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Is Baptism
Necessary for Salvation?
Oneness Pentecostal theology states that baptism is necessary for
salvation. It asserts that without it, a person cannot be
saved. Is baptism necessary for salvation? No. It is
not. The Oneness theologians are in error. Nevertheless,
disagreeing with them does not make it so, particularly when we have
verses like the following:
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John
3:5, "Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
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Acts
2:38, "Then Peter said
unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost."
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Acts
22:16, "And now why
tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord."
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1
Pet. 3:21, "The like
figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
The
problem with baptismal regeneration (the belief that baptism is part of
salvation and necessary for it) is that it contradicts other scriptures
that state we are justified by faith. Justification is God's
declaration upon a sinner that the person is declared righteous in God's
site. In other words, only Christians are justified; only Christians
are saved. Please consider the following verses:
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Rom.
4:3, "For what saith the
scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness."
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Rom.
5:1, "Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ."
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Gal.
3:8, "And the scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed."
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Eph. 2:8, "For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God."
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See also Rom.
4:5; 9:30; John
5:24; Gal. 2:16; Gal.
3:11-14; and Phil. 3:9.
There are other verses, but these are sufficient to show that we are made
right in God's eyes -- justified, forgiven -- by faith, not by faith and
baptism. If baptism were necessary for salvation, then these verses
would state that we are justified by faith and baptism. But
they don't. In fact, that is not what Paul says that the gospel is,
and it is the gospel that saves us.
The
Gospel is what saves
"Now, brothers, I
want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received
and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if
you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have
believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first
importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures" (NASB) (1 Cor.
15:1-4).
The
gospel is defined as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for our
sins. Baptism is not mentioned here.
Paul said that he came to preach the
gospel, not to baptize: "I am thankful that I did not baptize any
of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized
into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond
that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send
me to baptize, but to preach the gospel..." (1
Cor. 1:14-17). If baptism is necessary for salvation then why did Paul
downplay it and even exclude it from the description of what is required
for salvation? It is because baptism isn't necessary for salvation.
Additionally, in Acts, Peter was preaching
the gospel, people got saved, and then they were baptized. Acts
10:44-46 says,
"While Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
45And they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 46For they
heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God..."
These people were saved. The gift of the Holy Spirit was on the Gentiles
and they were speaking in tongues. This is significant because tongues is
a gift given to believers, see 1 Cor.
14:1-5. Also, unbelievers don't praise God. They can't because praise
to the true God is a deep spiritual matter that is foreign to the unsaved
(1 Cor. 2:14). Therefore, the ones
in Acts 10:44-46 who are speaking
in tongues and praising God are definitely saved and they are saved before
they are baptized. This simply isn't an exception. It is a reality.
Let's
Suppose...
Another way of making this clear is to use an illustration. Let's suppose
that a person, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit (John
16:8), believed in Jesus as his savior (Rom.
10:9-10; Titus 2:13), and has
received Christ (John 1:12) as
Savior. Is that person saved? Of course he is. Let's further suppose that
this person confesses his sinfulness, cries out in repentance to the Lord,
and receives Jesus as Savior and then walks across the street to get
baptized at a local church. In the middle of the road he gets hit by a car
and is killed. Does he go to heaven or hell? If he goes to heaven then
baptism isn't necessary for salvation. If He goes to hell, then trusting
in Jesus, by faith, isn't enough for salvation. Doesn't that go against
the Scriptures that say that salvation is a free gift (Rom.
6:23) received by faith (Eph. 2:8-9)?
Yes it does.
Saying that baptism is necessary for
salvation is dangerous because it is saying that there is something we
must do to complete salvation. That is wrong! See Gal.
2:21; 5:4.
Alright, so this sounds reasonable. But
still, what about those verses that seem to say that baptism is part of
salvation? I'll address those now. But, because this subject can become
quite lengthy, in fact, sufficient for a book in itself, I'll only address
a few verses and then only briefly.
Baptism
Verses
John
3:5, "Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can
enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.'"
