November 4, 2024
Did you know that the Greek word for Baptism is “Baptizo?” This word means to fully immerse. This word is also used when describing the process of pickling vegetables. When someone wants to pickle a vegetable, they have to take the vegetable and dunk it into a container of vinegar. This vinegar acts as a cleanser and rids the vegetable of all the bacteria that was on it. Not only that, but it preserves the vegetable. If someone takes a cucumber and puts it into vinegar and lets it sit there for a long time, eventually that cucumber will become a pickle. Did you notice that change? Why is the cucumber not still called a cucumber? It is because it has been completely cleansed and filled with something other than itself and has become an entirely new food. It looks different. It tastes different. It smells different. And it has been given and new name. The same thing happens when someone is baptized. They go into the water as an old creation, dirty in their sin and in need of cleansing. Then they are “immersed” into the water, filled with the Holy Spirit, and they come out as a new creation. When someone is saved, they no longer look the same or act the same. The things of this world that use to bring them joy, now bring them guilt. They treat people differently, with the love of the Father. They no longer sound the same with the way they talk and the language they use. And lastly, they are given a new name: Child of God. Before going any further it is important to note that Baptism does not save anyone. You are saved the moment you confess Jesus as Lord, repent, and surrender your life to Christ. Baptism is not needed for salvation. This is seen at the crucifixion when Jesus saved the man hanging next to him on the cross. The man did not have to do anything but accept Jesus into His heart. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into Heaven. We are made righteous by faith and faith alone. However, baptism is extremely important. It is the declaration of one’s faith to the world. We get baptized to outwardly show the transformation done inside of us. This declaration is done in front of one’s church surrounded by one’s brothers and sisters in the faith. This keeps us accountable with one another to live as Christ lived. My pastor once used the analogy that baptism is like a wedding ring. When someone gets married, they are married the moment they say, “I do” and commit themselves to each other. Someone is married whether they wear their wedding ring or not. However, they wear it as a sign to the world of the covenant that was made between man and wife and that they are no longer available to the world like they once were. In the same way, we are the bridegroom of Christ and should no longer love the world the way we once did and should proudly proclaim our salvation which is what Baptism allows us to do. Now back to the pickle illustration. Baptizo means to immerse, not just to dip. We buy pickles in a jar full of pickle juice which is the vinegar. In order for the pickle to stay fresh and falvorful and preserved, it must remain in the juice until it is ready to be eaten. In the same way, we can not just accept Jesus into our life and then live away from Him. We must abide with the Lord if we want to see the change in our lives and bear good fruit for His kingdom. Lastly, a pickle can never turn back into a cucumber. Once it has gone through the pickling process, it can never return to its original state. Once we are saved, we can never lose our salvation. There is nothing we can do to become dirty again, as Jesus has made us forever clean. Once saved, always saved. Once a Pickle, always a pickle.