Why We Baptize in Jesus Name :: essays research papers

Why We Baptize in Jesus touchIntroduction The subject of water baptism has long been called a great getting even and no doubt has been made such by many church service leaders of the past and present. In our study of it, let us runner consider its immensity, or the necessity of being baptised.The Importance of Water Baptism Christian water baptism is an ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ. If it is non important in the plan of God, why did Jesus command it in Matthew 2819? And why did Peter follow up by saying, "Be baptized every one of you," and by commanding the Gentiles to be baptized (Acts 238 1048)? We must remember two points about the importance of water baptism. First, whatever Christ definitely established and ordained cannot be unimportant, whether we understand its significance or not. Second, Christ and the apostles showed the importance of this ordinance by observing it. Jesus walked many miles to be baptized, though He was without sin, saying, "Fo r and so it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (See Matthew 313-16.) It is true that water itself does not contain any saving virtue, but God has chosen to include it in His plan of salvation. Peter explained, "Baptism doth also now except us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 321). According to Luke 730, "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized."The Mode of Baptism According to the Scriptures, the proper mode of baptism is absorption. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up without delay out of the water" (Matthew 316). "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him" (Acts 838). "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death" (Romans 64). A corpse is not buried by placing it on top of the ground and sprinkling a littl e nation on it, but by covering it completely. According to the World hold back Encyclopedia, "At first all baptism was by complete immersion" (vol. 1, p.651). And the Catholic Encyclopedia states, "In the early centuries, all were baptized by immersion in streams, pools, and baptisteries" (vol. 2, p.263). Immersion was not convenient after the Catholic church instituted infant baptism thus the mode was changed to sprinkling. (See Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed.