About Baptism
Our Belief About Water Baptism
Who Should Be Baptized
Every person who has believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are ready to be baptized. Being baptized demonstrates that I’m really a believer. Baptism doesn’t make you a Christian, it just shows that you are a Christian. A wedding ring doesn’t make you married, but it’s a symbol of the commitment that you made on your wedding day. It’s that commitment that makes you married, not the ring. In the same way baptism is an outward symbol of an inward commitment.
What is the meaning of Baptism?
1. It illustrates Christ’s burial and resurrection. “Christ died for our sins. He was buried and He rose again.” the Bible says “For when you were baptized you were buried with Christ and in baptism you were also raised with Christ.”
At Emmanuel Worship Center we baptize the way they did in the Bible – putting people all the way under the water. It is a symbol of a burial and resurrection. Just like Jesus Christ died and was buried in the ground for three days and then rose again.
2. Baptism illustrates my new life as a Christian. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “When anyone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. The old life has passed away and a new life has begun.” In the Bible, there was no such thing as a person claiming to be a Christian and not be baptized. It was automatic. You were baptized as soon as you gave your life to Christ.
“By our baptism then, we were buried with Him and shared His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead so we also may live a new life.” It doesn’t make you a Christian, it shows you already believe.
Why should I be baptized by immersion? There are some churches that sprinkle a little water on your forehead. Some pour a little water. Some dip a little bit. Other churches put you all the way under the water. Why do we believe and practice at Emmanuel Worship Center you should be baptized by immersion? There are four reasons.
1. Because Jesus was baptized that way. We want to do it the way they did it in the Bible. It says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water.” He went down to the Jordan River. John the Baptist baptized Him in the river. He set the example.
2. Every baptism in the Bible was by immersion. Example “Then both Philip and the man went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Then they came up out of the water.”
3. That’s what the word means. “Baptize” literally means, “dip under water.”
4. It best symbolizes a burial and resurrection.