Subject: What can we do to have salvation |
Bible Note: Part 2 of 2: Baptism to “Obey God” instead of “For the Remission of Sins” Lately, some have been willing to accept into fellowship those who were not baptized for the remission of sins. They reationalize that one who was baptized knew that he was doing so to “obey God,” so that would be sufficient. While it is good to want to obey God, one cannot “obey God” without understanding God’s Will. Jesus said, “It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me” (Jn 6:44-5). The Biblical order in conversion is learning and then coming to God, not coming to God and then learning. Every religious action in the New Testament has a spiritual meaning behind it. There are no unnecessary rituals. One cannot misunderstand the meaning and still complete the action acceptably. Take the Lord’s Supper for instance. Once cannot eat the bread just to “obey God” and not understand that it represents His Body and do so in a manner well pleasing to God (Matt 26:28; 1 Cor 11:23-8). Paul found some in Ephesus who had been baptized incorrectly. Though they had been immersed, and had done so to “obey God,” they were lacking in their understanding of the Holy Spirit and the coming of Christ (Ac 19:1-6). When they learned that they did not properly understand baptism under the Great Commission, they were baptized again. Notice that since they were taught wrong, their baptism was wrong. No man can be taught wrong and baptized right. When one is being baptized, he must have faith that God is removing his sins. Examine Paul’s words: “Buried with him baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operatrion of God, who hath raised Him from the dead” Col 2:12) God performs an operation in the water. He does not cut away a cancerous organ or a diseased limb, but He does remove sin from the soul. We must have faith in that operation and in the Operator in order for it to be successful. 2) There is no such list possible because there is no one example or story in the NT where a person followed these 5 steps. BUT the challenge therein is that neither can Hank or anyone else come up with an absolute case or example of a person following THEIR plan of salvation. That's been one of my main points all along--we MUST take God at His Word and we MUST assume we should obey all of His commands to become a family member of our Lord's Kingdom--just to be on the safe side. 3) And finally "significance of the finished work of Christ" is for nought IF we aren't in God's family on God's Judgment Day. On that point, we can agree readily enough. It's the point of entry that causes so much controversy and I'll agree to that. There are several verses but I'll just cited one from Gal 3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. I do hope these two posts in total is clear to everyone and God bless. |