Preparation for Heavenly Living Correspondence School

http://www.geocities.com/bibleloverbill

PFHL Course 102-- How Important is Biblical Christian Baptism? (10 pgs.)
(by Bill Stevenson)

Directions: You will probably need a good dictionary for this Bible study. For each part of it,
the Bible verses are formatted in a logical way. Try to determine the reasons for
each line’s indention and relationship to the previous lines. Then answer the
questions. This is a serious topic and action, so do a lot of thinking as just
indicated. Write the answers to the questions after the Scripture passages. This
assignment is worth 3 units, so write at least 4 quality pages (single spaced lines
and no redundancies).

Mark 1: 1-8
1 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.” [Malachi 3:1]
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” [Isaiah 40:3]
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness
and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him
and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist,
and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying,
“There comes One after me who is mightier than I,
Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8 I indeed baptized you with water,
but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

1.)The word “gospel” means “good news”. What does the first verse of Mark mean to you?
2.)What two actions was John the Baptist demanding before he baptized an individual? (One is
two words and one is one word beginning with the letter “r”.)
3.)What do each of those mean?
4.)Now personalize the last answer as if you are praying to the forgiving God?

Matthew 3:7-10
7 But when he [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism,
he said to them, “Brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
9 and do not think to say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham as our father.’

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 For I say to you
that God is able to raise up children to Abraham
from these stones.
10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

5.) Who were Pharisees and Sadducees?

6.) What were they prideful and boastful about?
7.) What did John the Baptist think they were like?
8.) What did he first command them to do in order to get baptized by him? (Write the 5 words
and then tell what it means.)
9.) What did he indicate would happen if they didn’t do as he commanded?

Matthew 3:11-12
11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance,
but He who is coming after me is mightier than I,
Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will
thoroughly clean out His threshing floor,
and gather His wheat into the barn;
and He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Luke 12:50-51
50 “But I have a baptism to be baptized with,
and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!
51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on Earth?
I tell you, not at all,
but rather division.”

10.) What was John’s water baptism a public profession of?

11.) What was the baptism to be done by Jesus Christ to involve? Does it involve water? Does
it link to His Salvation?
12.) Why does the spiritual baptism of Jesus Christ cause division?
13.) What do these Bible passages indicate the eventual purpose of the spiritual baptism given
by Jesus Christ to believers of the Gospel?

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan
to be baptized by him.
14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying,
“I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “
Permit it to be so now,
for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he allowed Him.

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16 When He had been baptized,
Jesus came up immediately from the water;
and behold, the heavens were opened to Him,
and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and alighting upon Him.
And suddenly a voice came from Heaven, saying,
“This is My beloved Son,
in Whom I am well pleased.”

14.) Why does this passage indicate that baptism by immersion is important?
15.) What did He do after going completely into the Jordan River?
16.) What do you think witnesses of this special baptism thought?

Luke 3:1-6
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,
his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis,
and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests,
the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
and the rough ways smooth;
6 and all flesh shall see the Salvation of God.’”
[Isaiah 52:10]

17.) What was another importance of the ministry of John the Baptist?
18.) What does verse 6 mean? [It became true for some later in the ministry of John the
Baptist as described in the Scripture passage before the above.] Who represented “the
salvation of God”?

Matthew 21:23-32
23 Now when He [Jesus Christ] came into the temple,
the chief priests and the elders of the people
confronted Him as He was teaching, and said,
“By what authority are You doing these things?
And who gave You this authority?”
24 But Jesus answered and said to them,
“I also will ask you one thing,
which if you tell Me,
I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:

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25 The baptism of John--
where was it from?
from Heaven or from men?”
And they reasoned among themselves, saying,
“If we say, ‘From Heaven’, He will say to us,
‘Why then did you not believe him?’
26 But if we say, ‘From men’,
we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus and said,
“We do not know.”
And He said to them,
“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what do you think?
A man had two sons,
and he came to the first and said,
‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’
29 He answered and said, ‘I will not’,
but afterward he regretted it and went.
30 When he came to the second and said likewise.
And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir’,
but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them,
“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God
before you.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness,
and you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and harlots believed him;
and when you saw it,
you did not afterward relent and believe him.

