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_______________ "Fulfill all righteousness!"
HERE ARE few things that God outright commands us to do; baptism is one of them!
Jesus said,
16 He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
The Apostle Peter said,
38 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 In other words, "baptism," is said in the same breath as, "repent." The two are intended by God to be engaged in together; they are inseparable. Baptism is, in fact, so necessary, that Jesus Himself, recognized its necessity and felt obligated, even as God Himself, to, "fulfill all righteousness," by being baptized! If God Himself, therefore, considers it necessary to obey this command of God, how much more, must we! 13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed Him
Baptism is not something that happens in infancy; baptism is a public declaration of the decision we’ve made to follow Christ. No commitment to Christ as our Saviour is possible when we're a mere infant; we can't understand nor make such a commitment! Therefore a, "baptism," made before we were old enough to make the choice is just as invalid as a driver's license issued to someone of that age. Baptism is full immersion into water
to symbolize our death (with Christ 2000 years ago on the cross) of
the, "old man," or, "person that we were before we
received salvation," and our rising out of the water to symbolize
our resurrection from the dead (with Christ 2000 years ago from the tomb) into new life (being,
"born again"). Our
old, sinful, nature died when we were born again, and we have become a
new, sinless (regarding, "sins unto death"- I John
5:16-18) person. |
