1.5 Baptism

Another frequent topic of conversation, and thus Bible research, was that of baptism. Many of my friends did not think that baptism was essential to salvation, but that baptism followed salvation. It is a common teaching in many denominations, so revisiting this list is needful and beneficial.

• Acts 2:38
• 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Matthew 28:19
• 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
• Mark 16:15-16
• 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
• 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
• Galatians 3:27-28
• 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
• 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

There is so much more to be said on this topic, but this is a good beginning. Baptism follows repentance, and it follows belief. We are to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit, and are baptized for forgiveness of sins. When the apostles made disciples of the nations, they preached to them, and the believers were baptized. In baptism, we put on Christ and become one in Him.

We will come back to this topic soon with the next notebook, but for now I would like to add just a couple of notes to this list.

First, when we think about salvation, it is important to note that salvation is the gift of God, through Christ. Christ's sacrifice paid the price for our salvation. His resurrection is God's power. The gospel is the news that Christ is God, became man, sacrificed His perfect life for our sins, and was raised by the power of God on the third day. Because of His sacrifice, we can access that salvation. Jesus told his apostles to spread this gospel after His resurrection, and it is recorded in all four gospels. By putting together those accounts, we know how to access the greatest gift man has ever known: forgiveness of sins.

The Great Commission
Reference	Matthew 28:18-20	Mark 16:15-16	Luke 24: 46-47
Preach	vs 19: Teach all nations vs 20: teaching them to observe all things	vs 15: preach the gospel to every creature	vs 47: should be preached in [Jesus's] name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem
Believe		vs 16: he that believeth vs 16: no belief- condemnation
Repent			vs 46: repentance
Baptize	vs 19: Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost	vs 16: and is baptized
Obey	vs 20: observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you
Salvation		vs 16: shall be saved	vs 47: remission of sins

We can see the fulfillment of these commands in Acts. The same year as I created this notebook, I was given a chart of the conversions of Acts:

Here we can see that the apostles and early church followed Jesus's commands as they taught the gospel. The gospel is a message of salvation, and we access that salvation through belief, repentance, confession, and baptism. Gospel means "good news," and the news of forgiveness of sins is the best news man could ever hope to hear.