The short answer is no and yes. Confused? Many people are. Let's clear this up. Let's look to the Bible, the ultimate authority, as opposed to what pastors, priests and others speak. We must be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) and check to see if what our church leader is preaching lines up with God's word, not any tradition.
If you refrain from baptism, it will not result in you losing your eternal salvation. However, Jesus commanded new believers to be baptized (Acts 8:38). And no, you cannot lose your salvation if indeed you have really been saved by God's grace.
The observation concerning baptism can be seen by looking to the thief on the cross. Let’s take a look at the thief on the cross.
First, the unbelieving thief blasphemed Christ, so the penitent thief “…rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in paradise’” (Luke 23:39-43).
This was the promise of Jesus that He fulfilled after He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.
Note also that the penitent thief was on the cross and could not possibly have been baptized. In fact, there is no Bible verse where anybody was ever baptized after death.
So are we to dismiss baptism once we place our trust/faith in Jesus Christ? No, heaven forbid, we should be baptized!
Remember that “Three thousand believers were baptized on the same day they believed when the church began at Pentecost” (Acts 2:41).
Baptism
What if you are not baptized? What should you do?
You can be baptized immediately after confessing to Jesus that you have trusted him as your Lord and Savior. Or if you are a believer already, and have not been properly baptized, you should make a point to be baptized at your earliest convenience. But first you should understand what baptism actually is.
What is Baptism?
You should know why we believers in the risen Lord are baptized.
First, baptism does not make a person a Christian, but it is a very important response to God’s call to obedience.
Keep in mind two important things here: 1. our obedience by being baptized is a public confession of faith and lets others know of your new life in Christ; and 2. baptism by water does not wash away your sins, Jesus does with his blood when you believe!
Baptism is thus a symbol of your new life in Christ.
Indeed, baptism symbolizes the “old man or woman” we used to be before trusting Christ as Lord and Savior. We are then raised out of the water to symbolize the resurrection of the “new creature” we have become in Christ.
Again, keep in mind that baptism does not save you. Rather, “In God’s great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). This is by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).
How should we be baptized?
We should be immersed in water. This is to say that our entire body is briefly dunked under the water (river, swimming pool, a water tank, et cetera).
Some churches teach the sprinkling of water to be baptized, even infants, but this is not Biblical.
Why?
First of all, the Greek word for baptize is baptizmo, and means to “dip,” “sink” or immerse” in water, not be sprinkled.
Second, the only baptisms described in the New Testament involved persons who had come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Infants are not capable of a public confession.
Furthermore, we do not baptize infants just because their parents believe. This is a tradition in some churches and is not Biblical.
With this in mind, and to reiterate, we should be totally immersed in water in obedience to Christ Jesus.
Finally, if there is any doubt that one should be baptized, remember that even Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13).
Have you been baptized? Will you commit to being baptized if you haven’t?
