Hi,
I didn't say I don't want to be baptized in water I was just wondering whether like they say in other videos that it is a false doctrine? I.e. that water baptism is required in order to be saved.
I think we first need to establish that the phrase "water baptism" is redundant. It's like saying "I took a bath in water", to which one would reasonably wonder, "water as opposed to what?" We bathe in water, we use water to wash ourselves, that's what a bath is. The same is true of baptism, baptism means there's water involved. When Scripture uses baptism in other contexts, such as baptism with the Holy Spirit it is treating it as an analogy.
It comes from St. John the Baptist who says that he baptizes with a baptism of repentance (in anticipation and expectation of the coming of the Messiah), but that the One who comes after him (the Messiah, that's Jesus) will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Okay, so when does Jesus do this?
Well let's turn to the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
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And while staying with them He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, 'you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" - Acts of the Apostles 1:4-5
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He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'" - Acts of the Apostles 1:7-8
So here Jesus connects what John the Baptist said, with what Jesus promised--that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit, another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, and thus He would not leave His followers as orphans.
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And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." - John 14:16-17
And the fulfillment of this happens, we read, in the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, while they were gathered in the upper room, waiting for what Jesus promised would happen. The Holy Spirit was poured out on them, and they began to speak in the languages of those Jewish pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem. And then St. Peter stood up, filled with the Spirit, and proclaimed that what those pilgrims saw happening was the fulfillment of what had been spoken long ago by the Prophet Joel,
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And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." - Joel 2:28-32a
So what is the baptism with the Holy Spirit? It's this, the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, here being fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, even as was foretold by the Prophet Joel, by St. John the Baptist, and our Lord Jesus Himself.
The only other time we see anything like this is when later St. Peter receives a vision, and is then summoned to the household of Cornelius, and then as Peter preached the Gospel the Holy Spirit fell upon the entire house of Cornelius, and we see a repeat of Pentecost. Peter instantly recognizes what this means, that the Gospel isn't for the Jews only, but also for the Gentiles. God repeats Pentecost here for the Gentiles as the sign that the Gentiles are included in the Great Commission. And so Peter has the entire household of Cornelius baptized (that's Baptism, i.e. with water).
So this baptism with the Holy Spirit, we see in Scripture, is specific. It is not an individual experience, but the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, as foretold by the prophets and promised by Jesus.
But let's go back to Acts 2, what does Peter say to those gathered in Jerusalem?
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Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.'" - Acts of the Apostles 2:37-39
So why receive Baptism? Because it is Christian Baptism, by Christ's authority, even as He said,
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20
This is Christ's command and commission to His Church--to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them.
So, Peter in Acts ch. 2 follows Christ's own command, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, calls the pilgrims to repentance, and to receive Christian Baptism. And what does this Baptism accomplish, what is it for? It is for the forgiveness of sins.
Let us take note of what else Scripture teaches us about the meaning and significance of this Holy Baptism,
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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, 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 6:3-4
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For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." - Galatians 3:27-29
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In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross." - Colossians 2:11-14
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For Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," - 1 Peter 3:18-21
But not only these, but see what else the Scriptures teach concerning Holy Baptism,
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Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.'" - John 3:5-7
See how Christ attaches the new, spiritual birth to Baptism, speaking of the water of Baptism here. For Nicodemus knew, as a rabbi, that when a person converted to Judaism and went through the ritual washing of the mikveh, they were as born new people--born anew as a Jew. So Christ speaks of what Nicodemus should have already known, though obviously Christian Baptism is another thing, it is not being born anew under the old covenant made through Moses, but the New Covenant established in Christ's own precious blood. This new birth by which we are a new creation.
St. Paul himself echoes back to here when he writes,
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But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." - Titus 3:4-7
Why should you receive Christian Baptism?
Because here in this water God has connected His precious and holy word, His promises, that here in this water is Christ who has given Himself to us; so that here in this water we die to the world, we die with Christ, we are buried with Christ, and we are made new in Christ. Our sins having been washed clean by His precious blood which He shed for us. And we are born again, as children of God, by His grace. Through this Baptism we are birthed into the life of God which is in Christ by the power of the Spirit.
Not that this Baptism is a work you do in order to merit bonus points to God, as though you are being obedient and earn anything from Him. Not as though this Baptism is an act of your own obedience which God rewards. But rather, you come to the laver of salvation as a helpless, sinful beggar and wretch, with nothing. You bring nothing, for you have neither gold nor silver, nor clean robes, but only your sin. It is God who washes you clean, for He says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be as crimson, they shall be white as wool." (Isaiah 1:18).
-CryptoLutheran