What Do the Apostles Teach about Baptism?

By Robb Brunansky

Published May 11, 2026

In the New Testament letters, the apostles teach that baptism is a powerful, vivid reminder of who we are in Christ and how we have power to live for Christ’s glory and be more than conquerors through the Lord (Romans 8).

The first thing we see about baptism in the New Testament letters is that it reminds us of our cleansed conscience (1 Peter 3:21-22).

There is a connection in this passage between baptism and Noah’s ark. Baptism is the believer’s ark from God’s judgment. Yet this conclusion leads to an important question: how does baptism save us from God’s eternal judgment?

Some, like the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, or Church of Christ, teach that water baptism saves us from God’s judgment; yet this interpretation is contrary to the gospel itself (verse 21). What saves us is not getting wet in the waters of baptism but crying out to God to cleanse our consciences. Peter uses the word baptism here because water is a cleansing agent, and water baptism pictures the cleansing of sin. However, water can only cleanse us externally. Our consciences must be cleansed, not our bodies; and no amount of external water can wash away sin’s guilt. Christ’s resurrection is the only grounds of our appeal to God to cleanse our consciences to forgive our sins and erase our guilt.

Not only has Jesus been raised from the dead, but He is at God’s right hand, sovereignly reigning over everything with all authority and power (verse 22). We are saved when we call on the Lord’s name in faith, appealing for forgiveness of our sins on the basis of Jesus’ death and resurrection, because God always accepts those who come with sincere faith in His Son.

When we look at this passage, then, we see water baptism is something only for believers who have made an appeal to God to be cleansed of their sins by faith in Christ. Baptism in water is a sign we have called on the name of the Lord, which precludes infants because they don’t have the ability to understand their sin, need for cleansing, or Christ’s resurrection – not to mention that they cannot call on the Lord.

A second New Testament passage shows that baptism represents a changed clothing (Galatians 3:26-27).

The book of Galatians answers the question of how a person becomes Abraham’s child and so inherits the promises God made to this patriarch. In this passage, Paul says that his readers, who are assumed to have put their faith in Christ, are sons of God through that faith.

Does Paul refer to Spirit baptism or water baptism when he says that those who have been baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ (verse 27)? Here, Paul refers to Spirit baptism. Faith, not water baptism, is how we become sons of God, and the Spirit’s work of immersion is what brings about the fundamental reality that we are now clothed with Jesus. That transformation is pictured in water baptism, but it is not accomplished there. We might even say we cannot properly discern if someone has been clothed with Christ if they refuse to be baptized in water, not because baptism saves, but because obedience is a mark of genuine repentance and faith.

As we think about this passage, we must notice again that baptism by the Spirit, and subsequently in water, is not for babies. Infant baptism would therefore mean that these babies have clothed themselves with Christ, which is to say that infants would therefore be saved because of their baptism. Most pedobaptists reject this reasoning, but it is the logical end of their system. People are baptized in water because they have already been baptized in the Spirit, not to get baptized in the Spirit, now or later.

Third, the New Testament letters prove that baptism signifies a conforming connection (Romans 6:3-4).

Believers do not seek to put to death habitual sin because we are trying to earn God’s favor. Rather, we disengage in repeated sins because we now have a connection to Christ that conforms us to His death, burial, and resurrection. This connection is pictured under the figure of baptism, which allows for no exceptions. Believers are baptized into Christ’s death and have been buried with Him and now walk in new life empowered by our risen Lord. The baptism Paul has in mind is undoubtedly Spirit baptism, because it accomplishes the spiritual realities he described. However, we must remember water baptism was the outward picture of these inward realities, so every believer here could be described as baptized in the Spirit and water.

As we consider Paul’s statements, we must recognize, then, that baptism in the Spirit severs us from our link to Adam creating a new connection so we are in union with Christ’s resurrection. Once again, we see baptism is not something that takes place in infancy or is true of unbelievers. Baptism’s entire purpose is to show our connection to Christ, and so anyone who has not died, been buried, and been raised with Christ, should not be baptized.

In our final passage in this New Testament survey, we see baptism signifies a complete conversion (Colossians 2:11-12).

This passage has long been a staple of the pedobaptism argument, because it is the one place in Scripture where circumcision and baptism are set side by side. What do we do with this text?

We must first answer what Paul means when he talks about circumcision (verse 11). Paul is clearly not talking about physical circumcision, but something accomplished by the Spirit. This circumcision without hands transforms the heart so it is no longer bent on fleshly desires. The circumcision of Christ is a reference to His death on the cross. When Christ died on the cross, we died with Him, and our old man was cut away.

Following a reference to the work of the Spirit circumcising our hearts on the basis of Christ’s cross, Paul moves on to say that we were buried with Christ. Now, however, the appropriate metaphor is no longer circumcision by the Spirit but baptism by the Spirit since baptism was an apt picture of divine judgment. Just as Christ died and was buried, so by the Spirit’s work the believer dies with Christ and is buried with Christ.

Neither baptism nor circumcision in this context refer to physical activities but to internal works of the Spirit of God. These acts of God’s Sprit are not performed on the children of believers but on believers themselves. Only those who have put their faith in Christ have been given a new heart and are so united with Christ that Paul can say they have been buried and raised with Him (verse 12).

Therefore, Paul is saying the Spirit has done dramatic work, circumcising our hearts by uniting us to Christ in His death, and immersing us in Jesus so we are buried with Him. The Spirit, then, has given us new life by raising us from the dead with Christ by faith, where we are joined to Him. Thus, as believers, we have been completely converted, so we are not what we once were.

Water baptism is, then, a picture of our death, burial, and resurrection life with Christ. All these realities speak to believers, who have turned from their sins and put their faith in Christ. Nothing in this passage even hints baptism applies to someone who is not complete and alive in Christ, baptized by the Spirit, and forgiven of their sins. The only position that can make sense of these critical New Testament passages is believer’s baptism.

This truth is so glorious because baptism in water reminds us of who we are in Christ by faith. Sometimes Christianity is impossible because Satan weighs us down with our past sins. However, baptism reminds us that we came to the Lord based on Jesus’ resurrection and appealed to God to forgive us and give us a good conscience, and that we are clothed with Christ’s righteous robes and our sinful garments have been incinerated at the cross. In our flesh, we often don’t feel these things are true, and yet they are true, and we must walk by faith. Baptism is one help from the Lord, because there we remember what He has done for us in Christ, and we are renewed in our strength by God’s grace to fight the good fight of faith through the Spirit within us.