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NASB | Luke 3:3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 3:3 And he went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin; |
Bible Question:
We are instructed to be baptized after we are saved. Since we know that baptism doesn't save a person I am wondering what was the purpose of John's baptism? |
Bible Answer: Dear Mr Joe, We don't 'know' that baptism doesn't save a person. This is the view held only by the Presbyterian / Reformed branch of Protestantism - the predominant evangelical outlook at present. This view is not held by either the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, Wesleyan, Lutherans or the Anglicans. Therefore, the vast majority of Christians do not 'know' baptism doesn't save you. Act 22:16 'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, AND wash away your sins, calling on His name.' (AS IN THE NICENE CREED: ...WE ACKNOWLEDGE ONE BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS...) I have many volumes of the earliest Christian writings (stretching over centuries) and not one of them 'knows' baptism doesn't save you. All of the early Church fathers in the golden age of saints and martyrs believed in baptismal regeneration. To be a little more precise 'It is by faith in the Gospel AND by Baptism that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life.' THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE PLAIN SENSE OF SCRIPTURE SAYS: 1Pe 3:21 Corresponding to that, baptism now SAVES YOU Mar 16:16 "He who has believed AND has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Tit 3:5 He SAVED us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing (actually the 'bath' (loutron) of regeneration, loutron is a noun, this is translated accurately in the NAB) of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, Act 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ FOR the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Rom 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through BAPTISM into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Gal 3:27 For all of you who were BAPTIZED into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Does your exegesis need to deny the plain sense of these last two verses. From the very beginning, the earliest Christians understood baptism in this way. One example of myriads would be the Epistle of Barnabas (II,II) 'This meaneth, that we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit. ' To go against the plain sense of scripture, volumes and volumes of Christian literature from the same centuries that were defining the Trinity, Jesus's divinity and humanity, the biblical canon, the same writers who were being martyred by the Roman Empire, and to go against Martin Luther, John Wesley the Thirty Nine-Articles of the Church of England is just bizarre. You don't KNOW baptism doesn't save you. And you never got that belief reading the Bible. |