Subject: Unbaptized children |
Bible Note: Hey Tim, Great thoughts. There is a lot to talk about! I will do it as orderly as possible, starting with the easier ones first and hopefully able to get to everything (I’m a slow typer!) 1- The thief on the cross. Jesus said he has the authority to forgive sins on the earth. Luke 5:24. The reason the thief didn’t need to be baptized was that baptism is the participation in the “death, burial and resurrection of Christ.” Part of the new covenant. Jesus hadn’t died yet. There was no death to participate in. That is why his last words were “it is finished”. That is when the curtain of the temple was torn in two, showing the end of the old covenant. 2- Acts 10:47-The people that received the spirit were the Gentiles (vs. 47). Chapter 11 sheds some light on this issue. "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." When Peter and the Apostles received the Spirit at Pentacost, they didn’t know how or when they would receive the Spirit. They were just hanging out per order of Jesus (Luke 24:49). It came upon them suddenly. When this same event happened to the Gentiles (see 11:15; note “at the beginning”), the “circumcised believers were astonished” because no one but “Jews” had received the Spirit up till that point. When we read chap. 10 we see that neither Peter (vs. 29) or Cornelius (vs.33) knew why each other was coming. It was Gods plan to usher in the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God (11:18). |