Grace / Life with God
Why Christians Get Baptized
In baptism, God publicly marks believers as His children. There's good news in it for the person being baptized.
When Peter went to Cornelius's house, he found people ready to hear what God had sent him to say. He told them about Jesus, His death and resurrection, and the forgiveness given to everyone who believes in Him. ()
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon the people listening. The Jewish believers with Peter were astonished. God had given these Gentiles the same gift He'd given them.
Peter recognized what had happened. God had accepted these people. Who could refuse them water for baptism? He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. ()
God's acceptance came first. Their baptism followed as the public recognition of what He'd done.
God gives us something in baptism
If you've been taught that baptism is the final procedure that gets God to save you, the order at Cornelius's house may surprise you. God gave these believers His Spirit before anybody baptized them.
Later, Peter explained that God had cleansed their hearts by faith. He said God saved the Jewish believers and these Gentile believers through the same grace of the Lord Jesus. ()
That gives us a good place to start understanding baptism. It's God's testimony to us, communicated through the church, that He has accepted us. In baptism, God publicly marks us as His children.
That's a wonderful thing to receive. You believe in Jesus. God has welcomed you. Now the church receives you as one of His people, and His welcome is expressed in something that actually happens to you.
Baptism is hugely important, because it's God's work, not ours. Turning it into a religious procedure we perform to get God's grace isn't just bad theology. It's a downright shame. We can receive it with gratitude for His goodness and confidence in what Jesus has done.
There's a reason Peter called for water
Peter didn't shrug and go home after the Spirit came. He called for these people to be baptized. Later he explained why, and it lines up with the vision God had given him. Why could Peter kill and eat? Because God had declared the animals clean. Why could he baptize these Gentiles? Because God had cleansed them by faith and given them the Spirit. In both cases, God's declaration that they were already clean gave Peter the authority to act.
The Jewish believers had seen that God welcomed Gentiles. They now had to treat them as people God had welcomed. Baptism made that recognition public. These people belonged to Jesus too.
That matters for the person being baptized, and it matters for the church. We receive somebody who belongs to the same Lord we do. We have a brother or sister to love, help, and learn alongside.
For somebody who has spent years wondering whether he fits, there's something good in being received that way. God's people are acknowledging what God has done for him. He can be glad to belong.
You can receive it gladly
If you believe in Jesus and haven't been baptized, talk to Christians who can help you understand it and arrange it. Ask them what it means and what to expect. You're allowed to ask questions about something you're going to receive.
You don't need to promise that you'll have every part of the Christian life figured out afterward. When Jesus told His apostles to make disciples, He said to baptize them and teach them (). Baptizing and teaching go together. Both describe how somebody gets started as an apprentice of Jesus among His people, and nobody ever graduates from being a disciple.
So thank God for saving you, be glad He calls you His child, and let other Christians rejoice with you and help you learn how to live with Him.
Peter wasn't embarrassed to baptize people God had already accepted. He insisted on it. We can understand that once we see baptism as a gift God gives His people.
If baptism has become a source of worry
Some people can hardly think about baptism without remembering an argument. They were told they didn't understand enough, that the person who baptized them belonged to the wrong group, or that God hadn't accepted them because some part of the procedure was wrong.
Those questions deserve careful answers. That You May Know examines salvation through faith in Jesus, including the claim that a believer remains lost until he gets baptism right. The Cornelius study follows the event and Peter's own explanation of it.
Begin with what Peter said God had done: He cleansed their hearts by faith. That gives you a reason for confidence in Jesus as you learn more about baptism.
God wants His children to know they belong to Him. Baptism gives us a public expression of that welcome. We can receive it as good news.
— tobe