Subject: What I am asking is baptism a requiement |
Bible Note: I do not think I misinterpreted your question. I simply stated that looking at baptism (a mikvah - ritual bath) as some sort of requirement for salvation is viewing it in the wrong way. The baptism (mikvah) can not be done on an infant; for, it is an outward work done by faith, and how can an infant do a work of faith (or even have faith, see Romans 10:17). It is an immersion, as the word shows clearly, which in done with both those who are being baptized and those who are baptizing in the water. It is not a sprinkling of water on someone who has not professed a faith in Messiah (that is a baptism of the Roman Catholics, it is not the baptism of the Church of Yahoshua the Messiah). Now, the Jews did the mikvah in living (running) water. That is how "John" the baptist baptized, it is how Philip (in Acts 8:36,37) baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch, and it is how may Messianiac Jews baptize today (not all). Notice, the faith of the Eunuch, that was in him, was moving him to be baptized by Philip; he did not ask Philip if being baptized was a requirement for him to be saved. So, I repeat, when a man is looking at the mikvah (baptism) as an act required to be preformed in order to be saved, that man is looking at it in the wrong light. Water baptism is a work of faith and not a "requirement", the baptism of the Spirit of Holiness of Yahoshua is a "requirement" (John 3 speaks of this very clearly, as does I Corinthians 12:13). |