Christ is All!: The Meaning And Purposes Of Christian Baptism

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

Introduction: Christianity Today Article (2017):

After a Syrian Muslim man converted to Christianity, he asked to be baptized by . . . a . . . Church in Tulsa. The pastor agreed, and . . . the man was baptized in front of the . . . congregation. The man, whose identity remains anonymous for security purposes, said the church promised to keep his baptism quiet, since shari‘ah law demands that converts from Islam be executed. He flew to Syria almost immediately after his baptism in order to marry his fiancée. A few weeks later, while still in Syria, he was kidnapped by Islamist extremists—including his uncle and his cousin—who said they learned about his conversion from the church’s website, he said. [The church] had included the man’s baptism in its weekly bulletin announcements, then posted those announcements online. It was the first thing that popped up under his name in an internet search . . . . For three days, the extremists tortured him, telling him they were going to kill him for his conversion. They tied his arms behind him and beat him, keeping him for hours under a 55-gallon electrified drum that shocked him whenever he touched it, he said. [He did eventually get free and got back to the United States].

Morning Star News (2022):

A young woman preparing to be baptized in Erbil, Iraq, last week was instead killed in a possible “honor” killing for converting to Christianity, with Muslim family members reportedly suspected, according to local media. The body of Eman Sami Maghdid, 20, was found on March 7 bound with tape and discarded among the vacant, sandy fields surrounding Erbil International Airport, in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, according to local media reports. She had been stabbed multiple times, Asia News reported. Police suspected her family was connected to the killing, according to local media. Arabic-language media reported that Maghdid’s father is a prominent local mosque leader (imam). Her uncle was taken into custody in connection with the slaying, but it was unclear if he was charged or merely questioned. Reports were conflicting about the possible arrest of another relative. A few weeks before she was killed, she had announced her conversion to Christianity on one of her social media accounts, according to Middle East Concern, a religious freedom advocacy group.

Of Baptism: We believe that Christian Baptism is the immersion in water of a believer, into the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost; to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect, in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is pre-requisite to the privileges of a church relation; and to the Lord’s Supper . . . . (New Hampshire Confession Of Faith)

1) Baptism Reminds Us That Jesus Was Baptized For Us
2) Baptism Is Done To Be Obedient To Jesus Christ
3) Baptism Displays Our Union With Christ
4) Baptism Displays Our Death To Sin
5) Baptism Displays Our Glorious, New, Everlasting Life In Christ
6) Baptism Displays Our Confession Of Faith In Christ
7) Baptism Displays Our Cleansing From Sin
8) Baptism Displays The Holy Spirit Being Poured Out On Us
9) Baptism Reminds Us Of Our Adoption Into God’s Loving Family As His Beloved Children Forever

10) Baptism Reminds Us That We Belong To God
11) Baptism Represents Our Formal Entrance Into The Church – The Body Of Christ

1. Baptism Reminds Us That Jesus Was Baptized For Us

a. Jesus was baptized for us in His life:

Matthew 3:13-17: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

This baptism may seem unnecessary because John's baptism was a baptism of repentance for sin. Jesus had no sin! Hebrews 4:15: in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1) Jesus baptism was also necessary “to fulfill all righteousness” Jesus came to do the will of His Father and to do it perfectly. It was God’s will that John baptize Jesus. They both had to fulfill all righteousness.

2) In His baptism, Jesus identified Himself with sinners whom He came to save:

Al Martin: It was as if Jesus died and was buried for 18 years! Then when He comes back on the scene, He is with sinners, He is in the water with sinners, and He is baptized by a sinner!

Sinclair Ferguson said that Jesus is in waters full of sin – those waters are poured over Him. It reminds us that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself.

