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Baptism
The fifth step in the plan of salvation is baptism.
The Bible tells us so in
Acts 2:38,
Mark 16:16,
Mark 1:9-11,
Acts 8:12-13,
and Galatians 3:27.
There's a lot of confusion about baptism. You can
clear up this confusion for yourself by studying examples from the
Scriptures and by understanding the root word from which baptism is
derived.
Matthew 3:16: "When
He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water..."
Acts 8:38-39: "And both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came
up out of the water..."
In both instances, you can see that it was necessary
for both people to be in the water, and that there was enough water
to make it necessary for them to "come up out of" it. You
might have heard of sprinkling or pouring water over someone's head
as a means of baptism. Now you can see that the Bible's examples
rule out those practices as unscriptural.
The word baptism is translated from the Greek word baptizo.
The idea behind baptizo is a cup being dipped into a
barrel of water. In order to fill the cup, you must dip it
completely into the barrel's contents. You have to bury the cup in
the water! Similarly, the Bible speaks of being buried with Christ
in baptism. Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the
newness of life." |
