BAPTISM.
Baptism is very important to whoever believes in Jesus. Jesus
said; John.3:5 Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto
you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he can not enter into
the kingdom of God. That means if some one believes in Jesus, he must be baptised with
water, and then this person must receive the holy spirit to be a member of
God's family.The bible is so clear: Mark.16:16 He
that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be
condemned.
Step number one is believing in Jesus, with one's own heart without force[Romans..5:8-] and step number two is baptism. If you baptize some one who
has not yet believed,then you are wasting your time because that baptism will
have no effect on that person's life, this is why I pity people who waste
their strength and time in baptizing babies and children who have not yet
confessed Jesus as their savior and Lord. Why rush? Where do you read it that
such young children are baptized before they believe in Jesus Christ
themselves?
What is Baptism? It is defined by most dictionaries as; A ceremony of
sprinkling somebody with or immersing somebody in water, accepting someone as a
member of the church, and giving him a name in addition to the family name or
names.
Most people believe this, but we should ask ourselves, What does
the bible say about it.
Is the above definition for Baptism true or not?.
If you believe it, then you'd better read this.
We shall answer the above question
by reading the scriptures, then one can take what one thinks is right; Ephesians.4:3-5 4
there's one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your
calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, The bible clearly tells us that there's one kind of baptism. The definition by
people is that they are two kinds; One is by sprinkling of water and two is by
immersion. This shows us that the definition above is not true, there's only
one kind of baptism that God knows. The next question is: Which one is that only
one kind of baptism that God knows?
It is written in 1Peter.2:21 For even to
this were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving ,us an
example, that you should follow his
steps. This means that even in baptism, we who believe
in Jesus, should be baptized the same way Jesus was baptized, hence following
his steps.We must know the kind of baptism Jesus underwent, that we can also be baptized the same way.
Jesus;
Matthew.3:13 - 16 13 Then came
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised by him. ...16And Jesus
when he was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: ... This scripture talks of
Jesus moving out
of water.
Does this mean that he was sprinkled with water? Not at all. It means that,
there was a large mass of water into which Jesus entered and then moved out of
it. In simple terms, he was immersed. After being baptized we see that his name
never changes and also he never received another name as our first wrong definition of baptism said.This means that baptism has nothing to do with names.
Jesus also baptized those who believed in him; John3:22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into
the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John
was also baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there;
and they came and were baptized. John was baptizing from an area that had plenty of water. Do you need to have
plenty of water for sprinkling? No, you will instead need plenty of water for
immersion, as some one's whole body must be covered with water. This was
usually done in rivers like Jordan, large streams or any other large water body
that can accommodate a full person.
Disciples;
Acts.8:30 - 39 ... 36 And as they
went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, see,
here is water; what does hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If you
believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that
Jesus christ is the son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still:
and they went down both into the water, ...and he baptized him. 39 And when
they were come out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip,... The eunuch moved into the water and then out of the water. This means that he had
been immersed in to the water, if it had been sprinkling, then there wouldn't
have been need for moving in and out of water.
Philip, the disciple of Jesus is the one who baptized the
Ethiopian Eunuch.
Acts.10:44 While Peter yet spoke
these words, the Holy spirit fell on all them who heard the word. ...48 And he
commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. ... The disciples of Jesus
continued baptizing; in the same way, Jesus - their master was baptized: by
immersion.
We observe the following about the only one true baptism.
-True baptism is only by
immersion:There's need to have much water.(John.3:22-23).
-True baptism is for free
of charge.We see no one in the scriptures paying in for baptism, if one uses
the chance of baptizing people, and then takes money from them, then that
person must be a robber. Baptism is an act of righteousness which is not
supposed to be paid for.
-True baptism is said to
be so, if the person being baptized confessed Jesus as the Lord and king, (Mark.16:16).This means that the person must be understanding and able to decide on his or her own. Never decide for a person.
-One must be baptized in
the name of the father the son and the holy spirit. Matthew.28:19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy spirit.
Luke.3:16 John answered, saying
unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but mightier than I comes,
...he shall baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire. Here we read of, the Holy spirit and the fire.
When the the bible says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy
spirit, it means that if some one believe in Jesus, this person has to receive
the Holy spirit. We see this in Acts.19:1 - 6 2
He said unto them, Received you the holy spirit when you baptized? And they
said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy spirit. 3
And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said, Unto
John's Baptism. ...5 When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when
Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy spirit came on them. After one has been
baptised by the water, the church elders lay hands on that person and he is
expected to receive the holy spirit.
When fire is talked of , we understand that, this is the word of
God; Luke.12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; ... Jesus came to set fire
on earth, in other words, he came to establish his word on the earth . Jeremiah.23:29 Is not my word like a fire? says the Lord ... The word of God is
related to fire. If Jesus is to baptise with fire, that means that; his word is preached to a person: to convert to Jesus, and then also cleanses, or sanctifies a convert like
fire. John.17:17
Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. Hence God's word
sanctifies those in christ as it is the truth.
The differences between the baptism; of Jesus and of
John are:
-John baptised for
remission of sins; Acts.19:4 Then said Paul, John
verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him who should come
after him, that is, on Jesus christ. Here, the converts were being prepared for the
coming of Jesus thus they confessed their sins as they waited Jesus and yet in
Jesus, we wait for non else, he performs the final activities. He says the
last word.
-In the baptism of Jesus,
converts are baptised in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit (Matthew.28:19), which names John never used.
-When John baptised
people, they never received the holy spirit;
but when Jesus, his disciples and the other believers baptise converts,
they receive the holy spirit; Acts.19:2 - 6. 2 He said unto them, Received you the holy spirit when you
baptised? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be
any Holy spirit. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were you baptised? And
they said, Unto John's Baptism. ...5 When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when
Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy spirit came on them.
As we said before, baptism is so important. One can not see the
kingdom of heaven without being born of water and the spirit. Did you believe
in Jesus or you have just believed in him? If you are a believer in christ but
not yet baptised, then make it your effort to get baptised and be laid on
hands. This is important because even Jesus was baptised and the disciples
including all other believers were all baptised.
There are many different denominations, which have many different
kinds of baptisms, but I want you to take the only true biblical kind of
baptism that Jesus also took.
If you were baptised in a wrong way, through a wrong kind of
baptism, that is, not by immersion, then you need to be baptised again.
We look forward to
hearing from you. God bless you.
(unless indicated, scriptures are got from the King James Bible
Version)
For more information:
Call:+256 775657055
+256 772414257
E-mail: matophilip@yahoo.com
