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NASB | 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. |
Subject: why is baptism important |
Bible Note: Please forgive me for allowing my anger free reign, that was wrong of me. So, to set matters right, here are my arguments: 1. You said that we are saved by faith alone. -- James 2:24 "You see that a man is justified by works and not by FAITH ALONE." NASB (emphasis mine) -- Acts 15 does clearly show that we are saved by grace. No argument there. Romans 4 also emphasised the fact that we cannot do enough work to EARN salvation. Our good works are not, and never will be, enough to save us. However, the debate is about what you have to do to RECEIVE this grace in the first place, and that is where baptism comes into force. Baptism is the transition from death to life and is symbolic of the burial of Christ. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and in the same way we have to die (Repent) be burried (baptism) and then rise to walk in newness of life Romans 6:3. 2. Peter's Sermon in Acts 3 does not mention baptism. -- In Peter's sermon in Acts 2 you will notice that he only mentioned baptism when the people, with conciences pierced by their guilt, asked "What must we do?". In Acts 3 this question was not asked. In EVERY place in acts where people come to the point of conversion baptism takes place. The only place you could show where this is not mentioned is the first account of the conversion of Paul. But in Paul's own recounting of that same event (same instance of conversion) Paul relates the words of Ananias in Acts 22:16 'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.' 3. 1 Cor 15:1-4 does not mention baptism as part of the gospel. -- Neither does it mention faith, or grace. This is the gospel. As I pointed out in point 1 above, the problem is HOW to we take advantage of the gospel? What do we have to do to be saved? Our actions save us only in that they put us in the place where we can be saved by the blood of Christ. In 1 Peter 3:20-21 Peter tells how Noah was saved by obeying God's command. He was saved by the very water that destroyed everyone else! Peter also equates the water of baptism with the resurrection of Christ. 3a. Further you said 'Paul clearly understood baptism to be separate from the gospel, and hence in no way efficacious for salvation.' -- Remember that Paul was talking to people who were already saved here. If they had already been saved by repenting and being baptized there was no need for him to tell them this -- they all knew it already. This is the situation throughout the epistles -- written to those who had already been saved so the mechanisims of the new birth did not necessarily need to be re-itterated. 4. The accounts of salvation without baptism all precede the death of Christ on the cross (including the thief on the cross). While Christ was still on earth, and before his New Testament had been instituted, He had all authority to forgive sins. Today the only way you can get forgiveness of sins in the first place is through the waters of baptism -- That is why every example of conversion in Acts includes baptism. You cannot get any clearer than that. 4a. There is no account of the Apostles getting baptized. -- True, but there is certainly room for their baptism to have taken place in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost along with the rest of the 3000. Remember that Peter's sermon on that occasion was inspired and therefore the message applied equally to him and the other apostles as it did to the crowd. 5. You state that Cornelius was saved before he was baptized. -- The Bible does not say that he was saved, just that he received the Holy Spirit as had Peter and the other Apostles on the day of Pentecost. If baptism was such a minor thing as you seem to imply then why did Peter immediately call for them to BE baptized? At the end of the day we must indeed use scripture to interpred scripture and there are some vital issues with this regard. There is still no argument whatsoever against the simple command of Christ in Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptised will be saved". This alone should be sufficient but in Matt 28:19 Jesus says -- "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." The force of the word Baptizing here is that this is the mechanism for making disciples. And of cours 1 Peter 3:21 clearly equates baptism with salvation. Again, I apologise for my previous posting and hope this will answer clearly your objections. In Christ who redeems us Tim |