Some say that water here means baptism. But
that is unlikely since Christian baptism hadn't yet been instituted. If
this verse did mean baptism, then the only kind that it could have been at
that point was the baptism of repentance administered by John the Baptist
(Mark 1:4). If that is so, then
baptism isn't necessary for salvation because the baptism of repentance is
no longer practiced.
It is my opinion that the water spoken of
here means the water of the womb referring to the natural birth process.
Jesus said in verse three that Nicodemus needed to be born
"again." This meant that he had been born once--through his
mother. Nicodemus responds with a statement about how he can't enter again
into his mother's womb to be born. Then Jesus says that he must be born of
water and the Spirit. Then in verse 6 He says that "flesh gives birth
to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.." The context seems
to be discussing the contrast between the natural and the spiritual birth.
Water, therefore, could easily be interpreted there to mean the natural
birth process.
I would like to add that there are scholars
who agree with the position and some who do not. Some believe that the
water refers to the Word of God, the Bible, and others claim it means the
Holy Spirit. You decide for yourself.
Acts
2:38, "Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.‘"
This verse is a tough one. It seems to say
that baptism is part of salvation. But we know, from other scriptures that
it isn't, lest there be a contradiction. What is going on here is simply
that repentance and forgiveness of sins are connected. In the Greek,
"repent" is in the plural and so is "your" of
"your sins." They are meant to be understood as being related to
each other. It is like saying, "All of you repent, each of you get
baptized, and all of you will receive forgiveness." Repentance is a
mark of salvation because it is granted by God (2
Tim. 2:25) and is given to believers only. In this context, only the
regenerated, repentant person is to be baptized. Baptism is the
manifestation of the repentance, that gift from God, that is the sign of
the circumcised heart. That is why it says, repent and get baptized.
In other words, the phrase "each of you get baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ" is parenthetical since it is in the singular and
"repent" is in the plural as is "your" of "your
sins." Therefore, "repent" must go with the purpose
of forgiveness of sins. Also, this concept fits with Peter’s
statement in Acts 10:43 where the
same phrase "sins may be forgiven" is used. There it is granted
on the basis of faith alone.
Also, consider this from The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: "The preposition used here is eis which,
with the accusative case, may mean "on account of, on the basis
of." It is used in this way in Matt.
12:41; and Mark 1:4. Though
it is possible for this construction to mean "on the basis of,"
this is not its normal meaning; eis with the accusative case
usually describes purpose or direction."1
1
Pet. 3:21, "and this water
symbolizes baptism that now saves you also -- not the removal of dirt from
the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
This is the only verse that says that
baptism saves. But, the NIV translation of the verse is unfortunate. A
better translation is found in the NASB which says, "and
corresponding to that, baptism now saves you." The key word in
this section is the Greek antitupon. It means "copy,"
"type," corresponding to," "a thing resembling
another," "its counterpart," etc. Baptism is a
representation, a copy, a type of something else. The question is "Of
what is it a type?", or "Baptism corresponds to what?". The
answer is found in the previous verse, verse 20: "who once were
disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah,
during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight
persons, were brought safely through the water. 21And
corresponding to that, baptism now saves you" (NASB).
What does baptism correspond to? Is it the
flood? Or, is it the ark? What was it that saved Noah and his family? Was
it the water or the ark? Obviously, it was the Ark. Noah built and entered
the ark by faith and was saved (Heb.
11:7). The flood waters destroyed the ungodly. Peter, when referring
to the flood waters, refers to them as the means of destruction of the
ungodly (2 Pet. 2:5; 3:6).
It was the Ark that saved. Noah entered the ark by faith. Baptism here, in
my opinion, refers to the Ark, not the waters. That is why the rest of the
verse says, "not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of
a good conscience toward God" which is consistent with what Paul said
in Col. 2:11-12 where He equates
baptism with being circumcised of heart.
Acts
22:16, "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be
baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."
Is the washing away of sins done by
baptism, the representation of the circumcised heart (Col.
2:11-12) which means you are already saved, or is it by the blood of
Christ (Heb. 9:14; Rom.
5:9; Eph. 1:7)? Obviously it is
the blood of Jesus and the washing here refers to the calling on Jesus'
name.
