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Announcer (00:00:00): It 's time to think about the Bible like you never have before. This is Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com. Today's topic is, "Are Christians Really Baptized Into Christ?" Baptism in the Bible is a big deal. The only problem is understanding its exact meaning. What's the difference between being baptized to repentance or baptized by fire? What about the baptism of the holy spirit or baptism to forgiveness? What about plain old water baptism? Why is it so confusing? Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.

Rick (00:00:38): Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 25 years. Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what is our theme text for today's episode?

Jonathan (00:00:49): Ephesians 4:4-5. "There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism..."

Rick (00:01:00): Arise and be baptized! This and many other similar scriptural statements have in many ways defined Christianity. Unfortunately, because Christianity is so splintered, it applies these very important words and instructions in a variety of ways. Some say baptism changes you, others say it's a symbol, and others say it's necessary for heaven. Some baptize infants, others baptize children and others baptize adults only. Some baptize into a church or denomination while others baptize into Christ. Some see baptism as a necessary beginning to walk towards Christ, while others see it as a symbol of having decided to sacrificially follow Christ. How can all of this be one baptism? Well, the answer is easy; it can't. What do we do with all of it? We search the scriptures and look for the originally intended message behind Christian baptism.

Jonathan (00:01:57): There are many scriptures that talk about baptism in many different ways. As we walk through several of these texts, we will do so with the objective of understanding what it means to be baptized into Christ, that "one baptism" in our theme text scripture. Let's start with the end product, which is baptism into Christ. Matthew 28:18-20: "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Julie (00:02:42): Before this what has been called the "great commission" to make disciples of all nations and baptize them, there were other kinds of baptisms like the baptism of Noah, Moses, fire, suffering, others. It can get confusing. But as we're going to see, these appearances showed us different parts of the whole picture of what baptism would come to mean. We're going to go through these examples. We're going to identify it to see that it adds to the full picture of the true baptism into Christ. I'm going to warn you both upfront, I have a lot of questions because this topic can get confusing fast. I really want to understand what it is once and for all.

Rick (00:03:18): It is confusing. It is confusing. We need to parse through the scriptures carefully. Let's look at the New Testament. In the New Testament, it looks at some Old Testament events and they referred to as baptism. Well, why would that be? Well, let's look at Noah and the ark. It's going to be a New Testament rendering of Noah and the ark. Peter, the Apostle Peter, begins explaining that Jesus died once for all. He explains that this one-time sacrifice was a witness to the "spirits now in prison." Then the scripture continues, and the picture of baptism comes into play. 1 Peter 3:20-21:

Jonathan (00:03:59): "...when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ..." We have Noah and his family, the ark, and a whole lot of water, Rick. What does that have to do with Christian baptism?

Rick (00:04:28): Well, it's interesting because Peter is telling us that. He said, "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you." He's making this correlation. He's telling us that the ark represented Jesus, and that those in Jesus, those baptized in Jesus are lifted out of the sinful and destructive state of the world. H's giving us a clear focused answer to that.

Julie (00:04:52): You're saying it's like a little parable? Noah moved through the water on the ark. The ark saved him. Jesus is our ark; we go through the water of baptism as part of our salvation. I know we're going to need a lot more explanation, but we are just starting.

Rick (00:05:07): When we look at that, we just want to understand the picture is giving us a hint. It's giving us a starting place in our discussion.

Jonathan (00:05:16): In this first little piece, Peter compares the Christian baptism to Noah and the ark. We're going to be bringing up baptism's meanings throughout this episode. Our first Baptism Meaning: Those in the ark represented those who are baptized into Christ's death. Baptism here is a picture of how Jesus provides us salvation and deliverance in him.

Rick (00:05:38): All right, so remember that specific picture. Jesus provides us true Christian salvation and deliverance in him. Remember that, because now we're going to go to another picture of baptism looking at the Old Testament. Next, we're going to look at Moses. This is brought up by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

Jonathan (00:05:57): "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ." There are three pictures here. First, Paul is telling us, when Israel passed through the Red Sea that parted as the Israelites left slavery in Egypt, they were considered baptized into Moses, who represents Jesus. Moses was their deliverer and mediator between themselves and God.

Julie (00:06:37): They were covered with water like a baptism. Even though they didn't physically get wet, the walls of the sea were on either side of them with the clouds overhead.

Rick (00:06:46): You have a picture, and again, the apostle is telling us that, he's helping us see it in that very specific fashion. You see Moses delivering them in this picture of baptism. Let's remember that because we're going to come back around to it in just a minute.

Julie (00:07:02): Well, it gives that second picture where it said they all ate the same spiritual food when they were in the wilderness. We know that they physically ate manna every day and it came down from heaven. It's spiritual food in that it was miraculous and happened supernaturally.

Rick (00:07:16): The interesting thing about that is that spiritual food followed the experience of this "baptism." Again, we're building the blocks here.

Jonathan (00:07:26): The third picture is they all drank the same spiritual drink from a spiritual rock. The rock was Christ. No wonder Moses was disciplined for striking the rock.

Rick (00:07:38): What we have is we have this picture of baptism, and built upon that, then you have spiritual food and spiritual drink. That comes after. These three pictures show us the ingredients that Israel needed to embrace and to accept their Messiah. It shows they needed to be in Moses first before those things. It shows us how Christianity actually works in the same way. Peter shows us baptism in one way through looking at Noah and the ark. The Apostle Paul shows us baptism in another way, showing us being baptized into Christ, essentially following him in this baptism. Jonathan, let's go into Baptism's Meaning here:

Jonathan (00:08:25): Moses delivered Israel from slavery and death by leading them through the water and under the cloud. Jesus delivers by creating the path through sin and death. Baptism here shows us the necessity of following the example before us - walk in Jesus's footsteps.

