The Significance of Water Baptism
By Mark Greenwood
There really should be no issue at all with water baptism, once we believe then we obey the Lord and get baptised after which we receive the Holy Spirit. Because people have different views about water baptism I have written this which is an in depth study on water baptism. I hope it doesn’t confuse the issue even further.
There are three baptisms that are significant for the new Christian. 1/ We are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ when we are born again. 2/ We are baptized in water as a declaration that judgement has fallen on the “old man”, (the part of us that was connected to Adam), and because we are baptized into the Name of Jesus, we are showing that we are in Christ Jesus, being partakers in His death, that we have been buried with Him by baptism, and just as we have been identified with Him in the likeness of His death we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. 3/ We are baptized with the Holy Spirit and clothed with power in order to witness for Jesus. The first one happens automatically at our new birth however the next two depend on our obedience and desire.
In this article I am dealing specifically with water baptism.
When a person is baptised in water they are showing that they are making a new start in life. It is the beginning of a new phase in their lives. In baptism we are identifying ourselves with Christ and preparing ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit. When we have repented and believed on Jesus we are baptised in water to show our separation from the world and our consecration to God. There are types in the Old Testament such as the Children of Israel passing through the Red Sea and Noah and the flood. I would also see the priest consecration ceremony as a type of the Christian baptism.
The baptism, performed by John the Baptist, was to do with repentance telling the people to believe on the One who comes after him. The Christian’s baptism is based on the ground of our confession in our belief in Jesus and that our sins are forgiven and our receiving of the Holy Spirit.
Roger Price points out that ‘baptizo’ (the Greek word for baptism) also means to be ‘identified with’ (study on Baptism, STS 46-7). Kenneth Wuest explains the different usages of the word and in one of the usages he says that ‘The word refers to the introduction or placing of a person or thing into a new environment or into union with something else so as to alter its condition or its relationship to its previous environment or condition’ (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Volume III, Vocabulary). He goes on to say that baptizo ‘symbolizes the fact of the believing sinner’s identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection’ (see Romans 6:3-5).
W. E. Vine says, “The phrase in Matt. 28:19, ‘baptizing them into the Name’, would indicate that the baptized person was closely bound to, or became the property of, the one into whose name he was baptized.”
There can often be a difference of opinion about the name we are to be baptized in. Jesus said to His disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28: 19). Peter told all those who were saved at Pentecost, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). When Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, He didn’t say “Names” plural, but “Name” singular. The name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is YHWH, which we pronounce in English as Jehovah (Yehovah) or Yahweh (see my articles on “Who is The Lord Jesus Christ?“). The name of Jesus means Jehovah Salvation, so there is no contradiction between what Jesus said and how the Holy Spirit revealed it to Peter. It is the same name, Jehovah or Jesus (Jehovah Saviour).
When someone believes on Jesus they are forgiven of their sins. When they are baptized in the Name of Jesus they are declaring, “I now belong to Jesus Christ because He has forgiven me of all my sins.”
How important is water baptism for a believer and what is its significance?
First let me say that when the Bible talks about being saved it is not necessarily talking just about being saved from sin and death, we are also saved from the world. To be saved from sin and death is by faith in Jesus; to be saved from the world is by a confession of His Name at water baptism. The Israelites were saved from death by the blood on their door posts and lintel but they were also saved from Egypt by calling on the Name of Jehovah at the waters of the Red Sea.
Jesus said to His disciples, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16 NKJV). Strong words indeed, however as I have already said, when we believe on Jesus we are saved from our sins, when we are baptised we are saved from the world and declare our separation from our past dead works.
It is often pointed out, and rightly so, that it doesn’t say, ‘and he that isn’t baptized shall be condemned’, it is the unbelievers, those who have rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world, who are condemned. Eternal life is given to those who believe on Jesus Christ and nothing that we do can add to the finished work of Christ, however, baptism is to do with our walk after believing, preparing our way for our life in the millennium kingdom.
To be baptised in water is an outward expression that we believe on Jesus, believing comes first followed by being baptised. In Romans 10: 9-10 (NKJV) we read, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” When we believe we are justified and when we confess we are saved. Salvation means deliverance and doesn’t just stop at believing to everlasting life, but also to deliverence from sin and from the world. It is a good practice for those being baptised to confess that Jesus is Lord.
Believing secures for us eternal life whilst baptism is the first step in our experience of the Christian walk. Baptism is very important for a new believer because they are declaring to the world that they are finished with it and now they belong to Christ. It is the first step of a disciple after salvation. In general the Holy Spirit is given after baptism in Jesus’ Name. In Acts 5:32 we read that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him.
