The Doctrine of Baptism

• We need to be baptized because all people have sinned

◦ (Romans 3:9) What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we
have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
(10) as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
(11) no one understands; no one seeks for God.
(12) All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does
good, not even one.”
◦ (Romans 5:12) Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
◦ (Romans 5:14) Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose
sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who
was to come.
◦ (Romans 5:18) Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so
one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
(19) For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by
the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
◦ (Psalm 51:5) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me.
◦ (Psalm 58:3) The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from
birth, speaking lies.
• Baptism washes sins away
◦ (Acts 22:16) And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away
your sins, calling on his name.’
◦ (Acts 2:38) And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
▪ Therefore we must firstly believe in Jesus Christ, and repent, and be washed
(baptized) in His name.
• When we are baptized, we are baptized with Christ's blood in the Spirit
◦ (John 19:34) But one of the soldiers pierced his (Jesus) side with a spear, and
at once there came out blood and water.
◦ (1 John 5:6) This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the
water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies,
because the Spirit is the truth.
(7) For there are three that testify:
(8) the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
▪ We must therefore have the Holy Spirit to have effective baptism:
• How does baptism wash away sins?
◦ Sin results in death
▪ (James 1:15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin
when it is fully grown brings forth death.
◦ Life is in the blood, which is why it can wash away sins
▪ (Leviticus 17:11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it
for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that
makes atonement by the life.
• Atonement in Hebrew: “to cover” or “to wipe away [sin],” hence “to
expiate, placate.” (Reference: 2009. 'The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the
Bible: Vol. 1 (A-C): "Atonement"'. Zondervan Corporation.)
 • Blood (life) covers sin (death):
◦ (Romans 4:7) “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
◦ (2 Corinthians 5:4) For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being
burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
• In the Bible, washing and covering sin is the same thing.
▪ The washing of sin by the blood of animals is symbolic only:
• (Hebrews 10:11) And every priest stands daily at his service, offering
repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
▪ Only Christ's blood can truly wash away sins:
• (Hebrews 9:12) he (Jesus) entered once for all into the holy places, not
by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own
blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
(Hebrews 10:10) And by that will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
• By Christ's blood, we are dead to sin, but alive to God
◦ (Romans 6:3) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death?
(4) We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.
(6) We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin
might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
(7) For one who has died has been set free from sin.
(10) For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he
lives to God.
(11) So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
▪ Result:
• (13) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for
unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been
brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for
righteousness.
• Therefore, we gain life, and are reborn in God
◦ (John 3:5) Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
◦ (Galatians 6:15) For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creation.
▪ Circumsion prefigures baptism
• (Colossians 2:11) In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ,
(12) having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also
raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised
him from the dead.
• Mode of baptism
◦ The baptizer must have the Holy Spirit
▪ See above point: "When we are baptized, we are baptized with Christ's blood
in the Spirit"
◦ Full immersion (the body being fully underwater)
 ▪ In the original language, baptism means "to dip in or under," "to dye," "to
immerse," "to sink," "to drown," "to bathe," "wash." (Reference: 1985.
Geoffery W. Bromiley. "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
Abridged in One Volume." The Paternoster Press Ltd., William B. Eerdman's
Publishing Company.)
▪ In the New Testament, the Bible clearly describes baptism as being fully
underwater (Mark 1:10; Romans 6:3-4; Colossian 2:12, etc.).
◦ In living (naturally flowing) water:
▪ Christ Jesus was baptized in the Jordan (a river) (Matthew 3:13-16; Mark
1:9-10).
• Jordan: "The major river of PALESTINE, which begins at Mount
HERMON in the North, flows through the Sea of GALILEE and ends at
the DEAD SEA in the South."
(Reference: 2009. 'The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible: Vol. 3 (H-
L): "Jodan"'. Zondervan Corporation.)
▪ (Jeremiah 2:13) for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken
me (God), the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for
themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
▪ (Zechariah 13:1) On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house
of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and
uncleanness.
◦ Bowing the head down
▪ (John 19:30) When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is
finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
• We're to be united with Christ in the likeness of His death:
◦ (Romans 6:5) For if we have been united with him in a death like his,
we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
▪ Bowing down also shows our humility and submission to God
• (Genesis 27:29) Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be
lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who
blesses you!”
◦ Baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
▪ Not "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
• Christ commanded us: (Matthew 28:19) Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
◦ but the word "name" here is singular (only one name)
◦ The Son is Christ:
▪ (Mark 1:1) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God.
▪ The Son's name is "Jesus".
• (Matthew 1:21) She will bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
(25) but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he
called his name Jesus.
◦ The Father is God, and His name is Jesus:
▪ (John 1:18) No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at
the Father's side, he has made him known.
▪ (John 8:54) Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is
nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is
our God.’
 ▪ (John 17:11) And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the
world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your
name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as
we are one.
(12) While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you
have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has
been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled.
• Christ the Son of God says that the name He received from the
Father, is the Father's own name. The Father's name = the
Son's name. The Son's name is "Jesus".
• The Father's name is "Jesus".
◦ The name of the Holy Spirit
▪ (Acts 16:6) And they went through the region of Phrygia and
Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the
word in Asia.
(7) And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go
into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
• What is the name of the Spirit of Jesus? "Jesus", of course!
• The correct understanding of baptizing "in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" is therefore "in the name of Jesus."
◦ This is what the apostles did!
▪ (Acts 2:38) And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
▪ (Acts 8:16) for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had
only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
▪ (Acts 10:48) And he commanded them to be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
▪ (Acts 19:5) On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus.
▪ (1 Corinthians 6:11) And such were some of you. But you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.