Jesus gave the church only two sacraments: water baptism (see Matt. 28:19) and the Lord’s Supper (see 1 Cor. 11:23-26). We will first study water baptism.
Under the new covenant, every believer should experience three different baptisms. They are: baptism into the body of Christ, baptism in water, and baptism in the Holy Spirit.
When a person is born again, he is automatically baptized into the body of Christ. That is, he becomes a member of Christ’s body, the church:
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13; see also Rom. 6:3; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18, 24).
Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to salvation, and this baptism can and should be received by every believer.
Finally, every believer should be baptized in water as soon as possible after he repents and believes in the Lord Jesus. Baptism should be the first act of obedience of the new believer:
And [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16, emphasis added).
The early church regarded Jesus’ command to baptize as very important. Almost without exception, new converts were baptized immediately after their conversion (see Acts 2:37-41; 8:12-16, 36-39; 9:17-19; 10:44-48; 16:31-33; 18:5-8; 19:1-5).
