Water baptism symbolizes several things that have already occurred in the new believer’s life. Most simply, it represents that we have had our sins washed away, and now we stand clean before God. When Ananias was sent to Saul (Paul) soon after his conversion, he said to him:
And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name (Acts 22:16, emphasis added).
Second, water baptism symbolizes our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Once we have been born again and placed into the body of Christ, we are considered by God to be “in Christ” from that point on. Because Jesus was our substitute, God attributes all that Jesus did to our account. So “in Christ,” we have died, been buried, and have been raised from the dead to live as new persons:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4).
Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Col. 2:12).
Every new believer should be taught these important truths when he is baptized in water, and he should be baptized as soon as possible after he believes in Jesus.
