THE BAPTISM OF JESUS IS AN EXAMPLE FOR US TO FOLLOW
“Since We Have Died with Christ, We Believe That We Will Also Live with Him”
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me with the following question:
“I’m struggling with a question about the baptism of Jesus.
My question is, how was Jesus really baptized? Why I ask is because I watched a film about Jesus’ crucifixion, and in the scene, they showed Jesus sitting in the water while someone just poured water over Him.
Can you help me clear up this uncertainty? What does the Word say?”
In my opinion, the Word does not say exactly how Jesus was baptized—but from what I understand, there is a clear indication in the Word about how He was baptized:
Mark 1:10 Immediately coming up out of the water, he (John) saw the heavens torn open, and the [Holy] Spirit like a dove descending on Him (Jesus);
Let’s begin at the beginning.
Why was Jesus baptized?
Or stated differently—why did Jesus insist on being baptized?
Many people offer different explanations. But if someone were to ask me for my opinion, then my answer is beautifully simple:
Jesus always did everything exactly as His Father wanted Him to. In this instance, too.
For example, John initially wanted nothing to do with baptizing Jesus.
Do you remember?
Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan [River], to be baptized by him.
Matthew 3:14 But John tried to prevent Him [vigorously protesting], saying, “It is I who need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
Matthew 3:15 But Jesus replied to him, “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness [that is, to perform completely whatever is right].” Then he permitted Him [to be baptized].
Jesus, through His baptism, set the example for us. At the same time, He made it clear that He expects His children to be baptized in obedience—just as He was, publicly—so that the whole world, including the spiritual realm, can see and understand that we are now confessing disciples of Jesus.
Matthew 3:15 “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness…”
A key indication of how important baptism is lies in this:
God—Jesus in this case—never does anything “just for the sake of it.”
Jesus gave us the example in everything, including baptism. He said of His own:
John 10:27 “The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me.”
To me, simply pouring water or sprinkling is just as unbiblical as infant baptism by sprinkling.
Let’s look at a few passages from the Word—and then you can decide for yourself whether there is any merit in what I’m saying: that sprinkling, pouring water, and especially infant baptism by sprinkling, are entirely unbiblical.
In my view, if you still call that baptism, then at the very least you are completely ignorant of what the word “baptism” actually means in the Bible. At worst, you are then a deliberate liar—someone knowingly promoting a false form of baptism.
No one sprinkles or drizzles a rusk with coffee or tea and calls it dipping!
No!
You say, “I dip my rusk in the coffee/tea before I eat it,” and you do this by pushing the rusk into the coffee or tea.
If sprinkling or pouring water over someone was Biblically acceptable, you wouldn’t need much water.
You’d just take a nice big jug (or two or more) and go about sprinkling everyone to be baptized. Right? How many people do you think you could sprinkle or pour water over using two or three jugs of water? Probably quite a few! But here’s one thing that’s certain: you wouldn’t need a lot of water for that.
Yet, I read in the Word that when it comes to Biblical baptism—you need a lot of water.
John 3:23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and being baptized.
If you want to baptize someone the Biblical way, you don’t just need a small bowl of water.
No, absolutely not!
You need a place where there is plenty of water, because that’s what it requires.
John 3:23 “…because there was an abundance of water there…”
Now, I will quote a few passages from the Word—and then you can decide for yourself whether there is anything at all in these passages that even remotely resembles sprinkling or pouring water.
Also, keep in mind as you read:
Baptism is a burial of the old person and a resurrection of the new person.
You don’t bury someone by tossing a few grains of sand on the body or by throwing a single spade of soil on it.
Romans 6:4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways].
Romans 6:5 For if we have become one with Him [permanently united in the likeness] of His death, we will also certainly be one with Him and share fully in the likeness of His resurrection.
Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values].
Colossians 2:12 Having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him to a new life through your faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead.
What if someone wants to be baptized, but there isn’t “plenty of water” available?
What about those living in desert regions or places where water is scarce?
Will I go to hell if I wasn’t immersed before dying?
First, we must realize: baptism is not the key to heaven. You don’t go to hell because you weren’t baptized—or because you were baptized in the wrong way.
