What does the Bible teach about baptism?

Baptism is one of the two sacraments (or ordinances) instituted by Jesus, and it is also one of the most debated practices in Christianity. Let me lay out what is clear and where the genuine disagreements lie.

What is clear: Jesus commanded baptism. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 includes "baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The early church baptised immediately upon conversion — Pentecost (Acts 2:41), the Ethiopian official (Acts 8:38), Cornelius (Acts 10:47-48), the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:33). Baptism in the New Testament is not optional or deferred; it is the expected and immediate public response to faith.

What baptism signifies is also clear. Romans 6:3-4 connects it to the death and resurrection of Christ — being buried with Him and raised to walk in newness of life. It is a public declaration of union with Christ, a washing symbolising the cleansing of sin (Acts 22:16), and an initiation into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Whether the water itself conveys grace (sacramental view) or symbolises grace already received (ordinance view) is one of the key debates.

The two main contested questions: who should be baptised, and how.

Who: Baptists and most evangelicals hold to believer's baptism — only those who have personally professed faith should be baptised. Presbyterians and others hold to covenant infant baptism — infants of believing parents should be baptised as covenant members, as a parallel to circumcision. Both positions are held by serious, Scripture-honouring scholars.

How: immersion (going fully under the water) is the most literal representation of burial and resurrection symbolism in Romans 6, and is practiced by Baptists and most evangelical churches. Sprinkling and pouring are accepted in Reformed and many other traditions.

I hold to believer's baptism by immersion as the most consistent reading of the New Testament practice. But I regard this as a secondary issue — not a test of salvation or genuine Christianity.