Quiet Time Notes

Baptism into Christ (part II)

Ephesians 1:3-10

• An important New Testament teaching: every spiritual blessing from God is found “in Christ.”
• What are some of those blessings listed here? (Sonship, adoption, grace, redemption, forgiveness…)
• So how does a person enter “into Christ”? (Next passage.)

Galatians 3:26-29

• We are baptized “into Christ.” Note that Paul did not consider faith and baptism to be contradictory.
• Baptism is a tangible expression of faith that places us “in Christ” where salvation occurs.

Infant Baptism? Colossians 2:11-12

• Baptism is an immersion in water (from the Greek baptizo meaning “plunge, dip, immerse” - see Acts 8:38-39), but it does not operate “automatically” apart from the faith of the one who is baptized.
• Can an infant believe? Repent of sin? And what sins need to be forgiven?
• Ezekiel 18:20: Contrary to the widely held doctrine of “original sin,” guilt for sin is not inherited from our parents.
• We are guilty for our own sins and saved by grace through our own response of faith.