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Each person who desires to be baptized should be counseled to determine whether the individual has truly repented to God the Father of his or her sins, and has accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Baptismal counseling should cover the following:
The person must understand what sin is—the transgression of God’s commandments and laws. Each one must realize that the sacrifice and the blood of Jesus Christ is the only payment for his or her sins.
Another purpose of baptismal counseling is to determine whether the individual has the fruits of repentance and the desire to live God’s way of life and keep His commandments as magnified by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
After these two things have been determined, the one doing the counseling needs go through the Scriptures of “Counting the Cost” with the person desiring to be baptized. The passages which best cover “Counting the Cost” are Luke 14:25-33 and Matthew 10:32-38. As counselor goes over these Scriptures with the person, you need to determine whether he or she has made this covenant commitment in his or her life before God the Father and Jesus Christ. This covenant of eternal life is an irrevocable, total dedication of one’s life to God the Father and Jesus Christ until the end of physical life.
Then, the counselor will need to explain the complete meaning of baptism by going through Romans 6:1-18. The person desiring baptism should know that baptism is by full immersion in water, symbolizing the death and burial of the old self—and that the rising out of the water symbolizes a new beginning, one’s walk in newness of life.
Here are the words of the baptismal ceremony. Prior to baptism, it would be best to go through these words of the baptismal ceremony so that the one being baptized can fully understand the significance of baptism. These words are to be recited by the one who is doing the baptizing while he is in the water with the one who is being baptized:
“Have you repented of your sins? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior for the forgiveness of your sins? Are you ready to bury your old sinful self and life into the baptismal covenant death of Christ Jesus in this watery grave? Are you going to walk in the way of Jesus Christ, keeping His commandments, and love Him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your being and with all your strength?”
After receiving an affirmative answer to each of these questions, you should continue by asking:
“What is your full name?"
The one doing the baptism, repeats the person’s full name and says, “Because you have repented of your sins, which are the transgressions of God's holy, righteous and perfect commandments and laws; and because you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior for the forgiveness of your sins, Who is your Lord and Master in heaven above, sitting on the right hand of God the Father as your Intercessor and Mediator and your King in the coming kingdom of God; and because you are burying your old sinful self and life into the covenant death of Christ Jesus in this watery grave for the remission of your sins; and because you are determined to walk in newness of life, in the way of Jesus Christ, keeping His commandments and to love Him and God the Father with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your being and with all your strength, I baptize you, not into any sect, denomination or organization of the world, but into the name of the Father—because you will bear His family name for all eternity as His son/daughter; and of the Son—because His life, sacrifice, death and resurrection brings the forgiveness of your sins; and of the Holy Spirit—because the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and into your mind as the begettal to be a son/ daughter of God, and will lead you into loving obedience to God the Father and Jesus Christ now, and when Jesus Christ returns, God will in the first resurrection grant you eternal life as a son/daughter of God in glory! I do this in the name of Jesus Christ, that is by the authority of the name of Jesus Christ— AMEN!”
After baptizing the person, the one doing the baptizing should lay hands on the head of the individual and pray for the begettal of the Holy Spirit and commend them into the hands of Jesus Christ and God the Father—AMEN! To finalize the baptism, the one doing the baptism should look the newly baptized person in the eyes and say, “On the authority of Jesus Christ, your sins have been forgiven!”
With your baptismal death in the watery grave, you pledge to God that you will be faithful until you die. You also symbolically die to sin, to the world, and to the vanity of self and human nature. Moreover, you pledge that you will love God the Father and Jesus Christ as Jesus commanded: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment; and the second one is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Your love for God becomes the most important aspect of your life—above everyone and everything else. Jesus said, “Now then, whoever shall confess Me before men, that one will I also confess before My Father Who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, that one will I also deny before My Father, Who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be those of his own household.
Fundamentally, what is at stake is eternal life or eternal death! That is your covenant pledge to God the Father and Jesus Christ— sealed with the symbolic covenant death of baptism
