23 Bible verses about baptism, and what Scripture actually records
Written by Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt · Reviewed by Raphael Navarro Schmitt ·
Short answer
Baptism appears in the Bible as the public start of Christian life. Matthew 28:19 commands baptising in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; Acts 2:38 ties it to turning from sin and to the remission of sins; Romans 6:3-4 explains the image: burial and new life.
An honest note before anything else: Christian traditions disagree considerably about baptism. Churches that baptise infants and churches that baptise only those who profess faith read the same passages and reach different conclusions; the same goes for immersion, pouring and sprinkling, and for what exactly the rite accomplishes. This page presents the texts and what they say — it does not decide between the readings.
What the texts have in common is more than it first appears. In all of them baptism is public, it is done by another person, and it marks a crossing: somebody comes out of the water belonging to something they did not belong to before. No baptism in the Bible is secret, and none is self-administered.
The list begins with the baptism of Jesus, moves through the baptisms narrated in Acts — always concrete scenes, with names and places — and ends in the letters, where the meaning is explained.
All 23 verses, one by one
Indeed, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who will come after me is more powerful than me. I am not worthy to carry his shoes. He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
John distinguishes what he does from what is coming: water now, Spirit after. It is the first time the New Testament concedes that the word "baptism" carries more than one sense.
Read the chapter13Then Jesus came from Galilee, to John at the Jordan, in order to be baptized by him.
14But John refused him, saying, “I ought to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”
15And responding, Jesus said to him: “Permit this for now. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all justice.” Then he allowed him.
16And Jesus, having been baptized, ascended from the water immediately, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him.
17And behold, there was a voice from heaven, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
John finds it strange and tries to refuse — the one person who did not need it is in the queue. The answer given is about solidarity, not necessity: this is how it is fitting to fulfil all justice.
Read the chapter9And it happened that, in those days, Jesus arrived from Nazareth of Galilee. And he was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10And immediately, upon ascending from the water, he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit, like a dove, descending, and remaining with him.
11And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”
The scene has the three elements that recur in every theology of baptism: water, Spirit, and a voice declaring sonship. And the declaration comes before any work is done.
Read the chapter21Now it happened that, when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized; and as he was praying, heaven was opened.
22And the Holy Spirit, in a corporal appearance like a dove, descended upon him. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son. In you, I am well pleased.”
Luke adds a detail the others do not have: heaven opens while he is praying. Not in the water, but in the prayer that follows.
Read the chapter29On the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and so he said: “Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, he who takes away the sin of the world.
30This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me arrives a man, who has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.’
31And I did not know him. Yet it is for this reason that I come baptizing with water: so that he may be made manifest in Israel.”
32And John offered testimony, saying: “For I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove; and he remained upon him.
33And I did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: ‘He over whom you will see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
34And I saw, and I gave testimony: that this one is the Son of God.”
John the Baptist explains why he baptised with water: so that the one coming would be made manifest. The rite here functions as a public introduction — not as a merit for the person stepping into the river.
Read the chapter18And Jesus, drawing near, spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
19Therefore, go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I have ever commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age.”
The formula almost every Christian tradition uses comes from here. Notice what surrounds it: teaching the nations, and teaching them to observe. Baptism appears in the middle of a process, not as an isolated event.
Read the chapter15And he said to them: “Go forth to the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
16Whoever will have believed and been baptized will be saved. Yet truly, whoever will not have believed will be condemned.
One of the most debated verses on the subject, and the asymmetry of the sentence is worth noticing: the condemnation is tied to not believing, not to not being baptised. Christians read that detail in different ways.
Read the chapterYet truly, Peter said to them: “Do penance; and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The first Christian sermon ends with a practical instruction joining three things: a turning, baptism, and the gift of the Spirit. Note that this edition renders the first as "do penance" where others say "repent" — that single word choice is one of the older fault lines between the traditions.
Read the chapterTherefore, those who accepted his discourse were baptized. And about three thousand souls were added on that day.
Three thousand people on the same day, which required organisation and water in quantity. A reminder that baptism, from the first hour, was a collective and visible event.
Read the chapter35Then Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from this Scripture, evangelized Jesus to him.
36And while they were going along the way, they arrived at a certain water source. And the eunuch said: “There is water. What would prevent me from being baptized?”
37Then Philip said, “If you believe from your whole heart, it is permitted.” And he responded by saying, “I believe the Son of God to be Jesus the Christ.”
38And he ordered the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch descended into the water. And he baptized him.
The most spontaneous scene in the New Testament: a foreigner sees water by the roadside and asks what is stopping him. Nobody sets a date, nobody postpones — the chariot simply halts.
Read the chapter17And Ananias departed. And he entered the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, he who appeared to you on the way by which you arrived, sent me so that you would receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18And immediately, it was as if scales had fallen from his eyes, and he received his sight. And rising up, he was baptized.
