WHAT IS BAPTISM?

Baptism is an act that Jesus commands His followers to participate in.

(Matthew 28:19 NKJV)  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 

The Bible also teaches us that baptism represents the pledge of a good conscience before God (1 Peter 3:21).  In other words, baptism is something that Christians outwardly do in order to show what God has inwardly done.  Jesus Christ gives new life to all who place their faith in Him.  And in this process, there is a death to the former self, and a new resurrected life that follows.  This is what Jesus referred to as being 'born again' (John 3:3), and what the Apostle Paul describes when he writes that believers in Christ are 'new creatures, the old has gone and the new has come' (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When a person is submerged underwater as they're baptized, it represents the death and burial of their old life.  When they are brought up out of the water, it represents the new resurrected life that God has given to them (Romans 6:4).  In other words, water baptism is a physical depiction of the spiritual work that God does within a person's heart when they place their faith in Him.  Let me also add that the only requirements for you to be baptized is that you believe in Jesus Christ, and that you understand what baptism represents. 

(Acts 8:36-37 NKJV)  Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" {37} Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."