Question
How many times can a person be baptized? Are there any scriptures that can be used as examples of someone being re-baptized?
Answer
Yes, there is an example of people being baptized after they had previously been baptized. Before I get to that, let me state that the Bible teaches that we must be baptized (fully immersed) in water in order to be saved, forgiven. Mt. 28:18-20, Mk. 16:15-16, Acts 2:36-42, Acts 22:16, Gal. 3:26-29. Being sprinkled or having water poured on us is not being immersed, fully submerged in water.
Beside the fact that we should be baptized to be saved, we must also note that just the acts itself is not sufficient for our salvation. We must believe Jesus to be the Son of God, repent of our sins and confess His name before witnesses. Then, we are to baptize dby His authority and not the authority of men, any group or individual. This is the one true baptism that Paul write about in Eph. 4:1-6.
Although Paul states there is one baptism, there may be a need for one to be baptized again if the first baptism was for the wrong reason, was from the wrong authority (denominations or Catholic church or some other unauthorized group created by men), or was done in the wrong way (sprinkling pouring or some other unlawful method). If any of these is true, then we should be baptized again.
The example that we have in Scripture is found in Acts 19:1-7. Here, there were people in Ephesus who had not been properly taught about Jesus (death, burial and resurrection) and therefore had not been baptized in a way and for a reason that was acceptable to the Lord. Therefore, Paul taught them and baptized them again. This time they were baptized into a relationship with the Lord Jesus and not looking forward to the first appearing of the Lord Jesus.
Also see and listen to the following semron called Should I Be Batpized Again?.
By Gary Hunt
