We Believe In Water Baptism

Jesus commanded all those who believed in Him to be baptised in water. The Bible recalls that before Jesus ascended to heaven he spoke to His disciples 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-19). Peter reiterated this in Acts 2:38-41. To be baptised means to be totally immersed. When a person repents from his or her sin and believes Jesus died for him, before many witnesses, he or she is to be taken to water, immersed in it and brought up again.

Understanding what water baptism is all about is the key to a victorious and liberated Christian life. The act of going under the water and rising up from it again is a picture demonstrating what has happened to the believer.

We believe in baptism in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). The teaching is revealed in the New Testament and all Christians must obey this rule of the Lord (Acts 2:4; 16:15; 30-33; 18:8; 19:4-5). Every saved soul automatically qualifies for water baptism. The Bible gives us a vivid description of an Ethiopian eunuch that was baptized after receiving salvation (Acts 8:29-39; 16:28-33). Water baptism is therefore not reserved for a privileged few but everyone that is born again. Therefore all members of the Church should receive water baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost as believers who will not add or take out of the Word of God (Matthew 28:19; 3:16).

Water baptism stands for a sign and example of two things:

1. It is an outstanding sign and an example of true repentance of a sinner from his or her sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). True repentance is not in speech but in words and in deeds.
2. Anybody who is baptised is joined with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:1-end; Colossians 2:13). Therefore, anybody who is baptised is dead to the world and the evils thereof (Galatians 6:14).

The four stages of Christ’s work are:

1. He died. The believer also died in Him (Romans 6:6-7)
2. He was buried. The believer was buried with Him (Romans 6:3-4)
3. He was raised. The believer has a new life in Him (Romans 6:4-5)
4. He ascended. The believer also ascended in Him (Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:1)

What does water baptism symbolize?

1. Your funeral service. A burial service is not to kill a man off. It is only performed when the man is dead already. Because you have “died” in Christ, you bury your old life in water baptism.
2. Your resurrection to new life. You rise out of the water demonstrating and declaring you are a new creature in Christ (Romans 6:8-11).

Therefore, in water baptism, we declare to all our friends and acquaintances that we are no longer part of Adam’s race and the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 5:12) but rather a new creature in Christ belonging to the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:45-49, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:10).