Explainer
What baptism is
The picture it draws, and the parts Christians genuinely disagree about.
Baptism is a public sign of something believed to have already happened inwardly. Going down into the water pictures a death and coming up pictures a new life, which is why Paul reaches for burial language rather than washing language.
Romans 6:4KJV
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
What Christians agree on
- Jesus was baptised, and told his followers to baptise others.
- It is public rather than private, and belongs to the whole church rather than to the individual.
- It does not earn anything. It marks something.
What they disagree on
Whether infants should be baptised or only those old enough to profess faith themselves, and whether full immersion is required. These differences are old, held sincerely by serious people on both sides, and not worth pretending away. If you are considering baptism, this is a conversation to have with the church you would be baptised in.
Do I need to be baptised to be saved?
Christian traditions answer this differently and it would be dishonest to flatten that here. What is agreed is that baptism is expected of a follower of Jesus rather than optional, and that the thief on the cross beside him was promised paradise without it.