Geoff Thomas: Here is a great line of repentant sinners standing soberly & sorrowing on the bank of the Jordan waiting to go down into the waters to John to be baptized. Thousands have stood there before Jesus, & now there are the last few. Survey them there in your mind with me, standing in that guilty line. There’s a thief, a drunkard, an adulterer, a liar, a bully, a wife-beater, an idol-worshiper, a torturer, Jesus, a murderer, a forger, a troublemaker, a braggart, a terrorist, a blasphemer, an abuser of children, a spendthrift . . . & hundreds more, every one a sinner, & there is Jesus made in the likeness of sinful flesh standing in line between the torturer & the murderer, indistinguishable outwardly, no halo over his head, but inwardly he is wholly without sin. As the prophet said, the Messiah would be numbered with the transgressors. He stands with sinners in solidarity; he stands for sinners in substitution. He will hang on a tree as the Lamb of God & bear the sins of the world. At the last he will do more than stand with them in their sin, he will be made sin for them. That is why he stands here in the baptism of sinners because one day he will climb Golgotha in love & stand in the closest possible contact with sinners, taking responsibility for their sin & answering for it before the throne of God. The Lord Jesus has taken the sinner’s nature, & his low condition, & his religion too – he has been circumcised on the eighth day. Throughout his childhood he sat in the synagogue, surrounded by sinners, & he went up to Jerusalem to the Temple & the feasts three times a year, & he was surrounded by sinners. He made his own a sinner’s religion of confession & imploring the mercy of God. He sang the psalms of sinners. Now he takes a sinner’s baptism, & he is pre-enacting the actual baptism into the wrath & curse of God which would soon take place on Golgotha when all the waves of judgment which our sins merit would fall on him, not us. In his baptism Jesus proclaims his unspeakable closeness with sinners. (The Baptism Of Jesus; Sermon Audio Version)

3) Jesus’ baptism inaugurated His public ministry as the Messiah

4) Jesus’ baptism was His formal and public anointing with the Holy Spirit for His public ministry

5) When Jesus was baptized, the heavens were ripped open: Isaiah 64:1: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down
- There is a history of the parting of the waters at the Jordan River: At the Jordan River, the waters parted and Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land on dry ground; the waters parted and Elijah and Elisha crossed on dry ground before Elijah was taken up into heaven; but when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist here, (as Dr. Wayne Stiles pointed out), the waters didn't part when Jesus was baptized, but the heavens parted! That's my King!

6) The Spirit anointed Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King at His baptism

7) The Father delights in His Son at His baptism! (We see the Trinity in action here!)

b. Jesus was baptized for us in His death: Luke 12:50: I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

We see water judgments in the Bible: Noah & the flood; Israel & the Red Sea; Jonah in the sea; the cross!

- Hosea 5:10: I will pour out my wrath like water. (God’s enemies immersed/Flood/Red Sea)

Baptism reminds us of our salvation from the lake of fire because Jesus was baptized by God’s wrath for us!

c. Baptism is a blessing for those who truly believe in Jesus, but it's a curse for those who are baptized without saving faith: Mark Jones writes:

rejecting Christ, who is offered in baptism, brings those who reject such grace under a divine curse. That is why in the Lord's Supper you can eat & drink judgment upon yourself if done in unbelief (1 Cor. 11:29).

2. Baptism Is Done To Be Obedient To Jesus Christ

Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . . .

3. Baptism Displays Our Union With Christ

Romans 6:1-4: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death . . . .

- Galatians 3:25-27: But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

- Colossians 2:11-12: In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

John Piper writes:

- Ephesians 1:4 says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. In Christ, in connection with Christ, God sees us before we existed in such a way that our election hangs on our being connected somehow with Jesus before we even exist.
- Ephesians 1:6 states that we have received grace in the Beloved, in Christ. The only way that grace flows to a sinner is somehow in our connection with, union with, relationship with, Christ.
- Ephesians 1:7 says that we have redemption in Christ. God’s purchase of us from bondage to sin and Satan and death becomes real and effective for us in connection with Christ. Without this relationship, this connection — you could say union — with Christ, we’re dead. There’s no redemption.
- Ephesians 1:13 declares that in Christ we were sealed by the Holy Spirit. Well that one’s interesting because now you have the Holy Spirit, who is the active agent, and he does this in Christ. The connection with Christ is what makes it possible for the Spirit to secure us forever.
- Philippians 3:9 says that the righteousness we need to stand before God, we have in connection with Christ: “. . . & be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.”
- Same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
- Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We only stand righteous and un-condemned before God because of our connection with Christ — because we’re in Christ.
- Paul helps explain why that is in 1 Corinthians 1:30: “You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” In other words, in connection with Christ we have righteousness that is not ours but his. He became our righteousness. He became our wisdom. He became our redemption and sanctification, and it all happened in him.
- I would define union with Christ like this: It is the reality of all the ways that the Bible pictures our human connectedness to Christ, in which he is indispensable for every good that we enjoy. No saving good, no eternal good, no God-exalting good, no soul-satisfying good comes to us except as we are connected to Christ. (What Is Union With Christ?)

