Baptism | Ep 16

In this episode, Pastor Josh Strelecki examines the subject of baptism—a practice that has sparked debate throughout church history. Drawing from the Scriptures, he traces baptism’s place in God’s unfolding plan and explains its meaning for believers today.

The study begins with baptism in Israel’s program, where water rituals symbolized repentance, cleansing, and readiness for the coming kingdom. From John the Baptist to the ministry of the apostles in early Acts, water baptism served as an outward ordinance pointing forward to greater spiritual realities. As the New Testament progresses, however, a transition becomes clear: the Spirit is given apart from water, and Paul declares that his commission was not to baptize with water but to preach the gospel.

Pastor Josh underscores the Bible’s references to multiple baptisms—water, fire, Spirit, even identification with Moses—but highlights Paul’s declaration of “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). That one baptism is the Spirit’s work of placing the believer into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6; Colossians 2; 1 Corinthians 12). Unlike external washings, this baptism is “without hands,” inward, complete, and everlasting.

Listeners are reminded that the believer’s true baptism is not found in an outward ceremony but in the Spirit’s act of uniting us to Christ and His body the moment we believe. This spiritual baptism secures our identity, purges the conscience, and empowers us to walk in newness of life.