By Sidharth Mohandas
Introduction
We have been working systematically through the six foundational doctrines mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-2. So far we have covered “repentance from dead works” and “faith towards God”. In this section, we will move on to the next fundamental doctrine of baptisms.
What does baptism mean?
Let’s start by discovering the meaning of the word baptism. It finds it’s origin from its verb form “to baptize”. The word baptize is not an English word at all. It is a Greek word that is directly transliterated in English letters. The Greek word would accurately be baptizo, which was adopted into the English language by replacing the “o” with an “e”. From classical Greek to New Testament Greek baptizo has had only one clear and definite meaning and that is “to cause something to be dipped or to be submerged under water or some other fluid”
Therefore baptism in its use with reference to a person involves the complete immersion of the person and the whole personality of the one being baptized.
Plurality
With this clear picture of baptism in mind, let us turn back to our theme verse in Hebrews 6:2 KJV. If you noticed, the wordings are “doctrine of baptisms”, not “doctrines of baptism”. The baptism is in its plural; which clearly suggests that there is more than one kind of baptism.
Scripture shows us mainly 4 kinds of baptism
(1) John’s baptism [Mark 1:4]
(2) The baptism Jesus mentioned referring to His sufferings [Luke 12:50]
(3) Christian water baptism [Matt 28:19-20]
(4) Holy Spirit baptism [Acts 1:4-5]
Out of these four the first two do not directly apply to us. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Its focus was to prepare the nation Israel for the coming of the Messiah.
The second kind of baptism refers to the sufferings Jesus would undergo as a result of surrender of His entire being: spirit, soul and body. In other words, Jesus’ suffering on the cross did not just include physical suffering, but His whole being suffered as a result of the sins of the whole world.
The third baptism is the Christian water baptism. The difference of this baptism from John’s baptism is that Christian water baptism had its message focused on the death and resurrection of Christ [Romans 6:3-5], while John’s baptism as said earlier was simply a baptism calling people to repentance [Acts 19:4]. Moreover, the Christian water baptism unlike John’s baptism was carried out under the complete authority of the Godhead, i.e. in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19].
The fourth kind of baptism is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This refers to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a believer in order to receive power for service [Acts 1:8].
In the coming articles, we’ll be dealing with water baptism and the Holy Spirit baptism in detail.
Great post, I guewss this is the introduction . . . will wait for the rest of the posts, so far so good. Our God is faithful always
God bless you all imrah team
I am very impressed by your comment but you never comment about rebaptize we are all Human beings our mind never are under control after some time we may fall then shall we take another BAPTISM TO CONTROL OUR eVENTS PL CLEAR MY DOUBT.
Hello Bhaskara,
You do not have to be baptized in water everytime you sin or fall. In baptism, you publically declare your oneness with Jesus in His death and resurrection. As you go under the water, you die with Him, and as you rise out, you rise up with Him into newness of life. It is a public declaration where you proclaim to everyone that “Jesus is Lord” over your life.
We all sin, and if our salvation was dependent on if we sinned or not, then none of us would ever make it into the Presence of the Lord. Our access to the Father is based solely on what Jesus has done on the Cross, period.
Hope this answers your question.
Sidharth