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In the religious world, there is a lot of discourse surrounding baptism. It is my judgment that there are, at least, five benefits one receives through baptism based on the Word of God. You can remember these with the acronym “SPARK.” These are not listed in any particular order other than to make this acronym. 

S – Saved

The first benefit to baptism is that you are saved. There are many verses one could go to such as: Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21-22, etc, but let us focus on two passages. The first verse to focus on is Acts 22:16. It reads, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” This is stated in the broader context of Paul retelling his conversion story. Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus after having spent a while persecuting Christians. He goes to a house and waits for three days, praying and fasting, until Ananias comes and makes the statement from the aforementioned verse. This directly links baptism to the washing away of sins and even Paul was required to be baptized! 

The verse I want to focus on second is 1 Peter 3:21-22 which says, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” In this passage Peter directly states that you are saved via baptism. This is not a washing or immersion in water for a mere bath, but a washing or immersion that “appeals” to God for a clean conscience aka forgiveness. 

P – Participate

The second benefit is that you get to participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3-4 tells us, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” While making his point against sinning more to receive more grace, Paul points the Roman disciples back to their baptism. Because our old selves, our old way of living, was put to death and buried in our baptism, we should not, and cannot, continue to walk in sin! Also, since our raising from the water mirrors the raising of Christ, we must now walk in our new life. We must have repented and put to death our old selves and be “born again.” 

To expound on this point, Paul later writes in Colossians 2:12, “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” This further shows the implication of our baptism! We have the privilege of our old selves – our old lives – being put to death and being raised, in baptism through our faith, to walk a new life. 

A – Added

The next benefit of our baptism is being added to the body of Christ. If you look at Acts 2:41-42, 47b, it reads, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” We as Christians are added to the church, the assembly, of Christ at our baptism. We are added to a community and kingdom with the express purpose of honoring God and expanding said kingdom. 

R – Receive the Holy Spirit

The next benefit of baptism is that every Christian receives the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:38-39 we read, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’” Everyone who repents and is baptized receives the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul, in Romans, further expands on this. Paul writes in Romans 8:9-11, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” This passage tells us a very important truth. The first is that Christians are a part of the Spirit and have the Spirit of God in us! This is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead! This brings the Christian readers hope because, if God and His Spirit was faithful to raise Christ from the dead, we can know they will be faithful to raise us from the dead. 

K – Kept in Christ

The final benefit I want to discuss is that we are kept in Christ. Although there is a false ditch of the doctrine known as “once saved always saved” or “perseverance of the saints” we in the Churches of Christ often fall much closer to the other ditch of never having any assurance of our faith. If you read 1 John 5:13 it says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” John’s expressed purpose of writing this letter is that Christians may have confidence in their salvation. 

If you read the rest of this short letter, you see John mediating two ideas: the first one is that a Christian cannot make “a practice of sinning” (3:9) and the second is that when a Christian does sin “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1). So, the point is simple: a Christian cannot continue to practice sin but when we do sin Jesus advocates for us. So, while we are in Christ, He advocates for us and we need to have confidence in our salvation.