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Bible Q & A
Q.
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Did you understand the true meaning of baptism when you were baptized? If not, should you be baptized again?
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A.
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This is a vital question to many of you. Baptism is an important step
in your spiritual life, and it must be done properly – at the right time and in the
right way – after true repentance! Unfortunately, many people have not been
properly immersed. Here’s how you can know if you have been properly baptized.
The key to this whole problem was given by the Apostle Peter on the Day of
Pentecost when he said: “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 Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Notice that repentance COMES FIRST! Baptism is second – AFTER repentance!
You repent of SIN. And what is the Bible definition of sin? “…Sin
is the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4). That is the
Bible definition of sin – breaking God’s law! To be really converted, you must
REPENT of breaking God’s law and believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty of sin in
you stead and is your personal Savior.
Jesus said: “…man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word of
God” (Luke 4:4). You must repent of disobeying God’s Law –His Word
– His RULE over your life. This must come first. Then your willingness to
completely BURY your old self – literally give your very life to God and to
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, High Priest, and Master.
But frankly, most people attending the churches of this world and having been
“baptized” by them never really knew WHAT to repent of! This is
especially true of young teenagers. They don’t know WHAT sin really is.
At the time of early youth, most young people sincerely intend to “do better” or to
“follow their church.” But since they have not been taught what sin actually is, they
completely fail to realize how ROTTEN and SINFUL they have really been in God’s
sight. They are usually only sorry for having disobeyed their conscience or their
church.
They don’t really REPENT! They aren’t broken up about the wretched state of
their lives and their own human VANITY and selfishness which expresses itself
constantly in all of us.
After baptism in a worldly church, such people don’t immediately begin to
study and UNDERSTAND the Bible. They just continue to go along with the customs,
the ways and the traditions of their friends and of this world. Their lives are not
actually CHANGED. They don’t come to personally KNOW GOD! Such people have
NOT TRULY REPENTED, and their baptism was probably not valid!
Theirs was only a ritualistic “dunking’ in the water.
If you are wondering about your baptism, ask yourself WHY you were baptized in the first
place. Were you baptized simply because many of the members of your family were
baptized, and you felt looked down upon, or had the “left out” feeling? Did you stand
in the water and go through the ordinance of baptism simply to “join” the group with whom
you had been fellowshipping? Were you baptized because you temporarily thought it
was the “right thing to do”?
If you were baptized for ANY of these reasons –YOUR BAPTISM WAS PROBABLY NOT A
VALID BAPTISM, because your motives were not right!
You may have doubts about whether you are properly baptized, and you need to be sure! Carefully
read Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9; and I Corinthians 12:13; and if here remains any
uncertainty in your mind, it is important that you counsel with a true minister of God
about it.
Don’t put this off any longer! It means so much to your spiritual growth!
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