December 29, 2024
One of the greatest blind spots among those who profess faith in Christ today is the subject of baptism. Consider a couple of examples: While writing about conversion one author specifically quoted Matt 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…” Then went on to describe a Bible study in which a man “became a Christian while sitting right there at the table”. He quoted the man’s words as he prayed what the author described as the sinners prayer. Another book after saying those who accept the tenants of the book need to commit to follow the great commission goes on to describe how to become a Christian as follows: “ Admit, Repent, Believe, Receive, tell” (indicating tell a pastor what you’ve done). In a lengthy multiple session Bible study I engaged in for several months a gentlemen argued that clean conscience means forgiven but that appeal does not mean request in I Pet 3:21. This theological schizophrenia is so common in the religious world that even those who recognize that baptism is by immersion and for adults will say that it has nothing whatsoever to do with salvation. The prevalence of this position is one of the greatest success Satan has achieved in our time second only to the popular notion that religious truth is unknowable and therefor totally subjective. Rather than a long discussion of the historical and theological reasons for the current state of affairs I will simply list and respond to the most common objections to baptism for forgiveness of sins.
The most common objection to baptism being necessary to salvation is that salvation is by faith alone and not of works. This objection contains two major misunderstandings. First is an understanding of faith which excludes any and all action. Biblical faith includes action consider Hebrews 11 notice that great faith in every single example included action also see James 2:14-26; Galatians 5:6. The second misunderstanding involves the idea that anything we do in response to God constitutes earning God’s blessings (works). We don’t apply this kind of thinking to anything else. Imagine someone upon receiving money via email saying that because they had to open the email they earned the funds.
The next major objection to baptism is one that does not openly address the issue but tries to skirt it by suggesting that salvation is not an event but a process. It’s true that there may be a process of growing and learning that takes place before a person commits themselves to God. However in the words of F. LaGard Smith “If the conversion process is a wondrous divine gestation process, baptism is a definitive, womb departing point of birth”. Simply consider any conversion recorded in scripture and the idea that salvation is a process become foolishness, consider: Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36-38; Acts 22:16; Col 2:12-13 just to list a few.
Another objection often raised relates not to any specific scripture or line of reasoning rather to numbers and emotion. The objection is this: “what about all the people who aren’t baptized?” Maybe the questioner has specific people in mind maybe it’s just general. There are two important things to consider first if you have a loved one friend or neighbour who doesn’t know what the Bible says about salvation why haven’t you told them? The second is that what people believe about a thing has no bearing on its truthfulness. A large number of people don’t believe in heaven should we then abandon faith in it as well? Back when most people thought the world was flat did that make it so? The fact that there are people in the world who have been misled misinformed or just haven’t studied means only that we need to get busy sharing the gospel.
Let’s pray that God provides us with the opportunity to share the truth about salvation with all men far and wide especially here in Barrie.
~ Kevin Clearly