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NASB | Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead. |
Subject: 3 baptisms or 1, or... |
Bible Note: Greetings Referg! Good morning my friend! I'm not trying to be mean my friend, but you made some very unusual statments about John! Allow me to touch upon a few of them. 1) You wrote: "In verse 6 Flesh usually refers to the natural birth or sinful nature if I am correct, which would be referring to our physical birth from our mothers. If this is so, wouldn't the water in verse 5 refer to water baptism and not water and blood during natural child birth." Why? Verse six is simply a further explanation of verse five. Simply because physical birth is mentioned in verse six doesn't rule it out in verse five. 2) You wrote: "n John 3:14 Why does it give the example of Moses lifting up the serpent referring to Num. 21:6 listed right after Jesus explaining to Nicodemus that he must be born again to enter the kingdom. In Num. IF they didn't look up they died, they had a choice and now through Christ so do we. If John 3:5 is not talking about water baptism what was the reason for the example." Why did Jesus use the example of Num. 21:6? Simply because it was an example of what was going to happen to Him. Just as the pole was lifted up, so also Christ was going to be lifted up on the cross. 3) You wrote: " If you read this scripture alone it would seem all you have to do is believe but if you read from John 3:1 you will see that even though Nicodemus believed who Christ was (the Son of God)Jesus still told him he could not enter the kingdom of God unless he was born again." Where exactly does the Bible say that Nicodemus beleived that Jesus was the Son of God? Verse two says that he believed that Jesus was a teacher from God and that God was with him, but nothing in John 3 indicates that Nicodemus was a believer. So, of course he must be born again. Without salvation, no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 4) You wrote: " If you continue to read the entire chapter of 3 you will see that after darkness and light is explained in verse 22 they tarried and were baptizing and in 23 John was also baptizing in Aenon because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. The entire chapter is about baptizing in water." This is a major stretch. Verse 22 and following is a different account in a different location at a different time. One cannot read back into John 3:1-21 and say that baptism is the subject of the entire chapter. Baptism is never mentioned in John 3:1-12. If it were the subject, it would have been very simple for God to simply say, "You must be baptized....". But, He didn't! :-) The reason is simple - John 3:16 really does mean what it says. "Whoever believes in Him will never perish...." Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |