The practice of being baptised came out of old Jewish traditions. Preparing the way for Christ as instructed by God, John the Baptist then began teaching “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1 verse 4). This was followed by Jesus, who after his resurrection, instructed his disciples to baptise people in his name when he said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28 verse 19).
Peter then reaffirms this in Acts 2 verse 38 when he responds to a crowd of people who ask what they should do in response to learning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, he replies “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” In verse 41 he then says “So those who received his word were baptised…”.
So, we learn here that repentance (the act of turning away from consciously sinning against God and turning towards a life of honouring God) is crucial to receiving forgiveness from God. We also learn that there is something symbolic about being cleansed in water, or ‘baptised’.
We should note that nobody in the Bible was baptised by a priest. Nobody was baptised in special or ‘Holy’ water. And the act of being baptised does not grant you forgiveness. This idea was created by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1563.
To take these three points in turn…
John 4 verse 1 – 2 says “… the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptising more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptise, but only his disciples” – So, with Jesus present it was the disciples, who were just regular, ordinary people, who were doing the baptising, not Jesus.
And the instruction by Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 28 verse 19 to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is an instruction to all followers of Jesus, not just those who are ‘ordained’.
Acts chapter 8 recounts when Philip baptised Samaritans in verse 12 and then when he met an Ethiopian Eunuch in verse 36 – 38 which says: “And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptised?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him.” – To reiterate: there was nothing special about the water and Philip was not a priest, just a believer in Jesus Christ.
And remember the man hung on a cross next to Jesus, who recognises who Jesus was? Luke 23 verse 42–43 says; “And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he (Jesus) said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” – Clearly, the man on the cross wasn’t taken off it to be baptised, which underlines that he was saved by his faith in Jesus, not because of anything that he had done.
So, in summary; Baptism is a good thing, but it is symbolic. It signifies repentance and a person acknowledging who Jesus is and what he has done for them. The act of baptising someone does not have to be performed by a priest. Nowhere in the Bible does it show that. In fact, it says the opposite; that all disciples (followers of Jesus) should go and baptise.