Rick (00:08:42): You walk in Jesus' footsteps in this particular example of Moses, and in the other example, Jesus is the one who delivers you. It's showing us different aspects of what the big picture of Christian baptism actually means. That's why these two apostles say, "Hey, this pictures baptism." It's starting to paint the picture. Let's go get a little bit more foundation here. Next, let's take a quick look at "cleansing" under the Jewish Law. Once delivered from Egypt, the people of Israel had to be "sanctified." They had to be set apart, they had to be cleaned to be able to go before God. Let's look at Exodus 19:10-11:

Jonathan (00:09:19): "The LORD also said to Moses, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people."

Julie (00:09:35): That "sanctified," like you said, Rick, they had to be set aside for this holy purpose. They had to be physically clean, that's their clothes and their body, and this prepared them to go before God.

Rick (00:09:44): They had to do what was necessary to be presentable before God. Don't forget this fact when we go to New Testament and baptism, because this comes up in a big, big, big way later on. We've got this "sanctifying" of all of the people. Well, the Jewish Law also was detailed about cleansing from infection or diseases or physical discharges and all kinds of things like that, that are all just not really the nicest things to talk about it. It gives us a sense of being clean in those areas. Leviticus talks about periods of cleansing after all of these things. These cleansings were linked to their spiritual cleansing as well. It's not just okay, clean up after all of this, but there's a spiritual link as well in Leviticus 15:14-15, which takes place after one of these types of cleansing rituals:

Jonathan (00:10:39): "Then on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the LORD to the doorway of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest; and the priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD because of his discharge."

Julie (00:11:00): To quote from the Life Application Study Bible, "God told the Israelites how to diagnose contagious skin diseases and mildew so they could avoid them or treat them, and their obedience made them healthier, even if they didn't know why they were doing this. But His Law helped them avoid not only physical contamination, but also moral and spiritual infection."

Rick (00:11:22): There's much more to it than "Oh, you're messy, get cleaned up." There's the sanitary aspect of this whole thing, and then there's the spiritual aspect of this whole thing. Why is there a spiritual aspect? Hold on and wait until you see the New Testament and it all becomes so much more clear. Now we've got some Old Testament history before us. Next we're going to look at John's baptism and how it worked. The first question is regarding the method. Did John, when he baptized, did he sprinkle, or did he immerse? Jonathan, let's take a look at the meaning of this word for baptism.

Jonathan (00:12:04): The new word for baptism is in the Greek called "baptizo," meaning "to immerse, submerge; to make overwhelmed; that is, fully wet." This is not a sprinkling.

Rick (00:12:14): No. This is important because there are many aspects of this baptism. When we look at it, we want to understand it's a ritual, but it's a ritual that's very specific. It is an immersion to make overwhelmed and so forth. Before we go any further with John's baptism, Jonathan, let me just revert and go back to wrapping up the Old Testament because we're stepping into New. We just need to wrap up the Old first. Baptism's Cleansing; in this case, or meaning, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:12:47): As the Old Testament priests offered atonement for diseases after cleansing, so Jesus, through his sacrifice, offers remission of our sins once we have come to him.

Rick (00:12:58): We talked about the Old Testament and the cleansings of the Old Testament Law, and then we talked about Jesus. But folks, in between, you have this guy named John the Baptist. What we find, what we are going to find is this guy named John the Baptist plays this incredibly special role to bring us from the Old Testament cleansings and rituals into the New Testament coming into Christ. There is an in-between that John brings. Jonathan, that word that you defined, the word for "baptist," John the Baptist's baptism, literally means "to submerge." I know that in some Christian denominations, there's a sprinkling and so forth, and just making a quick comment. It doesn't fit with scripture. We're going to leave it there. We'll come back to baptism in a fuller sense in a little bit. Julie, as we look at what we have so far, we've set some groundwork by looking at the Old Testament and rituals and cleanliness and so forth. Baptisim's Meaning; where are we so far?

Julie (00:14:03): We can already see several symbolic meanings for baptism. But the main point here is that baptism so far has to do with cleansing and a full immersion to show a new life unfolding. Again, we've just been looking at some basic pieces of the bigger picture of what Christian baptism actually means, so stay with us.

Rick (00:14:22): Yeah, it, it gets bigger, but we need this very specific foundation to understand what is going to come next. Baptism or cleansing in one form or another has always been important with God's chosen people. No wonder it shows up in Christianity.

Jonathan (00:14:43): To be "baptized" literally means to "be submerged," and symbolically has different shades of meaning. Where does John the Baptist fit in to all of this?

Rick (00:14:52): Here we go. John the Baptist's work made an indelible mark on the Jewish nation at the time that he preached. He also made an indelible mark on our entire Christian culture moving forward from those days. In fact, in many denominations of Christianity, John's work is still central to their evangelizing efforts.

Julie (00:15:21): The role of John the Baptist was to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. There were 400 years between the last words of the Old Testament in the book of Malachi and when the New Testament begins. No prophets were sent to Israel during this time, and Greek influence began to corrupt Judaism. John had a lot of work to do in order to get those people ready to receive their Messiah.

Rick (00:15:44): The thing that we want to understand here is that there was a time of blank. You don't have anything coming down prophetically from God. John was sent to take that blank period of time and put it in order. First let's establish the difference between the baptism of John and the baptism in the name of Jesus. These are two different things. Let's focus in on John, because John was all about repentance, but this is only the first stage.

Jonathan (00:16:18): John identified himself as the forerunner of the Messiah, and his work was to prepare Israel. Mark 1:1-5: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins." John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. That word "repentance" means a "reversal."

Julie (00:17:07): Yeah, but why does it say that if baptism by John didn't actually forgive sins?