The first thing we have to be convinced about is that the Bible teaches that we have eternal life by believing on Jesus and putting our trust in Him. There are many scriptures that teach this truth, just read through the whole of John’s gospel to be convinced that we receive eternal life by believing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. John 20:30-31 says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
There are many scriptures which show that we are, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, which can also be found on my web site.
However there are a few scriptures that seem to infer that to be saved we must be baptized otherwise we are not saved. We need to look at these scriptures in the light of the majority of scripture that say eternal life is given when we believe on Jesus.
Now let us look at some of the scriptures that might leave some wrongly thinking they are not saved, that is, they do not have eternal life, until they are baptized in water.
The first scripture is found in Acts 22:16.
When Ananias came to Saul, after God had met him on the road to Damascus, he told Saul (later called Paul) to “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” What does Ananias mean by “wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord”?
In Revelation 1:5 we read, “— Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” So here we are told it is Jesus Christ who washed us from our sins in His own blood.
So we have two statements, one is saying to be baptised and wash away our sins; the other is saying that Jesus is the One that washes away our sins in His own blood. In Acts 3:19 we read “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” When we repent and believe on Jesus then God blots out our sins because of the blood of the Lamb.
There are many scriptures showing it is the blood which is shed for the remission of sins, such as Matthew 26:28, Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Also there are scriptures showing it is by faith in Jesus’ Name that we have remission of sins. In Acts 10:43 Peter said, “To Him all the prophets’ witness that, through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” So, believing in His Name causes God to wash away our sins by His blood. Believing in His Name comes first before confessing His Name (see Romans 10:13-15). When we believe then it is reckoned to us as righteousness and therefore God justifies us.
The Question.
We have seen that it is God that cleanses us with the blood and washes away our sins when we believe, so can man wash away his own sins which have already been forgiven and blotted out, by getting baptised?
The answer, I believe, to Ananias saying “wash away your sins”, lies in the fact that water baptism is a declaration of the seperation from our past lives. In water baptism we are identifying with Christ death. That life, that was lived by our “old man”, was now ended in the death of the “old man” with Christ on the cross. Saul was blameless as far as the law went, however his sin was in persecuting the church. By being baptised, Saul was declaring that his old life was washed away. He had finished with the old life, he had finished with Judaism, he had finished with persecuting Christians, he was seperated from it in the waters of baptism. his past was washed away, he was done with it.
Water baptism does not wash away the “filth of the flesh”, but does assist our conscience to be free from condemnation of our past sins, as we recognise what it stands for, that is, that we are dead to sin (Romans 6:2, 6:11).
In Acts 2:40, Peter tells those who were asking what they should do, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation,” and those who received his word were baptised. So the waters of baptism separate us from our former life and from ‘this perverse generation.’
When Peter, in 1 Peter 3:20-21, writes about the waters of the flood saving Noah and his family we first have to remember it was the ark that saved him, the ark is a type of Christ. However in this instance Peter is saying that they were saved through water, and the like figure, the water of baptism, now saves us, not the removal of the filth of the flesh but rather of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were in the ark, they were saved but the waters carried them through to a new life. We are in Christ we are saved, water baptism is a declaration of seperation from the old life.
The second scripture that may cause confusion is Acts 2:38
In Acts 2:38 Peter said to the crowd who asked him what they should do, that they should “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Now it seems there is a slight contradiction, is it by believing in Him we receive remission of sins or is it by water baptism? Or, is water baptism an acknowledgment, a declaration, that we have received remission of sins by faith in His name? A. T. Robertson in his book, “Word Pictures in the New Testament” explains that what Peter said could also be translated, not as, “for remission of sins,” but , “on the basis of remission of sins.” In several other passages of scripture that is how the word is used, and because of the teaching of scripture on a whole that is how it should be translated according to Robertson. Kenneth Wuest obviously agrees with him because in his Expanded Translation of the New Testament he writes, “And Peter said to them, have a change of mind, that change of mind being accompanied by abhorrence of and sorrow for your deed, and let each one of you be baptized upon the ground of your confession of belief in the sum total of all that Jesus Christ is in His glorious Person, this baptismal testimony being in relation to the fact that your sins have been put away, and you shall receive the gratuitous gift of the Holy Spirit, for to you is the promise and to your children and to all who are at a distance, as many as the Lord our God shall with a divine summons call to Himself.”
When Abraham believed God it was reckoned to him as righteousness. This was before the law was given and set a precedent, now in the same way, when we believe on Jesus it is reckoned to us as righteousness, God reckons our faith as righteousness and therefore He can legally justify us. To the man who does not work for his salvation but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (see Romans 4:5). So God justifies the ungodly when he believes on Jesus and gives him the free gift of eternal life. Christ’s death is the propitiation for our sins which is acceptable to God as shown in the resurrection of Christ. Paul goes to great lengths to make this clear in Romans chapters 3, 4 and 5. When we are justified we are legally cleared of all our sins. God justifies the ungodly when they believe on Christ that is how they get justified. When they believe on Christ, God reckons their faith as righteousness and justifies them, it is not when they are baptized that God justifies them but when they believe on Jesus. This is when God puts them “into Christ”. The whole point of being baptized is because you have been justified already. In Romans chapter four Paul tells us that God set a legal precedent when he reckoned Abraham righteous because of his faith.
