I was baptized when I was eleven years old (I am sixteen right now), but I am not sure that I completely understood what the purpose of baptism was.\u00a0 It was my choice to be baptized, but at that age, I was aware that baptism brings me to God, but I was not aware that baptism was required to wash away my sins (Acts 2:38).\u00a0 Do I need to be baptized again because I did not fully understand the purpose of baptism when I was baptized?<\/p>\n
Thank you so much for your answer, Mr. Hamilton.<\/p>\n\t
Baptism serves a number of purposes. It washes away sin (Acts 22:16) because it brings you into covenant with Jesus Christ. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses<\/em>” (Colossians 2:11-13). The covenant is entered by symbolic participation with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. At the same time, it represents the believer’s death to sin and a resurrection to a new life. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin<\/em>” (Romans 6:3-7).<\/p>\n Full understanding of all that goes on with baptism isn’t required to become a Christian, but there should be enough there to say that you knew what you were doing. Hence, this will come down to your confidence in what you did. Typically, I tell people who are not certain that it is better to be certain than go through life questioning yourself.<\/p>\n But also, I would like to note that often this question comes up because a person got caught once again in the trap of sin and they want to have another fresh start. If that is your problem, I want you to read I John 1:8-2:1 again. Sin is going to happen, but Christians have the privilege of going to God in prayer, asking for forgiveness, and receiving forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I was baptized when I was eleven years old (I am sixteen right now), but I am not sure that I completely understood what the purpose of baptism was.\u00a0 It was my choice to be baptized, but at that age, I was aware that baptism brings me to God, but I was not aware…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,248],"class_list":["post-35304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-baptized-again"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25930,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-was-baptized-as-an-infant-do-i-need-to-be-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":0},"title":"I was baptized as an infant. Do I need to be baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was baptized as an infant; however, I have recently found Christ and repented from my sinful ways. I know the importance of baptism and want to ensure that I am in accordance with the Scriptures. There are many different views on this subject; however, I cannot seem to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31173,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-person-be-baptized-again-if-he-was-baptized-for-the-wrong-purpose\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":1},"title":"Should a person be baptized again if he was baptized for the wrong purpose?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day sir. Well done on your website. I just finished reading the \"Baptism: Necessary for Salvation\" posting. and quickly browsed your other links. I was encouraged by your website and the fact that you used scripture to back up what you were stating when it came to salvation.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38995,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":2},"title":"Bible Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Foy E. Wallace Bible Banner - 1948 The basic principle of all obedience is understanding. \"He that heareth the word and understandeth it\" (Matthew 13:23). \"Go preach the gospel - he that believeth (the gospel) and is baptized shall be saved\" (Mark 16:15-16). Believing that Jesus Christ is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-does-god-think-baptism-is-necessary-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":3},"title":"Notes on Does God Think Baptism Is Necessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Peter commanded Cornelius and his household to be baptized - Acts 10:48 All, including Paul, were baptized into Jesus and into Jesus\u2019 death - Romans 6:3 They were baptized in order to be able to walk in newness of life -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5264,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-only-for-the-jews\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":4},"title":"Was baptism only for the Jews?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In our Bible class tonight with some Dispensational friends I brought up I Corinthians 6:11, about them being washed and sanctified. Our friend said that had nothing to do with baptism, but that the blood of Jesus cleansed and washed us not water from baptism. I mentioned I Peter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-wonder-if-i-falsely-remember-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":35304,"position":5},"title":"I wonder if I falsely remember being baptized","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some say it is absolutely wrong to be baptized more than once and to not do it.\u00a0Some say it is an outward sign to others, and one can be baptized more than once for various reasons.\u00a0I have even read that water baptism is not necessary for salvation, which I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}