Rick (00:17:12): Yeah. Well, and that's a good question because in the scripture, Jonathan, that you just read, it says he's "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." You can look at that and say, "Well, it's a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." It's one to prepare for the other, the baptism of repentance--and we're going to unfold this in a lot of detail--the baptism of repentance was to prepare the nation for the coming forgiveness of sins through Jesus. Just let's look at one scripture that describes John's baptism long after he's done. Acts 13:24:

Jonathan (00:17:48): "When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel."

Rick (00:17:55): Luke, in writing the book of Acts, is talking about the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. It was a preparation. That's what it was for. That's all it was for. Julie, it was a really good question because that's a confusing scripture if we don't understand that it's a baptism of repentance--pause--for the forgiveness of sins, which incidentally comes from Jesus who wasn't on the scene yet. We have to put those two pieces together. Repentance is the basic first step of reversing oneself relating to sin. Now listen, this is important; this was a national preparation for Israel to be ready for the introduction of their Messiah.

Jonathan (00:18:44): For Israel only, and no one else.

Rick (00:18:48): That's really important. Say that again.

Jonathan (00:18:50): For Israel only and no one else.

Rick (00:18:53): We need to understand that because you know what? John only came once and he really was on the scene for about six months. You have this very, very, very short period of time that rocked everything. We have to put it in its perspective; once only for Israel and no one else. Let's make the connections now. Just like in the Jewish Law, remember we talked about the Jewish Law last segment. John's baptism also showed itself to be a work of preparation. It could not take away sin, but it could prepare the heart of the baptized one for that privilege, the privilege of having sin taken away. Just as they had washed with water first in the Old Testament, so John's baptism was also a preparatory cleansing work.

Julie (00:19:37): Oh, that makes sense.

Rick (00:19:38): See, you have the cleansing and then they had to go in and make the sacrifice.

Julie (00:19:44): Yeah, that makes sense.

Rick (00:19:45): This showed the personal repentance that John, by his baptism, was illustrating. It puts things in a much broader perspective.

Jonathan (00:19:53): Remember, they had as their basis the Jewish Law. This is why we first talked about the people having to cleanse themselves before bringing their sacrifice to the priest. Washing was the preparation, not the actual atonement for sin.

Rick (00:20:07): That's the key. They washed their garments to go before God; then they could be blessed. The washing is the preparation. John is there as the preparation.

Julie (00:20:18): It sounds like this was a specific kind of baptism for a specific group of people at a specific time in history only. John's baptism was to prepare the people to receive the Messiah. It sounds like this isn't the kind of baptism Christians should do today because the Messiah arrived, of course, 2000 years ago. We are not preparing to move from the Law to Christianity like they did.

Rick (00:20:42): Well said, absolutely.

Julie (00:20:45): I got it! I got one!

Rick (00:20:46): See, and Julie, this is an important point because it's too easy to miss it because we love the thought of repenting from your sins because it gets people set up on a new stage, a new pattern. We love that idea, but we have to put it where it belongs, especially in the context of Israel when Jesus was just coming on the scene. You've got John doing all his baptizing, okay? Then one day in John 1:29, here's what happens next:

Jonathan (00:21:17): "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Rick (00:21:24): Okay. "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Time out. Let's pause and consider. Something has just changed. The moment Jesus was identified was the moment that John's work would begin to diminish. John's disciples were troubled by John's decreasing popularity. That's exactly what happened once Jesus started his preaching. His disciples, John's disciples, asked him why Jesus' followers were baptizing more people than they were. Let's take a look at the scripture. In John 3:27-30:

Jonathan (00:21:58): "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent ahead of him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease."

Julie (00:22:25): What a humble heart! John knows his mission is for this limited time and limited purpose. He's not number one, but he has no desire to be. He's showing the people the need to repent for their sins, get their hearts and minds in the right attitude, and Jesus could take it from there.

Jonathan (00:22:41): I have three quick points. First, in Jesus' ministry, it never mentions going back to John's baptism after Pentecost. Second, John's baptism was one of the final rituals of the Law. Third, all along the Law was showing them the Messiah.

Rick (00:22:58): That's the point. What was John's point? "Behold, the lamb of God." His point, "Look at Jesus, not at me." The decrease in John's ministry was because Messiah had come and that would lead to the remission of sins. When Jesus appears, what doesn't happen is John doesn't all of a sudden freeze and stop and just go away. There's a phasing out of John's baptism and there's a phasing in of following Jesus. At this point in time, you are in the in-between. In that in-between both of these things are happening and it can look confusing unless we see it for what it truly is.

Julie (00:23:40): I have a question. We know from the Scriptures that some of John's disciples that we just talked about transferred over to become Jesus's disciples, specifically Andrew and Peter. Were all the apostles baptized by John? Do we assume that they were all baptized into repentance, especially because they are going to later baptize others?

Rick (00:24:01): Actually, it really didn't matter if they were baptized by John or not.

Julie (00:24:05): How is that possible though? Shouldn't they, doesn't it sound reasonable that they would have all been baptized?

Rick (00:24:10): It sounds reasonable, like you should be baptized by John, but think about all of the people that Jesus went to through all of the countryside, and healed and preached to and said, "Your sins are forgiven." They were nowhere near water. They didn't need to have that baptism anymore. Why? Because Jesus was there. Once Jesus is on the scene, the relevance and importance of John's baptism becomes diminished. No, the apostles didn't necessarily have to be baptized by John because they were following who John was pointing to. John was getting the nation ready and they were going and following Jesus.

Julie (00:24:52): Their hearts might have already been in the right place.

Rick (00:24:54): Exactly. Exactly. Because Jesus is there, you're seeing him and you're following him. Again, the remission of sins comes after the repentance stage and is accomplished through the sacrifice of Jesus. One more time; John's baptism only symbolized Israel's necessary national repentance.

