Why Do You Want to Be Baptized?
I was driving down the highway recently and I saw a decorated vehicle in the distance in front of me. It had white streamers taped all over it, cans dragging on strings behind, and painted boldly in the back window were the words, “Just Baptized.” It made me smile.
For more than a year now, various religious groups in the US and worldwide have been proclaiming a revival with hundreds of thousands of baptisms. In October of 2023, the Christian Post ran an article entitled Mass Baptisms Break Out Across America. Is Revival Upon Us? Most recently there have been reports of a large evangelistic and baptism event at Auburn University. Similar events are being reported in Brazil. Celebrities are also part of this, including the British comedian Russell Brand, formerly famous for his profligate lifestyle. Others include Kat Von D (famous occultist), Hulk Hogan, John Voight, Mark Calaway (aka WWF “The Undertaker”), and others.
The reports are so numerous and varied that it is hard to keep up let alone evaluate the genuineness of each situation. I am getting more and more requests for baptism and re-baptisms. In light of all these public statements of faith, I think some words of biblical clarification—even caution—are in order.
The relationship between baptism and true conversion.
In recent years, conservative evangelicals have minimized the emphasis on baptism to avoid any sense of a works salvation. Baptism is a ritual act that does not bring about true salvation but is supposed to follow it. Historically, many in Christianity have pointed to their baptism as the moment of their salvation, rather than the moment of their faith in Christ—that moment in which true regeneration occurs. This is problematic. Faith saves, not baptism.
However, the early church would have nothing to do with a Christianity that considered baptism unimportant or a supposedly regenerate person that refused baptism. People who believed immediately proclaimed their faith in Christ by following their Lord in believer’s baptism. From the Day of Pentecost converts to the Ethiopian Eunuch, converts immediately and enthusiastically entered the waters of baptism. One recent convert in our church likened baptism to wearing a wedding ring. Wearing a ring does not make you a married person, but it is unthinkable for a newly married bride or groom to refuse to wear the public symbol of their union.
Baptism does not save. Jesus saves those who confess their sin and place their complete dependence on Him and His crosswork for their eternal forgiveness. To be saved the following must occur.
You must believe that Jesus is exactly who the Bible says He is.
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. John 8:24
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
He is the Messiah, the promised deliverer of the Old Testament. He is the only sinless Man who ever lived. He is the eternal Son of God come in human flesh in God’s plan to redeem His people from their sins.
You must admit, without reservation, that you are exactly what the Bible says that you are.
There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. they have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:10-12, 23)
I—like all people—am a sinner who has come short of God’s glory and I am condemned to separation from God for all eternity apart from the saving grace of God. I am completely unable to save myself—in whole or in part. If I view being baptized as a positive act of righteousness that helps me earn my way to heaven, baptism becomes a barrier to my salvation, not a means by which it occurs.
You must trust that Jesus did exactly what the Bible says that He did.
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 rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have [b]fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all, He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
He lived a sinless life on this earth and voluntarily went to the cross to be my substitute, taking the punishment for my sin (and everyone else’s as well) on that cross. I do not understand the depth of His suffering on the cross, but I do know that God has determined it to be sufficient payment for the sins of every human being who has ever lived.
You must depend on Him to do exactly what He promised He will do.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:11-13
I must depend upon Him completely to forgive me completely of my sin. I cannot help Him do that work. It is His work alone. I must stake my eternal relationship with God on the work of Jesus Christ, and accept His righteousness as a God-ordained substitute for my guilt.
Without these steps, without this understanding and faith, baptism is doing nothing more than getting wet. I long for revival, and I certainly hope that the tens of thousands of baptisms that are being reported represent genuine conversions, but I also know that many superficially join in popular movements just because it is—well—popular.
Why do you want to get baptized? Have you truly trusted in Christ?
You can find the audio version of this article here: Why Do You Want to Be Baptized? (substack.com)