I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. My whole body was buried under the water. Am I considered to be a child of God? Must I be baptized in Jesus’ name? Christ said to go into the world and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I did that. What am I to the kingdom of God now?
Your two questions are this: 1) Did my baptism save me and make me a child of God? And 2) Did my baptism put me into the kingdom of God?
1) Did my baptism save me and make me a child of God? No! There is only one way to be saved and born again into God’s family and that is through FAITH. We read in Acts 16:31, “BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be SAVED.” Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been SAVED THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” These verses are clear, are they not? The moment one BELIEVES on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are SAVED (without any works involved, such as baptism, confirmation, attending church, giving money to charity, trying to keep the Ten Commandments, etc.). One also becomes a child of God by BELIEVING ON CHRIST. In John 1:12 we read, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the CHILDREN OF GOD, to those who BELIEVE IN HIS NAME.” The words of Jesus to Nicodemus agree with this, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God…..And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM should not perish but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM should not perish but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE” (John 3:3, 14-16).
Notice, we read nothing of baptism in these passages which teach us how to be saved and born again. Why? Because “baptism does not save, nor does it make us a child of God.” The Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 1:17-18, “For Christ did NOT SEND ME TO BAPTIZE, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Surely, if baptism was necessary for salvation and eternal life, Paul could never have said “Christ send me not to baptize.” Paul knew it was the good news of Jesus Christ (His death on the cross for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection…see 1st Corinthians 15:1-4) and the sinner’s FAITH in the “message of the cross” that saves!
2) Did my baptism put me into the kingdom of God? We saw in John 3:3, 14-16 that one needs to be born again by FAITH IN CHRIST to see the kingdom of God and in verse 5 we see one must be born again to ENTER the kingdom of God. So, no, baptism does NOT “put you into the kingdom of God.” The “kingdom of God” here refers to the coming Millennium Kingdom of God here on earth and it also applies to the heavenly kingdom that believers are in right now (see Colossians 1:12-14). Yet there is another “form of the kingdom” called the “kingdom of heaven” (see Matthew chapter 13) which one does enter into through water baptism. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20, “Go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations, BAPTIZING THEM in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM to observe all things that I have commanded you.” Jesus is speaking as the KING and of “making disciples” who would own Him as LORD and obey His teachings as “royal subjects in His kingdom.” Baptism is the “official rite” that puts one into this form of the kingdom. The one who submits to baptism is “professing to believe that Jesus is their Lord.” But are all who are baptized SAVED and BORN AGAIN? No, for there are those who are “mere professors” who have never BELIEVED ON CHRIST. A good example of one who was baptized but had never really trusted Christ for salvation is Simon the sorcerer (please read Acts 8:9-24). In the “parable of the WHEAT and TARES” in Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus makes the distinction between true believers (the “wheat”) and mere professors (the “tares”). Listen to what he says in His explanation of the parable, “the GOOD SEEDS are the sons of the kingdom, but the TARES are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, as the TARES ARE GATHERED AND BURNED IN THE FIRE, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will GATHER OUT OF HIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THOSE WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (verses 38-43). The WHEAT illustrate true believers in the kingdom who will enter Christ’s established kingdom here on earth, while the TARES illustrate mere professors who will be “gathered out of the kingdom and cast into hell.”
Obviously, one must be “in the kingdom in order to be gathered out of the kingdom,” so his baptism (profession of Christ as Lord) did not save him, and he will be lost eternally. Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23 speak to this: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in the day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (DO) (573.5)