Baptism Is a Big DealSample

Baptism is a big deal.

I’m not sure if you’ve been baptized, if you celebrate your baptism, or if you have thought about Baptism this week (or month or year), but I know that baptism is a big deal.

Just ask John the Baptist. John wasn’t called John the Pray-er, John the Preacher, or John the Leader. Instead, he went down in history as the Baptist, that guy who baptized people. Based on what his baptism offered, I bet John wouldn’t have minded that title one bit. Luke records, “[John] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). What was the point, according to this verse, of being baptized? The forgiveness of sins. Greedy tax collectors and abusive soldiers couldn’t earn forgiveness from God, so John offered them Baptism, where God promised the forgiveness of sins.

That’s what the Nicene Creed says. Back in the year A.D. 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine invited church leaders to a council at the city of Nicaea (think church conference) in order to unify the church, and they left with a creed, a statement of what they believed, which has now been used around the world for over 1,600 years. Guess what shows up in its closing lines? “We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” For the forgiveness of sins. That’s why Baptism is such a big deal.