The New testament teaches us that we are saved by faith and by grace (Acts 16:31) (Eph 2:8), we have become God’s sons through faith( Gal 3:26).
The New Testament teaches us that faith is an act of the heart ,it springs from our emotions and will(Rom 10:10). We made a transition when we accepted Christ from death to life, from darkness to light, from hopelessness to hopefulness, from slavery in sin to slavery in God.
The New Testament does not only call for the confession of the lips but for the faith in the heart (Rom 10:9). God wants the whole person, he wants all of who we are.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Dt 6:5.
God desires everything not 10 percent of your life but all of who you are.
What do we believe about Baptism
We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a sign of belonging to the new people of God, the true Israel, and an emblem of burial and cleansing, signifying death to the old life of unbelief, and purification from the pollution of sin.
Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord – What does that mean? – Jesus ordained it and instructed (commanded) us to do it. He was also baptized by John. (Matthew 28:19-20).
You are also now a disciple and as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ baptism and teaching is important to your life.
Baptism expresses Union with Christ
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Rom 6:2–4.
In baptism we are united with Christ in his burial, death and resurrection. Baptism shows us what happened spiritually when you received Christ.
Your old self of unbelief and rebellion and idolatry died and a new you of faith and submission and treasuring Christ came into being.
That is what you confess to the world and to heaven as when you are baptised.
Baptism is immersion in water
The word baptism in the Greek means dip or immerse. Only later does the practice of sprinkling and pouring emerge, as far as we can tell from the evidence.
Acts 8:34–39 - Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
John 3:23 - John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptised (for John had not yet been put in prison).
The early church baptised and there is really very dispute. They did it by immersing the new believer in water to signify his burial and resurrection with Jesus.
Baptism is for believers
Baptism is an expression of faith and only for believers.
We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection
It is not something that an unbeliever can do and it is not something an infant can do.
Col 2:11-12 - In him [Christ] also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ [so Paul speaks of circumcision in “made-without-hands” terms. Circumcision today has meaning for the Christian, not as a physical act, but as a spiritual act of Christ in which he cuts away the old sinful body and makes us new. It is virtually synonymous with the new birth. Then he speaks of baptism], having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead
Spiritual circumcision and baptism is closely connected.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. - Col 2:11–12.
Through Faith
Paul shows the same way of thinking about baptism and faith in Galatians 3:26–27: “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We become sons of God through faith and no other way. Then he says, “for”—connecting this way of becoming sons of God with baptism—“for as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
New-Covenant Membership by Spiritual Birth
In redemptive history a shift happened from the old covenant to the new, and from circumcision to baptism. Membership in the new covenant is by spiritual birth not physical birth. The new birth happens by the word of God
1 Peter 1:23 - For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
The new covenant church is comprised by believers and the sign of the new covenant is believers.
Membership in the Local Church
Baptism is woven together with membership in the people of God. In the New Covenant being Baptized is being a Christian, belonging to the new Covenant people of God. This means you are baptised into the body of Christ.
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