In the last article we looked at a number of verses that identified one of the main purposes of baptism - to receive the forgiveness of sins (or be saved). While that is a primary purpose of baptism, there is another purpose identified in the scriptures. Notice a few verses:

1. Acts 2:41 — “So then those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were about added three-thousand souls.”

2. Acts 2:47 — “...And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

3. 1 Corinthians 12:13 — “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...”

What these verses reveal is a baptism that adds you to a body of people who have also given their lives Christ in baptism. This body is called the church (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18, 24). What these passages reveal is that when a person decides to follow Christ, and is baptized they are added to the church by God. Notice that a person does not join the church, but rather God adds them to the church.

The church that a person is baptized into is a community of people who have all experienced something similar. Each person who has been baptized according to the Bible’s description of baptism becomes a part of something that is perhaps God’s greatest design. Ephesians 3:10-11 Paul said that the manifold wisdom of God was made known to the world through the church, and that the church is God’s eternal purpose through Jesus. Everything that God has done through Jesus was to bring people into this church of Jesus Christ. We gain access to that church through baptism.

Have you been baptized into God’s church? Did God add you to the church, or did you join a church? What was the purpose of your baptism? The Bible identifies that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, and to be added to the Lord’s church. If you have not been baptized, you have not been added to the church of Jesus Christ. If you have not been baptized to be added to Christ’s church, why do you delay? Be baptized today!

— Kolton Ballance