Stange 2.9.2010 ES
Baptism
Baptism is an important action that needs to be done after recieving Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Baptism is personal and needs to be understandable for the one that participate.
Peter says in his first letter(3.21) that baptism is a good confession of our councience, by the ressurection of Christ. What has to do with our councience, is personal. It needs to be done of a person who has reached a certain maturity in age, so he can be able to know what is right and wrong. Baptism is a responce to what Jesus did for us, and by being baptized we identify with Him and let his work on the cross be ours.(Romans 6.1-14)
When the people asked on the day of Pentecost, what they should do to be saved, Peter answered:" Repend and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall get the gift of The Holy Spirit." Here again we see that the baptism needs to be personal; to be baptized you need to know yourselves what you are doing: Each one of you, let you yourselves be baptized
Baptism is a responce to what has been told; you repend, let yourselves be baptized and through that you get saved.
In baptism we make ourselves one with the crusifiction, death, burial of Christ, but also with his ressurection. Did we die with Him, then we shall also live with Him.
Conversion and baptism is also supposed to lead to something; that we shall be sanctified, it means changed to be more similar to Him.(Romans 6.22: But now, when you have been set free from sin and have been servants for God, then you are harvesting fruit which leads to sanctification, and the goal is eternal life.)