19.) Explain the above passage in your own words. How does it indicate that Jesus Christ
believed about being baptized by immersion in water?

Matthew 20:17-28
17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road
and said to them,
18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes;
19 and they will deliver Him to the Gentiles
to mock and to scourge and to crucify.
And the third day He will rise again.”
20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons,
kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit,
one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

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22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask.
Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink,
and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
They said to Him, “We are able.”
23 So He said to them,
“You will indeed drink My cup,
and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;
but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give,
but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
24 And when the ten heard it,
they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you;
but whoever desires to become great among you,
let him be your servant.
27 And whoever desires to be first among you,
let him be your slave--
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

20.) What does Jesus say is a requirement of any Christian disciple?

1 Peter 3:18-22
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins,
the just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh
but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by Whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient,
when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was being prepared,
in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
21 There is also an antitype which now saves us--
baptism
not the removal of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 Who has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

21.) What does this Scripture passages indicate is a requirement for true Christian baptism?
Belief and trust in
____________________________________________________________

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Acts 18:24-28
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,
an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit,
he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord,
though he knew only the baptism of John.
26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
When Aquila and Priscilla heard him,
they took him aside
and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia,
the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him;
and when he arrived,
he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly,
showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

22.) What does verse 25 say to you? that there is more to becoming a true Christian than
_________________________________________________________________
23.) What do you think Aquila and Priscilla told him?

Acts 19:1-5
1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth,
that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples
2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
So they said to him,
“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”
So they said, “Into John's baptism.”
4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance,
saying to the people
that they should believe on Him who would come after him,
that is, on Christ Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

24.) Acts was written after Jesus Christ died for the sins of humankind, was resurrected, and
ascended to Heaven. Why did those who were baptized by John have to be re-baptized?

Acts 8:26-40
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying,
“Arise and go toward the south along the road
which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is desert.)
27 So he arose and went.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia,
a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians,
who had charge of all her treasury,
and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 was returning.

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 And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him,
and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah,
and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
and who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the Earth.”
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said,
“I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this,
of himself or of some other man?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth,
and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
36 Now as they went down the road,
they came to some water.
And the eunuch said, “See, here is water.
What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said,
“If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said,
“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still.
And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water,
and he baptized him.
39 Now when they came up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away,
so that the eunuch saw him no more;
and he went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus.
And passing through,
he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

25.) Write a modern day version of this historical happening.

26.) What does this Bible passage say is a requirement for Christian baptism?

Ephesians 4:4-13
4 There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith,
one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

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7 But to each one of us grace was given
according to the measure of Christ's gift.
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,
and gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”-- what does it mean but that
He also first descended into the lower parts of the Earth?
10 He who descended
is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens,
that He might fill all things.)
11 And He Himself gave
some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping [repairing and preparing] of the saints
for the work of ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity
of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

27.) How many types of “Christian” baptisms are there? What are they?

Romans 6:1-18
1 What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not!
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that
as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this,
that our old man was crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that
Christ, having been raised from the dead,
dies no more.

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 Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died,
He died to sin once for all;
but the life that He lives,
He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body,
that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,
but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you,
for you are not under Law but under grace.
15 What then?
Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace?
Certainly not!
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey,
you are that one's slaves whom you obey,
whether of sin leading to death,
or of obedience leading to righteousness?
17 But God be thanked
that though you were slaves of sin,
yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
to which you were delivered.
18 And having been set free from sin,
you became slaves of righteousness.

28.) Why did Jesus Christ have to die a horrible death on the Cross? To pay the death penalty
of ____ against God’s commandments.
29.) Who did He die for? all _________________ (past and present)
30.) So what does being immersed in water during baptism mean now? Death to what? Being
a slave to _____.
31.) What does it publicly profess repentance (life change to)? A desire to be
________________.
32.) So do you see how Jesus Christ changed water baptism and why the just mentioned is so
important in each true Christian’s life?
33.) Why will Christian baptism be very important to you?

Colossians 2:6-12
6 As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and
established in the faith,
as you have been taught,
abounding in it
with thanksgiving.

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8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to the tradition of men,
according to the basic principles of the world,
and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him,
Who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh,
by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism,
in which you also were raised with Him through faith
in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

34.) What does this passage mean to you?

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