The third scripture that people may use to try to prove that salvation is only given after water baptism is Romans 6: 1-10.
Water baptism is an act of obedience and by being baptised we are declaring that because we have been crucified with Christ we are now identifying with Him in His death as He is placed in the grave. The cross represents Christ dying. The grave is the confirmation of His death. When we believe on Jesus we are united with Him when He died on the cross (Romans 6: 6-8). Water baptism is dealing with His death in the grave (Romans 6: 3-5). The grave is for dead people. In water baptism we are identifying ourselves with Christ being placed in the grave. We are buried with Him in baptism and as we come out of the water we are showing we are risen with Him as well. We are declaring in water baptism that we are disciples of Christ and have finished with our old life. Notice, we are united with Christ on the cross when we believe. Romans 6: 3-5 is our identification with Christ in His death, in the grave, after we have believed.
The fourth scripture is John 3; 5. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
In John 3:3, Jesus says to Nicodemus that you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again. So,when are you born again? Is it when you believe on Jesus or when you are baptised in water? John 3:14-15 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 1 John 5:1 says, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God—.” So it is when we believe that we are born of God, become children of God, we are children of God by believing on Jesus, water baptism follows believing on Jesus.
Now in John 3: 5, (KJV) we read, “Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” What does Jesus mean, to be born of water and the Spirit? What does the word “water” used here, signify? Some say it is the water of baptism, others that it is the water of the word, Ephesians 5: 26 (NKJV) says, “That He (Christ) might sanctify and cleanse her (the Church) by the washing of water by the word.” 1 Peter 1: 23 (NKJV) says, “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” So, we are born again through the word of God. I am grateful to John Birkin (South Wales) for that last verse from 1 Peter 1:23 because I had missed it. Still others say that it is the breaking of the waters in a natural birth (the reason being that it is the contrast between being born of the flesh and born of the Spirit). Some say that the words “water and” are not the words of Jesus but have been added later on, however, another highly possible, explanation is that the words “water” and “Spirit” could be two words referring to the same thing, therefore emphasising being born of the Spirit. The reason for this is that the word “and” following “water” can also be translated “even”, therefore emphasising being born of the Spirit, i.e, “Except one is born of water, even the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Kenneth Wuest translates it as “even” in his expanded translation of the New Testament, “Most assuredly, I am saying to you, unless a person is born out of water as a source, even out of the Spirit as a source, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God.” In chapter 4 of Johns gospel and chapter 7, Jesus uses the word water to mean the Spirit, so it is highly likely that here in chapter three he is making the same connection.
Finally let us sum up what has been said.
We first believe on Jesus and His blood washes away our sins, we are then baptised in the Name of Jesus as a witness before God and before men of our faith. We then receive the Holy Spirit to prepare us for reigning with Christ.
When we believe on Jesus, God purifies our hearts by faith (Acts 15:9) and sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts (Galatians 4:6). Now Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). We are circumcised in the heart and worship God in the Spirit having no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). So our heart is purified and kept in that state by faith. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins and also cleanses our conscience (Hebrews 9:14).
So what does the water do, it simply washes our body as a witness that we are separated and purified from contamination with the world, and aids our conscience when we come before God. It is a public proclamation that we are now consecrated to God (Robertson). It is a witness of a good conscience towards God (Wuest). It is a declaration of what has happened to us when we believed on Jesus, that is, that we are dead, buried and risen with Christ.
A danger in believing that water baptism saves us is that people, instead of trusting Christ to save them from their sins, could instead trust in water baptism and expect to go to heaven as a result of being baptised. They are not interested in Jesus, just in securing a place in heaven. To be baptised is an act of obedience after we are saved, it is something we do and we cannot make it a condition for receiving everlasting life. We receive the Spirit of life when we believe, and the anointing of the Spirit after we are baptised, therefore baptism in water should follow salvation as soon as possible after believing.
© Mark Greenwood
September 2015
updated June 2024. January 2025.
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations are from the Authorized Version of the Bible (AV) and from the NKJV.
NKJV The New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The audio study by Roger Price on ‘Baptism’ (code STS 46-47) is available from ccftapes.co.uk.
Bibliography
Kenneth S. Wuest Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Volumes II & III
The New Testament: An Expanded Translation
W E Vine Expository Dictionary of Bible Words