BAPTISM

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Is it necessary for Salvation? If you can, yes. But there will be people in heaven who had special circumstances who came to Christ and could not be baptized.

Christ emphasized, baptism is necessary! It's in the Bible. (See John 3:5).  " I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus,"that no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without being born of water and the spirit".   

There are a number of similarities between a marriage ceremony and baptism.  Baptism is the entrance into the Christian family. One takes the name of Christ (Christian). God designs that this is to be a life-time experience in which one's  personal relationship with Him is ever improving and very personal. Salvation through the shed blood of Jesus on Calvary is the theme of the gospel (Romans 3:25; 5:9; Ephesians. 1:7; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 1:5; etc.). You can depend upon it by faith through His grace.
 

By baptism we confess our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and testify of our death to sin and of our purpose to walk in newness of life. Thus we acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior, become His people, and are received as members by His church. Baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and our reception of the Holy Spirit. It is by immersion in water and is contingent on an affirmation of faith in Jesus and evidence of repentance of sin. It follows instruction in the Holy Scriptures and acceptance of their teachings. (Matthew 3:13-16; 28:19, 20; Acts 2:38; 16:30-33; 22:16; Romans 6:1-6; Galatians 3:27; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 2:12, 13; 1 Peter 3:21.)

Baptism demonstrates true repentance. Such repentance is a turning to believe, follow, and obey the Lord Jesus Christ, and is the only kind of repentance that will save us. A repentance which refuses the command to be baptized in water is unknown in the Bible. To mentally assent to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, but refuse to obey His words is mock repentance which will not save anyone. True repentance must lead a person to the waters of baptism. Thus we see the saving importance of a believer's baptism. In baptism we identify ourselves with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Jesus died, bearing our sins and paying the penalty for them in Himself. He was buried, taking our old life into the tomb with Him. He was raised from the dead, that He might give to us by the power of God, His new life, a supernatural resurrection life of peace and joy and victory over all that previously bound us.
Colossians 2:12   Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
 

Does it take a priest or a pastor to baptise? 
You must understand the baptism is taking place in the person being baptised. It's what HE believes is happening, and it is HE who is repenting of past sin, and it is HE who is accepting Jesus and the Holy Spirit into his heart. It is HE who is taking off the old man and putting on the new man and looking forward to a life of sinning less because the holy spirit is now within him.  Who is dunking him under the water is irrelevant. The only case for having a priest or a pastor do the baptising is that the person being baptised may feel it "took" much more than by being baptised by a regular common Christian. In truth Yahweh doesn't care who does the dunking as it is in the heart of the person being baptised whether or not it took or not.

Are there any prerequisites for it?
Among the prerequisites for baptism noted in the Scriptures are belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Acts 8:36,37) and repentance (Acts 2:37,38), and being of sufficient age (usually ten or older) to know what this is really all about.

Acts 16:30-33 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Acts 8:36-38 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

5. Method of Baptism: Sprinkling vs Immersion.

a. The practice of the Catholic church is to sprinkle babies and new converts into the church.

b. "The most ancient form usually employed was unquestionably immersion. This is not only evident from the writings of the fathers and early rituals of both Latin and Oriental churches, but, it can also be gathered from the Epistles of St. Paul.... In the Latin church, immersion seems to have prevailed until the twelfth century.... Infusion and aspersion, however, were growing common in the thirteenth century and gradually prevailed in the western church." - The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 2, page 261:

c. Jesus was immersed. Mark 1:9-10 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

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The origin of the word “immersion”


Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.

The question is simple; do you love Jesus? Jesus said in John 14:15 & 15:14 if you love me you will keep my commandments. The first two commandments Jesus gave His disciples after His resurrection instructed them to preach repentance and remission of sins to all the nations in His name, (Luke 24:46-47), and to go into all the world and make disciples baptising (immersing) them in the name of the Godhead, Matthew 28:19.

  Peter obeyed Jesus’ commands and preached repentance and immersion for remission of sins and following their repentance and immersion these new disciples were added by God to the assembly in Jerusalem, Acts 2:38-47. So the final step sinners have to take following their belief, repentance and confession is immersion to wash away their sins as they call on the name of the Lord just as Paul was instructed to do by Ananias, (Acts 22:16) and which Paul reminded the Romans they had done, Romans 6:1-4.

Besides the other scriptures that will be presented hereafter and which delve deeper into the Biblical reasons for immersion, the issue disciples have to address when making other disciples is, whether or not immersion is necessary and secondly whether or not the word baptism means sprinkling with water or submergence beneath water. With regard to the first; baptism is necessary simply because Jesus commanded it. If you love Him you will obey His commandment. If you don’t think it is necessary, just refuse to obey His commandment.

  With regard to the use of the word baptism. Originally the English translators did not translate the Greek word baptizo; they transliterated it. That is, instead of writing the meaning of the word as they did for other Greek words in the New Testament, they simply turned the Greek letters of the word baptizo into a “b” an “a” a “p” a “t” an “i” an “s” and an “e”. So instead of “immersion”, which is the translation of the word “baptizo” being printed in the English Bible, you have the word baptise which is the transliteration of the word baptizo. The full reference to the reason for this abuse of the original language is recorded in Church history books. Briefly, the reason relates to numbers in man’s records; not God’s record. As for the practice of sprinkling instead of immersion; sprinkling comes from the Greek word “riptizo” and is seldom used in the New Testament. On the seven occasions it is used, it refers to sprinkling blood; not water.

Disciples should be aware that you cannot teach “Jesus” without teaching immersion. When Philip was instructed by the angel to get into the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch he found the man reading Isaiah 53. In Acts 8:35 Luke records that Philip taught the Eunuch “Jesus”, beginning from this chapter in Isaiah. There is no mention of Philip teaching the Eunuch about immersion, and yet the Eunuch stops the chariot by a river and both he and Philip go down into the water and Philip immerses him. Now where did the Eunuch learn about immersion? Obviously from Philip’s teaching about Jesus, for you cannot teach Jesus without teaching immersion. Note also in Acts 16:31-33, that Paul told the convicted jailor if he believed in Jesus he would be saved and Paul took him aside with his whole household and taught him Jesus from the word of God. Following the teaching he and his household were immersed immediately. Here is another case of not being able to teach “Jesus” without teaching immersion. The jailor would have only heard about it when Paul told him about salvation from the word of the Lord. When teaching sinners about Jesus, one cannot exclude immersion. 

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