The statement, “Why don’t churches agree about baptism?” becomes really a valid question. It is amazing how many different teachings on this subject are found in the religious world today. Before looking at these teachings, it is important to look at the foundation which will lead to the subject of faith and baptism.
OF FIRST IMPORTANCE – THE GOSPEL
Jesus told believers, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, “Mark 16:15. Why? We are called to salvation by the gospel, 2 Thessalonians 2:14. Life and immortality come through the gospel, 2 Timothy 1:10. The gospel is the message concerning Christ, Romans 1:3. It begins with His leaving heaven to become a man, John 1:1, John 1:14. Even though He was tempted to sin, He never committed one single crime against God! Hebrews 4:15. He voluntarily submitted to being nailed to the cross so that He might make payment for the sins of all who have ever lived, 1 John 2:1-2. He died on that cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb, Matthew 27:57-60. The third day he arose from the dead as he had promised His disciples, Matthew 16:21. Paul said, “Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised for our justification. “Romans 4:25. After appearing on earth to believers during a forty-day period, He ascended back to the Father to intercede for Christians, Hebrews 7:25. Someday in the future, He will return to judge the world, 2 Corinthians 5:10. This is God’s part in bringing salvation to those who become His sons and daughters.
We really need to keep in mind the terrible torment Jesus endured to offer us salvation from our sins. The Hebrew writer stated it this way, “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered,” Hebrews 5:7-8.
As we study various subjects taught by God, we should therefore be open to things He says in His Word as true, because we will be judged by the things He has spoken, John 12:48. Therefore, whatever Jesus or any inspired writer says about baptism or any other subject; we need to accept, even though we had understood the subject differently in the past. We must let God’s Word correct us, 2 Timothy 3:16.
Many religious bodies sing a song in their churches entitled, “What Can Wash Away My Sins?” The answer comes back correctly in the song, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Faith has no power in itself to save, nor does repentance or baptism. Only the blood of Christ can remove these stains, Revelation 1:5. Does this mean that faith is unnecessary to bring about salvation? Of course not. Paul teaches that salvation comes through faith, Romans 10:9-10. Well then, doesn’t faith save you? Yes, in this sense it does, but the faith in itself has no power to remit sins. The following story should illustrate this.
Suppose a man falls into a deep pit while walking home. The walls are slippery and he cannot get out. Someone traveling down the road hears his call for help. He tells the man that he will get a rope and a horse to help him escape. After the man is rescued, he runs home to tell his family what had happened. Now the man was pulled out with a rope, but he would never say, “I was saved by a rope today.” No, he would tell about the man who became his “savior.”
The same is true when talking about being saved from our sins. Jesus is our Savior and the point at which He saves us is determined in His Word. There are some who believe that salvation should come before one believes, others after. Which they believe normally depends on where some preacher they respect says it should come.
Most people appealing to Christ for salvation are not aware that there are those who believe that their relationship to God is not affected by what Jesus did. Note the following quote: “The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon ‘the accursed tree’ than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father’s business,” p. 25, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. If someone were to suggest to a Christian Science member that Jesus died for their sins, they would immediately reply that their relationship to God has nothing to do with the one called Jesus. This conditioning is brought about by the teachings of that denomination, not an open-minded investigation of the Bible.
God is looking for a humble attitude toward His teachings that would cause one to openly accept the teachings of Romans 5:8-10.Here we see God revealing that He placed His Son on the cross so that all could be justified. Therefore, a person of the Christian Science persuasion would have to admit his error and embrace God’s truth.
SAVED BEFORE OR AFTER BELIEVING?
Then there are actually some churches that believe that salvation is offered and given independent of one’s faith. “A person may say that he believes in salvation by grace, but if he sets forth any act of man’s will, such as repentance, faith, baptism, or hearing the gospel, as a condition for obtaining it then this position must be put on the works side. Primitive Baptists believe salvation is of the Lord, that it is by His grace, and nothing needs to be added to it,” p. 5,What Do Primitive Baptists Believe? by Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. This church believes in “grace only” and appeals to Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:5 for their doctrine. A Christian might ask, “But what about John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8? These verses state that faith is necessary. “Of course, the reply given by the Primitive Baptist will be that Ephesians 2:5 says nothing of faith and thus must not be essential to salvation.
