2 Important Aspects of Christian Baptism Every Believer Should Know
The story of Noah's Ark by Elmer Boyd Smith, 1905; image from Wikimedia Commons.
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What are two important aspects of Christian baptism that every believer should know?
“Scripture calls baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins.”
The Heidelberg Catechism, first published in 1563, is a highly regarded summary of the Christian faith and has the following to say about the significance of baptism:
“Q. Where has Christ promised that he will wash us with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?
A. In the institution of baptism, where he says: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mk 16:16). This promise is repeated where Scripture calls baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins (Titus 3:5; Acts 22:16).” (The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 71)
Christian baptism is a visible sign of the washing away of all our sins that all believers have in Christ. Additionally, Christian baptism has the imagery of going from death to life.
The Old Testament helps us better understand the significance of baptism.
We see types of this imagery, which are foreshadowings of Christ’s salvific work, in the Old Testament in the accounts of Noah and the Flood and the Israelites passing through the Red Sea:
The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. (Gen. 7:17-18)
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exod. 14:21-22)
In his article “Jesus’ Ark,” pastor Nick Batzig writes the following regarding the greater meaning of the Flood,
The Flood was essentially creation undone. The abating of the waters was essentially the re-creation of the world. It was essentially salvation through judgment….Noah knew that the flood had not made '“all things new” because he sacrificed when he stepped off of the Ark. The flood waters could never cleanse the evil out of the heart of man. (“Jesus’ Ark,” A Place for Truth)
Baptism is both a sign and seal to all who have new life in Christ.
Noah and all who were on the ark were saved from God’s judgment to live in a “re-creation” of the world (Gen. 7-9), just as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, spared from the watery judgment of the waters that drowned the Egyptians (Exod. 14) to begin life as God’s chosen people. In his death and resurrection, Jesus saves us from God’s eternal judgment and gives us eternal life.
The sacrament of baptism, “the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins” (HC 71) is God’s gift to us, being a sign of both our cleansing from sin and passing from death to eternal life in Christ. Baptism is a seal to all who have new life by the Spirit.
Related Articles:
4 Important Aspects of the Noahic Covenant in Redemptive History
Dunking, Sprinkling, or Pouring: Is There a Preferred Mode of Baptism?
8 Covenants in the Bible and What They Mean for You Personally Today
Recommended:
What Is Baptism? (Volume 11) (Crucial Questions) by R. C. Sproul