Baptism is intended only for those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ and can give sufficient testimony to the basics of Christian beliefs. We baptize by immersion because it best symbolizes the reality to which baptism points—our death and resurrection
Baptism is intended only for those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ and can give sufficient testimony to the basics of Christian beliefs. We baptize by immersion because it best symbolizes the reality to which baptism points—our death and resurrection in Christ.
In the most basic terms, baptism is a sign and a seal. As the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it, baptism “is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of [the believer’s] ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life” (28.1). A sign is a symbol pointing to a greater reality or idea. Baptism is “a neon light flashing ‘Gospel, Gospel, Gospel.’” When the church practices baptism, she testifies to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and signifies the sinner’s union with Christ in all he did and accomplished on our behalf.
THE BEAUTY OF BAPTISM
The beauty of baptism may be observed by considering what baptism signifies, for baptism wonderfully associates the believer with the many riches found in Christ.
Atonement of Christ
First, baptism visibly portrays the atonement that Jesus accomplished. Redemption and the remission of sins are central to Christ’s work and therefore central to the meaning of baptism:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.