What is the purpose and meaning of Christian Baptism? While different Christian traditions practice or describe this sacrament in different ways, we must understand Baptism, at the heart, is meant to help the believer publicly declare his or her faith in Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to live and grow as a follower of Jesus. Our old lives of sin are buried in the waters of baptism into the death of Christ, so that we may be raised to walk in newness of life in the Way of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, all to the glory of the Father.