Grace and peace to you.

There are many unbiblical doctrines concerning baptism, the principle belief being that baptism cleanses one from the sin of Adam and Eve (known in the Roman Catholic Church as Original Sin). These misconceptions stem from unbiblical teachings about baptism. Most of these unbiblical are a result of Roman Catholic influence.

A Practical Catholic Dictionary defines baptism as:

“The sacrament by which a person is cleansed of original sin, made a child of God and an heir of Heaven. A person must receive Baptism before he may receive any of the other sacraments. Baptism brings sanctifying grace into the soul and takes aways original sin, which is the sin inherited from Adam and with which everyone is born. Baptism also takes away any actual sins and the punishment due to them, if the person baptized is guilty of any actual sins. In baptism, a person is made alive for the first time with the life of grace. Since the one who is baptized is in the state of original sin before receiving this sacrament, Baptism is called a Sacrament of the Dead. Baptism can be received only once, because it leaves on the soul and indelible mark called a character.”

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 33

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism cleanses a person from “original sin,” but the Bible teaches that only the shedding of blood can wash away sin:

“It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”

Leviticus 17:11

“Without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin].”

Hebrews 9:22

And the Lord Jesus washed away our sins through the shedding of His blood:

“This is my blood…which is shed…for the remission of sins.”

Matthew 26:28

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Ephesians 1:7

By His own blood He…obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Hebrews 9:12

If baptism does not wash away sin, then what is baptism?

Baptism is a symbol of the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus

“Know ye not, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?”

Romans 6:3

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”

Romans 6:5

“Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.”

Colossians 2:12

This truly emphasizes the symbolic nature of baptism.  We know we were not buried with the Lord Jesus. But, when we were baptized, we symbolically re-enacted the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection. We were laid back in the water, with our arms folded across our chest, symbolizing Jesus’ death and burial. And, when we were brought back out of the water, we symbolized His resurrection. 

Baptism is a symbol of the death of the old man, and the birth of the new man

When we got saved, we became a new person:

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Baptism symbolizes the death and burial of the old unsaved man, and the resurrection, or rebirth of the new regenerated man:

“Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:4

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Romans 6:6

“If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above…for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God…ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man…”

Colossians 3:1-10

Baptism is a way for us to remember that as Jesus died and was buried, so is our old man dead and buried, along with his sinful ways. And, as the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, so are we risen with Him.  The old sinful man is dead, and the new man is alive.  This is what is referred to as the new birth.  Though we shall continue to “strive against sin,” we shall no longer serve sin. Sin will no longer have dominion over us (Romans 6:14).

Baptism is a symbol of our salvation

“[T]he longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.“

1 Peter 3:20

Did you see that?  Baptism hails back to the Flood when God saved Noah!  But you have got to dial in on this…you have got to wrap your head around this…Notice that it says eight souls were saved by water.  When we think of the Flood, we usually think only of the fact that water destroyed.  But water also saved, because were it not for the water, the Ark could not have been borne up and Noah and his family would have perished with the rest!  Wow!

You cannot tell me that God does not have a plan.  Everything—and I do mean everything—He does has a purpose.  The more that I read Scripture the more I understand this. That’s why I’ll serve no other God but the Lord Jesus Christ.  He knows what He is doing.

So, our baptism also symbolizes our salvation by reminding us of how God saved Noah and his family by water. 

Baptism is an act of faith

Only those who have faith in the blood of Jesus will be saved:

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”

Romans 3:23-25

We are saved when we believe that the blood the Lord Jesus shed completely washed away our sins and saved us from the damnation of Hell.  We have merely to accept this as fact and believe it, just like we believe that our mother is our mother even though we didn’t actually see her give birth to us. Faith is a choice. If we believe that the blood of the Lord Jesus saved us, then we should demonstrate our faith by getting baptized.

Baptism is an act of obedience

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”

Acts 2:38

For the believer, the act of baptism is non-negotiable. It is a requirement. We get baptized out of obedience to the Scriptures.

Baptism gives us a clean conscience

Because the Lord Jesus never lies, we can rest assured that because we heard the gospel, believed the gospel, and were baptized, we are saved. Our conscience is clean:

“Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from all evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 10:22

It is very important to our spiritual wellbeing to have a clean conscience:

“And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.”

Acts 24:16

“For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience…”

2 Corinthians 1:12

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience…”

1 Timothy 1:5

A clean conscience is important because it is the conscience that convicts us of sin:

“And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one…”

John 8:9

If we live with guilt on our conscience, we are guilty of sin, because the Word of God says:

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

Romans 14:23b

Baptism is not a means of Salvation

Some interpret 1 Peter 3:20-21a as meaning that baptism saves. 

[T]he longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us…”

2 Peter 3:20-21a

But they are neglecting the second part of the passage:

“…(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh [remission of sin], but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 3:21b

Out of the mouth of the Apostle Peter, we have the final confirmation. Baptism cannot save you, because it does not “put away the filth of the flesh.” In other words, baptism does not save, because it does not remit sin.  It does, however, give you a clean conscience by reminding you of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This should then remind you that as Christ is Risen, so are we, because we believe.  We are a new person, free of the sins we committed in our previous life, as well as the sin of Adam.

