Living as a Christian
Do I need to be baptised?
Baptism is how Jesus told his followers to mark the beginning of the Christian life. It is not a way of earning forgiveness, which is God’s gift, but almost every Christian tradition treats it as a normal and important step.
Jesus commanded it
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
When a crowd in Jerusalem first asked how they should respond to the news about Jesus, this was the answer they were given:
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
In the New Testament people were baptised as soon as they believed. One man, an official from Ethiopia, heard about Jesus while travelling and did not even wait to get home:
As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
What it means
Baptism uses water as a sign of being washed clean from sin. It is also a picture of being joined to Jesus in his death and resurrection: the old life is buried and a new one begins.
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Do I have to be baptised to be saved?
Christians answer this with slightly different emphases. Catholic, Orthodox and some other churches teach that baptism is the means by which God ordinarily gives new life. Baptist and many evangelical churches see it as the outward sign of a faith already received. All of them agree on two things. People are saved by God’s grace and not by a ritual; the criminal who turned to Jesus on the cross was never baptised. And baptism is not optional for anyone able to receive it, because Jesus commanded it.
Different practices
Some churches baptise the infant children of Christian families, who later confirm the faith for themselves. Others baptise only people old enough to say they believe, often by full immersion.
What if I was christened as a baby?
A christening is a baptism. The Church of England, the Catholic Church, Methodists and most other churches that baptise infants regard it as valid for life and will not repeat it. They will invite you to affirm it for yourself, usually through confirmation. Baptist, Pentecostal and many independent churches practise believers’ baptism and would baptise you now on your own profession of faith. Talk it over with the leader of the church you join.