<aside> 💡 Baptism means… “Everything Is New!”
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Baptism is an important topic in the Bible. Some people may have different beliefs about it because of traditions or religious institutions, but we know it’s always best to focus on what the Bible says about these things.
The most important thing to remember is that we are saved through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. We can’t be saved by any acts that we might do ourselves, even baptism. God saves us through our faith in His love and kindness in Jesus. Our new relationship with God is founded only on His love and grace to us in His sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, not on any of our own actions or deeds.
This study will look at how Baptism brings us to:
A New Purpose
A New Relationship
A New Direction
A New Pardon
A New Life
A New Spirit
A New Identity
A New Boss
A New Beginning
A New Hope
In the early church, becoming a Christian often happened at baptism. In fact, in the Bible whenever someone became a believer in Jesus, they were baptized immediately—even if it happened in the middle of the night! (Acts 16:33). But remember: It's not the water or the ritual that saves us; it's the commitment we make to follow Jesus as our Lord (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism is how we start our special relationship with God, similar to how a wedding marks the beginning of a lifelong relationship.
Baptism has an important purpose: To publicly declare that we believe the good news (the Gospel) of Jesus. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Bible also teaches us that we are to express our faith through obedience, and the first step of obedience Christ has commanded is baptism.
In Colossians 2:12-13, Paul tells the Christians living there that they had been “buried with [Christ] in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.” We participated with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Baptism for Christians is like a wedding ceremony. Just as people make promises to each other during a wedding, in baptism, we make promises—or a covenant—with God. We ask Him to wash away our sins as we turn away from them, and in return, He promises to be with us.
Baptism shows that we're sorry for the wrong things we've done and that we want to turn away from sinful lifestyles, to live differently. In the Bible, Paul tells us that we need to repent (which means to turn away from our old ways) and believe: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” - Acts 20:21. It’s a complete “about-face,” turning 180° away from sin and self-rule, to obeying Jesus and following His commands.
In the Bible, baptism was a special way for people to show that they believed in Jesus and wanted to start fresh. In Acts 2:38, the apostle Peter told people, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” This was the way people in the Bible expressed their faith and received forgiveness. Baptism has always been a special moment for people to declare their faith, receive forgiveness and begin a new life.
Baptism is about dying to the old life and living a completely new life. It’s like a special, spiritual introduction to new life in Jesus. When someone gets baptized, it is a recreation of the story of how Jesus died, was buried, and then was raised to a new life.
The Bible in Romans 6:3-4 tells us that when we are baptized, we're actually joining Jesus in His story: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that*, just as Christ was raised from the dead** through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”*