The determining factor, so to speak, about your eternal destination is this:
Whether you arrive on the other side of the grave with Jesus.
In other words, whether you have truly accepted Jesus Christ in this life as your Savior and Redeemer.
Is Jesus truly the Lord of your life?
Here are just a few examples from Scripture:
John 3:16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:18 Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].
Our Lord is a loving Father.
He understands our circumstances, and He will—just as with all other areas of our lives—also guide us in our baptism when we are unable to do it in the way He reveals in His Word, if we allow Him to.
What we must not do is promote something that is not written in the Word and then call it baptism.
In conclusion:
I was sprinkled as a baby. I was catechized, accepted, and presented to the church, but after my true conversion, I felt that I needed to be baptized as an adult.
Because according to my understanding of the Word, our Lord wants baptism to be a decision that I make.
Also:
All the people Jesus called during His time on earth—He called them publicly, and they had to publicly choose to follow Him or not.
Further, Jesus says this about His followers:
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
Did you see that? Jesus doesn’t say, “You might be My witnesses.”
He says: You will be My witnesses.
For me, my baptism was the first step of obedience and the beginning of living out my testimony for Him. With my baptism—Biblically, through immersion—I testify publicly to all people, spirits, and powers: “In this symbolic burial of my old self and resurrection of my new self, I testify:
I believe that Jesus died for my sins on the cross.
I believe He was buried.
I believe He rose from the dead.
I have accepted this Jesus—God made flesh—as my Savior and Redeemer.
The old Sakkie is now dead.
I am now a new blood-washed child of God—a disciple of Jesus.”
I mentioned earlier that I testify not only before people, but also before all spirits and powers: That I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Redeemer, and that I am now His disciple.
Luke 15:7 “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents [that is, changes his inner self—his old way of thinking, regrets past sins, lives his life in a way that proves repentance and seeks God’s purpose for his life] than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”
When I attend a baptism service and I hear someone being immersed—because I cannot see, since I am blind—and then hear the water as they come up, one of the most powerful thoughts in my heart is the thunderous sound of rejoicing that echoes through the universe and the spiritual realm as that person—now a new creation—comes out of the baptismal water.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
When may someone be baptized?
In my opinion—when the person has accepted Jesus as their Savior and Redeemer, and clearly understands the symbolism behind baptism.
Acts 2:37–39
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah], and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.”
After your repentance, a person can absolutely be baptized.
Actually, I should say:
“A person must be baptized.”
Let me repeat:
For me, baptism is a public declaration and testimony before all people and spirits and powers:
“In this symbolic burial of my old self and resurrection of the new self, I testify:
I believe that Jesus died for my sins on the cross.
I believe He was buried.
I believe He rose from the dead.
I have accepted this Jesus, God who became man, as my Savior and Redeemer.
The old Sakkie is now dead.
I am now a new blood-washed child of God—a disciple of Jesus.”
Romans 6:4–8
4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life.
5 For if we have become one with Him in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be one with Him in the likeness of His resurrection.
6 We know that our old self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
7 For the person who has died [with Christ] has been freed from the power of sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him.
Over the years, the church has increasingly removed things from the Word—or changed them for people’s convenience—claiming they are no longer relevant today, and in my opinion, this has weakened both her testimony and herself.
One of the most unbiblical errors the church has promoted—and in this case, a double unbiblical teaching—is sprinkling, especially sprinkling of infants, and then calling that baptism.
I look at the astonishing actions of people who do these things—and even though I know that many of those who promote this unbiblical practice are far more educated than I am, and therefore must surely know that the Greek word for “baptize” in the original New Testament manuscripts is about as far removed from sprinkling or pouring as the east is from the west—
Well, then I just shake my head as I remember that Jesus, on a similar occasion, quoted Isaiah:
Matthew 13:14 “In them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will hear and keep on hearing, but never understand;
And you will look and keep on looking, but never comprehend.’”
Just for interest’s sake:
If I remember correctly, sprinkling only became part of the church’s doctrine around the year 401 A.D. So—for more than 400 years after Christ, Christians baptized people by immersion.
Sakkie