Where this command is found:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
The story is told of a man named George Wyatt who had a wife and six children and lived during the Civil War in the United States. George was drafted to join the war. Being a dad with a large family, this prospect of going to the front lines was a serious one. Many were killed in the Civil War and if George died in combat he would leave his children fatherless and his wife a widow. A young man named Richard Pratt stepped up and offered to go in his stead.
Richard Pratt was accepted and entered the war bearing the name and number of George Wyatt. This courageous young man was killed in action. The authorities later sought to draft George Wyatt again. But George protested the draft encouraging them to consult their own records and see that he had already “died” in the person of Pratt. George was thereby exempted from being drafted because he had died in identification with the person of his substitute.
This is a great illustration of our identification as believers in the person and work of Jesus Christ. As we consider Christ’s command to baptize His disciples we need to know what baptism is a picture of. Romans 6:3 says: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Water baptism is a physical picture of a spiritual reality. Spiritually speaking, when Christ died on the cross we died as well in Him (see Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6, Colossians 3:3). Baptism by being immersed in water is a picture of us being identified with Christ in His burial. And, just as a person is raised up out of the water in baptism, we identify with Christ’s resurrection when He rose from the dead!
Why is it so important for us to both know this truth about what baptism pictures and to teach it to those we are discipling? One reason is that living in freedom and victory over the power of sin in our lives begins with us recognizing our position in Christ when He died and rose again. Romans 6:7 declares: “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” As we recognize and embrace the reality of our death and resurrection in Christ we can walk free from sin in our daily life! George Wyatt was free from the demands of the draft because in identification with Richard Pratt, he had died. When Satan comes with the temptation to try to “draft” us to give into sin, we as believers can resist it because we died to it in Christ! We have been raised with Christ to newness of life and sin no longer has any dominion over us. As we seek to live out Christ’s command to baptize His disciples may we also teach Christ’s disciples about the glorious reality of our identification in Christ!
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What is the context of Christ’s command to baptize? We look at the setting of the Great Commission, where Jesus, risen and authoritative, calls His disciples to baptize. This command flows from worship, dependence, and the presence of Christ.
Why is baptism spiritually significant? Baptism is a powerful picture of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. It declares our freedom from sin and our new identity in Him.
How should baptism be carried out? Baptism is for all who trust in Christ. It is done in water, by immersion, and in His name—not ours—as part of making true disciples.
What does baptism say about our freedom in Christ? Like Israel crossing the Red Sea, baptism pictures our deliverance from sin’s power. We now walk free, no longer slaves, but alive in Christ.
