Sixth Grade Lessons, Block 4—The Way of Salvation
Week 21
Baptism
Reading Reference: Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, vol. 2, ch. 17; John 3:5; Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36-38; Matt. 3:16; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; Truth Lessons, Level 1, Vol. 3, lessons 32-33
Memory Verse: He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. (Mark 16:16)
Suggested Songs: Hymns, #936
Scripture Reading: John 3:5; Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36-38; Matt. 3:16; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:20-21
Points to Emphasize
- “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”—John 3:5.
When the Lord spoke of being born of water, He was referring to baptism. If a person wants to enter into the kingdom of God, he must repent and believe to receive the Lord’s life through the Holy Spirit, and he must also be baptized to terminate everything of himself through the water of baptism.
- He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned—Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36-38.
Although salvation is just one step, it requires the movement of two feet. The first step is believing, and the second step is baptism; both feet together add up to one complete step, or procedure, through which we receive the Lord’s complete salvation. Faith is the inward aspect by which we inwardly receive the Lord’s salvation; baptism is the outward action by which we outwardly apply the Lord’s salvation. If we have only faith without baptism, we can receive only one aspect of the Lord’s salvation; that is, we will have only a partial salvation and will not utilize or apply all aspects of the Lord’s full salvation. If we want to participate in all aspects of the Lord’s salvation, if we want to be fully saved, we must believe and be baptized.
- The meaning of the word baptism—Matt. 3:16; Acts 22:16
Baptizo is the Greek word used here and in other places in the New Testament; it means “to dip in or under, to immerse, or to sink.” Martin Luther, the leader of the Reformation, said that he hoped everyone who is baptized would have his whole body put into the water because that is the meaning of the word baptism.
- “Entering into which [the ark], a few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through by water. Which water, as the antitype, also now saves you, that is, baptism…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”—1 Pet. 3:20-21.
The eight people of Noah’s household who were in the ark were covered with water, showing that we should be covered with water in our baptism in Christ. The flood caused the people in the ark to be separated from the old world in which they had lived, freeing them from their corrupt generation. This shows that the water of baptism causes us, who are in Christ, to be separated from the world in which we live, freeing us from this crooked and perverted generation. On the one hand, they entered into the ark by faith and were saved by the ark from the flood waters of God’s judgment; on the other hand, in the ark they passed through the flood and were saved by the flood waters from that old world and were given entrance into a new world. In the same way, we enter into Christ by faith and are saved in Christ from the judgment of God’s wrath; we also pass through baptism in Christ and are saved through the water of baptism from the old world and are given entrance into the new realm of resurrection.