Jonathan (00:25:16): Scripturally the word for "remission" means "freedom or pardon."

Rick (00:25:21): That's important. "Freedom or pardon." Again, repentance is one thing. "Remission," "freedom or pardon" is another. Let's look at one scripture that uses that word a couple of different times. Jonathan. Let's go to Luke 4:18:

Jonathan (00:25:35): This is Jesus speaking. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." "Deliverance" and "liberty" are the same Greek word for "remission," as in "you are free to go." You have freedom!

Rick (00:25:59): See, John's baptism didn't have anything to do with "you are free." John's baptism had everything to do with, "Look what shackles you. Look at what you're stuck in. Let me help you understand that you need to have that freedom." But then once baptized, they're not all of a sudden free and forgiven, but they are in a position to be able to recognize. That's what his baptism was there for.

Julie (00:26:29): Jesus's ministry then would completely replace the need for John's message of only repentance. Jesus' baptism, we're going to talk more about that, involved this remission or pardon of sin. In other words, "That's no longer relevant to you." Once the Messiah came, this John's baptism became really obsolete. Jesus' baptism would last for 2000 years or so with the age of the gospel message going out.

Jonathan (00:26:55): John will receive honor and dignity in the kingdom for the work he had done for Israel.

Rick (00:27:01): He will. He served this incredibly important role in this transition time because the people were without godly guidance. He comes on the scene and single-handedly does this work to prepare for the Messiah. The honor that he is to be given is really, really, really remarkable. Jonathan, Baptism's Meaning, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:27:24): John's baptism was about repentance and was an integral part of the national preparation and ritual cleansing that Israel needed to prepare for their Messiah. In contrast, Jesus's eventual type of baptism, meaning being baptized into Christ, would replace John's and be about repentance, forgiveness, and the holy spirit.

Rick (00:27:47): See, it would be about all of those things, not just one. It's not like repentance got left behind. It got included in something entirely different.

Julie (00:27:59): Okay, another question. When Jesus and his disciples now baptize others, did they change the meaning of John's baptism? Like what kind of baptism are they performing for others? Is it John's to repentance or some sort of hybrid now that Jesus is here?

Jonathan (00:28:14): Let's take a look at it in John 4:1-3: "Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), he left Judea and went away again into Galilee."

Rick (00:28:33): Again the question. When Jesus and his disciples baptized, or the disciples baptized rather, did they change the meaning of John's baptism? We would answer no, they didn't. You go "Wait, wait, what? But Jesus is here." Okay, why? Why didn't they change the meaning? Think about this. The whole purpose of Jesus' work before his crucifixion and ascension was to prepare Israel for their Messiah. Jesus was there to prepare them to accept him. This required them to repent, to prepare themselves for what their Messiah would later ask of them. True Christian baptism would not be instituted until after Pentecost. It wasn't time yet for a new baptism. It was simply still time for the turning from where you were and now following who you can see, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth.

Julie (00:29:27): That scripture, Jonathan, you just read, said that Jesus didn't personally baptize anyone, but it was under his direction. Why? Why wouldn't he? I was thinking about this, that maybe people thought that "I only want to be baptized by Jesus now because he's the big one and not just a common disciple." Why else might this have been?

Rick (00:29:48): Well, it really could have been because Jesus was still preaching, he was preaching, he was healing. He's the teacher. That's a symbol. He's the real thing. I think that his disciples did the work of this symbolism so that he could focus obviously on the more important higher, being Messiah.

Jonathan (00:30:05): Jesus had to complete his sacrifice before the new and living way was open for his followers to be baptized into Christ.

Rick (00:30:12): You put all this together and what you have is a very clear picture of a transition. Now here's the thing, it's a clear picture of a foggy time, because you've got one thing still happening and phasing out when you got another thing starting to begin and phase in and you're going "Well, which is which? And how come?" It is a little bit confusing. It has to be because that's what happens during periods of transition. We want to hang onto that thought as we go to expand this even further. Putting so many details about baptism out on the table helps us to begin to realize that this ritual tells a profound story about God's plan.

Jonathan (00:30:55): What about Jesus and his own baptism? He was a perfect man. Why would he need that ritual cleansing Israel needed?

Rick (00:31:05): This is a really important question because Jesus as a perfect man, emphatically stood above everyone else. He was acceptable to God just the way he was. Also, as we shall see, both Jesus and John spoke about other baptisms. Boy, talk about confusing. It's important to put all of this in order so we can see how they fit into the true baptism into Christ.

Julie (00:31:35): Okay, so why would Jesus be baptized by John? He wouldn't need to prepare his own heart to receive himself as Messiah, and he had nothing to repent for.

Rick (00:31:45): Exactly, good point. There's got to be a different reason. What would that reason be? Well, let's take a look at some of the ingredients. First, Jesus being baptized by John would unmistakably connect him to John. Let's look at Luke 3:3-4:

Jonathan (00:32:05): "And he (John the Baptist) came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book in the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Well, verse 4 quotes prophecies from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. Jesus being baptized by John would show everyone he approved of what John was doing and it would give John credibility.

Rick (00:32:35): Okay, so you have John gaining this credibility because Jesus comes to him, and everybody's watching John. When Jesus comes to him, you have this circumstance that, okay, you've got these two, this one somewhat unknown individual and this one very well-known, very outspoken individual, and they have this conversation, okay? John was there to point to Jesus. At the proper time, Jesus approached him and he would begin his ministry, and his ministry began appropriately where? With John the Baptist. Let's look at Matthew 3:13-17:

Jonathan (00:33:18): "Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answering said to him, Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permitted him."

Julie (00:33:40): What does this mean, "to fulfill all righteousness?" I looked it up in the New Living Translation. It says, "We must carry out all that God requires." Is that the correct thought?

