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BAPTISM References

John the Baptist was the last great prophet before Jesus. John may have belonged to a religious group that initiated new members through a rite of immersion in water (baptism). The rite used by John symbolized the moral conversion - through repentance, confession of sins, and change of heart - required for receiving God's salvation. Although Jesus was without sin, his willingness to be baptized is a sign of how fully he embraced his humanity.
Baptism is also one of the seven sacraments that Catholic celebrate. Although many Catholic are baptized as infants, some young people and adults, called catechumens, are baptized at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday each year. During the Baptism ritual, the baptized person is marked with chrism, a special oil. (In the Old Testament, such an oil was used to anoint priests, prophets, and kings for service.) The person then has water poured over her or him or is immersed in water. This is a sign of dying to sin and rising anew in the presence of God. The Holy Trinity is called upon, baptizing her or him in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. A candle is given to the newly baptized person to symbolize the light of Christ that now burns within her or him, and a white garment or stole is put on the person to signify her or his new life in Christ.
The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist are a person's initiation into the Christian community. They call Christians to continual conversion in following Jesus.

Isaiah 43
1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Matthew 3
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.
14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness." Then he consented.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;
17 and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 28
19 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,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Mark 1
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;
11 and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."

Luke 3
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."

John 1
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.'
31 I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."
32 And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.
33 I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

John 3
5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Acts 2
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."
40 And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation."
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Romans 6
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.