WHAT DID JESUS TEACH ABOUT BAPTISM?
Jesus spoke about baptism both before and after His death and resurrection. Understanding the difference between those two periods is important because they belong to different stages in God's plan.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus had authority to forgive sins directly. He forgave the paralytic (Mark 2:5–12), the sinful woman (Luke 7:48–50), and others who came to Him in faith. Jesus Himself was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). His disciples also baptized during His ministry, although Jesus Himself did not personally perform the baptisms (John 3:22–26; 4:1–2).
Then came the cross. Jesus died. Jesus was raised from the dead. After His resurrection, He gave His apostles a worldwide commission.
Jesus declared: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18) Then He said: “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 things that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19–20)
Notice the movement: Make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them to continue following Christ. Baptism was not something the apostles later invented. It was included in the commission Jesus Himself gave them.
Mark records the commission this way: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
These instructions came from the risen Christ. From that point forward, Acts records the apostles carrying out His commission. They preached Christ, called people to faith and repentance, and baptized those who accepted the gospel. That makes the Great Commission the bridge between the earthly ministry of Jesus and the preaching of the apostles.
GOING DEEPER
There is an important Bible-study principle here: Always ask where you are in the biblical story. If we ignore that question, we can take a true event from one stage of God's plan and use it incorrectly to explain another.
Jesus Had Authority to Forgive Sins
Consider the paralytic in Mark 2. Jesus told him, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The religious leaders immediately understood the significance: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus then healed the man so they would know that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” (Mark 2:10)
That authority matters. During His earthly ministry, Jesus could—and did—forgive sins directly. He forgave the paralytic. He forgave the sinful woman in Luke 7. He promised the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”(Luke 23:43) Jesus had the authority to do that.
But Then Something Changed
After His resurrection, Jesus gave His apostles a commission for the world. Matthew records: “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...” (Matthew 28:19) Mark records: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved...” (Mark 16:16)
Then Jesus ascended. So the important question becomes: How did the apostles understand those instructions? We don't have to guess. Acts tells us.
At Pentecost, Peter said, “Repent and be baptized...” (Acts 2:38). When Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian, the man asked to be baptized (Acts 8:35–38). Ananias told Saul, “Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.” (Acts 22:16). The Philippian jailer and his household were baptized the same night they heard the word of the Lord (Acts 16:32–33).
The pattern after the resurrection deserves our attention.
Before the Cross and After the Cross
The thief on the cross is a good example of why timing matters. The thief was saved by Jesus. That is not in question. But he lived and died before Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and Great Commission had been completed.
Paul later describes Christian baptism as being baptized into Christ's death and raised with Him to a new life (Romans 6:3–4). The thief could not have participated in a baptism based upon completed events that had not yet happened. That does not diminish his salvation. It simply places him where he belongs in the biblical story.
We will examine the thief more carefully in a later study devoted to that question.
What About Mark 16:16?
Jesus said: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Sometimes people point out that Jesus did not say, “Whoever is not baptized will be condemned.” That observation is true. But before drawing conclusions from what Jesus did not say, we should first listen to what He did say:
believes + is baptized → will be saved
Why does the second half mention only unbelief? Because unbelief settles the matter before baptism is even considered. A person who does not believe has no reason to submit to baptism as a believer.
So the better questions are: What did Jesus actually command? How did the apostles who heard Him understand that command? Acts gives us the answer.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke Emphasize Different Parts
Matthew emphasizes making disciples and baptizing them. Mark emphasizes believing and baptism. Luke emphasizes repentance and forgiveness: “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations.”(Luke 24:47)
These are not competing messages. They are different parts of the same commission. That principle will become important when we examine passages that mention only faith, repentance, or another part of the response to the gospel.
No one passage needs to repeat every part every time. We must gather the whole testimony before drawing our conclusion.
The Great Commission Gives Us the Starting Point
Before deciding whether baptism is essential, symbolic, optional, sacramental, or something else, we should follow the people who actually heard Jesus give the command.
What did they preach? What did they tell people to do? What did people actually do when they believed the gospel?
Those questions take us directly into Acts.
CONTINUE YOUR STUDY
Next Bible Study
Did Peter carry out the Great Commission as Jesus intended? Beginning on the Day of Pentecost, we will examine the first gospel sermon after the resurrection and listen carefully to Peter's answer when the crowd asked, “What shall we do?”
Related Bible Studies
Why Baptism?
Why Did God Send John Before Jesus?
Water, Cleansing, and New Beginnings
Companion Video
What Did Jesus Teach About Baptism?
Read First. Conclude Later.