“Why were you baptized?” a survey taker asks, cornering us with his microphone and camera. Most of us would have to say, “Because they told me I should do it.”
Question 2: “What does baptism mean exactly?” Here most of us would scratch our heads and say, “Well, I’m not sure. The minister and congregation were very supportive, and I feel that it was the right thing to do.”
But the right thing for us to do is to “dig deep and build our house on the rock,” as Christ admonished us to do. We dig deep by digging into the letter that He has left us, the scriptures of truth.
Baptism is an outward symbolic action of an inward, spiritual, and transformational happening. The meaning of baptism is laid out in Romans 6:3-11. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death” (v. 3). We are immersed into His death.
Water baptism is a symbol of us identifying our old self dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, and being raised up with Christ. It is where we identify our old sinful self with the Lamb of God, our sin sacrifice. “He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
When He died, my old self died. When He was buried, my old evil nature was buried. When He was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead! Hey, this is not just my testimony; it is all of His children’s testimony.
And baptism in water is a symbol showing the world and God how we are regenerated.
How is this transformation done? By faith, which is having assurance of its reality before we actually see it with our own eyes. We have to reckon it so through God’s power. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (v. 11). God has already reckoned the death of our old self and our resurrection with Him. Why shouldn’t we reckon it so?
Baptism is a symbol of our transformation into being right with Him. We are now free from sin. “For he that is dead is freed from sin. We are now the children of the light, having escaped darkness.
God’s sons and daughters, His princes and princesses, shall see through the empty rituals of Churchianity. They will shine forth as lights “in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation.” Their clarity of vision will help them sift through the barren sands of man’s traditions to ultimately find the “one pearl of great price.” Kenneth Wayne Hancock
{If this has been helpful, make a comment and/or pass it on to someone you care about. I would love to hear from you. You can read more about this in Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality, Ch. 28. Click the Blogroll “Yahweh Is the Savior” link to your right]
Immortality Road 
Repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sin in the name of Christ Jesus is certainly Peter’s answer to the question in Acts 2:37 “What shall we do?” Good blog. Bryan http://seekinggodsheart.wordpress.com
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I am trying to understand a second baptism with the Holy Spirit. I recognize that when I had water baptism is was a symbol into Chris/ death, burial, and resurrection. I am stilling studying.
Thank you, Mary Lou, for your comment. He does mention a “doctrine (teaching) of baptisms,” meaning that there are several immersions in His plan.
The apostle Paul teaches us that “we are baptized by one Spirit into one body.” This is the initial spiritual immersion in His Spirit where He gives us an “earnest of His Spirit,” “earnest” meaning a downpayment, a small portion of His Spirit, enough for us to grow in Him, until He fully redeems us by changing our physical earthly bodies into spiritual bodies (mentioned in II Cor 4-5 and I Cor 15).
This is not being “filled with the Holy Spirit (Ghost).” This is a different growth level–a level many long for and many sincerely seek for…They call it “baptized in the Holy Ghost” with evidence of speaking in tongues. We must beware of counterfeit experiences. Our adversary is quite aware of the true experience and has counterfeited it in the pentecostal and charismatic experiences. The true experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit will be evidenced by God (the Holy Spirit Himself) speaking through that human being in languages (tongues) that the people around can understand. Ie, He will be able to miraculously speak to people in a tongue unknown to the person that He is filling. This is a major miracle that He performed through the early apostles. Read again in Acts 2 and 3) to see these Galilean fishermen speaking to people from all over the Middle eastern world– speaking about the wonderful works of God–not in some jibberish that no one can understand.
Anyway, I hope this helps in your studies. Please write again. Many have your concerns and these answers will help many. Wayneman
Mary Lou, I love this quote from the article: “…Their clarity of vision will help them sift through the barren sands of man’s traditions to ultimately find the “one pearl of great price.” I think following Christ’s example of love is ALL we need!! AWESOME ARTICLE!
Also, this is for Mary Lou in particular. If you are the same girl who was in my class at Mt. St. Gertrude Academy, then you were THE NICEST PERSON in our class!
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