As Catholics we are taught that Baptism is a Sacrament that means that baptism is not simply a symbolic washing. Sacraments are a means of grace that effect what they signify. The Christian Faith teaches us that through baptism all sin, original and actual, is wiped away. The life of God, called sanctifying grace, is infused into the soul, and a person is born again of water and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus made baptism a condition for entering heaven (Jn 3:5; Mk 16:16).
In John 3:5 He says: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.'”
In Mark 16:16 Jesus tells his apostles: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
These are what we would call the scriptural proof texts for the necessity of baptism. Baptism is essential.
The Baptism of Jesus is not to be confused with the baptism of John, which was only symbolic. John even says this in the Gospel accounts, that Jesus’ baptism would give the Holy Spirit, whereas his own did not (Mt. 3:11).
This is also attested to elsewhere in the New Testament.
In Acts 2:38, St. Peter says that through baptism our sins are forgiven and we receive the Holy Spirit. In Roman 6, St. Paul says that we are given new life (regeneration) through baptism.
Titus 3:5 tells us that we are saved “by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit,” which refers to baptism.
In 1 Peter 3:20-21 we are taught that “baptism…saves you now.”
Baptism is like plugging a lamp into an electrical source, once the lamp is plugged into the source; it draws power from it and begins to glow.
In Baptism we are united to Jesus Christ and empowered by His grace.
The gift of the Holy Spirit received at Baptism enables us to glow brightly and to radiate the love of Jesus Christ by the witness of our lives.[1]
[1] Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham, Beginning Apologetics, (Farmington, NM: San Juan Catholic Seminars 1993-1998), 35-37.