What is the purpose of baptism?

This action was laid out as a mandatory ritual for Christians as part of the Great Commission, Matt 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’, and most agree that the baptism referred to is the water baptism. This directive from Jesus was to be administered to every believer as one of the first acts that they are to perform. However, there has been plenty of confusion about what the action is really supposed to be about. Contrary to popular belief, it is not specifically meant to represent the washing away of sins as thought by those who refer to Ezek 36:25, either as a literal or figurative ceremony. Some believe that it is representative of the death and resurrection of Jesus signified by the immersion and resurfacing during the act (the use of water as a means can be seen as symbolic of the life-giving aspect of water, as in the parable of the Samaritan woman in John 4). Baptism is also not the requirement for receiving salvation as this was noted in Acts 2:41 and Acts 8:12 where it clearly states that those who were baptized had received the Word beforehand. Baptism itself can be seen more as a symbolic ritual where the person proclaims their belief in Jesus as the Son of God both to their person, God and public, making note of their rebirth into the new humanity established by the resurrected Jesus.

This doesn’t encapsulate the whole meaning of baptism. Baptism, like many other parts of the Christian faith has many layers of significance. Baptism can be seen as a response to the act of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, an imitation of the act of dying and resurrection to substantiate our repentance and faith, or represent our spiritual death and renewal, or the final dissolution and expiration of our physical selves and replacement with our new bodies.

There are a couple of cautionary issues with baptism, first that the act of baptism does not constitute the grace that is given us by God through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. There cannot be any baptismal grace since grace is only given to us from God, and cannot be achieved through a ritual performed by humans. Second, the baptism is not a direct connection to the infusion of the Holy Spirit itself. The instance where the Spirit descended from heaven as a dove during Jesus’ baptism (Matt 3:16, among others) can reasonably be assumed a unique moment, as the Apostles were baptized and received the Spirit on separate occasions. This ‘baptism of the Spirit’ is more aligned with the receiving of the Holy Spirit into the believer. The specific instances where this is mentioned are sprinkled throughout Acts (2:2-4, 38, 10:44, 11:15-18, 19:1-7) and was previously mentioned in John 14:25-27, 15:26-27, and 16:7-11. None of these references point to the Spirit being tied in with the act of baptism.

Another similar consideration is ‘baptismal regeneration’. In John 3:5 and Titus 3:5 the allusion is that baptism leads to the regeneration of the person as in Titus 3:5b: ‘…by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit’ but this also doesn’t seem to address water baptism. This seems more along the idea that the once the Spirit is received into the believer, the person begins the sanctification process. Thus, the act of baptism points more to the idea listed above: a symbolic action where the person states their belief in Jesus as the Son of God and that he is the only path to salvation.