Catholic Guilt

The consequence of a guilty conscience is best illustrated by the phenomenon known as Catholic Guilt, which Wikipedia describes as:

“The reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics. Guilt is a by-product of an informed conscience…”

An “informed conscience” is Catholic-speak for being convicted of sin. Catholics feel excess guilt because they don’t believe that the sacrifice of Jesus fully atoned for their sins:

“Satisfaction for sin – Making up to God for sins committed against Him. The penitent (Roman Catholic) satisfies in part for his sins when he says his Penance after Confession.” [Brackets mine.]

A Practical Catholic Dictionary, p. 196 “Satisfaction for Sins.”

If Roman Catholics must make “partial satisfaction” for their sins through penance, then the implication is that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross did not fully atone for sin. Pope Francis called it “The Failure of the Cross”:

This is a clear heresy, as the Lord’s last words before dying on the cross were “It [the Atonement] is finished.”

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.”

John 19:30

Confessing sins to a priest and doing penance to satisfy sins is contrary to the Word of God, which says:

“And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

Hebrews 10:11-12

If a priest cannot forgive sins, then the penance that he prescribes cannot satisfy sins. And if your sins are not forgiven, then you are not saved. And if you are not saved, then the Holy Spirit cannot live in you. And if the Holy Spirit does not live in you, then you cannot have a clean conscience.

Scripture says:

“Because that the worshippers once purged [of their sins] should have had no more conscience of sins.”

Hebrews 10:2

Because Roman Catholics are trusting in their priests instead of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not give them a clean conscience. This is why they live in a perpetual state of guilt, uncertainty, and fear.

Only those who hear and believe the Gospel should be baptized

Many who believe that baptism in and of itself is sufficient for salvation do so on the bases of Acts 2:38:

“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”

Acts 2:38

But they neglect to consider all that passage entails.  The apostle Peter told the hearers that in order to be saved, they must first repent, and then be baptized. Repentance is the willful act of turning from sin and turning towards God. It is more than being sorry for having done evil; it is being sorry for having sinned against a Holy God.

“For godly sorrow worketh to repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

2 Corinthians 7:10

In order for a person to know that he has sinned against God, someone must first give him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is exactly what Peter did. This is what happened next:

“Then they gladly received his word and were baptized.”

Acts 2:41

Then is the operative word here, because it signifies a sequence of events.  FIRST, Peter testified of Jesus to them; THEN, they gladly received (believed) his word; THEN, they were baptized.

Thus is the order established.  In order to be saved, one must:

1) Hear the Gospel

2) Believe the Gospel

3) Be baptized

This is supported by the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who was converted after hearing the testimony of Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8).  Philip encounters the man reading a passage of Scripture (Isaiah 53:7,8), and he asks Philip to whom the passage refers.  We pick up there:

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.”

Acts 8:35

 The eunuch heard the Gospel. The Scripture goes on to say that as they continued on their way, “they came unto a certain water,” at which point the eunuch said:

“See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

Acts 8:36

It is obvious that in preaching the Gospel of Christ, Philip explained the necessity of baptism. In answer to his question, Philip replies:

“If thou believest with all thine heart, [then] thou mayest.”

Acts 8:37

This is a conditional If…Then… statement.  The performance of the second action is dependent upon the completion of the first action, called the condition. This is not optional. Only if the condition is met, may the action be taken. 

Notice what happens next:

“And he [the eunuch] answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” [Brackets mine.]

Acts 8:37b

The eunuch believed the Gospel.

Notice that the eunuch did not have to be told to confess his belief. He knew that the only way Philip would understand that he believed was for him to confess his belief openly.  Then there could be no doubt. One should not be baptized unless one has professed a belief in the Gospel.  This is why Scripture says:

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Romans 10:9-10

As you can see, belief and confession go hand in hand.  By his confession, the eunuch showed that he believed the Gospel.

We continue with verse 38:

“And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”

The eunuch was baptized.

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5)

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism should only be done once because it “leaves an indelible mark on the soul.” But the Bible gives a completely different reason. You see, the Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus offered Himself for the sins of the world ONCE:

“But this man, after He had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOREVER, sat down at the right hand of God.”

Hebrews 10:12

Since the Lord died only once–our baptism symbolizes this unique sacrifice–then we should only get baptized once in faith. If we were to get baptized twice, we would be symbolically suggesting that the Lord sacrificed Himself twice. This is not only a clear heresy, but also a terrible thing to do to our Savior.

You see, when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, He literally became a curse for us, because all of our sins were heaped upon Him: 

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is anyone who hangeth on a tree.” 

Galatians 3:13

This was terrible, because the Lord was innocent of any sin (1 John 3:5). But in His love for us, He allowed Himself to be humiliated and treated like a common criminal. This He did this for us—once.  Afterwards, Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried. He rose on the third day in His glorified body and later ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father.  He is no longer on the cross.  He is no longer a curse.  It is finished.  To get baptized a second time is to put the Lord back on the cross and again subject the Creator of the universe to shame and reproach.

