"Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto" (Gal. 3: 15).
"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (I Sam. 15:22,23).
"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination" (Prov. 28:9).
"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it" (Matt. 7:24, 26,27).
"If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me, he will keep my words. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 14: 15,21,23; 15:14). "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say" (Luke 6:46).
"And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him" (Luke 7:29,30.)
"And hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (I John 2: 3,4).
But, after all, the very best way for ordinary people to learn the meaning of baptism, is to go to the English Bible. Although human authority and prejudice have hindered the translators from translating the Greek word, and thus telling us what it means in English, the contexts and sidelights on the subject make its meaning so plain that all can readily see it if divested of prejudice and preconceived ideas.
By reading the introduction to the English Revised Bible, you will learn that the translators of the Authorized Version were forbidden to translate the word. Other translators have followed their example; so that it is neither translated to sprinkle, to pour nor to immerse in our standard English Bibles. The Greek word baptisma has simply had the last letter dropped and been carried over into English bodily. But the word has been translated in numerous editions in various languages, and whenever it has been translated, it was always by the word immerse or an equivalent term. No scholar, in any language, has ever had the temerity to translate it to sprinkle or to pour. Even our English translators translate it when it is not used as an ecclesiastical term. And when they translate it, they say it means to dip. In 2 Kings 5:14, we read of Naaman, "He went down and dipped [baptizato] himself seven times in Jordan." We may not have a sufficient knowledge of Greek to determine what Jesus meant when he commanded us to be baptized. But the Apostles certainly understood him; and if we can find out what they did when they baptized, and we do the same thing, then we know we are right, and have done what Christ commanded.
Let us turn to the Sacred Record and see what they did when they baptized.