On Baptism Related to Salvation
Perhaps the key to understanding baptism in scripture is to look at the first few times the word used — in Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn.
- Matthew 3:11: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
- Mark 1:8: “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
- Luke 3:16: “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
- John 1:33: “He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.“ ‘
From these verses, it seems that there are two types of baptisms described in scripture. One is by man, the other is by Deity. One is a baptism of water, the other is a baptism of the Holy Spirit. One seems to express an inward change, the other is the spiritual source of that change.
Pause for an commercial break: It is interesting to know why people were baptized before John came along. If a Gentile desired to become a Jew, he was required to be baptized — submersed under water as a symbolic way to express that he was going to die to his old way of living, and that he was going to embrace Judaism as his new way to live. When John the baptizer came on the scene, he was asking Jews to stoop low, to undergo something that was only required for a Gentile to do. This was considered a radical step towards preparing for the Messiah to come. Many Jews were willing to do this, they were getting excited about the hope of a Messiah — a great war general of sorts that would deliver them from Roman rule. They were willing to go though this revival call as a way to prepare for this coming Messiah that John was telling them about.
Back to our regular program …
At Pentecost in the book of Acts, we see the second type of baptism. The disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. When explaining this event, the author points back to the words of John the baptizer, who prophesied this event when he said: I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Acts 1:5: [Here Jesus says,] “John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 11:16–17: [Here Peter refers back to the same words of Jesus that were quoted in the verse above. He says,] “I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
The Acts chapter 11 verses above were part of a discussion about whether or not Gentiles were eligible for salvation — or was it exclusively reserved for Jewish people alone. The answer to the question was settled for Peter, who related that the Holy Spirit was miraculously given to Gentiles by God in the same ways it was given to the Jews at Pentecost. He calls this “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and a “gift from God”. It is interesting that salvation itself is also described as a gift from God in a few places:
- Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
- 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
It is also interesting when this gift from God is given; it’s given when one believes on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is for these reasons, that I believe that baptism is not a requirement for salvation, but rather is part of salvation. When one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is saved, and the Holy Spirit is given to that person by God. We participate in a water-baptism as an object-lesson, a picture of what has happened in our life spiritually. Water baptism shows a person whose upper body is dry, he/she goes under water, momentarily disappearing. Next the person is raised up, wet hair, looks different. It symbolically demonstrates a changed person who will walk in a new direction for the rest of his/her life. By this act, we identify with our Savior and Lord, who gave Himself for our forgiveness of sins.