“For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

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.”
Galatians 3:18-29 ESV

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

There is a video floating around on Facebook right now from an old sermon by Francis Chan. It’s a 6 minute clip from the sermon where he talks about the essential nature of baptism. It’s not something to separate out from the salvation process, it’s not something that was ever intended to be a matter of debate. As we come to Christ, we repent of our sins, are baptized into Him and become His disciples, living daily for Him.

And it’s true. Every time we see someone come to Christ in the New
Testament, they are convicted by what they hear, they are immersed and then they begin their life in Him. From the day of Pentecost, through Phillip and the Etheopian, to the jailer and his family to Cornelius and his family, all we find is this singular pattern:
The Gospel message is presented
They are convicted/cut to the heart by what they hear
They repent and are baptized into Christ
They begin their walk with Him as a apart of His bride, the Church

And that’s really all there is to it. It isn’t complicated, and it was never meant to be complicated. No extra steps, no month of classes ahead of time to make sure they we ready by some human standard, no series of meetings to make sure they understood every nuanced particle of the faith.

“I heard about Jesus and I need to be forgiven. Here is some water, why not right here, right now?”

We cannot earn our salvation, and it doesn’t come from a knowledge of the Law. It is by grace through faith in Christ that we come, baptized into Him to put Him on, rather than our own efforts, and receive His loving mercy in salvation. We cannot debate baptism. It is essential. It is our identifier with Christ, and it is part of the decision that we make as we repent and come to Him.

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

There is no room for debate here. Look at Romans 6:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus 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. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:1-11 ESV

Baptism is not a work we do that saves us. It is a grace given to us that participate in with Christ. It is a part of the salvation process, not just a moment in time that saves us that we can then ignore. It’s not an item on our spiritual punchcard to prove we can get into heaven. It is how we identify with Christ in His passion for us, His suffering, death, burial and resurrection, it is where we “put on Christ” to begin our walk with Him. This is what identifies us as heirs of the promise God gave to Abraham, and confirmed in Christ. Scripture calls us co-heirs with Christ, and this comes as we, in grace, come to identify ourselves with Him in baptism. It is essential and it is not debatable. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would even ask if it was…

If we want to put on Christ, then we must be baptized into Him.
This isn’t a work of the Law, but of grace.
It isn’t a ‘get out of jail free’ card if we choose to ignore it later in life.
It isn’t something we do to earn salvation.
It is our identification with the suffering of Christ and the seal of our union with Him.
It is something done in faith, and as the marker of the beginning of our walk with Him.
It is for everyone who comes to Him, desiring to share in His mission to GoLove all nations in the Name of God, proclaiming the joyful news of the Gospel of love and salvation.

There is plenty more to be said on baptism, but if you are debating taking part in it, the process must begin here.