2 - Water Baptism

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” - Acts 2:37-39

After salvation, the next step is water baptism for the remission of sin. It is a declaration and an expression of a new reality, that the "old creation" has been put to death, and the "new creation" is now alive. That we have died with Christ on the cross as an old creation, and have been raised to life with Him as a new creation. If you look at the Hebrew words for baptism, there are two different words. The meaning of the Greek words is made clear by an ancient Greek pickle recipe, in which you are instructed to briefly dunk the cucumber in boiling water (this is the word for water baptism), then submerse it in vinegar and leave it there too soak it in constantly (this is the word for the baptism of the Holy Spirit). Obviously we do not want to physically dunk people in water and leave them there, they would physically drown! But, like the pickle being dunked quickly in the water and removed, the physical act of water baptism is quick and finite. The act of spiritual baptism is different. We are called to dwell in the spirit, just as the pickle then dwells in the vinegar, and this is not a physical reality but a spiritual reality.

Again, not an exhaustive explanation, just jotting down a few quick thoughts on each topic here! My baby has fallen asleep wrapped to me, so I take the opportunity to stand and get some typing done.