Is baptism a requirement?

[rturner76]

To become a member of the Christian Church, must you be baptized with water?

What constitutes a proper baptism?

If it is NOT required, what is, and what does baptism do or what is the meaning of it?

 

[Sketcher]

Even Catholics have an exception (baptism by desire).

But what my Protestant self tells people, is to get baptized because the Lord commands it. Why not. There should be no problems with doing that for anyone who loves the Lord. I'm talking about issues of the will, not extreme circumstances like the thief on the cross.

 

[d taylor]

-​

Becoming a member of a church is a completely different membership than.

Becoming a person who has received God's free gift of Eternal Life, a born again believer, a child of God. There is no baptism required for that.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

To become a member of the Christian Church, must you be baptized with water?

What constitutes a proper baptism?

If it is NOT required, what is, and what does baptism do or what is the meaning of it?

Holy Spirit baptism.
Acts 1
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [c]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

[IWalkAlone]

Does your faith say that your soul is damned without your body being immersed in water?

Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

 

[rturner76]

When someone does come to faith, the next step is to be baptized and purified.

My Church says baptism is a requirement

From the Catechism:
1227 According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with him:



Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.29
The baptized have "put on Christ."30 Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.31

1228 Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect.32 St. Augustine says of Baptism: "The word is brought to the material element, and it becomes a sacrament."33

 

[Albion]

Does your faith say that your soul is damned without your body being immersed in water?

No, immersion isn't necessary, just water with the appropriate words and intention. However, that wasn't the question we were working on.

Instead it was about what makes a person a Christian.

Technically, that wouldn't require Baptism. For one thing, it has already been mentioned that there is what is called 'Baptism of desire,' but that is rare and applies only if sacramental Baptism is impossible. Of course there has to be a conversion experience, which a number of posters have made reference to, except that this would exclude anyone too young to have made such a commitment and there is no reason to exclude baptized youngsters from the church of Christ and from being considered "Christians."

 

[ARBITER01]

Was Jesus Baptized?

 

[Albion]

Was Jesus Baptized?

Yes. By John in the Jordan River.

 

[ARBITER01]

Yes. By John in the Jordan River.

There ya go,.. do those things that Jesus did and you can't go wrong.

 

[Aussie Pete]

To become a member of the Christian Church, must you be baptized with water?

What constitutes a proper baptism?

If it is NOT required, what is, and what does baptism do or what is the meaning of it?

The key to understanding Christianity is death and resurrection. God takes an individual who accepts Christs and includes them in Christ. We are included in His death which removes the sinful nature that we received from Adam. We are included His in resurrection, so that we are new creations. Now what do you do when someone dies? You bury them. And that is exactly what baptism means - Colossians 2:12. The significance should be that we agree to the sentence of death that God passes on us. Too many Christians know that they do bad things, but they do not accept that they are inherently bad. That is why the Law appeals to so many. It is a conceit to imagine that we can obey the law.

We need to attend our own funeral! We should see ourselves dead, buried through baptism and then jump on our graves. Only then will we turn away from the old and embrace the new. While we harbour a secret hope that we can improve ourselves, we will not seek the resurrection life that Lord Jesus promised.

No, baptism does not save anyone. But it is a powerful testimony to the world, to the church, to Satan and ourselves that our old man is finished.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Even Catholics have an exception (baptism by desire).

But what my Protestant self tells people, is to get baptized because the Lord commands it. Why not. There should be no problems with doing that for anyone who loves the Lord. I'm talking about issues of the will, not extreme circumstances like the thief on the cross.

Colossians 2:12 gives the significance of baptism.

 

[IWalkAlone]

Colossians 2:12 gives the significance of baptism.

It doesn't specify water baptism.
Jesus will baptize with the Spirit

John 1:32 And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 And I did not recognize [ad]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [ae]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [af]in the Holy Spirit.’


But even if it did specify water baptism, why would the Lord not send Paul to baptize?

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.

 

[rturner76]

1 Peter 3:21
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

 

[IWalkAlone]

1 Corinthians 12:13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

John 1:32 And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 And I did not recognize [ad]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [ae]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [af]in the Holy Spirit.’

 

[Albion]

It doesn't specify water baptism.

Not that verse, no. That's because it is speaking of something different from sacramental baptism. However, Jesus did speak of what you called "water baptism" which imparts the Holy Spirit among other benefits. And when he did, he was definitely not referring to what is called "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" by comparison to sacramental baptism.

But even if it did specify water baptism, why would the Lord not send Paul to baptize?

There is no doubting the fact that Jesus selected particular individuals (or certain groups of them) for particular purposes. There is nothing unusual or unbelievable about this. Paul was not a baptizer, but other of the Apostles were. Peter was chosen to bring the first real surge of converts into the church by his miraculous speech on Pentecost Sunday. No other of the Apostles were involved. And so on.

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.

 

[IWalkAlone]

Jesus did speak of what you called "water baptism" which imparts the Holy Spirit among other benefits.

In Acts 10:44-47 the gentiles were baptized in the Spirit without water baptism.

 

[Albion]

In Acts 10:44-47 the gentiles were baptized in the Spirit without water baptism.

These verses do not say or mean that "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" exists apart from sacramental Baptism. The Holy Spirit is imparted in the sacrament and these men had simply received a portion of it and now were being readied for the rest of the ceremony.

 

[rturner76]

I think people are looking at this from two different angles:

Do you need to be baptised if you want to be a Christian?
or
Do you need to be baptized to be saved?


I do believe one can go to the alter and be "saved" by laying on of hands for example. The next thing is to pick a church or Pastor to baptize you or it likely would be offered wherever the person was saved.

The baptism is the entrance into the Christian community washing your old life away and taking up Christ's commandments.

 

[ViaCrucis]

To become a member of the Christian Church, must you be baptized with water?

What constitutes a proper baptism?

If it is NOT required, what is, and what does baptism do or what is the meaning of it?

Yes, Christ commissioned His Church to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). By which we have been born again into God's kingdom (John 3:3-5, Titus 3:5), whereby Christ has cleansed us by the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5:26), have our sins forgiven and receive the gift of the Spirit (Acts of the Apostles 2:38), have been joined to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12-13), having been clothed with Jesus Christ Himself (Galatians 3:27).

Proper Baptism is baptism done by Christ's name and authority, as He Himself has instituted this Sacrament for His Church; and the proper and Christian way of baptizing is in the three-fold name of the Holy Trinity: "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Baptism is Baptism because it is "water with the word" (see again Ephesians 5:26). The word is here by the command of Christ to baptize (see again Matthew 28:19), and the promises attached to Baptism, namely forgiveness of sins, and new birth from God, by which we are adopted as sons and daughters, and enter God's kingdom. For the Apostle writes, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14)

For we are born from above, not by the will of our sinful human flesh, but by the will and power of God--His grace (John 1:13). And so God works His grace and power of salvation, creating in us and working in us faith, through which we have been saved and justified (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 1:16-17, Romans 5:1). And He does so by the Means of Word and Sacrament (e.g. Romans 10:17).

Thus the baptized can stand confidently before God, in grace, as a justified and forgiven sinner; justified by God's grace alone, having nothing in and of ourselves by which to boast (see again Ephesians 2:8-9).

-CryptoLutheran