Biblical Baptism: The path to being born again

Friday, 06/12/26 at 06:34
A Voice Shouting

Date: 6/12/26

You are likely not going to hear from the pulpits that biblical baptism is essential to becoming born again. Over the past 50+years, baptism has been marginalized, minimized, brushed aside, deemed non-essential, and sold as nothing more than a public testimony of faith. Unfortunately for those who have bought those lies, the bible has much more to say about its significance. So, rather than focus on all the man-made doctrines (and they are numerous), I’d like to point you to scripture instead.

Before getting started, I’d like to highlight one particular sleight of hand that is used way too often by today’s church and it has to do with the Great Commission. When pastors reference the Great Commission they cut short the full verse and stop after “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”. Have you noticed this as well? We’ve all heard sermons on this topic, but they almost never address the other half of the verse. Here is the entire verse of Matthew 28:19: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”  Do you see the difference now? Jesus is giving a command to make disciples, baptizing them. Notice it’s not, go make disciples and then baptize them. His command joins together making disciples and baptizing into one action. With this as our starting point, let’s move onto Jesus and Nicodemus.

John 3: 1-5 “There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of

God.”“How can anyone be born when he is old?” 4 Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus is saying that in order to enter the kingdom of God (become a member of God’s family and the body of Christ), you must be born again. And, in order to be born again it must be by way of water and spirit. So, the question is what is water? I know this question may sound ridiculous, but many pastors are teaching that the water referenced here is found in the mother’s womb. Which infers that everyone on the planet has already been baptized. If this is the case, then why did Jesus give a command to baptize if it has already been accomplished? Hebrews 10:22 says “For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Is the water in a mother’s womb pure? I don’t think so. The last comment on water is that biblical baptism (the way it’s performed in the bible) is accomplished with full immersion, not sprinkling. Let’s move on to a quick discussion of the Spirit as mentioned in John 3:5 (above).

The first Christian sermon ever given was from the Apostle Peter during Pentecost. Acts 2:38-39… 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. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”  As you can see here Peter provides us with a proper response to Jesus’ reference to being born of water and spirit. When we repent of our sins (turn away from sin), turn to God (believe, trust and obey), are baptized, the gift of the Holy Spirit will follow. Notice Peter didn’t instruct them to say a special prayer to be saved. He is very specific as to how sins are forgiven.

Next, and most importantly, let’s explore Romans 6. I encourage you to study this deeply so that you can learn why baptism is so critical to being born again. You won’t hear many pastors mention Romans 6 so this is likely your only chance to learn the truth.

Romans 6 “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.  6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”

This whole passage is about dying to the old sinful self, breaking the power of sin over us, and rising with Christ to live new lives. This is the new birth that Jesus was talking about to Nicodemus. Baptism breaks the power of sin the enemy has over us by putting our old lives to death (following Christ) and rising from the grave (like Christ) to live new lives (with Christ)…born again lives! I don’t see how we can put to death our inherited sinful self and rise with a new life (born again) without baptism.

Here is another similar passage by the Apostle Paul. Colossians 2:11-15: “When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

This is scripture confirming scripture so that you know you are grounded in truth. I hope you have learned that baptism is so much more significant and powerful than you have been taught by the wolves in sheep’s clothing pastors that teach baptism is nothing more than an outward sign you have been saved. Why is baptism critical to the start of our Christian walk?

Baptism unites us with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection;

Baptism breaks the power of sin over us;

Baptism puts to death our old sinful selves;

Baptism set us free from the spiritual powers of this world;

Baptism is commanded by Jesus:

Baptism is the beginning of new life and is the pathway to being born again.

Please take the time to meditate on this and study it for yourselves. The Book of Acts is loaded with people who were baptized upon coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Note that upon conversion they were baptized immediately, not like it’s done in churches today.

I hope you have a new appreciation for the importance of baptism so you can be born of water and spirit and be ready to enter into the Kingdom of God when Jesus returns.

Galatians 3:27  “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. “