Baptism
As a first step, let’s listen to a story about one of the disciples named Philip who baptized an Ethiopian eunuch.
Read the story – Acts 8:26-40
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Now let’s watch a video of Jesus’s baptism to understand what a baptism looks like and how we should also follow Jesus’s example.
Read the story – Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Questions
Once you have watched the video, we recommend you spend some time to think about the story in greater detail. Here are three questions that you can use to think about this story:
Question 1: What does it mean to be baptized?
Click to see our answer
Baptism is an action carried out in public to show that we have repented of our sins and have put our faith in Jesus to cleanse us of our sins. Through baptism, we are saying that we will follow Jesus for the rest of our lives.
Question 2: Who should be baptized?
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Anyone who repents and believes should be baptized.
When Jesus’s disciples called people to faith, everyone was baptized to show that they now trusted Jesus as their Savior and as their Lord and King. We must do the same!
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. – Acts 2:38
Question 3: Why should we be baptized?
Click to see our answer
We should be baptized in order to say publicly that we now belong to God through our faith in Jesus. In addition, Jesus was baptized, so we also should be baptized.