An outward symbol of an inward change
March 6, 2008 (Thursday)
Recent blogs have cited certain baptismal services, and those references set me to thinking about other baptisms.
I was baptized by Brother Green in Liberty Road Baptist Church when I was 11 years of age. Later, as a teenager, I became confused about my experience and felt I had not really made a genuine commitment to Christ at the time of my baptism. As a result, I was baptized at age 17 by Brother Hunt. As I grew in Christ, I came to see the later experience as a rededication. The real baptism, therefore, was the immersion at the earlier age.
We immerse when we baptize because that’s the way they did it in Bible days. Most scholars agree with that belief. It identifies the believer with the burial of Christ and His resurrection, portraying the new Christian as dead to sin and alive to a new life in Christ. Consequently, baptism takes place where there is sufficient water for total immersion of the person.
Through the years I baptized people in church baptismal pools, called “baptistries,” in stock tanks, which are small ponds where cattle and other livestock drink, in Aransas Bay at Rockport, Texas, and in the Frio River at the H.E.B. Foundation Encampment near Leakey, Texas. I may have baptized in other locations that I cannot recall. They were all beautiful experiences, although a few went less smoothly than others. The most common factor that detracted from the observance was the candidate’s fear of water. We congratulate every person who overcame that fear long enough to follow the Lord in baptism. It took a great deal of courage on their part.
The Scripture says, “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 6:4 NIV).
Baptism has no saving power; it is an outward symbol of an inward change. It is a very beautiful and meaningful ceremony that helps believers confirm their faith. It makes a statement for the new Christian: “I’m saved! I’m changed! I belong to Christ! I’m a part of His Body, the Church!”