When one approaches the scriptures with an open mind, it is necessary to reject the above false concepts. However, when we have a false concept about baptism and salvation, we find ourselves following the same pattern as employed by the above groups.
TYING THE GOSPEL TO THE PLAN OF SALVATION
The scriptures clearly set forth the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. When one turns to Acts 2:22-36, Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and His being seated at the right hand of God are the only topics covered concerning the Christ. The crowd breaks into Peter’s sermon and asks what to do. Peter then replies, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” Acts 2:38. Repentance means to change one’s mind and action in life. But what does it mean to be baptized? Let us allow the Bible to tell us what baptism means. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life,” Romans 6:3-4. Even those who practice sprinkling or pouring understand. Here is a quote from the footnote of the Saint Joseph Translation put out by the Catholic Church: “St. Paul alludes to the manner in which baptism was ordinarily conferred in the primitive church, by immersion. The descent into the water is suggestive of the descent of the body into the grave, and the ascent is suggestive of the resurrection to a new life.”
I also have a Baptist tract that conveys the same thought. “Baptism is a symbolic act, showing the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ being acted out by the believer in Christ,” P. 3, Do You Have Scriptural Baptism? by Roy M. Reed.
The scriptures show that accepting Christ can also be called obeying the gospel. Contrast the following translations on Romans l0:16a: “But not all (the Jews)
accepted that good news,” The Easy to Read Bible compared to “But they have not all obeyed the gospel,” New King James. Peter contrasted the saved with those who had not obeyed the gospel in 1 Peter 4:17 confirming that obeying the gospel is something done to bring about forgiveness. Paul also teaches that when Jesus returns He will “…take vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Thessalonians 1:8. The scriptures certainly make it clear that obeying the gospel (being baptized) is necessary to escape His vengeance. Incidentally, this is why the thief on the cross did not have to be baptized, because the gospel-Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection could not be reenacted as it had not occurred yet. When one reads Acts 2:38 again it now fits in with God’s teaching that forgiveness takes place when one obeys the gospel. See also Romans 6:17-18.
IS ONE SAVED FROM SIN BEFORE OR AFTER BAPTISM?
By reading the following scriptures with an open mind, all should come to the same conclusion: Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21. However, many that I have talked to will quickly point out that John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; and Acts 16:3 mention nothing about baptism and therefore conclude that it can’t be essential for salvation.
To use this approach is certainly contrary to scripture. For example, John 3:16 mentions nothing about repentance. One group called The Way International uses this approach. They say that God will not impute sin to the believer, and thus feel free to engage in fornication with fellow members because they believe that God looks at them as perfect because of their faith, despite the fact that they are involved in this act.
The salvation before baptism groups have to confront the following scriptures. How do they answer them?
LOOKING AT MARK 16:16
This verse reads, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Those believing that one is saved by faith alone before baptism contend that the Lord should have stated in the second part, “…he that believes not and is baptized not shall be condemned.” They state, had it been written this way, then baptism would have been necessary for salvation in the first part of the verse. To further emphasize this, they use the following illustration. “He who climbs the mountain and is covered with dust, will be king of the mountain…” This is designed to show that being covered with dust is not necessary to become king.
First of all, God intentionally did not state, “…he that believes not and is baptized not shall be condemned.” An unbeliever will not be baptized and so it would be redundant to state it this way. Secondly, the illustration falls apart on the faith-only concept. If one is saved the moment he believes, then the person would be at the top of the mountain the moment he starts his first step, because if salvation comes instantly at the point of faith, then the top of the mountain would be reached instantly as one takes the first step.
An illustration that fits: “He who eats and digests shall be filled, but he who does not eat will go hungry.” Let’s apply their insistence on the use of both negatives. “He who eats and digests shall be filled, but he who does not eat and does not digest what he has not eaten will go hungry.” This clearly illustrates why God wisely left baptism out of the second part of verse 16.
