We are so happy that you have or are considering making a decision to follow Christ! As a new believer, you will want to follow Christ in believer’s baptism. This does not in any way make you a Christian, but it is a wonderful way of showing to others that you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It is a testimony of your faith! It symbolically demonstrates that you are dying to your will and desires, that the old man is buried, and that you are going to walk in “newness of life!”
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior and the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
The word for baptize in Greek is baptizo, which means “to dip, plunge, submerge, or immerse.” Baptism in the New Testament was related to the ministry of both John the Baptist and of Jesus. John’s baptism was symbolic of one’s repentance from sin and of willingness to participate in the kingdom of God (Matt. 3:6-8; Luke 3:3-16).
Baptism translates baptisma, the meaning in the act of baptism, namely, a symbol of what Jesus did to save us – death, burial, and resurrection – and what He does in the believer – death to the old life, its burial, and resurrection to a new life in Christ.
Still not sure? Take me to: Why we need Jesus.