Backsliders need not apply

Now you have resolved to start going back to church and devote yourself to reading your Bible and truly living a Christian life.  This is commonly known as a rededication or revival, and it happens to many Christians.  It is good to rededicate yourself to the Lord, but you do not need to get baptized again.  Remember, when you got saved, you died to the old man and were reborn in Christ Jesus.  Your baptism is proof of this.  You can only be reborn once.  The Bible says you must be born again, not reborn again.

Don’t put the Lord Jesus back on the Cross!

Also remember that our baptism is a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If then, we continue to get baptized, we symbolically continuously crucify our Lord, declaring that His one sacrifice did not make atonement for our sins.  If this is true, then Jesus died for nothing.

The seriousness of this can be seen in the Book of Numbers.  We read in Chapter 20 that after Moses had led the children of Israel out of Egypt, there was a point when they were thirsty and there was no water to be found.  God told Moses to speak to a certain rock, and water would come from it (v. 8).  But Moses, who was by this time fed up with the Israelites constantly complaining, in anger, struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to it (v. 11).  And he not only struck it once; he struck it twice.  For this, God told Moses he could not cross over the Jordan into the promised land (v. 12).

Why did God do this?  Because the Rock was Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), and Moses’ striking the Rock was symbolic of Jesus crucifixion and death for the sins of the people. When Moses struck it twice, it was symbolic of Jesus being crucified twice: in essence a declaration that Jesus’ sacrifice was not good enough.  It was for this act that Moses was not allowed to cross over the Jordan with his people, after having led them in the desert for 40 years.  Now do you see how serious this is?  It is a serious crime to put Jesus back on the cross, yet this is what we do when we get baptized over and over again.

Exceptions to the rule of one Baptism

An example of someone who would need to be baptized again would be someone who was baptized before, but never truly understood the Gospel message.  It could be someone who was baptized as an infant (such as a Roman Catholic), or a teenager or adult who never really understood the Gospel message and so had not truly accepted Jesus as his Savior.  If such a person later hears the Gospel, accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord, and is baptized, the second baptism is the one that counts, not the first. Now that the person is a true believer and has been baptized, he need not ever do it again. Even if he should stray away for a time and decide to rededicate himself to the Lord Jesus, he need not get re-baptized, else he puts Jesus back on the cross.

Let me explain this from a personal perspective.  Back in 1998, as a young man, a deacon in a local church “witnessed” to me and I was subsequently baptized in a formal ceremony.  But because the deacon never told me what Jesus did for me and why I needed Him, I never really understood the Gospel message and what salvation was all about.  Consequently, I never really made Jesus my personal Savior, and I made no confession of faith, either inwardly or outwardly. I was not saved, evidenced by the fact that I continued to live a sinful life. My baptism, therefore, was pointless. Seven years later, I heard the real Gospel and was convicted of my sins. I repented of my sins, made the Lord Jesus my personal Savior, and confessed Him as Lord. Now, I knew that I needed to be baptized, according to the Scriptures, but I wasn’t a member of any church.  So, I filled my bathtub with water, and had my wife baptize me by laying me back in the tub, while saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (I didn’t know at that time that I could have been baptized in the name of Jesus, as all the fullness of the Godhead reside in Him). This I did out of obedience to the Scriptures.

Years later, I found out that my wife was not saved (she is a Roman Catholic), and I wondered if I should get re-baptized by a believer.  But the Lord showed me that it was not the externals of the baptism that were important, but the internals.  In other words, it was not what my wife believed that was important, but what I believed. Later the Holy Spirit revealed to me the things I am sharing with you now, and I knew that I was right not to get re-baptized.

Conclusion

I hope you are now convinced that baptism is not a means of salvation, but is rather a symbol of our salvation.  It is your receipt—your assurance that if you have heard, believed, and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and have made Him your Lord and Savior, then you are saved, and Heaven is your reward.  Pray about this and ask the Lord for discernment, because it is important.

If we know that we first heard the Gospel, believed it, accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, and were baptized, then we have assurance that we are saved.  This is important because a frequent tactic of the Devil is to try to make us think we are not saved.  When you start to believe that way, first ask yourself if you believe the Gospel; that is,

• That you are a sinner and deserve to go to Hell
• That Jesus Christ died for you, and shed His blood for your sins
• That His death was sufficient payment for your sins
• That if you believe this and have confessed Jesus as your Savior, then you are saved.

Are you saved? If you are, then have you been baptized?  If you have, then relax; you are saved, and your baptism is proof. If not, then read this article on Salvation. Then go get baptized.

Baptism is like a receipt.  When I buy something expensive, I make sure that I have my receipt, in fact I make a copy of it and put it somewhere safe.  That way, if something were to go wrong, I could take the purchase back, with full assurance that the store will honor it, because I have my receipt.

If you believe that the Lord Jesus died for your sins and that the shedding of His blood was sufficient payment for your sins, and have been baptized, then you have your receipt in your baptism.  So when Satan tries to instill doubt in you (and he will), check your receipt.  Don’t have your receipt?  Go get it.  You will need it.

The podcast on this teaching is below.  I pray it blesses you.

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Be encouraged, and look up; your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man