The Doctrine of Baptisms

By
Raymond D. Mossie, M.D.

Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15-16 to, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not
believe will be condemned…’ Does this mean that if we are not baptized in water, that
we will not be saved? No this is not what it means, because we see that if we read in
Romans 10:9-11 and 13, that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is the
Lord, (of our live), and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we
will be saved. Verse 13 says that ‘…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved’, (which is a quote of Joel 2:32). So why did Jesus mention baptism when He
was speaking of salvation? We will explore this issue in this teaching.

We see from the scriptures that the first baptism was of the whole earth with the flood
of Noah, (see Genesis chapters 7-8, and I Peter 3:18-21). God then gave a prelude to
salvation through Jesus Christ by way of the covenant that He made between Himself
and all living creatures, as signified by the rainbow in the cloud, (see Genesis 9:8-17).
This will make more sense to you if you study this out by reading Ezekiel 1:26
through 3:14, and Revelation chapter 10. In these scriptures you will find that the
rainbow angel IS Jesus! Now some Bible scholars would disagree with this, but it is
quite clear as you study it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Peter tells us in I Peter 3:20-21, that only 8 people, (i.e., Noah and his family) were
saved through the flood of the whole earth. He states that baptism is an antitype of this
(first baptism) that saves us today. God provided Noah and his family, along with the
animals, an ARK, which in Hebrew means a box or COFFIN. So we can see from this
example of foreshadowing, that in this case Noah represents Christ, and his family
represents the Church, (i.e., the ‘family of God’). God saves us from death, even
while in the coffin or grave! We look forward to a new life with God after being
baptized into Jesus’ death, (see Romans 6:3-4).

The Bible also tells us in I Peter 3:19-20 that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in
prison who were formerly disobedient, (so by this I believe that while Jesus was in the
grave, that He went and cleaned out hell of all the souls who would receive the
gospel). This concept is also supported by the type and shadow of this event shown in
Joshua 3:8-17. In these verses, we see that when the priests who were carrying the
ark of the covenant, (these represent Christ and the power of God through Him),
touched the waters of the river Jordan, (we know from Revelation 17:15, that water
represents the people of the world), the waters parted and heaped up all the way back
to a place called ADAM! I believe that from this symbolic event, that the flow of water
of the River Jordan, (which represents souls or people) from the Sea of Galilee,
(which represents God as our source of life) down to the Dead Sea, (which represents
hell), shows us the natural course of peoples’ life here on earth. The only thing that
cut off the flow of the water of the River Jordan into the Dead Sea, (i.e., souls into
hell) was the CROSSing of the priests and the Ark of the Covenant, (which represent
Jesus and the Cross). The Israelites crossing was a type and shadow of the modern
day Church and how we are supposed to keep people from heading into hell by the
message of the Cross, which is LOVE. If you look at this on a map of the Holy Land,
this will become clearer to you. This crossing I believe also represents baptism, in the
The Doctrine of Baptisms 2 Mossie, R.D.

same way that crossing the Red Sea under the Cloud was a form of baptism into
Moses as described in I Corinthians 10:1-2.

So why is it so important that we decide and receive the COMPLETE SUBMERSION

WATER BAPTISM? It is so that WE WILL NO LONGER BE SUBJECT TO THE
POWER OF SIN! If you study it out in Romans chapter 6, and I Peter 3:21, you
will see that BAPTISM IN WATER TAKES AWAY SIN’S POWER OVER US! This
way, we can live clean lives with a clear conscience. Anyone who has NOT been
baptized in water, (i.e., submersion in water) in the name of Jesus is still subject to
sins’ power! Thus if one wants to be SAVED FROM THE POWER OF SIN, they
must of necessity be baptized in water.

By the baptism in water, we become clean of sin AND sin loses its power over us.
This is a type and shadow of what Jesus did when he went into the grave. He took the
sin of the world on Himself when He died on the cross, (see Isaiah 53:4-12, II
Corinthians 5:21, and others). Then Jesus took sin into the grave with Him and left it
there! When Jesus was resurrected, SIN NO LONGER HAD ANY POWER OVER
HIM! We are supposed to look like the resurrected, (but not yet glorified) Jesus, and
sin is NOT supposed to have any power over us either, (see again Romans chapter 6).
This is the importance of water baptism, it takes away the power that sin has over
us, so that we can be saved from the suffering that sin causes in this life!

I discuss the BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT in the teaching on the Holy Spirit.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit comes directly from Jesus and should be received in
order to have power over the Devil. We need both types of baptism in order to walk in
victory as a born again Christian.

Finally, we must also be ‘washed’ DAILY with the water of the Word of God, in
order to stay ‘clean’, (see John 15:3 and Ephesians 5:25-27). That is to say that we
must spend time with God daily and study the Bible daily. Jesus tells us in John 15:3
that we are clean because of His Word in us. Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us that we are
washed with the water of the WORD. We generally take a shower or bath daily in
order to keep your body clean, so we must clean up our mind and spirit DAILY with
the Word of God. We must also pray that the Holy Spirit guides us in all truth as we
do draw close to the Lord, (see John 15:26 and 16:13). Amen.

© 2008 Raymond D. Mossie, M.D.

Adonai’s Agape Through Jesus Christ Ministries
Website: www.perfectchristian.co.za
e-mail: [email protected]