2. To identify with Jesus Christ
“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, EVEN AS HE WALKED” (1Jo 2:6). When a Christian claims to abide in Jesus Christ, they ought to walk in the same steps that their master walked in. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:13-17). Since John was administering a baptism of repentance, he could not understand why Jesus who was sinless needed to be baptized. Since Jesus was our substitute He was not baptized on His own behalf but on our behalf. He told John that this was necessary to “fulfill all righteousness.” Likewise if we desire to be true imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ and fulfill everything that is right in the eyes of God we ought to be baptized like He was.
The scriptures also make it clear that John the Baptist was not sprinkling water on people’s heads in a cathedral in Bethabara but was fully immersing them in the Jordan River. “And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in THE RIVER OF JORDAN, confessing their sins” (Mar 1:5). John the Baptist immersed them in a large volume of water till they were fully dipped or submerged. Some ancient Greek writers use the same word “baptizo”when referring to ships that had been sunk in a war. This further confirms that one has to be fully immersed in the water and not merely sprinkled. Also Jesus was 30 years old by the time He was baptized and not an infant, “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli” (Luk 3:21-23). This is important to note because He had reached the age of consent or adulthood since today we have some groups that baptize infants and claim to be following the Bible. This infant baptism is a false doctrine and has no grounds in the scriptures. Infant baptism is not regarded as baptism in the New Testament.
3. To follow the practices of the early church
Whenever people were born again and received Jesus as their Lord in the New Testament they were always baptized. Some examples include the baptism of the first believers on the day of Pentecost, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and BE BAPTIZED every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly received his word WERE BAPTIZED: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Act 2:38,41). These first converts were baptized in their thousands as soon as they had received salvation and this pattern continued throughout the New Testament. Apostle Peter went ahead to baptize a group of Gentile converts at Caesarea in Cornelius’ house, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he COMMANDED THEM TO BE BAPTIZED in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days” (Act 10:47-48). Apostle Paul also went ahead to re-baptize Christians who had only been baptized with John’s baptism of repentance, showing that once someone has been baptized wrongly before, they can still be baptized in the right way again, “And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS” (Act 19:3-5). In the early church, all who were newly born again and those who had never been baptized received this ordinance as soon as possible and this should be our standard too.
4. In obedience to God’s Word
“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in OBEYING THE VOICE OF THE LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1Sa 15:22). When a believer has understood from the scripture that they ought to be baptized but still refuse, they can not reap the harvest of blessings that only obedience can bring. They open themselves up to attack from the devil since he can now use this as a legal ground to penetrate their lives. Jesus gave us a command and not a suggestion when He stated that, “He that believeth AND IS BAPTIZED shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mar 16:16). This is not a suggestion but a command and must be obeyed if we are to doers of the word and not mere hearers, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jam 1:22). Added to that, once someone knows that they should be baptized according to the scriptural practice but choose to disobey they are actually living in sin, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, TO HIM IT IS SIN” (Jam 4:17).