This last weekend Celebration Community Church launched its inaugural Saturday evening service with over 150 adults and children in attendance. We also baptized 21 believers between our 5 weekend services.
When I am asked, HOW people should be baptized I always refer to the Bible and to the origins of the word “baptize”. “Baptizo” is a Greek word which means “to submerge in water.” Therefore, baptism by sprinkling or by pouring is an oxymoron, something that is self-contradictory. Baptism by sprinkling would erroneously mean “submerging someone in water by sprinkling water on them.” Baptism, according to the Bible should be an act of immersion in water.
Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. “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 6:3-4.
The action of being immersed in the water brings to mind dying and being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the water models Christ’s resurrection. As a result, baptism by immersion is the only method of baptism which illustrates being buried with Christ and being raised with Him. Baptism by sprinkling and/or pouring came into practice as a result of the unbiblical practice of infant baptism.
Baptism by immersion, while it is the most biblical mode of identifying with Christ, is not a prerequisite for salvation. It is rather an act of obedience, a public proclamation of faith in Christ and identification with Him. Baptism is a picture of our leaving our old life and becoming a new creation.
Congratulations to the 21 believers who were baptized at C3 this weekend!
Your pastor and partner in ministry,
Kyle
P.S. Thank you Doug Folland for filling up and draining C3’s baptisteries for the last 15 years!
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