What is Baptism?
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved..." (Mark 16 v 15-16 - N.I.V.)
That was the instruction Jesus gave to his disciples nearly 2000 years ago and the instruction is still there for those who truly want to obey and follow his teaching. They have to believe and be baptised.
But what does baptism involve? Why is it significant?
The word baptism comes from a Greek word which means immersion, dipping, plunging; it does not mean sprinkling. It was a word which was associated with the Greek textile manufacturers, in particular with those who used dyes to change the colour of cloth. The cloth was said to be baptised when it was plunged into the dye, fully submerged in order that the whole cloth could take up its new colour.
In John's Gospel record chapter 3 we read that John the Baptist baptised at a place where there was a lot of water. He needed it so that people could be completely immersed.
In baptism a believer is completely buried in water and the reason for that...
"Don't you know" says the Apostle Paul when he wrote to believers at Rome, "that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised 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." (Romans 6 v 3-4 N.I.V.)
Baptism is an act of obedience to the instruction of Jesus, by which the one undergoing baptism associates himself or herself with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved..." (Mark 16 v 15-16 - N.I.V.)
That was the instruction Jesus gave to his disciples nearly 2000 years ago and the instruction is still there for those who truly want to obey and follow his teaching. They have to believe and be baptised.
But what does baptism involve? Why is it significant?
The word baptism comes from a Greek word which means immersion, dipping, plunging; it does not mean sprinkling. It was a word which was associated with the Greek textile manufacturers, in particular with those who used dyes to change the colour of cloth. The cloth was said to be baptised when it was plunged into the dye, fully submerged in order that the whole cloth could take up its new colour.
In John's Gospel record chapter 3 we read that John the Baptist baptised at a place where there was a lot of water. He needed it so that people could be completely immersed.
In baptism a believer is completely buried in water and the reason for that...
"Don't you know" says the Apostle Paul when he wrote to believers at Rome, "that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised 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." (Romans 6 v 3-4 N.I.V.)
Baptism is an act of obedience to the instruction of Jesus, by which the one undergoing baptism associates himself or herself with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
