What it is and who should do it?

And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us. Acts 16:15

We are considering what baptism is, and who should be baptized. (If you didn’t read the previous post, doing so might help you continue with this post.)

What is baptism? Baptism is a sacrament commanded by Jesus. It is an outward visible symbol of an inward spiritual reality. The symbol without the reality doesn’t make sense. When we had children we assumed that one day they would marry. We did not put wedding rings (the symbols of marriage vows) on their little hands because they would one day marry. No, they would don wedding rings when they married. Why? Because the symbol without the reality is meaningless. The same is true for baptism.

Who should be baptized? Believers. Besides the argument that the symbol without the reality makes no sense, Jesus commanded believers to “make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) Clearly disciples are to be baptized. Those are Jesus’ words on the matter.

And let me add, that while only believers are to be baptized—ALL believers are to be baptized!

We’ll continue next time with this passage and the question about who should be baptized…