ACTS 22:16 AND FORGIVENESS
Ananias told Saul of Tarsus, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. A former prominent leader, John R. Rice, before his death, wrote in the Bible Baptist Church publication, The Sword of the Lord, the following article in response to a letter submitted to him: “You claim that baptism saves or that one cannot be saved without baptism and sometimes quote Acts 22:16 as evidence that baptism saves. There we are told that Paul, speaking in the Hebrew tongue to the great crowd who would mob him in Jerusalem, said that Ananias came to him, told him of God’s wonderful call to him and Paul quotes Ananias as saying, ‘And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Here the Bible tells us what Paul said that Ananias said. Of course, we do not suppose that Paul was claiming to give exact quotations, and he probably did not. The Bible does not guarantee that all the things that men say, which are reported in the Bible, were true. Sometime the Devil is quoted and good and bad men are quoted. We know that the record of Paul’s quotation is right and that Paul actually reported that Ananias said, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins…” But what the Spirit of God tells us actually happened in the inspired language, in Acts 9:17 was: “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
Ananias, in words not given here in the inspired account in Acts 9, may have said the very words that Paul quoted him as saying. But they are not put in the divine account in Acts 9, and evidently for a good reason.
If the Apostle Paul cannot be trusted to accurately quote Ananias, then can any scripture be trusted to be accurate?
ACTS 2:38 AND FORGIVENESS
It is amazing the different ways men have tried to wrest this quotation to get baptism removed from remission of sins. Last century, the “Faith Only” promoters contended that the word “eis” translated “for” meant “because of.” Then they would break the sentence to read, “Repent,and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. “Then within the sentence could be taken “and be baptized…because of the remission of sins…” Thus the verse would now convey the idea that baptism was to be done because your sins were already forgiven. However, when it was discovered that a parallel quotation in Matthew 26:28 would now teach that Jesus died because our sins were already forgiven, they quickly dropped this position.
Now, modern day exponents of this philosophy say that “eis” does mean “for” or “unto.” But they came up with a new Greek rule that says that remission of sins cannot co-join to both Repent and Baptism since Repent is a second person plural pronoun and each one of you is third person singular. There is no such Greek rule. If this rule were true, later translations would have clearly distinguished this, but notice: “Peter said to them, ‘You must repent – and as an expression of it, let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ – that you may have your sins forgiven; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” Williams (Leader in the Baptist faith). There is not one translation that even hints of this so-called Greek law and I have over 40 quotes of this verse before me.
DOES BAPTISM SAVE A PERSON ACCORDING TO 1 PETER 3:21?
It is contended that since baptism is presented as a figure of Noah’s salvation from a wicked world, v. 20, and that Noah stayed out of the water to be saved, we too should stay out of the water to be saved. Of course, suppose a person gets baptized, then according to this position, he would now be lost. Again, let’s quote from the Baptist translation put out by Williams, “Baptism, which corresponds to this figure, now saves you, too. I do not mean the mere removal of physical stains, but the craving for a clear conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here, Peter is trying to tell us that baptism is not taking a bath to remove bodily dirt, but rather an inward cleansing.” See Colossians 2:12.
In the pamphlet referred to earlier, written by Roy M. Reed, and published by the Baptist Sunday School Committee, is the following statement, “Likewise baptism is essential to proper obedience to Christ even though it is not essential to salvation.”
A few years ago, I met a man who said he had received Christ back in the late 1950’s.When his preacher asked if he wanted to be baptized soon, the man asked him, “Don’t I have salvation and eternal life as I now stand?” He assured him that he was on his way to heaven without baptism, and so he said that he saw no reason to get wet.
Earlier, Hebrews 5:7-8 was quoted. Verse 9 says, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” Jesus had earlier asked the religious leaders of His day, “The baptism of John -where was it from? From heaven or from men?” Matthew 21:25. They refused to answer, as they had not been baptized. Note the following from Luke 7:29-30, “And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors JUSTIFIED GOD, having been baptized by him. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the WILL OF GOD for themselves, not having been baptized by him.”
In the Great Commission, Jesus said to baptize all followers in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Suppose a person refuses this command of God. Will he hear from God, “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
In my own experience, I had studied with a member of the Church of Christ. When I asked what he believed about baptism he replied, “I don’t know, would you like to see what the Bible says about it?” Even though I refused to accept the scriptures for three months, I finally realized that I was rejecting the counsel of God and finally obeyed the gospel.
I have tried to be open and honest in giving the arguments on both sides of the issue. What one accepts as true will determine their future destiny. Baptism cannot be “for remission of sins” and “not for remission of sins” at the same time. One is true, one is false. Based on the Word of God, you must make the final decision.
By Bob Danklefsen
Copyright 1989
T-37 3-22-90
