Why baptism by immersion in water? Isn the baptism by the Spirit what really counts?
Just as no man has the right to change the words that God has his prophets write (Rev. 22:18,19), no man or church has the right to change the ordinances that God gives to man. God can change things as he will, but men without authority from God may not. This applies to the ordinance of baptism. As John and Christ and the early Christians taught and practiced baptism, it was done in water (see Matt. 3, John 3:3-5, Romans 6, etc., see also John 3:22 and John 4: 1,2). The very word means immersion, derived from the Greek word for immersion, and typically refers to immersion in water. Receiving the Holy Ghost comes after baptism by water (the gift of the Holy Ghost, given by the laying on of hands, as described in Acts 8:17, is yet another sacred ordinance requiring authority on the part of those who perform it). The washing of our sins (by baptism) and the regeneration of the Spirit (by the Holy Ghost) in Titus 3:5 are two different but related things – and both are essential. Further, b
