Baptisms Are A Public Confession Of Faith In Jesus

Thousands of baptisms are taking place in rivers, oceans, on college campuses, and even in the back of a pickup truck filled with water. One recent headline reads, “12,000 People Take the Biblical Plunge in the Largest Baptism in U.S. History.” It is, indeed, part of the Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is a great revival assuming that these baptisms are connected with a confession of faith in Jesus as the one and only Savior – that he died for our sins and rose from the dead.

I would not for one minute be a judge over people being baptized, for only God knows one’s heart. However, it would be easy to get caught up in the emotion of the moment because so many others are doing it, and get baptized without a confession of faith. Each and every person, no matter how large the crowd, must be asked one important question by the one doing the baptism. Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, believing that he died for your sins and rose from the dead? Baptism is a symbol of acknowledgement that one is a sinner saved by the grace of God, in need of His forgiveness, with a desire to have a new, restored life in Christ. It must be recognized that baptism in and of itself does not save anyone.

1 Peter 3:21 has been used on occasion to teach that baptism equals salvation. “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”  It is a difficult verse to understand but reading the preceding context of this verse brings more clarity. However, this verse does clearly state that baptism by itself does nothing more than cleanse the body. It must be associated with the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 16: 25-33 clearly teaches that repentance and salvation precede baptism. The verbal confession of faith in Christ comes before the visible representation.

Jesus set the example of baptism in John 1:29-33. To some denominations the word for baptize means “to dip, plunge, or immerse.” However, there are others that sprinkle or dab water on the head. It is not the purpose of this article to debate this issue. There are situations where immersion is not possible, like with a person who receives Jesus in a hospital but is unable to get out of bed. What is important is that a person, no matter what type of baptism is used, is not deceived into thinking that he or she is saved just because they were baptized, and therefore have a false security when it comes to salvation.

Praise the Lord God for all of these thousands of people who have been baptized! Assuming that all of them made a verbal confession of their faith, there has, indeed, been a great spiritual revival across the U.S. and around the world.

May they all grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. It is important that these people get involved in a Bible-believing church and are discipled by another Christian.