Why believer baptism

Go…and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. Mt It was not intended for people too young to be taught and to personally decide whether or not they want to obey all that Jesus commanded.

Baptism in the Early Church. The truth that baptism is a part of disciple-making is becomes even in the ministry of the earliest disciples. On the first sermon preached after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, Peter exclaimed: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. Acts Whereas in the Old Testament it meant something to be born a Jew, as opposed to a Gentile, in the New Testament the only thing that matters is whether or not one repents and submits to Jesus Christ.

This is why the sign of the covenant is different. In the Old Testament it was given to any male born a Jew. In my opinion, this interpretation reads too much into the text.

The promise is for them in the sense that God wants to pour out his Spirit upon them Ac But they only become recipients of the promise — and we should only baptize them — when they make a personal decision to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It is for everyone who will repent and believe, and thus for everyone whom God calls.

God wants their children to receive the Holy Spirit, but the promise is only applied to them, and we should only baptize them, when they personally repent and believe.

Never do we read about infants being baptized. It was only after the Ethiopian eunuch embraced the good news about Jesus that he was baptized Ac The apostle Paul was baptized after he encountered Jesus and obeyed the heavenly vision Ac Peter commanded Cornelius and his household to be baptized only after he saw evidence of their faith in Jesus Christ Ac Without exception baptism follows faith and constitutes the first act of discipleship made by a responsible person who has decided to turn from their sinful way of life and submit their life to Jesus.

Defenders of infant baptism argue that the references to households being baptized in Acts suggests that infants were baptized along with adults Ac ; ; ; There is no reason to assume this, however. Baptism and the Christian Life. Finally, some of the meanings given to baptism in the New Testament imply that it is intended only for people old enough to be disciples. Such a significance can hardly be attributed to an infant, however.

But how can an infant have a good or bad conscience? We are justified, therefore, in concluding that baptism should be administered only to those who are old enough to make a decision to die to sin, walk in a new life, a enjoy a good conscience before God.

The Importance of Discipleship. History testifies to the truth that infant baptism tends to produce nominal, apathetic Christians. This is not to any way suggest that all Christians baptized as infants are passionless or that the practice of infant baptism causes one to be passionless. It is simply to observe that this practice invariably tends in this direction, and for obvious reasons.

By contrast, the practice of adult baptism forces each individual to make their own decision to follow Christ or not. Paul also writes in Colossians that baptism is the physical representation of the spiritual circumcision of our hearts. Ezekiel The clearest picture of what baptism signifies is found in Romans 6, wherein Paul uses baptism to symbolize the believer's death and burial with Christ as their representative head, and of the believer's spiritual resurrection with Him from the symbolic grave.

Baptism is only for those whose hearts have been circumcised by the Holy Spirit, for those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, whose guilt has been removed by Christ's death in their place, by those who have died with Christ and risen with Him in newness of life.

In a nutshell, baptism is only for believers who have repented of their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism is not for unbelievers, whether adult of children. As one reads the book of Acts, only those who had shown visible conversion were baptized.

Baptism does not look forward to salvation, but rather it looks back upon one's salvation. Baptism is one of the two primary ordinances of the local church.

While different Christian denominations use different methods to baptize, the most popular method by evangelicals is to publicly immerse someone under a body of water such as a pool, creek, tub, etc. Baptism was commanded by Jesus. Not only did Jesus institute the ceremony of baptism at the end of his life on earth, but he set the example by doing it himself to start his ministry Matthew ; Mark Baptism is not salvific meaning it does not save , yet it is an important milestone for someone who has already been saved because it is their first step of obedience.

This is the main reason why the baptism of infants pedobaptism is at least unnecessary and at most unbiblical. It reveals to spectators that the person getting baptized is not ashamed of the gospel and what God has done in their life.

We clearly see this step of obedience in the lives of believers all the way back to the days of the First Church. Similar to how people were physically circumcised in the Old Testament as a sign of belonging to the nation of Israel, people today identify with Christ through baptism Colossians It is an outward, physical demonstration of an inward, spiritual decision.

Baptism is not just for a certain group of people, it is an important act of unification for everyone born into the family of God.