When Jesus commissioned His disciples, He gave a clear and powerful command: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). To understand this, we must first see baptism through its original lens.

In Jewish culture, a disciple was a student of a rabbi, a devoted follower who modeled their life after their teacher. And baptism, long before the Chris...