Rick (00:33:49): I think absolutely. Just remember the rituals of the Law. The rituals required cleansing. Now Jesus was perfect. He didn't need cleansing. But what did he need to do? He needed to fulfill every aspect of the Law. So part of this was his coming as a fulfillment of all of those ritual cleansings. He is now going to become the ultimate ritual cleansing.

Jonathan (00:34:16): Jesus followed the Law from his youth. At age 30, when Jesus was now a Jewish man, he was ready to fulfill the Law. In so doing, he had to present himself at baptism to offer his sacrifice to God.

Rick (00:34:31): You have Jesus there to begin his true walk to fulfill the ransom price and Messiahship and to bring to an end, essentially, the way the Law was working. Now they had this conversation and John says, "I shouldn't be baptizing you." John has a really good point. You see, you understand his humility. But Jesus says, "No, this is really important. Let it happen." John did. He didn't fully understand why at that point, but he knew that baptizing Jesus would be appropriate.

Jonathan (00:35:05): This Old Testament prophecy needed to be fulfilled. Psalm 40:7-8: "Then I said, Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will O my God; Your Law is within my heart."

Rick (00:35:21): You have that. He goes before John and he's baptized and what happened? The holy spirit, the scripture says, "descended upon him like a dove." The apostles received the holy spirit at Pentecost. Well, this was Jesus' Pentecost. The holy spirit came, he is now begotten by God's spirit as a result of this baptism. Obviously his baptism was very different than everybody else's. That ritualistic cleansing led to the sacrifice actually being prepared to be offered. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture here of Jesus' own baptism. Jonathan, when we look at Baptism's Meaning in relation to Jesus, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:36:03): Jesus' own baptism shows us that just as all those under the Old Testament Law were to ceremonially wash, Jesus lawfully did the same to show his acquiescence with God's will.

Rick (00:36:16): That's the key. That's the important thing. "I will do the will of God."

Julie (00:36:24): Here's another interesting connection. John was a descendant of the Old Testament high priest Aaron, on both his mother's and father's side, according to Luke 1:5. Priests in the Old Testament presented sacrifices to the Lord. Here's John presenting the ultimate sacrifice when he announced Jesus as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" in John 1:29.

Rick (00:36:46): That's enormous. That's enormous. When you look into the scriptures and a subject like baptism, you think, "Oh, it's all about dunking in water." No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It is all about the unfolding of God's plan and the intricacies of the development as things move forward. Let's look at other baptisms mentioned by John and Jesus, okay?

Julie (00:37:09): Okay, so we've got one. John spoke of this "baptism of holy spirit and fire." So what does that mean in Matthew 3:11-12:

Jonathan (00:37:20): "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals; he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor; and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Rick (00:37:43): John's on a roll right here, okay? He's talking very powerful language. Many Christians hear these words of John, "He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire," and many Christians speak of this baptism of fire as the power of the holy spirit. However, this baptism with fire, first of all, it's not mentioned again after this proclamation by John. It needs to be understood within its context because oftentimes the things that we interpret are not the things that are actually meant. This fire can actually be understood by looking further into John's comments. Let's go a few verses before John said "He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire" and get the sense of what it really means. Matthew 3:7-10:

Jonathan (00:38:34): "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham." They came to John's baptism to observe and question what was taking place, not to be baptized. John had the holy spirit working from God and he knew the hearts of the religious leaders and the majority were not right with God.

Rick (00:39:12): John looked at them and called them a "brood of vipers." So...

Julie (00:39:17): Family of snakes.

Rick (00:39:18): Yes.

Julie (00:39:19): That's not good.

Rick (00:39:20): Yeah, there's something that's not right here and there's something that needs to be put in perspective in a very, very different way. Let's continue with verse 10 because here's what John says:

Jonathan (00:39:32): "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Julie (00:39:41): Just to be clear, when John tells them that Jesus will "baptize you with the holy spirit and fire," these are two different expressions.

Jonathan (00:39:51): Right.

Julie (00:39:51): At Pentecost, the faithful would be baptized with the holy spirit, and we're going to talk about that shortly, because they were called by God and they answer that call. But the remainder of the nation of Israel no longer had God's favor for a time when this call went out to the Gentiles, so they would go through a baptism of fire, meaning judgment and trouble. Baptism of fire isn't a good thing. In fact we use the idiom "baptism by fire" today to describe learning something the hard way or persevering through a difficult trial.

Rick (00:40:21): You're right. What we need to understand is "baptism by fire," don't try this at home. Don't take this symbolism and say, "Hey, I'm baptized by..." No, this is a baptism of destruction because you've misused the privilege that you've had. Look at the context. That's what's happening. Jesus was coming as Messiah. Some would accept and others would not. Those who would not accept would be subject to the judgment and desolation that Jesus proclaimed. He proclaimed it in Matthew 23:37-39. This was to the Pharisees about the Pharisees:

Jonathan (00:40:56): "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Rick (00:41:20): You have this dramatic cutting off, and fire in scripture can mean destruction or it can mean purification. When John in Matthew 3 talks about baptism of fire, he's saying, "You're going to be destroyed. You're going to be taken out of your place of privilege." Jesus proclaims that in Matthew 23. It's a proclamation that "You are destroyed as a nation." Remember what happened a few years later; Israel is dispersed throughout the world. The nation of Israel ceased to exist for almost 2000 years. The prophecy came true. "Baptism of fire," not a good thing. Jonathan, Baptism's Meaning:

Jonathan (00:42:01): This baptism of fire refers to the dispersion of Israel as a nation in AD 70. It represented the fire of destruction which would eventually open the door to their reconciliation. Rick, what do we mean by the reconciliation of Israel?

