Confession and Baptism

Matthew 3:1-8

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.'" Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance."

In that passage we have the definition of what is confession, and baptism, when, how and why need to be practiced.

Acts of the Apostles 2:38

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

What does it mean to “repent”? Repentance requires morning for the sins you committed and through repentance prepare your heart and soul to receive the baptism of The Holy Spirit, in order to be born again (John 3:3-8).

The Bible shows in the Old Testament how people were turning away from God, how they abused the law of God, and commandments, how they used God and the authority of their priestly office to enforce their own laws and their own will for personal prosperity. A similar process is happening today. The bible says that God never changes, but we can tell that people don’t change either. If we study the New Testament and compare it to what churches are teaching and practicing, we would vividly see how sin is pretending to be righteousness, and how righteousness is called a sin.

That is the reason God sent His Son, because the heart of people become insensitive to hear the truth, and their eyes blind to recognize righteousness. And as a result the most righteous, Jesus, was condemned of sin, and crucified in the name of justice. But that was necessary to manifest the true justice of God, and expose the hypocrisy of Pharisees. Thanks to Jesus’ teachings and to what they did to Him human eyes opened.

Matthew 13:15-17

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Everything was for a reason, to show all the people what sin is, and what it takes to be righteous. And as much as then, Jesus’ teachings is opening the eyes and ears of people today to see the truth, and understand what is sin, and what is righteousness. All what it takes is a open heart, eyes and ears and read to the Words of Christ.

All those people who wanted to see, and hear the truth, even before Jesus began His teaching ministry, and there were plenty of them, they kept coming to John the Baptizer, who was proclaiming the coming of the Savior, and teacher. People were expecting the Messiah and moved by the Spirit of God they were coming to John to learn how to get ready, how to prepare.

To be a true Christian and to be saved, one must believe the teachings of Jesus and His apostles as it is in the Bible. One needs to understand his sins and confess them with remorse, and morning and never commit repented sins again. As it says in the quoted verses above, one needs to receive baptism for the remission of sins, and as a sign of being reconciled with God, by accepting and obeying the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ, so that one can be accepted by Him trough obedience and baptism of the Holy Spirit, as a seed of God who will give strength and wisdom to sin no more. That is what Jesus and His apostles are teaching, that is what the whole New Testament is all about. He who sincerely confesses and repents his sins, and receives baptism, he will be saved.

Confession is just as important as baptism. Lord Jesus said it clear:

Matthew 12:36-37

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

1 Corinthians 11:31

But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

Confession is self judgment, it is testifying with our own words and understanding of the guilt of sin, and if it is done properly, God’s forgiveness will be granted, and that is because of Jesus who died to forgive all who repent, and turn away from those confessed sins, and sin no more.

Confession without conviction, and repentance without sorrowful morning for committed sins, will not bring fruit. Only after God’s painful conviction of sin comes a true repentance and sorrowful confession brings God’s forgiveness which set free from being in bondage to sin. And only such general confession should be followed by baptism of water, which is the preparation of baptism in Spirit. Just as John the Baptist and the apostle Paul said. The baptism of Holy Spirit comes at a time set by God, at a time when person’s heart is right to receive it, and cannot be appointed by man.

Romans 5:17

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Who then, with a broken heart confesses his sins, knowing that they were the reason of Christ’s suffering horrific death on the cross as a offering and price for God’s forgiveness, only such a man will be able to renounce a sin, and any future service to sin, and only then he will receive the GRACE and trough the baptism in The name of Christ will receive the gift of The Holy Spirit, who comes to be with him and in him. That man is saved right now in this life, from the power of sin. That means he is set free and able to live righteous life unlike he lived before his conversion.

If one is converting, without broken heart for the suffering and death of Jesus Christ caused by his sin, he can’t come up with true repentance, and what is worse, he will not have the strength to quit sinning, and sooner or later he will return to his previous sins which he confessed and supposedly repented. Whoever, after converting, confessing sins and baptism continue with sin, he just doesn’t love the Lord his Savior, and does not appreciate His death on the cross.

Matthew 1:21

And she will give birth to a son; and you will give him the name Jesus; for he will give his people salvation from their sins.

John 8:34-36

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word”.

1 John 3:8-9

He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Who after being baptized keeps on sinning, he still is the child of the devil. Baptism did not set him free from sin, and from the father of sin. Why? Because he or she received baptism prematurely not understanding what is sin, and what is the purpose of baptism, and did not prepare his heart properly, did not properly confess and did not sincerely enough repent and renounced sin, and did not commit self to be cleansed and set free from sin, therefore his or her baptism is invalid, and did not receive the power from above, the seed of God.

1 Corinthians 6:19

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

Our sinful body needs to be cleansed, purified, through sorrowful repentance and sincere confession, and then dedicated by baptism to become a Temple of The Holy Spirit. If the purification is not proper, God rejects that dedication as unclean, and not ready to receive the Spirit of righteousness to be imputed onto Him. Such person needs to pray, asking God to lead him not to the temptation, but to deliverance through conviction.

Many Christians who were baptized prematurely need to pray, study God’s Word to know His law and commandments in order to know what sin is, what Jesus teachings and requirements are in order to understand own sins and confess them properly with mournfully repent. And then with great submission and trembling receive baptism of water for the forgiveness of sin with expectation of acceptance in God, and His Son side as a purely and sincerely dedicated vessel, to be purified by Jesus’ blood, set free and be baptized with His Spirit.

We cannot purify ourselves, but we need to prepare by confession and repentance so that Jesus finds us being ready to be purified by his blood and set free by His Holy Spirit. We have to do our part, and then He will fulfill His promise.

True understanding of that process totally disqualifies baptism in infancy and repetition of once confessed sin as something that God tolerates with an assurance of salvation.