Is Water Baptism Necessary?
John the Baptist's ministry was to prepare God's people to receive Christ and the baptism he would bestow. He baptized with water, every Jew who repented, thus making them candidates for the baptism of the holy Ghost. His message was, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire" (Mat.3:11).
Water baptism was offered to the Jews by John, with the understanding that it was only a preparation for the baptism of the holy Ghost! It is quite strange how so very many in Christianity have received the testimony of John concerning water baptism and, at the same time, have rejected it with regard to his command to receive a baptism from the one coming after him. For just as John came to baptize in water, and those who believed his testimony received his baptism; so should those who receive the one coming after him, receive HIS baptism.
This being true, we can understand why Paul held that the twelve Ephesian disciples had not actually received John's baptism at all, even though they had been baptized in water. If they had, they could not have said, "we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy Ghost" (Acts 19:2), for John's baptism always included the promise of the baptism of the holy Ghost. Paul explained to those disciples that John baptized with water "SAYING unto the people, that they should believe on [that is, receive the baptism of Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."
So we see that the first baptism that those Ephesians received was not really John's baptism. Neither is the one you have, unless you heard these words, or their equivalent, deep in the recess of your heart before you were put "in water": "I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire." If you have not yet received the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues) my friend, it is either that you need to re-baptized as those Ephesians were, or you haven't fully repented, for those are the only two conditions which Peter gave in Acts 2:38 for all who would receive the gift of God.
Is water baptism necessary? To the Jews it was, as long as they were willing to receive the baptism of the one coming after the man who God sent to baptize in water. Was it necessary for the Gentile? The Apostle Peter was astonished to see Gentile believers receive the holy Ghost without it. Peter was perplexed about this, and baptized them with water afterwards, not precisely knowing how to forbid them water (Acts 10:47) Evidently, this went against everything Peter knew to be "the right order"! Later, Paul would be the man to explain that the Gentiles needed no such ceremonies, "for all the phophets and the law prophesied until John", but after John came, these ceremonies were done away with. That is why Paul could say "I thank God that I baptized none of you..." (1Cor.1:14), for he saw that holding on to ceremonies without the substance of them, would only breed confusion and division among those who had already been made right by receiving the Spirit.
Water baptism is a ceremony that God has finished with, just as he had finished with the priests, the temple altars, the incense, the shewbread, and the like. They were holy and good in their time... but they have been completed and brought to an end by the coming, death, and resurrection of Jesus. If you were a Jew who was alive during the ministry of John the Baptist, water baptism was holy. If you are not, then you are holding on to a ceremony that is now considered by God to be "idolatry" (Is.66:3), because God is done with it. To cling to ANY ceremony, including John the Baptism's water baptism, is to cling to a "dead work", and it does not please God, no matter how meaningful it may look to you. It robs the glory that belongs to Jesus Christ alone.
One might ask, "didn't Jesus say to go into the world and 'baptize'?" The answer is yes. Jesus sent those whom he called to "go into all the world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghost". And this shows that those who baptize in water have NOT been sent by God. Jesus does not baptize anyone in water now, and he did not send anyone to baptize people in water. But Jesus still baptizes with the holy Ghost, and those who are truly sent by God will lead you to that water that "flows from heaven"! A river that never shall run dry. And so we answer today's question with a resounding "NO"...water baptism is no longer necessary for the true believer in this dispensation. It is simply a ceremony that misguided religious men require of others, because they have not been sent by Jesus with His real power or authority. Be at liberty, and receive the baptism that Jesus still administers, the one from heaven that brings a peace that passes all understanding.
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