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NASB | Mark 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Mark 16:16 "He who has believed [in Me] and has been baptized will be saved [from the penalty of God's wrath and judgment]; but he who has not believed will be condemned. |
Subject: Is baptism for salvation? (Mark 16:16) |
Bible Note: Brother Hank: I think it is not envy that you feel, but regret, that such beautiful language has to be describing such an unbeautiful thing. I think you would rather wear your own hammer out on the anvil of the word, in concert with some others, hammering out the truth, the last bare bit of it, to those who need it in small pieces, not to digest it, for that would be to mix the metaphor, but to be able to handle it aright. Am I not telling the truth? I think that “sawing sawdust” is equally elegant in phraseology, and may describe an activity that you do not admire. Perhaps something better could be done with the sawdust, again to make it easier for some dear soul to handle. As it is, the ones with the best phrases use them to compete and to oppose. It leaves room for those who cannot even handle the language to their own comfort to come on and try to teach. The people do not know the difference between teacher and learner now. They think we are all looking for answers (and some will say we should accept that) and so everybody offers them. Now what you get is what you see. There are people on this forum who have obviously learned a lot and could very well teach us with some measure of authority. They could put their heads together, dig a little deeper, learn from each other, and tell the rest of us the truth. People could express their opinions, no doubt, and they should ask questions. But at some point we should arrive at the answer. Don’t you agree? Or perhaps there are those who prefer to think we should not have final answers. We should be ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth? Take the present subject of baptism. Is it necessary for salvation? I imagine the person who is asking the question really needs an answer. Or maybe they need many different answers and can then figure out the truth for themselves. If that is the case, I wish we could leave the last space in the thread for them so they can tell us what they have learned. I think some people try to do that, but the case does not rest there. The opinions continue, the threads untangle again, and future visitors have much reason to be confused. Somebody must like it this way. Some say they learn from debating. I just wonder why the Lord does not expressly encourage this. (Does he?) And why is it not exemplified and commended in Scripture. And what is the record we are leaving here? You do not enjoy thumbing through it. You find it frustrating and depressing. You have the sense that it is guiding few searchers for truth to truth. Now, the truth is that baptism is very important. So much so, it might be said that those who would refuse it are casting doubt on their salvation. Isn’t that the truth? Can we build on that by adding to it? No one has shown, or tried to show, that physical water accomplishes salvation. Yet we may get that impression. Can we clarify that so that the notion goes away? There is some ground where the ceremony of baptism (if you will) is given its rightful place of importance so that believers are not tempted to minimize it or refuse it. I dare say even the mode of administration can be clarified if we put our minds to it. The people with the beautiful phrases are obviously good men with good will. They can put aside their biases here and accept truth when the see it. This is a good place. After all, we can be here anonymously, and even the risk of ostracism from our group can be minimized, until we learn to minimize or extinguish the importance of those denominational divisions. We can answer these questions. But we must seek to do so while endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. |