The meaning of baptism in the New Testament period shows us how important baptism was regarded. Baptism implies repentance and renunciation; its form symbolizes the main facts of the gospel; its content signifies an entrance into the new community and a mark of the reception of the Spirit. In baptism one dies to the world with Christ and is raised with him to new life, is washed in the waters of regeneration from all guilt, is baptized into the body of Christ, and receives the Holy Spirit as Jesus did at his baptism. The cumulative evidence suggests that conversion and baptism were not mere emotional experiences, but were entered into on the basis of commitment. Take up your cross and follow after Christ.
-Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 147.