“Peter replied, ‘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 . . .’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

ACTS 2:38, 41

When the crowd asked Peter what they should do in response to his sermon, he gave them a three-fold answer: repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Thousands responded and were added to the fellowship of believers. The biblical pattern is that everyone who is baptized is also added. Every baptized disciple is expected to become an active member of the local fellowship.

The Bible presents four illustrations to help us understand water baptism.

BURIAL & RESURRECTION

Paul compares Christian baptism to a burial. In order to be buried, a person must first die. In the same way, the prerequisite for baptism is death to sin. After we are buried in baptism, then we are raised to live a new life.

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

ROMANS 6:1–4

CROSSING THE RED SEA

In the same way the Israelites were in slavery to the Egyptians, we were all slaves of sin. The Israelites were freed from their bondage by passing through the Red Sea.

Baptism pictures the freedom from sin that Jesus purchased for us on the cross.

“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

1 CORINTHIANS 10:1, 2

THE FLOOD

Peter teaches that it is not the water or the “removal of dirt” that saved us, but the death and resurrection of Christ.

“God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

1 PETER 3:20, 21

NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

Each of these pictures of water baptism show the old life being put away and the new life emerging. In baptism, we publicly identify with what Christ did for us on the cross.

In baptism, we put away the old life of sin and begin a new life of obedience to Christ.

Personal Application

Have you repented of your sins?

Have you put your trust in Christ alone for salvation?

Have you received the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Have you been baptized in water since you repented?

If not, what are you waiting for?

“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”

ACTS 22:16