Over time, things that initially shock us don’t anymore. I think something similar happens with the strangeness of baptism. It’s weird, right? If I asked you about your first day at work or your first time at a photography class and you said that they gathered everybody around to see all the new people dunked in a pool or a lake before they got started, I’d be pretty surprised. That would seem like a really strange company or club to me! So why have churches been doing that for the last 2,000 years? Let me give four reasons.

1. Baptism is commanded in the Bible.

The word “baptism” is a transfer word from Greek. Just as “karaoke” came to us from Japanese and “déjà vu” from French, “baptism” comes from the Greek word “baptisma,” which just means immersion. Originally not a uniquely religious word, people would talk about baptizing their dishes or their laundry when they wanted to get them clean. The word itself doesn’t mean pour, sprinkle or just make wet. It means to immerse and when you look at the descriptions of baptisms in the New Testament, that seems to be exactly what they’re doing. When the people go out to John the Baptist, he baptizes them “in the river” not just near it or beside it (Mark 1:5). When Jesus is baptized, it says that “he came up out of the water” (Mark 1:10), suggesting that to get baptized He had gone down into the water. So the idea of immersing people in water comes from the Bible, but that still doesn’t explain what God was thinking.

2. Baptism is a little bit like a wedding.

Before the Bible even explains the meaning of baptism, there seems to be purpose built into the very act itself. In that sense, it’s similar to the purpose of a wedding. Baptisms and weddings both signal that a major change has taken place in the relationship. You might not know when you first believed in Christ, but you will remember when you were baptized. Baptisms and weddings also take a relationship that may be very private and make it public. I was alone in my room when I first believed, but baptism is necessarily public. Baptisms and weddings also invite the help of others. You can become a Christian on your own, but you can’t live as a Christian on your own. That’s one of the reasons that I believe God commanded baptism. If you try to baptize yourself, you might drown. Baptism tells someone starting the Christian life not to go it alone. Followers of Christ need the church.

3. Baptism symbolizes a spiritual bath.

As you look to the Scriptures for clues as to the meaning of baptism, you find verses like Acts 22:16 which says, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’” Here, Ananias connects baptism – a word already associated with washing in water – with cleansing from sin. The idea isn’t that the water of baptism has any holy cleansing power inherent in it. Other Scriptures tell us that “the washing of regeneration and renewal” is a work of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-5). Baptism takes the unseen truth of the believer’s cleansing from sin and makes it a felt reality that will never be forgotten. After a person’s initial conversion and baptism, when they stumble in sin and doubt whether God will take them back, baptism is supposed to remind the believer of their once-and-for-all spiritual bath that cleansed them from all sin – past, present and future.

4. Baptism symbolizes a spiritual funeral.

Baptism also symbolizes a funeral of sorts. In Romans 6:1-4, Paul associates baptism with a believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, saying, “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (v. 3). The idea is that baptism reminds us that our old life is dead and in the grave. We may still hear the voice of the old life calling us to sin and old habits that are familiar, but baptism reminds us that we nailed our old self in a coffin and now we “walk in newness of life” (v. 4). That’s why most churches don’t just throw people into the water, but instead lower them as if into a grave and then raise them up as if resurrected. Baptism reminds a believer that they have new power, new resources, new hope, new promises and a new, unbreakable relationship with God that they will enjoy for all eternity.

Baptism is indeed strange, but I’m convinced that’s just the way God wanted it. As we embrace the strangeness of baptism, there’s profound significance and help to live the Christian life.

In awe of Him,

Paul