4. Baptism Displays Our Death To Sin

5. Baptism Displays Our Glorious, New, Everlasting Life In Christ

Romans 6:4-8: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

6. Baptism Displays Our Confession Of Faith In Christ

1 Peter 3:21: Baptism, which corresponds to this [Noah/family saved by water], now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

- John MacArthur: The word for “appeal” has the idea of a pledge, agreeing to certain conditions of a covenant (the New Covenant) with God. What saves a person plagued by sin and a guilty conscience is not some external rite, but the agreement with God to get into the ark of safety, the Lord Jesus, by faith in His death and resurrection.
- Tom Schreiner: Baptism saves you because it represents inward faith, as evidenced by one’s appeal to God for forgiveness of one’s sins. Furthermore, baptism “saves” only insofar as it is grounded in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- John Piper: Baptism is a symbolic expression of the heart's "appeal to God." Baptism is a calling on God. It is a way of saying to God with our whole body, "I trust you to take me into Christ like Noah was taken into the ark, and to make Jesus the substitute for my sins and to bring me through these waters of death and judgment into new and everlasting life through the resurrection of Jesus my Lord." This is what God is calling you to do. You do not save yourself. God saves you through the work of Christ. But you receive that salvation through calling on the name of the Lord, by trusting him. And it is God's will all over the world and in every culture - no matter how simple or how sophisticated - that this appeal to God be expressed in baptism. "Lord, I am entering the ark of Christ! Save me as I pass through the waters of death!"

7. Baptism Displays Our Cleansing From Sin

- Ananias to Paul: Acts 22:16: why do you wait? Rise & be baptized & wash away your sins, calling on his name.

- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

8. Baptism Displays The Holy Spirit Being Poured Out On Us

- Ezekiel 36:25-27: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

- Titus 3:5: he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

9. Baptism Reminds Us Of Our Adoption Into God’s Loving Family As His Beloved Children Forever

Galatians 3:25-27: But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

10. Baptism Reminds Us That We Belong To God

- Galatians 3:26: for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God

- Romans 6:22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (Baptism is like a mark or a sign that God owns us!)

11. Baptism Represents Our Formal Entrance Into The Church – The Body Of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:13: For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Peter Leithart writes:

Baptism preaches because it’s God’s work. Baptism isn’t simply water, nor water poured, nor water over which a Trinitarian formula is intoned. Baptism is an act of the Church, using water in the name of the Trinity to bathe a person entering the Church. Because Jesus commands baptism, it is an act of God. The hand that dunks or pours is the hand of the minister, but the Spirit baptizes us into the one body. When the rite is done, the baptized person isn’t just wet. He or she is baptized, by God. At every baptism, God himself preaches the good news of his Son. Every baptized person is a fresh announcement of God’s promise, commissioned to proclaim the good news.

Believer in Jesus: Look to your baptism and remember all these glorious truths about God & about you in Christ!

Christ Jesus Commands His Church To Baptize All The Nations

Teaching Them To Obey All His Perfect Declarations

For He Wants Disciples From All The Generations

Baptism Pictures Union In Him We’re New Creations

Going Under Water’s Death To Sin We Fight Against Temptations

Above The Water’s Life! Raised By The Spirit’s Operations

By Faith Alone We’re Just As Taught In Paul’s Galatians

Water Points To Cleansing From All Sin And Condemnations

His Spirit Is Poured Out On God’s Holy Congregations

We’re Adopted Into God’s Loving Family Relations

Owned By Him There’s No Other Qualifications