Subject: what is baptism |
Bible Note: Hi Nolan, So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. This passage does not say the eunuch was already converted before baptism. Matter of fact, the passage says he went on rejoicing AFTER his baptism. If his baptism was an outward sign why would he be so urgent to be baptized in the dessert? Why wouldn’t he wait to make it a public event? After hearing the message of the Gospel and realizing he needed to be baptized to wash his sins away, he jumped at the first chance to do so. With no one around and in the middle of the dessert! To use this passage to support the “outward sign” doctrine is assumptious at best. Please show me where the Bible teaches this doctrine clearly. And take some time to look into the doctrine of the early church and you will find that the “outward sign” doctrine was never taught only up to 200 years ago! Kin |