When I was "re-baptized", I was very cloudy on why it was required, what it meant, and why it had to happen again. My advice to any adult or new convert being pressured into baptism or worse, "re-baptism", is to read the scripture as many times as it takes until the purpose of it becomes crystal clear.
Acts 8 was the lynchpin for how I ultimately interpreted the sacrament because I saw that new converts received water, but did not necessarily receive the Holy Spirit. When God finally opened up the meaning of this scripture to me, I went from death and despair to a renewed faith in Jesus Christ.
“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.” Acts 8:12-13
Here we have converts who came to believe “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” and then went on to accept the sign of water baptism. According to verse 14, these converts had received the word of God, but it did not equate to their salvation, nor did the water baptism that followed. This is why Peter and Paul came and prayed that they would receive the Holy Ghost.
“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:14-17
True baptism is the receiving of the Holy Ghost. It’s not the washing with actual water that makes us clean, but the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us that does. Until that point, water baptism, is an outward symbol pointing to a spiritual operation that can only come by the grace of God. We must pray for that operation to occur in those whom we love, just as the Apostles did for those who’d received the word of God.
Water Baptism ≠ Salvation
Believing the Word of God ≠ Salvation
Baptism by the Holy Spirit = Salvation = Circumcision of the heart
“For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Acts 1:5
Acts 8:16 is critical because it shows us that “unsaved” people were water baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. “For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
More to our chagrin, we have Simon the Sorcerer who was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, but whose heart was not right with God as we read in verse 21. Surely, he’d heard and believed as the scripture said, yet he did not receive the gift of saving faith.
But Simon the Sorcerer should be a great encouragement to us because he was not immediately cast into a fiery pit due to the mis-step of offering money for the gift of God. In verse 22, Peter tells him, “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” We then see a hint of Simon’s repentance in verse 24 when he replies, “Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” Apparently, there was still hope for Simon.
It is evident from these passages that water baptism is not magic, but it is a sign pointing to the gift of God. It is an initiation into the covenant and it prepares the way for the Holy Spirit as John the Baptizer prepared the way for Jesus Christ. Is baptism required for salvation? YES it is! But it is not the baptism of your doing, nor the doing of an eager pastor.
John the Baptist says to Jesus in Matthew 3:14, “… I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?”
There is much to say on this subject, especially when considering who and by what means someone should be water-baptized. Where you land on these issues depends on how you understand the shift from the bloody covenant to the covenant in which Christ’s blood was shed.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. -Exodus 4:25
I’ll end this with a brief analysis of Colossians 2:11-12, which was another critical passage that informed my understanding.
“In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
This does not mean that we are buried with Christ in water baptism. It means we are buried with him in baptism by the Holy Spirit, when God elects us to die to our works righteousness and to be raised to new life in Jesus Christ. This is similar to the circumcision made without hands, which is referenced in verse 11. It is not the physical cutting of the flesh nor the physical washing with water, nor the physical resurrection which are emphasized in scripture, but the spiritual operation of God upon us.
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