A
A New Creation
Guest
I was finally baptized for the remission of sins last night, after having realized that I had been following man's plan of salvation rather than God's.
I have only recently come to understand the gospel and the full meaning of baptism, namely, that it represents our joint-death with Christ in his crucifixion, and our descent into the cold depths of the grave, and also our joint-resurrection with Him to walk in newness of life, having washed away the filth of the flesh and put on Christ. However, knowing what baptism means is not a substitute for being baptized.
Although I had already considered myself saved and in Christ, I had overlooked His command that we be baptized. After reading the Didache, I came to the conclusion that if the early Christians had such explicit instructions for baptism, then obviously it was something they considered to be of great importance, rather than a mere testimony before men.
Then I considered that Christ would not have commanded new believers to be baptized for such a trivial purpose, because this would have been to lay an unnecessary burden on them that could hinder their faith. And we all know that Christ was opposed to this very thing, as evidenced by his upbraiding of the scribes, pharisees, and lawyers for their vain traditions that hindered God's people from worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.
Having come to this conclusion less than a day before, I felt it necessary to be scripturally baptized for God's reasons rather than for man's reasons. Instead of being comfortable with newly-discovered falsehood, I chose to act on the uncomfortable truth and serve God rather than man.
I have only recently come to understand the gospel and the full meaning of baptism, namely, that it represents our joint-death with Christ in his crucifixion, and our descent into the cold depths of the grave, and also our joint-resurrection with Him to walk in newness of life, having washed away the filth of the flesh and put on Christ. However, knowing what baptism means is not a substitute for being baptized.
Although I had already considered myself saved and in Christ, I had overlooked His command that we be baptized. After reading the Didache, I came to the conclusion that if the early Christians had such explicit instructions for baptism, then obviously it was something they considered to be of great importance, rather than a mere testimony before men.
Then I considered that Christ would not have commanded new believers to be baptized for such a trivial purpose, because this would have been to lay an unnecessary burden on them that could hinder their faith. And we all know that Christ was opposed to this very thing, as evidenced by his upbraiding of the scribes, pharisees, and lawyers for their vain traditions that hindered God's people from worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.
Having come to this conclusion less than a day before, I felt it necessary to be scripturally baptized for God's reasons rather than for man's reasons. Instead of being comfortable with newly-discovered falsehood, I chose to act on the uncomfortable truth and serve God rather than man.
