COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine
We periodically receive questions from former Adventists about baptism. Should they be “re-baptized”? Frequently people feel drawn to the idea of being baptized but struggle to understand “if” or “why” they should do it.
We received an email recently that once again brought up the question of being baptized after leaving Adventism. Because this is an evergreen topic that people leaving Adventism often ponder, I am sharing the letter and my response below.
Should I Be Re-Baptized?
Dear Life Assurance Ministries,
I’m reaching out with a question that’s been on my heart. I’ve been wondering if I should be re-baptized and what the scriptural perspective on that might be.
I grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist church but left around age 16. Later, I began attending a Pentecostal church with my husband, though at the time I didn’t fully understand the theological differences, other than the fact that we didn’t observe the Sabbath.
Around age 20 or 21, my husband and I were baptized, but looking back, I realize I didn’t have a deep understanding of what that meant. I hadn’t spent much time in prayer or studying Scripture, and baptism felt more like something I was “supposed” to do than a true step of faith.
Now, a few years and two kids later, I’ve been listening to your podcast (Former Adventist Podcast), and it has helped me truly wrestle with and understand who Jesus is, what the cross means, and what salvation really looks like. With this renewed and genuine commitment to follow Christ, I’m wondering if it would be biblically appropriate to be re-baptized as an outward expression of my new understanding and faith.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and any relevant scriptures on this.
Who Is Baptized?
Praise God for His work in your life!
Adventism baptizes people into a religion. Although they articulate “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, they also ask candidates to affirm Adventist doctrines and teachings. In reality, when a person is baptized Adventist, that person officially becomes a Seventh-day Adventist and is counted in their membership roles.
Scripture never teaches baptism as a means of joining an organization.
One of my favorite baptism accounts is found in Acts 8:25–40 when Phillip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. The Ethiopian was baptized immediately when he understood and believed who Jesus is and what He had accomplished.
In Acts 10, similarly, we read the account of the first gentile group being baptized when they heard the word of Christ being preached by Peter. Cornelius and his household believed, and the Holy Spirit indwelled them, and Peter said, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” (See Acts 10:44–48).
Baptism is described and illustrated throughout the New Testament as an act of commitment that we make when we have heard the gospel and believed in Jesus and His finished work. The New Testament baptism accounts are all varied; there is no specific formula or pattern for exactly what “happens” when a person is baptized—except for Jesus’ own instruction:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”—Matthew 28:19, 20 LSB
What we do know is that when we hear and believe the gospel and trust Jesus, He brings us from death to life and indwells us with His Spirit. This indwelling did not always accompany speaking in tongues, as in the case of the Ethiopian, or any other manifestation. What the Bible describes is that baptism is what we do as an act of commitment, publicly (even if with one other believer, as in the case of the Ethiopian), that we have trusted Jesus, and He has given us new birth.
When we are baptized into Christ after we believe, we proclaim that we have identified ourselves with His death for our sin and have become the recipients of His resurrection life.
The Bible describes water baptism—the outward sign of our inner transfer from death to life through faith in the Lord Jesus and our new birth and indwelling by the Holy Spirit—and Romans 6:1–11 explains what it means when we are “baptized into Christ Jesus”. When we believe, we receive at that moment the baptism of the Holy Spirit—the literal indwelling of God Himself which makes us members of Christ’s body. The Holy Spirit immerses us into Christ and transfers us from death to life. This baptism of the Spirit does not necessarily come with outward signs. Pentecostals historically often said that the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes with signs such as speaking in tongues, but the Bible does not say this. (My understanding is that at least some Pentecostal denominations have backed away from saying the gift of tongues is the requisite sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.) While the believers in Acts 10 did speak in tongues (a reversal of the curse of Babel as the Holy Spirit removed the language barriers that prevented people from sharing the gospel with other people groups), not all believers speak in tongues when they receive the baptism of the Spirit.
The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, for example, is not described as speaking in tongues, but it says that he believed and wanted to be baptized as a sign of His commitment and new identity as a Christian.
All believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit when they believe; this fact is promised and explained in Ephesians 1:13:14:
In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of [God’s own] possession, to the praise of His glory.—Ephesians 1:13, 14 LSB
In other words, when we believe, we are born again. Our dead-in-sin spirits come to life, and we know that we are God’s children. He adopts us, and His Spirit teaches our spirits to call Him “Father” (Romans 8:14–17).
When we have been born again, made alive by the Holy Spirit, we are no longer spiritually dead. It is when we believe and receive the life of God that baptism is the mark of having become part of the body of Christ. Romans 6 explains that, when a person has been baptized spiritually into Christ, we become united with Him in His death and resurrection. Because we have, by the Spirit, been placed into Christ and His body, His death for sin is imputed to us. It becomes ours—and His resurrection which broke the curse of death is ours when He brings our spirits to life in Him.
Public Declaration
Baptism, then, becomes our outward sign that we have trusted Jesus. It is our public acceptance of our new identity which has made us citizens of a new kingdom: the kingdom of the Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). We demonstrate our death to our old self—our sin and spiritual death—and we demonstrate rising to our new life: the miracle of spiritual life from the risen Christ.
In some ways our baptism is like a wedding: we publicly proclaim that we have left behind all previous commitments and options and have committed ourselves to One.
All sorts of religions use baptism as signs of their particular false gospels and membership. But those baptisms are not biblical baptisms. If you have never been baptized into Christ, believing in Him and His finished work and rejecting all other attachments, the Lord Jesus asks you to be baptized into Him.
If you decide to be baptized into Christ, it will not be a re-baptism. Baptism is not s ritual of cleansing from sin or an act of membership. If you have been baptized previously as a statement of intention and confession, that is not a baptism into Christ. When we believe, we are saved at that moment. Our baptism does not accomplish our new birth. If it did, the thief on the cross would not have been able to KNOW that he would be with Jesus in Paradise that day. He believed, and Jesus saved him.
I encourage you to be baptized if you have trusted in Jesus alone. He confirms Himself and our place in His body when we declare publicly that we have placed the weight of our lives on Him.
Here is a link to a playlist on our FormerAdventist YouTube channel with testimonies and baptisms of several former Adventists: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2087BFADA34C12FA
- Should I Be Baptized? - June 19, 2025
- June 21–27, 2025 - June 19, 2025
- We Got Mail - June 19, 2025