ON BAPTISM AND SALVATION
A Christian brother recently contacted me online. In our conversation, we went over several points of doctrine. The man was obviously a saint of strong faith and extensive knowledge, much like Mark Haynes, the mentor who so firmly planted my spiritual feet on the ground.
Eventually, the conversation hit a big theological snag: We disagreed on baptism's role in salvation. My notes on the subject long gone, I undertook a fresh review of the function of baptism in the Christian life. I hope this paper will clarify to my learned brother, and to all who read these words, baptism's proper place in the believer's life.
As far as I know, every Christian sect initiates new members in a ceremony involving water. Even churches and denominations that dip or sprinkle infants perform another ordinance when an accountable candidate has made a statement of faith. I will use the word baptism in this paper to refer to this ordinance that follows a statement of faith and initiates a believer by water into full membership and fellowship in a Christian congregation.
Some Christian groups believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. They say a person who believes that Jesus is God, and who trusts Jesus' substitutionary death and resurrection to pay for his sins, is still not God's child yet. They cite baptism as the outward step that completes the inward conversion to Christianity. They look to three Scripture references as primary support of this viewpoint.
Mark 16
I have three problems with this verse as proof that baptism is required for salvation. First, the verses of Mark 16 that follow v. 9 are not included in early manuscripts of the book. I would therefore hesitate to take a stand on any issue with one of these verses backing me, unless I had ample additional support elsewhere in Scripture. Second, check the parallel clauses. The one who "shall be damned" is not the unbaptized, but the unbeliever. Why is baptism omitted from this clause, if it carries equal weight with faith for salvation? Third, this is Jesus' only direct mention of baptism as a condition for salvation. Jesus, like all great teachers, drove His main points home by repetition. If baptism itself means Heaven or Hell, even for one who already believes, why did Our Savior give it so little emphasis?
John 3
Physical birth is not a dry process. When the mother's "water breaks," over a pint of amniotic fluid is released. Babies come into this world tired, irritated, slick, a bit misshapen, and very wet. Nicodemus evidently understood what birth "of water" meant (v. 4). In v. 5, Jesus did not correct Nicodemus' understanding of physical birth as one of the two births required for salvation. He simply explained the second birth, thus giving Nicodemus the whole picture. In v. 6, He named the children of each birth. The first birth produces life in the flesh; the second produces life in the spirit. Jesus never stated in this encounter (John 3:1-21) that baptism was any necessary part of the new birth.
Acts 2
Here, repentance is the first step. Salvation occurs just above the second comma. The order to be baptized is given to "every one of you" as an individual, not to the group. The ones who have not repented are not ready to be baptized, because they are not yet saved. For the remission of sins can also mean because remission of sins has occurred. Baptism is not the cause of salvation or a condition for receiving the Holy Ghost. It is the outward testimony of salvation and the believer's public statement that he is now a proper dwelling place for the Spirit.
Is there evidence in Scripture that baptism is not a condition for salvation? Yes, there is quite a lot of it.
John 3
Faith that Jesus is the Son of God is the only condition for salvation set forth here. The absence of such faith brings God's wrath, the response of His abiding righteousness to our abiding in sin.
Acts 2
The condition for salvation set forth here is simple: Call on God to do it. This verse is repeated in Romans 10:13. The next two verses there explain that people only call on God if they believe in Him. They only believe if they have heard of Him. So the sequence is: The unbeliever hears the gospel; he believes what he has heard; he calls on God, in Jesus' name, to save him; and God responds with salvation. Is this not the testimony of countless Christians?
Acts 10
When Peter preached to Cornelius' household, God made His point about how to be saved. Peter, and likely several of his companions, had seen the Holy Spirit's great outpouring at Pentecost. He remembered what had happened when the Spirit had entered the Jewish believers (baptismal status unknown) that day. At Cornelius' house, he saw the same thing happening to Gentile believers as they heard and believed the gospel. Peter commanded his companions to baptize these new believers in water, having seen evidence that they were already baptized with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism as a condition for salvation has trouble making its case here.
Abraham lived before the Church Age, and even before God gave the Law to Moses; yet I think his relationship with God is a model for the Christian. God told him something to do (Gen.12:1). Abraham did it. This was his general pattern in life after that. Abraham obeyed God, trusting Him to keep His promises. How did God respond?
Gen. 15
Abraham was declared righteous by God before the two of them made a covenant (Gen. 15:9-21), before Abraham was circumcised (Gen. 17:23-27), and despite Abraham's never having been baptized. Faith, as already demonstrated by obedience to God, was Abraham's only part in the transaction noted above. The covenant was actually made by God with Himself, the ceremony occurring while Abraham slept. The Lord left no doubt that this covenant was His doing, nothing for which Abraham could claim credit, and nothing for which later generations could give Abraham credit. What was Abraham's part in the covenant? His faith made him the beneficiary of the blessings God promised that night. Our faith will give us our part in God's promises for this world and the next. Neither baptism nor any other outward act of which we might later boast (see Eph. 2:8-9) can give us right standing with Him.
Am I opposed to baptism, you ask? NO! Don't leave this page believing that I frown on baptism for those who have already professed faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. W. LeVon Moore baptized me upon my profession of faith, in 1965. I recommend that every new Christian be baptized, both as an act of obedience to God and as a public statement of faith. However, I think that biblical evidence clearly supports my contention that baptism is unable either to start or to finish the work of salvation. Baptism only proclaims to the world outside that Jesus has put new life inside.
Am I saying that my learned brother in Christ is not a brother at all, but a deceiving agent of the powers of darkness? NO!! I am saying that he places an extra burden on those who would come to Christ, gives them possible cause to say their right standing with God was earned, and might enable an unbeliever to cite a ritual as evidence of the salvation he really lacks. This can serve to cloud the believer's assurance of salvation, which God considers important (I John 5:13). Faith is our part in God's plan for our deliverance. He has already done the rest.