What Does It Mean To Be Baptized?
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Baptism is a symbol of the life-change that you have experienced as a Christian. A symbol is not the reality, but a picture of the reality. It is a testimony, a witness. There is nothing magical about being baptized. It doesn’t make you more spiritual, although many share that it deepens their commitment to and love for God. When you are baptized, you simply bear witness to your family, friends, and the larger community that you have been made new and are now identifying with Christ and with other Christ-followers.
Baptism signifies three things:
Our identity in Christ.
The language used in Romans 6:1-4 makes it clear that baptism is “into Christ Jesus”. Just as he died, was buried, and resurrected, so too do we experience something similar spiritually when we follow Him.
Colossians 2:11-12 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
The cleansing work of salvation.
While baptism doesn’t make us clean, it does symbolize the salvation that has done exactly that. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins makes it possible for them to be washed away – all of them!
Acts 22:14-16 ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
The new birth.
Though we were previously “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), we have been given the life of God through His Spirit that now dwells within us. As His children, we are given spiritual life through Him and adopted into His family forever!
John 1:12–13 To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Ephesians 1:5 In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.