Baptism: An Equipping For Spiritual Warfare

WATER BAPTISM IS THE SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION AND A POWERFUL PROCLAMATION OF WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE TO US IN THE SPIRIT. WHEN YOU ARE BAPTIZED IN WATER, YOU ARE MAKING A PROCLAMATION TO THE VISABLE AND INVISABLE WORLDS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SPIRITUALLY
IDENTIFIED WITH JESUS CHRIST IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, AND SEATING.

Matt 2:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and you are coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. 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.”
Since Jesus submitted to baptism to fulfill all righteousness and considered baptism a requirement even for Himself to please God, why would we not submit to the Father’s will regarding baptism following Jesus’s example?
Matt 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Acts 2:38-41 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for forgiveness of your sins. A you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message where baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and woman.
Acts 8:35-40 Then Phillip began with the very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of me being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then
both Phillip and the eunuch went down into the water and Phillip baptized him.
Acts 9:18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his eyesight, and he got up and was baptized.
Acts 10:48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them a few days.
Acts 16:33 And he took then that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and his household.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, and be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.
Romans 6:1-11 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We are therefore buried with
Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified
with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should be no longer slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again;
death has no mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life He lives He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
1 Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink from one Spirit.
Gal 3:26-27 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Col 2:12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Eph 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and all in all.
1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, in order that He could bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, who were formerly disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while an ark was being constructed, in which a few, that is eight souls were rescued through the water. And also corresponding to this, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to Him.
To understand this verse, we need to look at the two words appeal and conscience. The word “appeal” (eperotema) in verse 21 is best understood as a pledge here, a meaning that it has elsewhere. Likewise the word “conscience” (suneidesis) does not refer to the inner voice of right or wrong in this text.
Rather, the word refers to the disposition of one’s loyalties.
Baptism, then, is not what produces salvation. It “saves” in that it reflects a heart decision: a pledge of loyalty to the risen Savior. In effect, baptism in New Testament theology is a loyalty oath, a public avowal of who is on the Lords side in the cosmic war between good and evil.
BAPTISM IS SPIRITUAL WARFARE!!!