This is an excerpt from the third chapter of By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You by Brian Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 52-60.
1. Baptism Makes a Disciple: Matthew 28:18–20
Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus doesn’t toss out two commands here—baptize and teach—as if discipleship were a two-track process. He gives one commission: Make disciples. And then he tells us how: by baptizing and teaching. Baptism is not dessert after the main course of conversion. It’s the means by which disciples are made. And not just any baptism. He says to do it “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That “in” is no throw-away preposition. It’s a door. A watery entrance into Triune fellow-ship. Baptism doesn’t merely mark you with God’s name; it places you into it. It’s not a symbolic fellowship; it’s a flesh-and-blood, water-and-word reality. Luke gets it. That’s why he later writes, “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). You wear the name of Christ because you’ve been baptized into the Name. A disciple is a Christian, and a Christian is made—not by altar calls or decisions—but by water that speaks the name of the Triune God.
2. Baptism Saves
a. Mark 16:15–16: He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but theone who does not believe will be condemned.”
It makes no difference whether faith precedes or follows baptism, so long as faith is present.
Jesus doesn’t stutter: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” That’s not a loophole-laden clause. It’s a promise. Belief and baptism go together like breath and lungs. And just because the second half says unbelief condemns doesn’t mean baptism is dispensable. It just shows where the real danger lies—unbelief.But for the one who does believe, baptism is part of their salvation delivery system.Does it matter if belief comes before or after baptism? Not one bit. Whether you believed five months before the water or five minutes after, the Spirit does his work on his own timetable. Since belief is placed prior to baptism in Mark’s account, some reason that it must come before baptism, supporting a credo-baptist position. But remember, Matthew reverses the order, placing baptism first. The particular sequence of belief and baptism is not necessary for a valid baptism. For Lutherans, it makes no difference whether faith precedes or follows baptism, so long as faith is present. [10] And no, the thief on the cross is not your ace of spades to relegate baptism to the church basement. He was crucified beside the incarnate Son of God, so I think it’s safe to say he is an exception to the norm. God is not bound by the sacraments he gave us. But we are, because that’s where he has tethered his promises for us. Baptism is how God ordinarily delivers his saving grace. To reject it is not to be clever. It’s to spurn the very means by which God desires to shower us with his benevolence. Don’t pit baptism against belief. They are not competitors, but companions. Water carries the word like a river carries a boat, and both deliver you safely to the shores of salvation.
b.1 Peter 3:2: “And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you—not the wash-ing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Here Peter clears his throat and preaches loud for the folks in the back pews: Baptism saves! Not symbolizes. Not illustrates. Saves. Don’t theologize your way out of that. If you’re worried this turns baptism into a “work,” Peter preempts you. He says it’s not about outward dirt removal; it’s about inward conscience cleansing. Not a human action but a divine declaration. A heavenly pact sealed in earthly water.[11] Peter reaches back to Noah to make his point. The flood waters destroyed, but they also lifted the ark. They bore Noah and his family through the judgment into new life. In the same way, the waters of baptism carry us through death to life. Real water. Real judgment. Real salvation. So to the suffering, scattered believers Peter was writing to, he doesn’t offer spiritual platitudes. He gives them something tangible to hold. Not feelings. Not inner impressions. But a baptism soaked in a divine promise that cannot be taken away.
3. Baptism delivers the forgiveness of sins
a. Acts 2:37–39: “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 for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’”
Pentecost wasn’t the birth of a new religious idea. It was the Spirit of Christ storming the streets of Jerusalem with fire, wind, and word. When the people heard Peter’s sermon and were cut to the heart, they didn’t get a pamphlet. They got a command: Repent and be baptized.
And the Holy Spirit? Not optional. Not delayed. But given in baptism. Jesus had already told Nicodemus: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom.” In other words,baptism is the womb from which the church is born.
b. Acts 22:16: “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.”
Paul meets Jesus, gets blinded, then gets baptized. Ananias doesn’t say, “Now that you believe, go show it to others by way of visible expression.” He says, “Rise, be baptized, and wash away your sins.” Ananias did not command two things, but one: be baptized. The washing away of sins is the result. Just as water washes dirt from the body, so baptism washes away sin—not by the power of the water itself, but by the promise of God joined to it.“Calling on his name” doesn’t negate baptism; it locates it. That calling happens in the water.
4. Baptism unites us to Christ: Romans 6:3-5
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Je-sus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
You want to be joined to Jesus? Baptism is where it happens. Not abstractly. Not philosophically. But with simple water and Christ’s words. It is here that my Baptist friends offer an alternative work-around. As John Piper explains, “Faith unites to Christ; baptism symbolizes the union.”[13] This is a classic case of eisegesis, where someone reads their own ideas, biases, or theological assumptions into the text, rather than drawing meaning out from the text as the author intended. Reread the passage: Buried with him. Raised with him. Christ’s grave became yours. Christ’s empty tomb became yours. Baptism doesn’t paint that picture; it puts you in the painting. Faith is created and sustained by means, and baptism is one of those means—which is why Paul can appeal to this baptismalunion as the very reason that sin should not reign in our daily lives (Rom. 6:12). It is no longer who we are, because of Whose we are.
5. Baptism clothes us with Christ’s Righteousness: Gal. 3:26-29
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Adam and Eve starred in the original “what not to wear” program with their fig-leaf fashion. Self-salvation never works, so God had to clothe them in mercy. Same with us. We don’t dress ourselves in Jesus; we are outfitted by the Master Tailor himself. [14] This is no inward, invisible reality disconnected from water. Paul talks about a real event: “as many as were baptized.” Past tense. Done. Received. In that water, God took your shame and covered it with Christ’s righteousness. He didn’t just give you a name; he gave you a wardrobe straight from Christ’s closet. Permanent, pure, and patterned after the One who bore your nakedness on the cross.
6. Baptism Regenerates: John 3:5
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus hears about being “born again” and thinks: “Womb...again?” Jesus says: “No. Water and Spirit.” This isn’t a reference to a symbol, but a sacrament. Jesus doesn’t split water and Spirit into two separate things. One preposition binds them: ek—out of. Born out of water-and-Spirit. Not two births. One new birth, from above. Jesus isn’t making this up as he goes. He’s pulling it from Ezekiel, which Nicodemus should have known as Israel’s teacher: “I will sprinkle clean water on you...and put my Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36:25–27). This was a prophetic promise of cleansing and renewal through water and the Spirit—the very language Jesus employs.
For this reason, Paul will later echo Jesus by saying that God saved us “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
By Water and the Word: God’s Gift of Baptism for You is now available for preorder.
.jpg?width=36&height=36&name=staff_Headshots-(2%20of%2013).jpg){kind=small}
