My friend told me you had to be baptized to be a Christian, I didn't think so, but I was checking (she is getting baptized & confirmed in November)
So being baptized is a way of showing your commitment to Jesus?
Also just a question for people who have been baptized... how did you know when you wanted to be baptized? Just out of interest

hi Han,
           
            To all please correct me if i am wrong but the way i see it Han, being baptized is not a way of showing your commitment to Jesus, it is a commitment to Jesus!!!......

I originally asked this question because i was unsure of the word baptism although with thanks to the others i am a lot clearer now.

I was christened as a child (not baptized) which to me is a good thing but when we are young we don't really understand the christening.. I  have been baptized with the holy spirit now i am older not by been submerged in water, by accepting Christ (been baptized with holy spirit) we are acknowledge that Christ died on the cross at calvary for us all and for all our sins.

since sin started from the 1st man (Adam) we are all doomed to die, but since God sent his only son to earth we all have a chance of eternal life...

John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.c From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

You see all you have to do is believe, accept, and be filed with the holy spirit and stay strong in the light of the Lord.

JTF,

I agree that during the church age, God did tell the apostles (churches) that the sign of salvation was to be applied when someone claimed to be a true believer.  So in front of a congregation someone would have been baptized. This was to show that as water washes away the filth of the flesh so we must have our sins washed away by the water of the gospel. Just because people were baptized it did not mean they were saved.  Congregations have always been made up of wheat and tares (saved and unsaved).

In Acts 8 the eunuch was reading from Is 53, the introduction indicates that Christ will sprinkle many nations and Phillip would have explained that even as water washes our flesh so we have to have our sins washed away and God desires that this sign be applied to those claiming to be a believer.  Since he was claiming to be a believer Phillip baptized him with water.

I agree with you about the flesh housing the inner man (soul) but do not think Christ cares about the cleanliness of the flesh. The flesh returns to the dust (dies) because it is plagued with sin but a true believers body will be resurrected a new glorified body during the rapture (1 Cr 15:52) when our salvation is completed. We are sanctified for the Lord’s use on this earth after being baptized by the Holy Spirit (new inner man, resurrected soul). Only then will we truly do good works and believe with all our heart and soul and be able to His wishes.

One of Jesus’ roles was that of a high priest.  Back then he could not legally begin this job until he had been ceremonially cleaned. This is one of the reasons God dispatched John (who was a high priest). Again, there was no significance in this event.

Water baptism was only a ceremonial law during the church age to help us see the nature of salvation but it did not hold any spiritual significance and I believe it does not even need to be performed today.  But if one wants to go through it, I don’t think there is any harm in dong so.  But it does not matter.