Baptism is a picture of God’s inner work of
washing away sin (cf. 1 Cor. 6:11;
1 Pet. 3:21).
Rom.
6:4, "We were therefore buried
with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new life."
Because the believer is so closely united
to Christ it is said that the symbol of baptism is our death, burial, and
resurrection. Obviously we did not die -- unless, of course, it is a
figurative usage.
Titus
3:5, "he saved us, not because
of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us
through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."
The washing of rebirth can only be that
washing of the blood of Christ that cleanses us. It is not the symbol that
saves, but the reality. The reality is the blood of Christ.
Gal.
3:27, "for all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
This is speaking of the believer's union
with Christ. It is an identification with, a joining to, a proclamation of
loyalty to, etc. In 1 Cor. 10:2
the Israelites were baptized into Moses. That means they were closely
identified with him and his purpose. The same thing is meant here.
More on Baptism
It is an outward representation of an
inward reality. For example, it represents the reality of the inward
washing of Christ's blood upon the soul. That is why it is used in
different ways. It is said to represent the death of the person (Rom.
6:3-5), the union of that person with Christ (Gal.
3:27), the cleansing of that person's sins (Acts
22:16), the identification with the one "baptized into" as
when the Israelites were baptized into Moses (1
Cor. 10:2 ), and being united in one church (1
Cor. 12:13). Also, baptism is one of the signs and seals of the
Covenant of Grace that was instituted by Jesus. It is in this sense a
sacrament. A sacrament is a visible manifestation of something spoken. It
is also said to be a visible sign of an inward grace. For example, the
communion elements of bread and wine are called the sacrament of
communion. When we take communion we are partaking of the sacrament.
The Covenant of Grace is the covenant
between God and Man where God promises to Man eternal life. It is based
upon the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the condition is faith in
Jesus Christ. As the Communion Supper replaced Passover, baptism, in like
manner, replaces circumcision. "They represent the same spiritual
blessings that were symbolized by circumcision and Passover in the old
dispensation."2
Circumcision was the initiatory rite into
the Abrahamic covenant; it did not save. A covenant is a pact or agreement
between two or more parties and that is exactly what the Abrahamic
covenant was. God said to Abraham, "I will establish my covenant
as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after
you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your
descendants after you" (Gen.
17:7, NIV). God later instructed Abraham to circumcise not only every
adult male, but also 8 day old male infants as a sign of the covenant (Gen.
17:9-13). If the children were not circumcised, they were not
considered to be under the promissory Abrahamic covenant. This is why
Moses' wife circumcised her son and threw the foreskin at Moses' feet. (Exo.
4:24-25). She knew the importance of the covenant between God and her
children. But at the same time we must understand that circumcision did
not guarantee salvation to all who received it. It was a rite meant only
for the people of God, who were born into the family of God (who were then
the Jews).
If you understand that baptism is a
covenant sign, then you can see that it is a representation of the reality
of Christ circumcising our hearts (Rom.
2:29; Col. 2:11-12). It is our
outward proclamation of the inward spiritual blessing of regeneration. It
comes after faith which is a gift of God (Rom.
13:3) and the work of God (John
6:28).
Conclusion
Baptism
is not necessary for salvation. It is the initiatory sign and seal into
the covenant of grace. As circumcision referred to the cutting away of sin
and to a change of heart (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4; 9:25,26; Ez.
44:7,9) baptism refers to the washing away of sin (Acts
2:38; 1 Pet. 3:21; Titus
3:5) and to spiritual renewal (Rom.
6:4; Col. 2:11-12). The
circumcision of the heart is signified by the circumcision of the flesh,
that is, baptism (Col. 2:11-12).
One last thought: If someone maintains that
baptism is necessary for salvation, is he adding a work, his own, to the
finished work of Christ? If the answer is yes, then that person would be
in terrible risk of not being saved. If the answer is no, then why is
baptism maintained as being necessary the same way as the Jews maintained
that works were necessary?
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1. Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible
Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications,
Inc.) 1983, 1985, [Online] Available: Logos Library System.
2. Berkhoff, Lewis, Systematic Theology, 1988, p.
620.
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