Rick (00:42:17): Israel was reconciled because they were brought back into God's favor. We have witnessed this in our own days when we saw Israel come back to their land and they are growing toward God's favor as we speak in spite of all of the difficulties that they face because those are all prophetic. We've got this first baptism of fire, stay away from it. The second baptism we want to talk about here--John also spoke of the baptism of the holy spirit. This began on the day of Pentecost in a very unmistakable way. Jonathan, Acts 2:3-4:

Jonathan (00:42:52): "And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit was giving them utterance."

Rick (00:43:04): You have this very, very clear picture. The apostles were literally baptized, they were covered over with the holy spirit. It was a very plain, dramatic event.

Julie (00:43:17): I hadn't noticed before, but it said "tongues as of fire." In other words, it's like fire but their hair's not on fire? Barnes' Notes on the Bible says "Anything long, narrow and tending to a point is thus in the Hebrew called a tongue. The word here means, therefore, slender and pointed appearances of flame." Regardless, why the symbol of fire and not water?

Rick (00:43:42): I think perhaps the reason for that is this is coming down from heaven. You think about it, Jesus is baptized in water and what comes down from heaven? The spirit of the symbol of a dove. It's a different kind of a symbol. It's showing them that they are these tongues, whatever that meant. You're right, it's not like their hair's on fire. I'm glad you brought that out. But these tongues as a fire were showing them, it was literally pointing to them. These are the ones, these are the ones, these are the ones. That's where God's spirit really began to work. That's where Christianity was actually born.

Jonathan (00:44:16): The apostles of Pentecost were proven to receive the holy spirit by Jesus. The Apostle Paul, the 12th apostle, did need to be baptized and was baptized by Ananias. He needed to be cleansed before he was presentable to God. Remember he was an enemy of Christ before his conversion.

Rick (00:44:35): Yeah. That shows you why the Apostle Paul needed baptism because he needed to be cleansed, he needed to turn around. These had already been following Jesus. They're already proven in their desire to be with Christ.

Julie (00:44:50): While the rest of Jesus's true followers don't experience this drama, we do have results in Titus 3:4-6:

Jonathan (00:44:58): "And when the kindness and the love to men of God our Savior did appear (not by works of that are in righteousness that we did but according to His kindness), He did save us, through a bathing of regeneration, and a renewing of the holy spirit, which He poured upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior."

Julie (00:45:18): I know that Jesus received what's called the "full measure of the holy spirit" according to John 3:34. Everyone else is given just a portion. But can you speak of the order? Does a person receive the holy spirit and then you get baptized? Or does the baptism bring about the ability to receive the holy spirit? So far we've looked at Jesus being baptized and Pentecost and the holy spirit is given immediately after, or maybe even simultaneously with baptism. How does that work?

Rick (00:45:45): Okay, the way it works is baptism is a symbol, okay? The symbol is showing a picture of something that happens. In scripture it works both ways. In scripture, some people are baptized and the holy spirit comes. Some people have the holy spirit and then they're baptized. What we see is it's a symbol and we can't use it as the measuring stick, as the pointer that says, "Oh, there's where the Holy Spirit appears." We look at it as the measuring stick that says, "Oh look, that is the heart of that individual." That's what it's showing us. It's showing us that the holy spirit is a result of that heart, should God accept that consecration. Jonathan, now Baptism's Meaning, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:46:27): The baptism of the holy spirit is a privilege unique to Jesus's followers, and, as we will see, is a result of true baptism into Christ.

Rick (00:46:37): This is important, this baptism of the holy spirit. It talks about what changes. We're going to get into that in much more detail in the next segment. We've got the baptism of the holy spirit that John spoke about, the baptism of fire that John spoke about and now Jesus himself third. He spoke about another baptism, which was the baptism of suffering. Now he didn't quite use those words, but when you look at the context you can see that's what he means. The context here is when James and John asked Jesus to be at his right and left hand in the kingdom of glory. They're asking for this great, great privilege and here's Jesus' answer, Mark 10:38-40:

Jonathan (00:47:17): "But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

Julie (00:47:44): This sounds more like a symbolic baptism of being immersed in self-sacrifice and there's no water involved. This one is sometimes referred to as "the baptism of the cross."

Rick (00:47:56): That's exactly right. It is the baptism. It is a symbol of being covered over in that self-sacrificing life that walks in the footsteps of Jesus. It's not a literal physical pouring of something onto you, but walking through "the valley of the shadow of death," walking through the trial and the tribulation to be Christlike. It's an important picture of what baptism into Christ, as we'll see in the next segment, is actually teaching us. Jonathan at this point, Baptism's Meaning; what do we have?

Jonathan (00:48:29): This baptism showed all of Jesus's followers that their lives would be marked by hard testing. Like the baptism of the holy spirit, this is not actually the baptism into Christ. It is a result of that baptism.

Rick (00:48:43): We have to put the details in order and it's like, "wait, wait, wait. Where does it go in the equation?" We look at true baptism, not the symbol but true baptism into Christ; that is the giving up of one's life to do the will of God. If that sacrificial offering is accepted by God, the holy spirit is given. That's what the baptism of the holy spirit really truly is. Again, looks complicated and there are so many moving parts. The most important thing to realize here is that all of these things bring us to a clear, clear conclusion.

Jonathan (00:49:19): Ceremonial washing, Israel's deliverance, John's baptism, the baptism of the holy spirit and suffering all lead us to true Christian baptism. What is the baptism into Christ?

Rick (00:49:32): Okay, what is it? We've been talking around it, we've been alluding to it. What is it? This is really the culmination of all that we've learned about this whole symbol of immersion from both Old and New Testament. With all of this groundwork in place, we need to determine if our own Christian interpretation of baptism might come up short. How do we figure this out? Here's how we do it. We ask questions and then we rely on scriptural answers.

Julie (00:50:01): Okay, great. I've got a question. Is Christian baptism the result of an acknowledgement of one's own sinfulness or is it a symbol of a completely new direction in life?