Paul is baptised right after his sight comes back, still standing, before eating. The urgency of the text sits oddly beside the preparation calendar most churches use today — and the two coexist.
Read the chapter47Then Peter responded, “How could anyone prohibit water, so that those who have received the Holy Spirit would not be baptized, just as we also have been?”
48And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to remain with them for some days.
Here the order reverses: the Spirit arrives before the water, and Peter concludes that nobody could prohibit the baptism. It is the text that most disrupts any rigid scheme about sequence.
Read the chapter4Then Paul said: “John baptized the people with the baptism of repentance, saying that they should believe in the One who is to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5Upon hearing these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Paul distinguishes John’s baptism from Christian baptism and repeats the rite with that group. The episode shows that even in the first century the word needed explaining.
Read the chapterAnd now, why do you delay? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, by invoking his name.’
The line is said the way you say something to a person stuck in place: why do you delay? It speaks to anyone who has been putting the decision off because they think they should be readier first.
Read the chapter3Do you not know that those of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
4For through baptism we have been buried with him into death, so that, in the manner that Christ rose from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so may we also walk in the newness of life.
The fullest explanation of the symbol: going down is burial, coming up is new life. And the purpose Paul gives is not sentimental — it is walking differently from then on.
Read the chapterYou have been buried with him in baptism. In him also, you have risen again through faith, by the work of God, who raised him up from the dead.
The same image as Romans, with a decisive addition at the end of the verse: faith is named as what makes the gesture effective. Paul does not credit the water on its own, and that is exactly where the traditions part company.
Read the chapter26For you are all sons of God, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
27For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have become clothed with Christ.
The metaphor is clothing. Baptised into Christ, clothed with Christ — and the verse just before makes clear that the sonship comes through faith, not through the fabric.
Read the chapterAnd indeed, in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether servant or free. And we all drank in the one Spirit.
The list of opposites — Jews and Gentiles, servant and free — points to the social effect of the rite. Baptism, in this text, is what erases the queue at the door of a community.
Read the chapter4One body and one Spirit: to this you have been called by the one hope of your calling:
5one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
Seven "one"s in a row, and one of them is baptism. Paul uses the rite as an argument for unity, which is a historical irony — it became one of the largest dividing lines between churches.
Read the chapterJesus responded: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one has been reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.
Reborn by water and the Holy Spirit. One of the most contested sentences in the Bible: some traditions read baptism here, others read something else. Recording the dispute is more honest than pretending it is not there.
Read the chapter4But then the kindness and humanity of God our Savior appeared.
5And he saved us, not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renovation of the Holy Spirit,
6whom he has poured out upon us in abundance, through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The washing of regeneration appears explicitly after "not by works of justice that we had done". Whatever your reading of the rite, the text takes merit out of the sum.
Read the chapterAnd now you also are saved, in a similar manner, by baptism, not by the testimony of sordid flesh, but by the examination of a good conscience in God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Peter anticipates the misunderstanding and corrects it inside the same sentence: this is not about getting dirt off a body. What he describes is the examination of a good conscience, directed to God.
Read the chapterSo if anyone is a new creature in Christ, what is old has passed away. Behold, all things have been made new.
Last on the list because it is what usually gets read at the ceremony, and it sums up what all the traditions affirm together: somebody walks away starting something else.
Read the chapter
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about baptism?
The Bible presents baptism as the public start of Christian life. Matthew 28:19 gives the command to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; Acts 2:38 associates it with turning from sin and with forgiveness; Romans 6:3-4 explains the image of burial and new life. In no biblical scene is baptism secret or self-performed.
Does the Bible talk about baptising infants?
There is no explicit account of an infant being baptised, and no prohibition either. Texts like Acts 16:15, where Lydia is baptised along with her household, support the practice in churches that baptise children; others understand the accounts to presuppose a personal profession of faith. This is an old disagreement, and this page does not settle it for you.
Does baptism have to be by immersion?
The Greek verb translated baptise means to plunge, and scenes like Acts 8:38 speak of going down into the water — arguments used by churches that immerse. Others accept pouring or sprinkling, taking the text to stress the meaning rather than the method. Scripture devotes no passage to regulating the form.
Do I need to be baptised to be saved?
Christian traditions answer differently, and the Bible itself does not close the matter in a single verse. Mark 16:16 links faith and baptism but ties condemnation only to unbelief; Luke 23:43 records a promise made to a man who was never baptised. For the guidance of your own community, speak to your priest or your pastor.
Which verse should be read at a baptism?
Romans 6:3-4 is the reading that best explains the gesture at the moment it happens. 2 Corinthians 5:17 works well as a closing line, and Galatians 3:26-27 is the usual choice when you want to highlight the sonship rather than the rite.
A prayer to take with you
Lord, thank you for calling me by name before I had anything to offer. Let the water be more than the memory of a day — let it be the start of a different way of living. Watch over whoever goes down with you today and comes up belonging. Amen.