By Gary Ray Branscome
Because Jesus has instructed us to, Teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
baptism is not just some rite the church has come up with, but is a divine
institution with the authority of God behind it (Matthew 28:19).
When Christ said, 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 damned, the words He
who believes and is baptized tell us that baptism is to be an expression of
faith, not a work (Mark
On the day of Pentecost,
when Peter said, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost, everyone who came forward to be baptized In the
name of Jesus Christ, knew that by being baptized in His name they were
accepting Him as the Messiah [and thus as the source of forgiveness] (Acts
2:38). For that reason, coming forward was an act of faith on
their part. And after being baptized they went away believing
that when they accepted Christ as the Messiah their sins were washed away and
that is the very essence of faith. In contrast, the words, The Pharisees
and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, by refusing to be
baptized, tell us that everyone who refused to be baptized did so as an
expression of their unbelief (Luke
How Satan Tries to Muddy
the Water
Even though the Bible plainly tells us that people were
baptized in water, there have been many who have placed themselves in opposition
to the Word of God by trying to change what God set in place. So here are a few
of the passages that speak of water in connection with baptism.
I
indeed baptize you with water for repentance: but the one who comes after me,
whose shoes I am not worthy to carry, is mightier than I: He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit, and with fire (Matthew 3:11).
Having
been baptized, Jesus immediately went up out of the water (Matthew
I
have baptized you with water: but He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost
(Mark 1:8). [See Luke 3:16, John 1:26, Acts 1:5, Acts 11:16.]
The
one who sent me to baptize with water told me, The man upon whom you see the
Spirit descending, and remaining, is He who baptizes with the Holy Ghost
(John 1:31,33).
John
was also baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was plenty of water there: and people
were coming, and being baptized (John
They
came to some water: and the eunuch said, Look, here is water; what prevents me
from being baptized?
And he commanded the chariot
to stop: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch;
and he baptized him (Acts
Can
any man forbid water, for these people, who have received the Holy Ghost just
as we did, to be baptized? (Acts
Not only is the human mind corrupted by sin, the mind of
the most brilliant man who ever lived is like the mind of a worm when compared
to the mind of God. For that reason, I find it difficult to understand how some
people can be so naive as to think that the petty reasons they come up with for
changing baptism, or for dispensing with the entire ceremony will not be
condemned by God. How can they fail to see that they are in rebellion against God. By trying to exalt their own will over Gods will they
are trying to exalt themselves over God, and that is self-deification which
is a form of idolatry.