Rick (00:50:12): Okay, good question. What is Christian baptism? Is it about your sinfulness or is it about something beyond your sinfulness? Well, because John's baptism was only about repentance, only about the acknowledgement of our own sinfulness, we know that the baptism to Christ is much, much more. This is explained when the Apostle Paul came to Ephesus and he came upon a certain group of believers who were in a certain circumstance that was a little bit off, we'll say .Acts 19:2-5:

Jonathan (00:50:43): "He said to them, Did you receive the holy spirit when you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not ever heard whether there is a holy spirit. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism." I'll stop here. Even though John's kind of baptism became irrelevant once the Messiah arrived, it carried on for a while anyway. Again, its purpose was for the national preparation of Israel at that specific time. Continuing in verse 4: "Paul said, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus."

Julie (00:51:28): We just ended the previous segment saying baptism of the holy spirit is not the actual baptism into Christ. So we've got baptism into the holy spirit, baptism of the holy spirit, baptism into Christ, and now we've got baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus. No wonder I'm confused. Do these all mean the same thing? What do they have to do with being immersed in water?

Rick (00:51:52): Alright, so these are all parts of the same thing. Let's take the last two that you mentioned, baptism into Christ and baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus. Those are exactly the same thing. We're going to go through that symbol. Baptism is a symbol, but it shows a condition of heart and a decision. Baptism into the holy spirit is a result of that decision. Again, when we think baptism, folks, we have to think symbolic because it's showing us a bigger picture. The baptism OF the holy spirit; that was a little bit different because you saw that at Pentecost specifically, that's where the holy spirit was born within Christianity. You've got these different parts, these different moving parts, but it all leads us to the true baptism of Christ. We started with that very first scripture that talked about that true baptism of Christ. Let's move through on this, okay? The receiving of the holy spirit is a major indication of a life offered and accepted by God. The life has to be offered by the human being, the individual, but it has to be accepted by God for the holy spirit to be given. Every baptism doesn't have the holy spirit necessarily attached. That's a subject for a different podcast. Let's go on to our next question. When should a Christian be baptized? When? Jesus said it simply in a parable. He said, "Count the cost first." Luke 14:27-30:

Jonathan (00:53:23): "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Wait, I'm going to stop there. You mean following Jesus is a life of public ridicule, pain and suffering? Is it a life where I don't get what I want?

Rick (00:53:37): That's right. You don't get what you want, you get what God wants for you. Usually as a human being, those are two very different things, even though we'd like them to be the same and we try to reason and bargain with God. Life of sacrifice is not a life of abundance and ease. I'll just put it that way.

Jonathan (00:53:53): Continuing with verse 28: "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish."

Rick (00:54:13): Jesus, in this parable, you were just touching in on the parable. He's saying, think about what you are embarking on. If you're going to follow me and you're going to carry a cross, don't do it because It feels like the right thing to do. Don't do it because your friend did it. Don't do it because Jonathan said you should. Do it because you are driven to, you feel called by God to follow Christ because it's a difficult thing. When should a Christian be baptized? Only when they have taken it seriously, that this is a symbol of giving my life up. You don't do that flippantly. We have to be careful. This should not be an easily concluded decision as it means one's life will be completely, completely revitalized. Let's look at Romans 6:3-6:

Jonathan (00:55:03): "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death (obviously baptism is a symbol), so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be also like him in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."

Rick (00:55:39): You have this tremendous symbol, talking about baptism into death. This is serious, this is not, "Oh, I feel clean." This is, "Oh, I feel drawn, I feel called, I feel compelled to put my old life behind and adopt something entirely new."

Julie (00:55:57): So many Christians have been baptized. Under what circumstances should they be rebaptized? A lot of people write us with this question specifically after they've committed some sort of serious sin. They're looking for a do-over or to make themselves right again. If I commit a serious sin, do I need to be rebaptized in order to get right with God?

Rick (00:56:17): Alright, first of all, there's no scripture that tells us to do that. Let's put that to rest right away. The only time I think someone should be rebaptized is if they did not understand their baptism originally. If they were just repenting of their sins and trying to be clean and all of that, that's nice, but that's not an appropriate baptism for Christianity anymore. That's passed away. That was a national cleansing for Israel. If you didn't understand that baptism was unto sacrifice, then yeah, maybe a re-baptism is necessary. Now, I shouldn't have said necessary; is appropriate. See, baptism doesn't end up being the thing you have to do to be saved. It doesn't. It is a symbol of what goes on in your heart so you can walk with Christ.

Julie (00:57:03): Maybe if I was baptized as a baby, I would want to be baptized as someone who now understands what I'm getting into.

Rick (00:57:10): If you were called as a grownup, you're called to follow Christ and you believe that you're going to walk in his footsteps and give up your life for him, absolutely, positively, unequivocally yes. Because this is the picture of a personal decision.

Jonathan (00:57:29): What exactly does baptism symbolize? Let's look at Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice..." This is saying we are giving ourselves up for Jesus. This symbol is so special, Rick and Julie. It's as if the baptizer is our Lord Jesus lowering us into the water and accepting our change of life.

