WHY SHOULD YOU BE BAPTIZED?

  The answer to the question “why should you be baptized?” can depend on who you listen to. If you listen to Scripture, you’ll get answers like this:

·       It is where we “put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27 says “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

·  It is where we “wash away our sins and call on Jesus’ name.” In Acts 22:16 Paul was told “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”

·       It is where we receive “forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In Acts 2:38 Peter told the crowd (who’d just asked what they should do) “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

·     It is where we die to our sins, are buried in a watery grave, and rise to walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3-4 says “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.”

·       And it is the point at which we are saved because we’ve “appealed to God for good conscience.” 1 Peter 3:21 declares: “Baptism, which corresponds to (the waters of Noah’s flood), now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

  That’s what the Bible says.

  But there are churches who disagree with those verses. If you asked them why you should be baptized they will give other explanations of why a person should be baptized. The only problem is, they never quote any Scriptures that say what “they say” baptism is all about.

  What other churches teach:

   For example, a favorite phrase - among those who reject the verses cited above - is “Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace.” In other words they’ll tell you that baptism has nothing to do with salvation, it is simply a declaration of the salvation a person has already received. Another way they might explain this is “you’ve been saved, now get baptized to show you’ve been saved.” Intriguingly, there’s not a single verse in the Bible that says that. In fact, I’m willing to give $50 to the first person who can find a Bible verse that exactly defines baptism as “an outward sign of an inward grace.” It’s just not there. It’s a teaching of men, not God.

   Others will say that baptism is “is a public profession of a person's repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and a way of giving OUTWARD TESTIMONY to an inward work of God.” That’s why many churches will wait until Sunday so they can do the baptism before the whole congregation (or at least in front of a few Christians who can witness the event). Again, there’s not a single verse in the Bible that defines baptism in this way.

   By contrast, there are a number of stories in the Bible where people were baptized and there wasn’t a crowd of witnesses anywhere in sight.

·         For example, the Ethiopian Eunuch was baptized out in the middle of nowhere. God had sent Philip to witness to this Eunuch and, in the midst of Philip teaching him, the Eunuch said “’See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him” (Acts 8:36 & 38). Notice, Philip didn’t have the Eunuch turn the chariot around so they could go back to Jerusalem and do this in front of the church. They did it right there, along the road. Just the two of them going down into the water for the Eunuch to give his life to Christ.

·         Then, there’s the time when Paul and Silas baptized the Philippian Jailer and his family (Acts 16:23-33). They didn't wait for the church to assemble. The baptisms took place "the same hour of the night" (midnight).

  And, of course, there was Paul’s baptism by Ananias. Ananias told Paul “arise and be baptized, washing away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16) – and that’s just what they did. No witnesses were necessary except the only one who counted: Jesus.     

   Lastly, there’s the most bizarre reason anyone ever gave for getting baptized - getting baptized into a church. Years ago I talked with a man who was interested in coming to church. I hadn’t brought up the subject, but the man asked me “Do I have to get baptized again?”
  “Again?” I asked. “How many times have you been baptized?”
  “Five times,” he replied.
  I couldn’t stop myself. “Five times? Why on earth would you get baptized 5 times?”
  He explained that every time he joined another church, they required him to get rebaptized. Why? Because those churches regarded baptism as a requirement to belong to their congregation. No matter how many times folks have been baptized before, every time they join a new congregation they are required to get baptized to belong to the new church they want to join. It has nothing to do with Jesus… it has everything to do with church membership.
  I smiled and asked “Were you ever been baptized just to belong to Jesus?”
  “Yes, once,” he answered.
  “Well, that’s all we ask. If you were ever baptized into Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, we don’t care who did it as long as you did it for the right reason.”

  Down through the centuries people have been baptized for a number of reasons, but the Biblical reason has always been that we are to be baptized INTO CHRIST (not repeatedly into local congregations).
  Galatians 3:27 tells us “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” 
  Romans 6:3 says “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
 And Acts 19 tells of some men from Ephesus who had only been baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist and when they were told about Jesus “… they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5).

   When it comes to “why” you should get baptized, we need to lean on God’s Word… not the teachings of men who don’t quote Scripture to justify their doctrines.