What Is Water Baptism?

Acts 8:26 - 40 is a great description of the ordinance of baptism and the starting point for this study: Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27)So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28)was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29)Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30)So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31)And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32)The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33)In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” 34)So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35)Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36)Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37)Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38)So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39)Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40)But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

ÞFaith and repentance, not baptism, are essential for salvation:
Ephesians 2:8 - 10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9)not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10)For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Acts 20:20 - 21 tells us, "How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

Romans 3:27-28 makes it plain: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28)Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."

Romans 4:1 - 8 declares, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2)For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3)For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4)Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5)But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6)just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7) “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

ÞPaul was called to preach the gospel not to baptize. If baptism saved then Paul would make baptism a priority:
1 Corinthians 1:17 - 18 tells us, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 18)For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

ÞJesus did not baptize anyone. Instead he went preaching, teaching and healing:
John 4:1 - 3 1Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3)He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.

ÞAdults or those of the age of accountability are the only proper candidates for baptism. We do not baptize infants and very young children.
The water baptism of new converts in the Bible were all adults believers -- no children or infants:
At Pentecost-- three thousand were baptized by Peter and the apostles (Acts 2:41);
At Samaria-- many were baptized by Philip the evangelist (Acts 8:12);
At Gaza-- the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized by Philip (Acts 8:38);
At Damascus-- Paul was baptized by Ananias (Acts 9:18);
At Caesarea-- Peter baptized Cornelius and his friends (Acts 10:48);
At Philippi-- Paul baptized Lydia and the Philippian jailor (Acts 16:15, 33);
At Corinth-- Paul baptized Crispus, Gaius, Stephanas, and others (Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 1:14, 16);
At Ephesus-- Paul baptized some followers of John the Baptist (Acts 19:3-5).

Acts 2:41 reads, "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."

ÞBaptism is only by immersion: The Greek word baptizo means to immerse. Sprinkling, smearing or dabbing do not meet the Bible’s requirement for scriptural baptism.

ÞThe Lord’s church (ekklesia) is the only proper authority to perform baptism:
The commission is given to the church. Matthew 28:18 - 20 18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

ÞWhy be baptized?1. Jesus commanded and commended it (Matthew 28:19). Matthew 3:15 “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.” Note -- Jesus had no sins for which to be forgiven. If baptism washed away sin, then Jesus would not have submitted to it!

2. It is the answer of a good conscience toward God (1 Peter 3:21).

3. When you are baptized you identify with the Lord’s church and His people.

4. Baptism, one of the two ordinances given to us by our Lord, pictures the gospel -- the death, burial and resurrection. The Gospel: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:1-4).


5. We declare through baptism that we died with Christ and rose with Him into newness of life. Romans 6:4 - 6 reads, "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5)For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6)knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."