Rick (00:57:57): We present ourselves into the hands of our baptizer. When you do that, you trust that baptizer with your life because they lower you down backwards into the water. You're helpless. You are trusting them with your very life. Let's go on with Romans 12. We're going to take this in pieces. The next part of verse 1:

Jonathan (00:58:16): "...acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

Rick (00:58:20): See, we're only acceptable through Christ's ransom price paying for our sins, shown as we lay down our lives in the immersion process. We have to give up, give up our direction, like you said, Jonathan, put your life into the hands of Jesus and let him carry you through this process. Romans 12:2:

Jonathan (00:58:44): "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

Rick (00:58:49): See, that's why this is such an important symbol. Don't be conformed, be transformed like a caterpillar to a butterfly. Started out one thing, ended up able to fly, ended up released from the earthly realm, if you will. Our minds are renovated by the begettal of the holy spirit. That again, is God's choice. When he accepts someone who says, "Yes, I will follow Christ," we're renovated by the begettal of the holy spirit. It's shown in being pulled up out of the water and cleansed. You're going down in the water saying, "my life is ending as a human being." You're coming up out of the water saying, "I am now going to live a transformed life by the grace of God." It's all a picture. That's what baptism is. The final part of verse 2:

Jonathan (00:59:38): "...so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Rick (00:59:44): It's simple. We can now live differently than we lived before.

Jonathan (00:59:48): Water baptism is a symbol. It doesn't physically change you. It shows what we have dedicated ourselves to. 2 Timothy 2:11-12: "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us."

Rick (01:00:09): What we have is this constant reminder of Christian baptism to put things in order. We have to die with him so we can live with him. That's what this all symbolizes.

Julie (01:00:23): Another one of our most popular questions we receive is, "Do I have to be baptized in order to be saved?" Now we know we've got to define salvation first, but that's a big question.

Rick (01:00:34): Well, and the short answer is no, you don't, because salvation has two parts and the scriptures talk about that subject for another podcast. But we must be baptized--not must--it is appropriate to be baptized as a symbol for deciding to follow Christ. There is no hellfire to be saved from. There is only sin and death, which Jesus paid for. All will come forth from their graves and be saved later. So no, you don't have to be baptized to be saved. It's a symbol. Short answer to a big question. Let's go further. What's the result of an appropriate Christian baptism?

Julie (01:01:15): What would be an inappropriate Christian baptism is a question first.

Rick (01:01:19): Okay, John's baptism. The baptism.

Julie (01:01:21): Oh, okay, it's over.

Rick (01:01:22): That is not appropriate for Christians, because the repentance is included in the giving up of your life, okay? Appropriate Christian baptism, what's the result? 2 Corinthians 5:17-19:

Jonathan (01:01:34): "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

Rick (01:01:57): See, the world is being reconciled. That's what that scripture says. But more importantly, it says, if you're baptized into Christ and that's acceptable to God, you become this new creation. Just like Jesus was changed at his baptism, we are changed when we dedicate our lives to God, to sacrificially follow Jesus. God accepts that and grants us His spirit. That's the life-changing moment, not the baptism. It's the granting of God's spirit. To be part of this new creation is now to be a perspective member of the body of Christ. That is a massive privilege. Galatians 3:27-29:

Jonathan (01:02:36): "For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise." The holy spirit is the great equalizer. Forget the past. We're all one in Christ.

Julie (01:02:59): It doesn't matter where we came from because once we receive God's spirit, we're all working towards the same goal. You read "Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise." That's from Genesis. It means that those will have a part of blessing all the resurrected families of the earth and God's future kingdom. What a wonderful reward!

Rick (01:03:18): What a wonderful symbol that baptism is into Christ. That's the whole point of this conversation. That's what it symbolizes. It is not what so many of us think. When we look at the scriptures, it opens up in such a big way. The question really here is what changes? Well, let's look at some manifestations of the internal change that baptism represents. Jonathan, we're going to go to Ephesians 4:1-6, and we're going to stop a lot.

Jonathan (01:03:45): "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called..."

Rick (01:03:52): Okay. You need to walk the walk in the way that Jesus would have walked the walk as best as you can.

Jonathan (01:03:59): "...with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,..."

Rick (01:04:04): You put yourself in a position of servant, of tolerance, of gentleness. Not getting what you want, but doing things through love the way Jesus did.

Jonathan (01:04:15): "...being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."

Rick (01:04:19): "The unity of the spirit" comes to the body of Christ. It is our responsibility if we are walking in Christ to preserve that unity as best as we can.

Jonathan (01:04:30): "There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;"

Rick (01:04:35): "One body, one spirit, one hope." It's all about one thing.

Jonathan (01:04:42): "one Lord, one faith, one baptism,..."

Rick (01:04:44): With all of those other examples of baptism, put them all aside and look at baptism into Christ. That's what this is. This is the one baptism that's to the one Lord and the one faith. Jonathan, finally, verse 6:

Jonathan (01:05:00): "...one God and Father of all who was over all and through all and in all."

Rick (01:05:05): These are the changes that come when we truly, truly dedicate ourselves and we use baptism as a symbol. As we wrap this up, folks, Baptism's Meaning; let's put it all in perspective. The symbol of baptism is a sacred public testimony. It is an outward demonstration of an inward response to a sacred calling from God Himself to become a part of the body of Christ. Think about that. To be baptized into Christ is to surrender your life willingly and completely to doing only God's will. That's what it symbolizes. Baptism as this outward sign of this mature inward commitment should never be taken lightly, ever. Let's thank God for the sacred and wonderful opportunity. Folks, baptism is a serious thing. Baptism into Christ is a symbol of a life that is changed. Let's remember, it's a symbol that God put in place in some way or fashion way before Jesus came because it was such an important and integral part of how His plan would work. Be baptized into Christ in a scriptural way and no other. Take it seriously. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions in this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next episode, "Is There a Christian's Secret to a Happy Life?" Talk about that next week.

Final Notes (01:06:48): copyright @2023 Christian Questions. In addition to this transcript, we provide comprehensive CQ Rewind Show Notes for every episode. They include every scripture quoted during the podcast, as well as graphics, illustrations and bonus material. Click the "CQ Rewind Show Notes" button near the audio player or sign up to receive these weekly at ChristianQuestions.com. This transcript was created using artificial intelligence. While we believe it to be accurate, we apologize for any errors that may exist.