be died.  The old Adrienne died.  He died 2000 years ago when Jesus died.  He carried my sins to the cross.  He suffered and died in agony for me.

When I have faith in him, I died with him. The old man (Adrienne) was crucified with him (v6); henceforth, we shall not serve sin.  The day I was baptized was my funeral.  We are buried with him (v4).  If I were to died physically, they’d put me in the earth.  It would be a disgrace to leave me out in an open field. 

The only mourner at my baptism was the devil.  He hated to see me die.  My sin went into the grave of God's forgetfulness.  Baptism is a picture of your burial.  We walk in newness of life (v4).  Jesus did not stay in that grave.  He came out of that grave. 

Baptism is not by submersion (you’d die), but immersion (you have a new life).   Christians are not just nice people, they are new creatures, risen to walk with the Lord Jesus.

I have a new life, I had a past burial, I have a present new life (v5).  In the future, we will be in the likeness of his resurrection.  One day we will die but the grave will not hold us.  We will be in the likeness of his resurrection.  God will raise us up.  We need not fear death. 

A caterpillar said to a butterfly, “You'll never get me up in one of those things.”  It’s foolish to be afraid of death.  We will be in the likeness of his resurrection.  That’s what Baptism is--his death, burial and resurrection for us—our death, burial and resurrection in him.

If you were the devil, wouldn't you want to take that message out of the church? 1 Corinthians 15 is the gospel.  It is the core of all that we do.  We die with Christ.  We are buried with Christ.  We live with Christ

Baptism: proclaims your commitment to Jesus, it shows our conversion, and it is an act of obedience.   Baptism is not a suggestion; it is a command (Mt 28:19-20) from our sovereign Lord in the first century.   

Response to comment [from a Christian]:  "She starts out by saying baptism is not for salvation and then boldly states that when we are baptized we die to sin ("The day I was baptized was my funeral."). That sounds like salvation to me."

Rogers stated that baptism is not necessary for salvation but it is necessary for obedience and obedience is necessary to joy, growth and fruitfulness in the Christian life.  It is a symbol that we are not to minimize.  He gave an example.  If someone asked him to show them a picture of his wife and he pulled out a picture of a car or a dog, it would be odd.  It does not represent his wife.

He gave another example of a man who went to the Smithsonian and saw Lady Bird Johnson viewing a wax figure of herself.  A photographer came by and asked the First Lady to step aside because he intended on taking a picture of the wax figure.  Although baptism is a symbol, it is a symbol of something real.  We identify with Christ as he identified with us in death, burial and resurrection. 

Water baptism: what is it's place today?