The Baptism for Believers

Mk.16:16 "He that believeth, and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall not be saved."

There is a question whether this is speaking of water baptism or spirit baptism . Since this is Jesus discourse before his ascension and does coincide with Mt.28:1-20 it would be logical to think, it is of water.

The believer's baptism of water identifies us to the Lord Jesus Christ and symbolises the positional truth of his dying for us and washing away our sins.

The real baptism of the Holy Spirit places a believer into Christ, water baptism is a ceremony that illustrates the fact of Spirit baptism, an invisible event which actually puts one in the body.

Christians have a real identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Water baptism is a symbolic identification with the person and work of Christ in his death.

Rom.6:4 When one goes down in the water, they are saying, "I identify with His death and burial." They are declaring the Gospel that saved them in a physical act.

It is a representative act of identification. The individual is placed in the water, which means, symbolically, that he is identified with what the water represents.

Which is cleansing. It is also a illustration of death being buried taken away from ones view.1 Pt 3:21 Denies emphatically that baptism conveys either the essence or power of grace. It is not the removal of the flesh (our carnal nature). Baptism saves through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is no mention of any blessing that is connected with baptism that is not also given when one exercises faith. It is a outward illustration of the real inward event.

The new covenant is ratified by the blood of Christ, his death. Its not water, baptism is the seal of the covenant but not the covenant itself. The veil of the temple was ripped open when he died not when he was baptised. There is no forgiveness without the blood of Christ, there is forgiveness without baptism.

Water baptism always comes after salvation. It does not precede salvation. When water baptism precedes salvation it becomes a religious practice, a ritual without substance. Believers baptism is not a religious ritual in itself, but a indicates that one has a relationship with Jesus Christ.