REPENTANCE, WATER BAPTISM AND REBIRTH
Sakkie Parsons
Someone writes to me as follows:
"I have the following question – what is the difference between repentance, water baptism and rebirth?"
So I want to start like this and it is a pity that I have to start this way but that is the reality.
Most people who call themselves Christians, will tell you they have repented and been baptized and many of them will also add that they are born again and yet you can only look at the Christian world to realize that most people who call themselves Christians, is still on the way to hell and this is the result of many preachers who baptize people for the sake of numbers and other accompanying reasons and therefor the only real difference between most people before their baptism and after their baptism is that of being wet for a short while after their baptism. I then want to keep it simple and in one writing, mainly focusing on one section from the Word namely:
ACTS 2:38 And Peter said to them, "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.
We then start with:
ACT 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ …”
The dictionary mentions ”repentance" as to be sorry for the wrong you have done and it is also how the translation I use is used and how I understand the Word; To come to one’s senses and to turn to God.
No man can come to repentance and fix with God if he/she has not opened his/her heart and invited and accepted Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Saviour:
REV 3:20-22
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (This means to open your heart to Jesus Christ and invites Him in as your Lord)
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"
So what does repentance mean?
ACT 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ …
Or as the New Living Translation puts it:
ACT 2:38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Just look at how absolutely wonderful my great hero Paul in Acts 26:20 sets out what "repentance / repentance" entails:
ACTS 26:20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
Do you see what it involves to turn to God / repentance?
I must repent. It means to realize that Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of my faith. In addition, I must turn my back on my sinful life that I have lived – I must turn to God and then my life must show it by word and deed to the whole world. The first act of repentance and turning to God is my obedience to be baptised, where the old me is dead and buried.
Now about Water Baptism:
ACT 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, … “
Here I leave it to my great hero Paul to explain the baptism and what baptism entails as he received it by the Holy Spirit to convey to us:
ROM 6:1-13
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
9 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Then –
What is Rebirth?
Rebirth is to climb out of the baptismal bath as a new person and now have the Holy Spirit resides in me. To whom I always listen, to help me as I start to change my life in obedience from that moment.
ACTS 2:38 Peter answered them, "Repent and do justice to God. Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins can be forgiven, and you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.
Here then to explain the true way to be born again, I just repeat the last part of what you have read about baptism:
ROM 6:11-13
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
I conclude with the following because the water baptism raised in the question is such a sacred sacrament.
What if I was baptized wrongly, or was baptized when I was still not ready to be baptized for one or more reasons?
In such a case I have not really been baptized at all and I should still be baptized.
Notice I do not say that I should be baptized again, because I simply cannot call wrong or false baptism in the true sense ‘baptism’ as I can understand from the Word.
If I had any doubts about my baptism, I would have baptized myself over according to the Word. For my doubt is the proof that for whatever reason in my heart I was not really baptized according to the Word.
The following from the Word is, in my opinion, applicable to all sections of the Christian's Christian principles and lifestyle, including baptism:
ROM 14:23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat (or do) something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning. (NLT)
Greetings,
Sakkie