Who Should Be Baptized?
New Testament baptism is believer's baptism. The person being baptized should personally understand and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Identify the qualification for baptism in Acts.
- See why personal faith matters.
- Consider household passages carefully.
- Understand why baptism before salvation does not follow the New Testament order.
Belief comes before baptism
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Acts 8 gives the qualification plainly. Those who believed were baptized. Philip's answer to the eunuch's baptism question was tied directly to personal belief.
The pattern is hear, believe, then be baptized
Acts 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
The sentence itself gives the sequence: hearing believed, and were baptized. This is believer's baptism.
Household baptisms do not overturn the pattern
Acts 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
Acts 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
In the Philippian jailer's house, the word was spoken to the household, and the household is described in connection with believing. Scripture does not present infant baptism as the New Testament pattern. The recurring pattern is a person hearing the Word, believing on Christ, and then being baptized.
What if someone was baptized before salvation?
A ceremony performed before personal faith does not follow believer's baptism. Once a person has trusted Christ, he can obey the New Testament pattern knowingly: saved first, baptized afterward.
Compare Scripture with Scripture
Scripture trail: Acts 8:12 • Acts 8:37 • Acts 18:8 • Acts 16:32 • Acts 16:34 • Acts 8:12, Acts 8:37, Acts 18:8, Acts 16:32 • Matthew 28:19-20 • Acts 8:36-39
Do not rush past the references. Open them, read the surrounding verses, and make the Bible carry the weight of the conclusion.
Think it through
- What happens before water baptism in the passages, and what happens after it?
- What does baptism picture or publicly identify without making the water the cause of salvation?
- How would you explain both truths strongly: baptism matters greatly, and baptism does not purchase eternal life?
Teach it back
Without looking at the lesson explanation, summarize Who Should Be Baptized? in two or three sentences and support your explanation from Scripture. If you cannot explain it simply yet, return to the passages and work through them again.
Slow down and work the text
Reopen Acts 8:12, Acts 8:37, Acts 18:8, Acts 16:32. Read enough before and after each verse to see the setting. Do not settle for remembering a slogan when you can inspect the wording for yourself.
- Write the main claim of Who Should Be Baptized? in one sentence.
- Underline or write down the exact words in the passages that support that claim.
- Compare at least two of the passages. What truth becomes clearer when they are read together?
- Ask what could be misunderstood if one phrase were isolated from its context.
- Explain where baptism belongs in relation to salvation and why obedience matters after a person believes.
- Where does belief occur in relation to baptism?
- What does the passage teach baptism means or pictures?
- What should a believer do because Christ commanded baptism?
The proper candidate for baptism is a person who has personally believed on Jesus Christ.
Baptism by Immersion
17 min