Baptism in water

Baptism isn't just a New Testament practice, but is found in a figure in the Old Testament. God has used water, since the book of Genesis, as a means of purification and cleansing. Therefore, it doesn't seem strange that Peter used the flood of Noah's day as a figure of baptism, to teach us its necessity.

1 Peter 3:20-21, "...eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us..."

After their exodus from Egypt, the passing of Israel through the Red Sea was a figure of baptism unto them. See 1 Corinthians 10:1-4. It doesn't end there, for the Levitical priesthood was commanded to wash at the brazen laver that stood in the tabernacle, that they die not. See Exodus 30:17-21. Be careful to note that the same water that saved the obedient, was the destruction of the disobedient.

For the Jews in the New Testament, it wasn't a difficult concept to grasp when John began to baptize them unto repentance. Neither was it surprising when Peter preached baptism on the day of Pentecost. Jesus, having been baptized himself to fulfil all righteousness, commanded all believers to be baptized.

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16:16)

Baptism, we find in the Bible, will either save the believer or destroy the unbeliever. Every baptism performed by the early church, was done by immersion in water, in the name of Jesus. The Jesus name baptism that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost was a fulfilment of Old Testament typology. Jesus name baptism had been in the making for a long time. If God thought it was so important, shouldn't we search it out for ourselves?

B.H.