Two Blunders About Bible Baptism!

A Bible class teacher was trying to teach first graders the meaning of confession, so she asked – "Can anyone tell me what you must do before you can receive forgiveness of sins?" After a moment of silence, a small voice from the back of the room rang out confidently, "You have to sin." True enough, and, to "tell it like it is," easy enough. The HEBREWS writer admonishes us in Hebrews 12:1 to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us" as we seek to run and win the Christian race. Contemporary culture in America has largely lost touch with the Bible’s declarations and explanations concerning sin, and has dismissed the notion that anybody sins and needs forgiveness for anything. Except, mind you, those pesky, narrow-minded folks who accept the Bible’s teaching that some beliefs and attitudes and behaviors are sinful. Meanwhile on every hand evidence is piled mountain high that millions are, indeed, ensnared by sin! Whether mankind sees that as a big deal or not, the Bible still does, asserting in the first part of Romans 6:23 that "the wages of sin is death." That "death" is separation from God and eventual loss of the soul in the place the Bible calls "hell."

Let’s return to the Sunday school teacher’s question – "What must you do to receive forgiveness of sins?" Consider: the New Testament reveals we must hear the gospel (Romans 10:17), believe the gospel, repent of sins, confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and then be baptized for remission of sins (Mark 16:15-16; Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:35ff; Acts 2:38-41; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21). In particular, the necessity of baptism (burial) in water for forgiveness of sins is a point of frequent and sometimes forceful debate. In the space that remains, let me just mention two blunders concerning baptism. First, some people diminish it by insisting it is optional, subsequent to and completely separate from being saved. These folks camp out on the necessity of faith alone and assert baptism is "an outward sign of an inward grace." But that won’t square with plain statements of Scripture like Mark 16:15-16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Galatians 3:27, Romans 6:1-5, and Colossians 2:10-13. And also 1 Peter 3:21 which includes the words that "baptism doth also now save us." How can you mess that up? Disagree if you wish, but a reverent and careful study of these passages in context simply will not allow us to diminish let alone dismiss the place of baptism in God’s plan. It is a blunder to do so. Now a second, and opposite, blunder concerning baptism. Some apparently, if judged by behavior (including some in the Lord’s church), diminish and distort Bible teaching about baptism by trusting in the external act separate and apart from the internal response and changes Bible writers demand of those desiring to be saved! Read Romans 6 – not just verses 3 and 4, which are certainly true, but include verses 1-2, 5, 6, 14, 16-18 – yea, the whole chapter! Do so and you will see that the view that thinks getting into Christ via baptism without Christ getting into you via a commitment to die to self and sin is a blunder – a big one! Christ must be formed in us as time goes by (Galatians 4:19). If not, baptism is no more than a bath where we just get wet. I’m out of space. Why not "search the Scriptures whether these things are so (Acts 17:11)?"

    Dan Guley, Smithville, TN