After someone becomes a Christian they have many questions. Some want to know what to do next – and sooner or later they ask about baptism. Baptism is an important step for believers as it indicates publicly that the person is truly committed to following Jesus Christ and they are not ashamed of telling this to others. We must add that baptism is not essential to get someone to Heaven, it is simply the response of an obedient heart to follow Jesus Christ. This is what in says in 1 Peter 3.21:
… this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
… 這水所表明的洗禮、現在藉著耶穌基督復活．也拯救你們．這洗禮本不在乎除掉肉體的污穢、只求在神面前有無虧的良心。
Baptism therefore is symbolic of your salvation, it is an illustration – and it is the response of your good conscience toward God.
Also baptism represents death. It is a picture of someone dying. When a believer is baptised they are brought below the water as if they are being buried. Under the water they are symbolically dead in their grave. But it is momentary, it is just for a second – because baptism also represents something else: baptism represents life, new life! Baptism is a picture of resurrection life, life after death. Those being baptised are brought under the water for a very short time and they come up representing the new life that has already been given them. All this is an illustration, a picture. It goes back to the most important event of all history. It goes back to the death of Jesus Christ. At the age of about 33 years Jesus was crucified – brutally killed by being nailed to a wooden cross. He died on that cross. That evening He was hurriedly buried, without proper ceremony. Early on the third day friends went to Jesus’s tomb to complete the task of embalming His body, part of the Jewish burial rituals. But to their surprise Jesus was not there! They were told He had risen. Though He had been killed, He was now alive! This event is what Christians celebrate at Easter. The Bible teaches that Death is the consequence of Sin. Death is the only payment for sin. All mankind is guilty of wilfully sinning against God. Of disobeying Him in words, thoughts and actions. All of us deserve to die for our sins. However, we are told that Jesus was sinless. Read these three verses about Jesus written by three different apostles:
1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
他並沒有犯罪、口裡也沒有詭詐。
1 John 3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
你們知道主曾顯現、是要除掉人的罪．在他並沒有罪。
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
神使那無罪的、〔無罪原文作不知罪〕替我們成為罪．好叫我們在他裡面成為神的義。
JESUS WAS SINLESS! There was no cause of death in Him. There was no reason why He should die.
So why did He die? 1 John 3.5 (SEE ABOVE) says He died to take away our sins; and 2 Corinthians 5.21 (SEE ABOVE) says that in His death Jesus was made sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. God who is rich in mercy gave His own sinless Son to die in our place to accomplish a major transaction: Jesus took all our sins on Himself. Jesus carried all the sins of mankind on His back. All the sin that stands between us and God were laid on Jesus.
This historical event made it possible for people, sinful people to be forgiven – to be declared righteous in God’s sight. Death is the only payment for sin. But because One who was without sin, One who had no cause of death in Himself died, then His death was accepted by God the Father as a replacement for ours. There is now no reason for death for those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
神愛世人、甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們、叫一切信他的、不至滅亡、反得永生。
Those who believe in Jesus, who belong to Him, are made right with God and will live eternally. So when someone is baptised he or she is retelling the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, but is making it personal. You see baptism also speaks of identity. Each believer who is baptised is baptised into Jesus’s death for them. They are saying, ‘Jesus died for me and has given me new life!’
Another passage to read is Romans 6.1-14
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 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. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
1 這樣、怎麼說呢．我們可以仍在罪中、叫恩典顯多麼。2 斷乎不可．我們在罪上死了的人、豈可仍在罪中活著呢。3 豈不知我們這受洗歸入基督耶穌的人、是受洗歸入他的死麼。4 所以我們藉著洗禮歸入死、和他一同埋葬．原是叫我們一舉一動有新生的樣式、像基督藉著父的榮耀、從死裡復活一樣。5 我們若在他死的形狀上與他聯合、也要在他復活的形狀上與他聯合．6 因為知道我們的舊人、和他同釘十字架、使罪身滅絕、叫我們不再作罪的奴僕．7 因為已死的人、是脫離了罪。8 我們若是與基督同死、就信必與他同活．9 因為知道基督既從死裡復活、就不再死、死也不再作他的主了。10 他死是向罪死了、只有一次．他活是向神活著。11 這樣、你們向罪也當看自己是死的．向神在基督耶穌裡、卻當看自己是活的。12 所以不要容罪在你們必死的身上作王、使你門順從身子的私慾．13 也不要將你們的肢體獻給罪作不義的器具．倒要像從死裡復活的人、將自己獻給神．並將肢體作義的器具獻給神。14 罪必不能作你們的主．因你們不在律法之下、乃在恩典之下。
In summary Baptism is a believer’s response to what Jesus did on their behalf. When a believer is baptised it is as a sign that he or she has already believed. It is also a sign that they are publicly stating that they have turned away from their old sin controlled life and have chosen to follow Jesus.
If you are interested to know more about baptism please write to us at info@sfellowship.org
May God really bless you a lot today and every day!
