Baptism is part of the last commands Jesus gave to His followers before he left earth and ascended into heaven. Its importance cannot be understated! The life a person lives after it will determine if they will remain a follower of Jesus and receive all the blessings God gives to His sons followers. I believe that it is often true that less is more so I will only present four sections of scripture in chronological order that speak to the need for a follower of Jesus Christ to act on this command. Many more can be considered and I encourage you to not only look at the passages I’m presenting but to study all God’s word has to offer on this topic with prayer for wisdom in your response to what Jesus has asked of you to be one of his followers.
John 3:1-8
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Acts
The book of Acts highlights the start of the church and specifically showcases that this happened with the baptism of a large group of people. The book then proceeds to show how the church continues to grow with the act of baptism playing the primary role of how this happens. When a person is baptized they are added to the body of Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to help them carry out their role in His body which is the church. This is still happening today. But it all started with the response of believers of Jesus being baptized in the beginning of the book of Acts. I encourage you to read Acts with the observation of how baptism plays a key role in what a person does to be a follower of Jesus Christ!
Romans 6
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A Personal Note of Encouragement
While it is not a requirement to be baptized to hear or read God’s word. Obedience to His word demands it! Only then will His Spirit completely help you and work through you as you earnestly strive with all diligence to live it out. I strongly encourage you to take this step if you want to be a complete follower of Jesus Christ!