BAPTISM IS IMMERSION (APRIL 19)

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

WHEN A PERSON IS BAPTIZED, WHAT IS THE PHYSICAL ACTION THAT TAKES PLACE? If we’re seeking a biblical answer, there is no evidence that baptism was ever anything other than complete immersion in water. Of John, the prophet sent by God to prepare the way for Christ, it was said that he “was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there” (John 3:23). We are told that “when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him” (Matthew 3:16). In Acts, in the account of the Ethiopian official’s baptism by Philip, the text says that “as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:36-39).

In the New Testament, baptism is a representation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ — a physical act which shows that in obeying the gospel a person is dying with Christ. Paul reminded the Colossians that they had been “buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (2:12). And to the Romans, he used this analogy in an even more extensive way (Romans 6:3-5). So if we let the Scriptures decide the issue, we’ll have to conclude that baptism is immersion.

In practical terms, this burial and resurrection in baptism marks the beginning of a new life, so much so that it can be said that a new person has come into existence, one whose allegiance is now to Christ and not the world. And more than all the other blessings combined, what this new person has now that he didn’t have before is hope — the hope of life eternal (Titus 1:2; 3:7).

Buried with Christ, my blessed Redeemer,
Dead to the old life of folly and sin;
Satan may call, the world may entreat me,
There is no voice that answers within.
(T. O. Chisholm)