The WaySample

Responding to the Way

Be Baptized

John was confused about why Jesus was presenting Himself for baptism. Jesus assured him that it was the right thing for Him to do to be an example of public obedience to God. What is baptism?

Even before Jesus’ public ministry, baptism was a ritual associated with purification and repentance. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection changed the meaning of the act into a way to identify with Him. To baptize literally means “to immerse or submerge.” When someone is baptized as a Christian they are publicly identifying with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as a statement of their faith.

Later Paul teaches that we “join” Jesus in His death and His resurrection through baptism. This “joining” only makes sense if we keep baptism connected to belief and repentance. Baptism isn’t something that is done to you to change your status before God. Baptism is a reflection of something that is done in you that has already changed your status with God when you repent of your way of doing things and believe in the gospel.

So, who should be baptized?

Some traditions baptize infants or even the dead, but the Bible makes it clear that repentance and belief are key parts of baptism. Anyone who has actively put their faith in Jesus and turned away from their sins should follow Jesus’ command to be baptized (Matthew 28:19). Some people hesitate to be baptized because they don’t think they have become perfect yet even after faith in Jesus. But we should see baptism as the first step of obedience in our journey, not a last step of perfection.

Have you been baptized? Did you connect it to your own belief and repentance? If you haven’t been baptized or if you didn’t have a choice about it as an infant, you can change that. You can identify with Jesus through baptism among a faithful Christian community. You also identify with Him with the way you daily turn away from your old life and embrace a new life led by Jesus.

Prayer:

“Jesus, help me to start identifying with Your life, death, and resurrection as a part of my story through baptism.”