Dear friend, are you willing to accept God’s purpose for you? Now that Christ has risen from death, there is no longer room for doubt. We cannot make up our own way into God’s kingdom. Jesus is Lord. He alone has “all authority.” He sets the terms, and He keeps a vital role for baptism:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter and the other apostles begin publicly to make disciples. They prove to Jews that
“God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.…So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching… (Acts 2:37-38, 41-42).
Here the apostles carry out the order of Matthew 28. They make disciples for Christ through teaching and baptism. The apostles pass on to new disciples all of Christ’s commands. Those include commands from Matthew 28 itself. Thus we find new disciples, such as Philip, also teaching and baptizing others.
But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women (Acts 8:12).
Acts 8 is similar to John 3. In both places the Gospel message links “the kingdom of God” with baptism. But are we sure this is baptism in water? Continue to read Acts 8, as Philip teaches an Ethiopian eunuch.
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:35-39).
Clearly, telling about Jesus includes telling about baptism. Yes, the Gospel message does have people looking for water. However, the Ethiopian does not merely reach for a bottle of water. Remember how John baptized “in the Jordan River” (Mark 1:5). Later he baptized at Aenon. Why? “Because water was plentiful” (John 3:23). Now we see the Ethiopian leaving his vehicle. They go “down into the water” where Philip baptizes him. Why go to such lengths if only a little water will do? There is a reason for doing it this way. They respect the authority of Jesus. His command to “baptize” has a clear meaning, which they understand. It turns out, as we read Romans 6 and Colossians 2, that baptism is a kind of burial. A little pouring or sprinkling hardly amounts to a proper burial. When something is buried, it is put under the ground. When we are buried in baptism, we are put under the water. Dear friend, have you gone “down into the water”? Have you been buried in water?