What difference does baptism really make?

A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 5th May 2010.

This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.

Baptism changes your relationship with God. It changes you from his enemy into his child.

Baptism (full immersion in water) is the way to become Christ’s disciple. The actual process of baptism is the subject of other talks. This talk concentrates on the effect that baptism has on your life.

This is how the Bible describes our changed relationship:

We are all sinners, but God’s grace ‘justifies’ us if we belong to Christ (Romans 3:23-24).

We were God’s enemies, but Christ’s death reconciled us to God (Romans 5:10).

We were strangers and hopeless, but are now brought near to God through the sacrifice of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13); we are ‘fellow citizens’ and members of God’s ‘household’ (verse 19).

We now have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and stand uncondemned (Romans 8:1).

How it works out in the believer’s life:

We look to ‘heavenly things’ not ‘earthly things’ (Colossians 3:1-2).

We try to do away with ungodly activities (Colossians 3:5).

We have put to death our old self and are cultivating a new self, modelling ourselves on Jesus (Colossians 3:9-17).

It’s not easy, because the old self is constantly battling to get the better of us. (Romans 7:15-25).

But if we are faithful, we will triumph through Christ (Romans 8:1)

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God …” (1 John 3:1)