Do you need to be baptized again after falling away and returning?
Question:
I trusted Christ as my Savior when I was a teenager, but I wasn't baptized. Then I read Mark 16 and was scared, so I got baptized at a Pentecostal Church. However, they taught that baptism didn't save, and I wasn't sure if it did when I was baptized. A couple of years ago, I went to a Church of Christ preacher and told him I wanted to believe and be baptized to make certain I was saved. I believed in Christ, confessed him with my mouth, and was baptized, believing the baptism had a part in my salvation (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21). However, over the last couple of years, I fell away.
I repented and trusted Christ again to return to God, so do those who fall away have to get baptized to be saved again?
Also, John says very clearly some baptisms are not in water, like with the spirit and with fire. I Corinthians 12:12 says Spirit baptism puts us into Christ, not water. So aren't Romans 6 baptism and Galatians 3 baptism by the Spirit, too? Jesus said his death was a baptism, so there are baptisms without water.
Answer:
What a Christian (someone who has already been baptized) sins, the requirement is to repent of his sins (II Corinthians 7:10-11) and to confess his sins to God (I John 1:9). There is no requirement to be baptized again. Such would not make sense. With baptism, you enter into a covenant with God. That covenant lasts for the rest of your life (Romans 7:1). When you fell away, you violated that covenant, but it did not end.
Regarding the various baptisms mentioned in the New Testament, see "Baptisms of the New Testament." In this lesson, you will see that the baptism mentioned in I Corinthians 12:13 is a baptism in water done at the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Question:
I don't understand how Christians who become lost stay in the covenant, even though they are not saved anymore.
Answer:
Let's illustrate the idea with the marriage covenant. A couple enters into a covenant with each other on their wedding day (Matthew 19:4-6). The covenant lasts for their lifetime.
Assume the husband decides to abandon his wife. His leaving doesn't negate his covenant. He is still married even though he has strayed from his covenant. If he wakes up to reality and returns to his wife, he doesn't need to have another wedding. The original covenant is still in place.
In the same way, when you were baptized, you entered a covenant with Jesus. You didn't remain faithful, but that didn't end the covenant. You realized you were wrong, but it doesn't mean you must make a new covenant with Christ since the original never ended.
