DO YOU HAVE TO BE BAPTIZED?

The Bible says that Jesus is the “author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Heb. 5:9).  Part of following Jesus is obeying Jesus. We are saved by having faith in Him, trusting in Him alone as our Savior and Lord. But no one truly trusts Him if they do not seek to obey Him.

When it comes to water baptism, there is nothing to argue about. I say that because denominations and religious people have argued over it for centuries. They still argue over it today. But again, there is nothing to argue about. The Bible says to do it. Jesus said to do it. Those who trust in Christ will do it. There is nothing to debate. It is a matter of obedience.

It hurts my ears to hear someone, claiming to represent Jesus, telling people that they “don’t have to be baptized.” It will usually go something like this: “You should be baptized as an act of obedience, but you don’t have to be to go to heaven.”

Why make a statement like that? If you want someone to know that it is by faith in Christ, and not by symbolic acts like baptism, that we are saved, then say that. If you mean that someone will still go to heaven if they truly trust in Christ, but have not yet been baptized, then say that. If you mean that a person of faith goes to heaven if they die before they can be baptized, then say that. All reasonable Bible students would agree with all of that.

But when you use the words, “You don’t have to be baptized,” you are telling someone they don’t have to do something that Jesus has told them to do. You do not have the right to do that. The Gospel of grace does not need your help to keep it pure. Just preach it like it is. Jesus said to be baptized. Case closed.

Do you go to someone’s place of employment and tell them they don’t have to do something their boss has told them to do? What if it is something that they would not get fired over? Do you tell them that since they won’t get fired, they don’t have to do it? “You should. You just don’t have to.” Do you say things like that to your friends and loved ones concerning what their supervisor says?   

Would you tell a child that they don’t have to do something their parents have told them to do? Since their parents won’t “disown them” and they will still be their children, do you say, “You don’t have to” take out the garbage or be home at a certain time. “You should, but you don’t have to.” Who talks that way about authority figures in the lives of others?

Jesus is the boss. He speaks and we obey. Those who love Jesus only need to hear that Jesus said to do it. Nothing else is required to get a person of faith to the water. If you argue about baptism to defend your denomination’s practices or doctrines, then please just stop doing that. That is not necessary. Our allegiance is to Jesus, not to a certain system of beliefs.

God could have clearly separated baptism from the process of conversion to Jesus if that were necessary in order to protect the Gospel of grace. But He did not do that and He did not leave it to me and you to decide to do that for Him. He is the one who consistently tied baptism to being a believer and being converted to Jesus (Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21; Gal. 3:27).

In fact, when he was highlighting that salvation is by grace, but that does not mean that we live any way we want to live, He used baptism to substantiate that point. We have risen to a new life through baptism and united with Christ through baptism (Rom. 6:3-4). No one has to understand everything about it, but it is a simple act of faith. And there is far more importance attached to it in the New Testament than there is in most man-made denominations.

According to Jesus and the apostles, baptism signifies that we have stepped across the line and are no longer living for the devil and the world. It declares outwardly the faith that is ours inwardly. It is an identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And yet, in spite of the theological significance that the New Testament attaches to it, it remains a simple act of obedient faith.

“Do you not know that you were baptized into Christ?” Paul asked the Romans (6:3). So there is a chance they did not even understand the significance of it when they did it. But they still were commanded to do it. Peter at the house of Cornelius “commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:48). No one has a right to tell someone they don’t have to obey an apostolic command.

When one is baptized, they are proclaiming that Jesus is their Lord. They are doing something that others can see them doing, something that Jesus told them to do. Baptism says that we have died to self, sin and Satan, and are united with the Savior. We are dead to living in sin and have arisen to live a new life with Jesus (Rom. 6:4).

When it comes to whether or not we “have to be baptized,” we should ask the question Jesus asked about John’s baptism (Matt. 21:25): Is baptism in water, as an act of obedience to Christ, from heaven or from human origin? Who came up with the idea, in other words? If it is from men, then we are free to disregard it. But surely every Bible believer would say that water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is from heaven. It is God’s will in other words. That should settle the matter. If it is from heaven, then of course you “have to” do it. And when you love Jesus, you see that you “get to” do it.

Baptism comes straight from the command of Jesus. When He told the apostles to make disciples of all nations, He said that everyone who becomes a disciple is to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Being baptized in the name of God does not refer to something you have to specifically say—although there is nothing wrong with saying it. But this is not a legalistic formula. Rather, it is an awareness of whose authority we are submitting to, and in whom we are trusting by doing what He said.

Whatever the Church of the New Testament did by the authority of the Holy Spirit, led by the apostles, is what we should do. They practiced immediate baptism when people were converted to Jesus (Acts 2:41). To those who had realized their sins and wanted to know what to do about them, Peter said, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). Of course it was a symbolic “forgiveness.” Forgiveness is already ours by trusting Christ in our hearts before baptism (Acts 10:43-48).

But would you be willing to say what Peter said in Acts 2:38? If not, why not? Because your denomination does not teach it? Whatever Jesus and the apostles would say, we should say. Whether we understand it all or not, nothing Jesus or His apostles said takes away from the fact that it is trust in Christ that saves us or that it is Jesus Himself who saves us.

As with everything else we do by faith, baptism is about Christ. It is not about us. As Galatians 3:27 puts it, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

   Bryan Dewayne Dunaway