What is baptism and why be baptized?

Short answer

Baptism is the washing with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit that Jesus commanded His followers to practice. It pictures dying with Christ and rising to new life, and Christians differ on its exact role and on who should be baptized.

Baptism is one of the two ordinances that most Christians keep, along with the Lord’s Supper. A person is washed with water, either immersed in it or having it poured or sprinkled on them, and the words of the Trinity are spoken over them. The Bible calls this a mark of belonging to Jesus. Churches agree that it matters, but they understand some details differently.

Jesus commanded it

Before returning to heaven, Jesus gave His disciples their mission:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matt 28:19 · King James Version (1769)

Matthew Henry calls baptism “an outward sign of that inward washing” which the Spirit works in a believer. William MacDonald notes that the word “name” is singular: one name, yet three persons. In baptism a Christian openly says that God is his Father, Jesus is his Lord and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit lives in him. The New Geneva Study Bible adds that those baptized enter the new covenant that the three persons make with them.

Notice the order. Disciples are made first, and they are then baptized and taught to obey everything Jesus commanded. The first Christians followed this pattern: people heard the good news, believed, and were baptized (Acts 8:36–38).

What baptism pictures

Paul uses baptism to show what happens to a person who belongs to Christ:

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:3–4 · King James Version (1769)

Going under the water pictures burial with Christ, and coming up pictures rising with Him to a new way of living. MacDonald says the believer, in a sense, attends the funeral of his old self. John MacArthur reads the baptism into Christ here as the spiritual union that happens when a person trusts Christ, and he adds that water baptism is the picture of it. Adam Clarke thinks Paul probably alludes to baptism by immersion, but he admits it is not certain.

Paul also says:

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:27 · King James Version (1769)

MacDonald compares this to a soldier who puts on his uniform to show which army he belongs to: baptism is a public statement that a person belongs to Christ. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that in Christ we are seen as God’s sons, wearing His name and character.

Does baptism save?

Christians answer this question differently, so it is worth looking at the verse behind it. On the day of Pentecost the crowd asked what to do, and Peter said:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2:38 · King James Version (1769)

Some churches read this as saying that baptism itself brings forgiveness and new life. MacArthur answers that the phrase for the forgiveness of sins could better be read as “because of” forgiveness, so that forgiveness comes first and baptism follows. MacDonald gives several reasons not to teach salvation through baptism. Many passages say we are saved by faith in Christ (John 3:16), the thief on the cross was promised paradise without being baptized (Luke 23:43), and Paul thanked God that he had baptized only a few Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:14–16).

Who should be baptized is another point of difference. Many churches baptize only those who can say for themselves that they trust Christ, and usually by immersion. Others also baptize infants of believing parents, as a sign of God’s promise to the family. Clarke argues that the apostles would have understood Jesus’ command to include infants, since Jews already baptized the children of converts. Churches of this kind also hold different views on whether baptism works in the person or only signs what God has done. Honest readers of the Bible have landed in different places, and it is better to talk about it kindly than to turn it into a quarrel.

What baptism means for you

If you believe in Jesus and have not been baptized, the Bible gives no reason to delay. It is not a way to earn God’s favor, but an act of obedience and a public step: you say before others that your old life is behind you and that you belong to Christ. If you were baptized as a child, you can talk with your pastor about what that baptism means and whether you should confirm it.

Whatever our tradition, baptism points away from ourselves and toward what Christ has done: He died, was buried and rose again, and invites us to walk with Him in a new life.