3. Baptism & the Born-Again Experience
Episode description
With the rolling away of the burial stone on the morning of the resurrection, the Father and Son fulfilled their part in the covenant to save man. Yet what are the terms on behalf of the Christian who enters into a covenant with God?
In a private conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus twice proclaimed: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Christ paralleled this experience of being born-again with being “born of water and of the Spirit”; a prerequisite for entering into the kingdom of God.
During Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, Peter similarly told the crowd to “repent, and be baptized”. Not long after, Peter preached again: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out”.
In light of these passages, there is clearly a connection between repentance, the conversion experience (to be born of the Spirit), and baptism (to be born of water). Yet what does it mean to be converted in a practical sense? And are all forms of baptism acceptable, or does the Bible speak exclusively of one kind? Furthermore, is it possible to be ‘once saved, always saved’?