1. The Surprising Recipients of Baptism (vv. 30-35)
2. The Simple Requirement for Baptism (vv. 36-43)
3. The Spiritual Reality Behind Baptism (vv. 44-47)
Baptism is a powerful form of proclamation of the truth of what Christ has done; it is a “word in water” testifying to the believer’s participation in the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3–5). It is a symbol rather than merely a sign, for it is a graphic picture of the truth it conveys. There is no inherent connection between a sign and what it represents. It is only by convention, for example, that green traffic lights tell us to go rather than to stop. By contrast, the sign at a railroad crossing is more than a sign; it is also a symbol, for it is a rough picture of what it is intended to indicate, the crossing of a road and a railroad track. Baptism is a symbol, not a mere sign, for it actually pictures the believer’s death and resurrection with Christ.
-Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, p. 1110
4. The Submissive Response of Baptism (v. 48)