The Importance of Baptism for Salvation

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he

can not see the kingdom of God” John 3:3

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and

the spirit, he can not enter the kingdom of God” John 3:5

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved” Mark 16:16

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the 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 have

commanded you” Matthew 28:19,20

Baptism In The Early Church

The Day of Pentecost

St. Peter preached the word of faith to the multitude saying, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy spirit” Acts 2:37,38

If faith alone was sufficient to achieve salvation, what then was

the need to baptize three thousand souls on one day?

The Ethiopian Eunuch

“And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him … and he went on his way .. “ Acts 8:36-39

The Philippian Jailer

After he accepted the faith through Paul and Silas, “… Immediately he and all his family were baptized” Acts 16:33

Lydia, the seller of purple

She accepted faith through St. Paul “… She and her household were baptized” Acts 16:15

Cornelius

To whom the angel of God said in a vision, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God”

After St. Peter had preached to him the word of faith, he said, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” Acts 10:47,48

St. Paul the Apostle

After he met with the Lord on his way to Damascus, we hear Ananias saying him, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” Acts 22:16

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”

Galatians 3:27

In Baptism then one puts on Christ. What greater salvation than this could there be?

From the Pauline Epistles

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that

He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle” Ephesians 5:25-27

From the Pauline Epistles

The “word” here means preaching. What do the words “the washing of water” mean then?

They mean baptism which one obtains after hearing the word preached.

A Theological View of The Importance of

Baptism

The Holy Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23

THERE MUST BE DEATH

Salvation begins with death, is perfected in death and continues through death.

Salvation began with death

Salvation began with the Death of Christ on the cross paying for sin and purchasing us with His Blood. And in order that you may have a share in such a salvation,

YOU MUST SHARE CHRIST IN HIS DEATH

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”

Philippians 3:10

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His

resurrection. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with

Him” Romans 6:5,8

But how can we undergo such a death?

HOW CAN WE SHARE CHRIST IN HIS DEATH?

St. Paul answered the question when he said, ”Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism

into death” Romans 6:3,4

“Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” Colossians 2:12

NOW WE CAN SUM UP THE ISSUE AS FOLLOWS:

The wages of sin is death, so man must die and be buried. But Christ died for us and we have to share in His Death in order that we not be apart from the deserts of His Death.

Baptism, then, is necessary for salvation because it is sharing in the Death of Christ.

Salvation continues through death

St. Paul the Apostle says, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts” Romans 6:11,12

“But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” Romans 8:13

So, as long as the body is dead, salvation lives in it. But, when the carnal lusts rise from this death and begin to move, we become liable to lose salvation since salvation is only attained through death.

Salvation, then, continues through death; death of the deeds of the body, death of the lusts of the body, and death against the world, materialism and its demands which fight the spirit.

What is the meaning of the words, “We shall be saved by

His life”?We find the meaning in the speech of St. Paul the Apostle, where he says, “I have been crucified with Christ: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” Galatians 2:20

So, Salvation according to Orthodoxy is defined as follows:

We have been saved through the death of Christ when we died with Him in baptism. We are now capable of being saved by Christ living in us and by submitting our lives wholly to His will.

Death is perfected in death

The Holy Bible says, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” Revelation 2:10

Thus, death keeps working within you until the body dies actually. As long as you do away with the deeds of the body, then you are still on the

path of salvation.

Would you stop in the middle and cry out,

“I am already saved”?“…considering the outcome of their

conduct” Hebrews 13:7

Do not boast vainly because many had begun in the spirit, but were made

perfect by the flesh (see Galatians 3:3).