by Richard Shin

A few months ago, we looked at one of two ordinances established by Jesus: the Lord’s Supper. We approached the ordinance from a Biblical perspective, laying aside the mindless traditions that have caused us to forget the significance of the Lord’s Supper. In the coming weeks, we’re going to look at the other ordinance—namely, baptism—with the same approach and hopefully reclaim the full meaning behind the ordinance.

To “baptize” someone in the Greek language literally means to “immerse” that person. But the Christian baptism signifies much more than the mere physical act of immersion. Much like the Lord’s Supper, we practice baptism because Christ Himself commanded it (Matt. 28:19-20). But we don’t do it merely out of duty to obey our Master; rather, we obey because we love Him (John 14:15). And as we’ll see in the coming weeks, there’s a striking parallel between both ordinances in that Christ Himself participated in both baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

At Lighthouse, each baptism candidate must take a baptism class where the candidate learns the fundamentals of baptism, such as why every Christian must be baptized and why we emphasize and practice immersion (as opposed to sprinkling). After the completion of the class and the candidate’s decision to proceed forward with the act of baptism, the candidate must share their salvation testimony. Afterward, the candidate proceeds to the baptismal tank at the front of the sanctuary where the administering pastor will provide a few words of encouragement and affirmation to the witnessing congregation. Then, the pastor will baptize—in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the candidate by fully immersing the candidate in water.

It’s no mere accident that in Matthew 28:18-20 (also part of our MVP), Christ commands us to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It’s a package deal. Conversion and baptism are intricately linked and understood as a progression of one after the other. That is why it’s commonly understood by Baptist Christians that the first act of obedience as a new believer should be the purposeful act of baptism.

In the weeks to come, we’re going to look at baptism a little more deeply. First, we’ll look at the history of the Christian baptism, and how its significance sheds light unto Jesus’ ministry. Then, we’re going to understand how baptism was commanded in the lives of the apostles at Pentecost, and how one particular apostle—Philip—carried it out. Then we’re going to understand how baptism was taught by two very influential people in the early church: Paul and Peter. Through this, we’ll have a better understanding of how baptism serves the believer as a perpetual reminder of Christ’s finished work on the cross.