What’s The Deal With… Baptism? (Part 3)

What’s the Deal with… Baptism?

(Part 3)

Sunday will be the final lesson of a three-week series entitled, What’s the Deal with Baptism? These lessons examine our emphasis on baptism in a question/answer format.

In week one we discussed Acts 2:36-41 as a foundational text in the understanding of the place of baptism in salvation.

Last week we addressed:

1. Q: Why do we still baptize today?
   A: Because Jesus commanded it;
2. Q: Who can administer baptism?
   A: Any disciple, male or female. The authority lies with God not the baptizer or the church;
3. Q: What does God do when we are baptized?
   A: He justifies, sanctifies, forgives, gives the Spirit, regenerates our hearts, grants new birth, begats us as his children, includes us in his inheritance, joins us with Christ and the benefits of his death & resurrection, breaks our bondage to sin, and saves us.
4. Q: Who should be baptized?
   A: Anyone who believes in Jesus, acknowledges their sinfulness, repents, and is willing to commit to him as Lord of their life (we noted that this excludes infants, who are safe and do not yet need salvation).

In this final lesson, we will discuss

1. The age of accountability,
2. Why Jesus was baptized,
3. The baptism of John vs. Christian baptism,
4. The mode of baptism, and
5. Who, if anyone, should be rebaptized.

Again, I’ll restate my thesis: “Water baptism is the final act in an unbeliever’s initial journey of FAITH. That journey leads them from unbelief to complete trust in Jesus as the source and basis of their salvation. Baptism has no power in itself. It is the place and time at which God’s promised justification (forgiveness) and sanctification (reception of the Holy Spirit and regeneration—new birth) is received.”

Have you begun this faith journey?