by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The action of real baptism is very misunderstood today. People see a man dunking another person in the water and think it is a strange initiation rite, but there is much more to it than what you see with the physical eye.<\/p>\n
What is supposed to be happening in the heart of the one being baptized is far more significant than a mere initiation rite. The person being scripturally baptized is repenting of sin, dying to the love of sin and the practice of sin (Romans 6:1-6). If there is no genuine repentance going on in the heart, then the person is merely getting wet, and that is a strange thing to let someone do to you if there is no real repentance going on in the heart.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the person is being “buried with Christ<\/em>” (Colossians 2:12) when they go down into the water. He is uniting his heart and life with Christ, allowing Jesus to cut away his sins, discard the former way of life-the old man of self-centered living-and then rise up with Christ as his partner and constant companion. He is rising up from baptism, but he is rising up from what was buried (the old way of living) and rising up united with Christ to walk in newness of life. Former things have passed away, and now in Christ all things are new (II Corinthians 5:17).<\/p>\n Things that go on in heaven are such things as the record of sin is discarded, and a partnership is established between God and the new, forgiven soul. Rejoicing in heaven happens when a soul is united with Christ in baptism. All of this is not seen by the physical eye when you watch a person being baptized. The person being baptized has “faith in the operation of God<\/em>” (Colossians 2:12). He believes in what God promised to do (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16), and he knows this is no mere ritual of getting wet. To him, he looks forward to having his sins removed from his record, joining his heart in partnership with Jesus, and starting his new life of fellowship with God and His people. He sees this as a new birth, a time to start over, but this time as a wiser, purpose-filled companion of the One who died for him.<\/p>\n Others may have been merely dunked in water, but not the one who properly understands the spiritual teachings of the Bible on scriptural baptism. Have you been scripturally baptized into Christ?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The action of real baptism is very misunderstood today. People see a man dunking another person in the water and think it is a strange initiation rite, but there is much more to it than what you see with the physical eye. What is supposed to be happening in the heart…<\/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":[27],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-92044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-die-to-sin-at-the-point-of-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":0},"title":"Do we die to sin at the point of repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After viewing your web site, my brother and I saw the graphic on\u00a0the gospel re-enacted.\u00a0 I appreciate the way it is laid out.\u00a0 I am attaching a similar graphic that is being taught in this area and in many other areas also. In this graphic, it is taught that\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":83571,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-every-one-should-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":1},"title":"Not Every One Should Be Baptized","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Babies should not be baptized. They haven't sinned, don't disbelieve or believe, don't know what repentance is about, and can't confess Jesus. Dunking such persons in water only gets them wet. Calling it baptism does not make it \"in the name of the Lord\" (Acts 2:38).\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":15189,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-dies-after-accepting-god-but-before-he-can-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":2},"title":"What if a person dies after accepting God but before he can be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism. People always ask what if a person is about to die and accepts God into his heart, does he go to heaven or hell? My response is two things: I tell them the guy had chances before, so God would be just in\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":46969,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-wait-until-after-i-get-married-to-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":3},"title":"Should I wait until after I get married to be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am in the process of getting baptized and being confirmed as a Catholic. At the same time, I am engaged and my fiance and I live together. We will be getting married next year. Should I wait to be baptized after we are married? Answer: To be\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":39697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-confess-before-i-am-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":4},"title":"What must I confess before I am baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Let me start off by thanking you for all that you do in the name of Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago I had prayed to God asking for guidance in finding the true church of which I can become a part so that I may further my understanding\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":8317,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-had-sex-without-being-married-and-im-scared-that-i-will-go-to-hell-because-of-it-what-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":92044,"position":5},"title":"I have had sex without being married, and I’m scared that I will go to hell because of it. What can I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had sex with eight different girls at different times when I was between 15 and 17. I was blind to God. By that I mean I believed that He existed, but just recently I realized, \"Wow, I'm doing bad.\" I didn't know what were sins. 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