Baptism is a one-time declaration of a lifetime of devotion to God. It reveals the beauty of the cross and the darkness of sin. It has many sides: cleansing, burial, resurrection, the death of the old, and the birth of the new. It reveals the many facets of God’s grace.
Once a person admits his sin and turns to Christ for salvation, some step must be taken to proclaim to heaven and earth that he is a follower of Christ. Baptism is that step. Baptism is the initial and immediate step of obedience by one who has declared his faith to others. So important was this step that, as far as we know, every single convert in the New Testament was baptized. With the exception of the thief on the cross, there is no example of an unbaptized believer.
The thief on the cross, however, is a crucial exception. Here is a man who never went to church, gave an offering, was never baptized, and said only one prayer. But that prayer was enough. The thief reminds us that in the end, it is Jesus who saves.
I Peter 3:21. “And that water is like the baptism which now saves you—not the washing of dirt from the body, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. And this is because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.”
Baptism is a vow, a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ. Just as a wedding celebrates the fusion of two hearts, baptism marks the union of the sinner with the Savior. We “became part of Christ when we were baptized” (Rom. 6:3).
Please understand that it is not the act that saves us. But it is the act that symbolizes how we are saved! The invisible work of the Holy Spirit is visibly dramatized in the water.
The event is a willing plunge of the body and soul into the promise and power of Christ. The ritual of washing signifies our admission that apart from Christ we are dirty, but in Christ we are pure. The ritual of burial means that we are willing to die to sin and self and that we can be made alive again because of him. Baptism effectively seals our salvation, uniting us to Christ and his body. Christ’s death becomes my death. Christ’s resurrection becomes my resurrection.
