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Baptist Questions Answered -- Part 5 (Editor's Note: For the benefit of those visiting with us, I want to explain the nature of this article. David Martin, a Baptist preacher, claimed no preacher for the church of Christ could answer his questions. This series of articles contains the answers to his question. I thought about editing down question #11, but for the sake of fairness I decided to leave it as written. D.T.) 11. The "Church of Christ" teaches that a sinner is forgiven of sin when he is baptized in water by a Campbellite elder. Where does the Bible teach that water baptism is required in order to have one's sins forgiven? Every time the phrase "for the remission of sins" occurs it is speaking of the fact that sins have been forgiven previously! The Bible plainly teaches that the forgiveness of sins is conditioned upon repentance of sin and faith in Christ - never upon water baptism! (Matthew 3:11; Luke 24:47; Acts 3:19; Acts 5:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 20:21; Romans 1:16; Romans 4:5; et.al.) Where does the Bible teach that forgiveness of sin is linked with water baptism? When Christ made the statement in Matthew 26:28, "for the remission of sins," it had to be because they had been forgiven all through the Old Testament! Christ shed His blood because God forgave repentant and believing sinners for thousands of years before the Son of God came to "take away" sins and to redeem us and pay the sin-debt with His own precious blood. How can one say that "for the remission of sins" means 'in order to obtain' in light of the fact that God never uses the phrase in that sense? In the Old Testament God forgave sin on the basis of a blood sacrifice (Heb. 9:22) - the Old Testament saints had their sins remitted (i.e., forgiven) but they were not redeemed until Christ came and shed His blood at Calvary. Their sins were covered(Romans 4:7; Psalm 32:1), but the sinner was not cleared of his guilt (Exodus 34:7) until the Cross (Heb.10:4). Before Calvary, the sins of believers were pardoned, but they were not paid for (i.e., redeemed) until the crucifixion (see Romans 3:25 and Heb. 9:12-15). When Jesus said, "It is finished," (John 19:30), all sin - past, present and future - was paid for, and the plan of salvation was completed, so that 'whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins' (Acts 10:43). In Acts 2:38, the people were baptized because their sins were forgiven (at Calvary when Jesus said, "Father, forgive them,") and they received the blessing of forgiveness when they repented of their sin of rejecting Christ and accepted Him as their Saviour and Lord. Friend, heaven or hell depends on what you believe about this. Every time the phrase "for the remission of sins" occurs it is speaking of the fact that sins have been forgiven previously! This comment is simply false! The Greek and English in Acts 2:38 are straightforward and state exactly the opposite of your statement above. From the examples in scripture, I must learn of God’s grace based on my hearing/understanding the truth (John 6:45; Romans 10:14; I must have faith/belief, (scriptures you give plus many more); I must repent from/of my sins,(Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Luke 13:3-5; 2 Peter 3:9; and many more); I must confess that Jesus is the son of God (Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37; Matthew 10:32; Matthew 16:16); I must be baptized for remission of my sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 28:18-20 “notice baptism was commanded by Jesus and he told his apostles to teach all things that he had commanded which must have included baptism”); Romans 6:1-5 (notice that baptism is into the death of Christ, we are buried with him in baptism and like Christ was raised from the dead, we should walk in newness of life); Galatians 3:27 (as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ); 1 Peter 3:24. Questions for you. Where is one if they are not "in Christ"? The only possible answer is, outside of Christ. Galatians 3.27 reads, "for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." How did they get into Christ? They were baptized into Christ. A person who denies the role of baptism in our salvation is simply denying the scriptures. Can a person be saved outside of Christ? By definition one is saved only if they are inside of Him. Baptism, along with faith, repentance, and confessing Jesus puts one into Christ. You pervert scripture, and one obvious perversion by you is Matthew 26.28, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (emphasis mine). Was Jesus going to die on the cross because man's sins had already been paid for or in order to pay for man's sins? If one says that man's sins had already been remitted then Jesus did not have to die on the cross. He could have bypassed the cross and we would still be saved. Such is not what the scriptures say. Jesus died on the cross so as to pay the price for man's sins, 2 Corinthians 5.21. If Acts 2:38 doesn’t teach that baptism is for the remission of sins, what did Peter mean to say? If Acts 22:16 doesn’t teach that baptism washes away sins, what is God trying to say? If Mk 16:16 doesn’t mean that he that believes and is baptized shall be saved, then what does it mean? If 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27 doesn’t mean that baptism puts us into the body of Christ, what was God trying to say? if Romans 6:3-4 doesn’t mean that baptism puts us into the death of Christ, then what was God trying to say? If Colossians 2:12-13 doesn’t mean that through baptism we obtain newness of life, what does it mean? If 1 Peter 3:21 doesn’t mean that baptism also now saves us, what does it mean? The first time the gospel was preached and the question was asked, “What should we do?” the answer was “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. Was Peter mistaken? Where in the Bible does it tell anyone to say a sinner’s prayer after believing and confessing? (Provide Scriptures, please). If God didn’t mean what is obviously so clearly stated in these scriptures, can anything be trusted in the Bible? Can I understand their meaning using only my good common sense? Would you understand plain English if I said that “anyone who repents and comes to my house will get a check for a million dollars”? You can argue all day that coming to my house is an unnecessary work and that because I am a good person that all you have to do is repent - and you will still be poor. The same applies to Mark 16:16. God is not the author of confusion, so who is causing the confusion? You are! God’s word couldn’t be clearer. 12. If salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done, and baptism is a work of "righteousness," then how can water baptism be a part of salvation? (Titus 3:5; Matt. 3:16) In the Bible, we are SAVED BY GRACE, and grace does not involve human effort or merit - grace is grace and work is work! (Just read Ephesians 2:8,9 andRomans 11:6.) We are saved by grace but not by grace only. Because we understand the value of God’s endless grace and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we keep his commandments and the commandments of the apostles as inspired men of God. John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments”. The Bible does not contradict itself. Keeping His commandments is a work of love, but a work nonetheless. Ephesians 2.8 is often quoted and misused. The grace of God in Ephesians 2 is God sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We have nothing to boast of for we did not deserve or earn Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. Yet Jesus, Himself, said that unless we believe in Him we will die in our sins, John 8.24. Does believing (having faith), negate God's grace? If so, then Jesus was negating God's grace for He made faith a condition of salvation. Does repentance negate God's grace? If so, then Jesus was negating God's grace in Luke 13.3. Does confessing Jesus (see Matthew 10.32-33) negate God's grace? For some reason most do not have a problem that having faith, repenting of one's sins, and confessing Jesus does not negate God's grace, but they do have a problem with baptism. Yet, Jesus is the one who spoke of baptism in Mark 16.16, Matthew 28.18. “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only”. Jas 2:24 Questions for you. If salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done, how then can repentance, confession and saying a sinner’s prayer be a part of salvation (as many Baptist websites and preachers maintain) since they are works? Is baptism any more a work than repentance, confession, and saying a sinner’s prayer? In fact, doesn’t James, an inspired apostle, take precedence over the Baptist doctrine or did he make a mistake in the above statement?
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