the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Acts 22:16
‘Arise, and be baptized’
Read Romans 6:1-14
It is ever the tendency of fallen man to run to extremes. Nowhere is this tendency more evident than in religious customs, doctrines and practices. With regard to the matter of baptism, almost all men run to one of two extremes. Some make baptism a means of salvation. Anyone who reads the Word of God with honesty immediately recognizes that such doctrine is heresy. ‘salvation is of the Lord.’ It is not the water of baptism that washes away sin, but the blood of Christ. We are not saved by baptism, but by grace. There are others who run to the opposite extreme, who make baptism an insignificant thing. Some even neglect it altogether. This too is a perversion of scripture. Baptism is important. Baptism is essential!
Baptism is essential as a matter of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. By example and by commandment our Lord requires that all believers (and only believers) be baptized. To rebel against this ordinance and refuse to be baptized is to expose rebellion, not submission of heart to Christ. Such rebellion is a fair indication that a person is not saved. I have searched the Scriptures carefully and I have not yet found a single believer in the New Testament (other than the penitent thief who was not baptized. Baptism is an act of obedience to Christ our Lord.
Baptism is essential in confessing Christ before men. This is the New Testament way of confessing faith in Christ. We who believe are symbolically buried with Christ in baptism and we arise from the watery grave with him to walk in the newness of life. Baptism is a vivid picture of the believer’s death, burial and resurrection in Christ our Substitute. By this public ordinance we confess to all men our faith in Christ.
Baptism does not save; baptism does not put away sin; baptism has no merit before God. But baptism is essential. It is the answer of a good conscience toward God’. If you believe on Christ, obey him and confess him before men in baptism.
