To better understand what it means to be baptized in water, it will be useful to look at the words of John the Baptist, whose mission was to prepare the people of Israel to the coming of Jesus by calling them to repent, or to change their way of thinking by turning away from their sins :
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”” Matthew 3:1-3
The people who responded to John the Baptist's call and who repented were then baptized by him in the Jordan river (the river that crosses Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian terrirories) :
“Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” Matthew 3:5-6
This water baptism was therefore a sign of the change that had taken place in the lives of the people who had repented. However, when proclaiming the Messiah's coming, John the Baptist declared that Jesus was going to baptize them not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and fire :
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11
The baptism of the Holy Spirit that John was announcing therefore referred to the new birth that Jesus talked about during His conversation with Nicodemus, a teacher of the people of Israel who had come to question Him (John 3:1-21). In this conversation, Jesus declares that each person born of human parents must also be born again by receiving the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God :
“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.’” John 3:5-7
The baptism to which Jesus was referring when He sent His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
(Matthew 28:19-20) therefore has a much deeper meaning than that of the baptism of John the Baptist : it represents the transformation that took place
within our being when the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside us after we repented and placed our trust in Jesus as Saviour and Lord. It
also represents the fact that our human spirit has passed from death to life by being united to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:4-6).
The apostle Paul associates this transformation to the death and resurrection of Jesus by explaining that all of us who are born again
have been baptized with Christ in His death on the cross and raised up with Him :
“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.” Romans 6:3-4
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:4-6
By being born again, we have died to our old sinful life and have been made alive by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live a new life. As new creatures in Jesus-Christ, we understand that to be baptized in water represents both the new birth through which we have passed from death to life, as well as our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We accept to be baptized to testify to the world about what God has done within us by His Spirit and also to obey what Jesus commanded to His disciples :
“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.” Matthew 28:19-20
In this sense, water baptism also symbolizes our conscious decision to commit to follow Jesus, to be His disciples and to walk in obedience to God and to everything that He commanded us in His Word.