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NASB | Acts 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. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. |
Subject: Water baptism unnecessary for conversion |
Bible Note: 'AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.' Acts 2:21 In a recent post, I received a challenge to name one person in the book of Acts who believed the Word and was NOT (water)baptized within ONE hour of their belief. Please note the following conversion experience: According to the testimony of Paul in Acts 22:10 -When Jesus identified Himself, Paul replied,'What shall I do, Lord?' Note carefully the Lord's answer! "And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'" (Paul clearly affirms this in Eph 2:10 - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.") After his encounter with the Lord, Saul(Paul) was in Damascus for THREE DAYS (ACTS 9:9) prior to being (water)baptized! Was he "unsaved" during this time? Those who subscribe to the baptismal regneration "doctrine" cite Jesus' words in Mark 16:16 ("He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.")to support their position. Note that as soon as Saul recognized the Lord, he asked HIM what to do.(Isn't this a wonderful illustration of "trust and obey?") Now if WATER BAPTISM was necessary for Saul's salvation, don't you think that Jesus would have told Saul to be baptized right then and there on the Damascus road?! The Holy Spirit is God's gift upon belief, not upon water baptism. The Holy Spirit guarantees our salvation, not water baptism. CDBJ in a post6-11-02 adds additional comments worthy of your attention: Baptism it seems has surely created some barriers even though Eph. 4:5 claims that it is a unifier by the use of the word one, which is the Greek word (HICE). Ephes. 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, The reason it can say this is that it follows the order of, first Lord then faith in Him, Jesus, and the baptism that unifies follows, which is automatic. It is done for us and has nothing to do with water. It is a dry baptism as it were. All of the wet baptisms mentioned in the Bible are nothing more then a ritual. The dry baptisms on the other hand are real and we receive them with out any works on our part; they come about as a result of one's state of mind, that is to say the way you think or one's mind set with regards to Jesus the Christ. There are two dry baptisms, there is one for believers and there is one for unbelievers. The one unifying baptism for believers, mentioned in Eph. 4:5, is the Holy Ghost. The baptism that will unify unbelievers is that of fire; the administrator of both baptisms is the Lord Jesus Christ: John the Baptist knew this truth as he testified to it in Matthew's Gospel as he was speaking to some who would believe and others who would not. Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Every one will receive one baptism or the other and it all depends on what people think of the person of Jesus, the Christ of God, and that will sets the stage for the baptism they will receive. Mommapbs adds: we are baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit at the moment of belief ("He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,"Titus 3:5)- this is all DONE BY GOD, lest anyone should boast!(Eph 2:8-9) No water of baptism will be able to extinguish the wrath of God upon those who reject Him! Faith in Jesus is the ONLY fire escape! PS: Also, see Acts 17:34. Dionysius and Damaris became believers, (and others) but there is no mention of a water baptism in conjuction with their belief. |