Baptism #21

Baptisma comes from the verb baptizo, meaning to dip, immerse, or submerge — used outside the New Testament for dyeing cloth (immersing it in dye) as well as ordinary washing. John the Baptist adapted an existing Jewish practice of ritual washing into a public rite marking repentance in preparation for the coming Messiah, and Jesus himself submitted to it at the start of his ministry (Matthew 3:13-17).

Biblical Usage

Paul explains the deeper meaning Christian baptism carries beyond John’s baptism of repentance: “we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that… we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4) — baptism as a picture of union with Christ’s own death and resurrection. Jesus’s final commission instructs the disciples to make converts of all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), establishing it as the rite of entry into the church.

Theological Significance

Christian traditions have long debated baptism’s mode (immersion versus sprinkling) and proper recipients (believers only versus infants of believers), but virtually all agree on its core meaning drawn from these texts: a public sign of identification with Christ’s death and resurrection and entrance into the visible community of his followers.