Automatic Transcript Generated:
You said that we must be water baptized to enter heaven, yet you say that baptism doesn’t save. Why?
Speaker 1
All right. And we have actually two questions that are really similar here. So we’re going to do them back to back and answer them together.
Speaker 2
And both are probably from Dorothy.
Speaker 1
The first one here, Dorothy, is asking in reply to, do we have to be water baptized to be saved? I read your response and found the answers conflicting. You said, Bible says must be water baptized to enter heaven, then baptism doesn’t save.
Speaker 2
And the next question.
Speaker 1
And says D is asking you just answered to Harold that we need baptism to be saved, but also said we are not saved by baptism, we are saved by Jesus. So, yes, we need to be water baptized or no, we are saved by Jesus.
Speaker 2
And thank you, Dory, for asking the question. It is a very legitimate question. I think it’s a bit nuanced and that’s why you’re struggling with it. We seem that we’re giving conflicting answers, but we’re not when we really dig into it. And so we’re going to dig into it and hopefully give you clarity on it. So stick with us through the whole way and we’ll approach it a couple of different ways so that you get clarity. But first, I do want to emphasize that first, it is symbolic. Baptism in of itself does not save. You’re right. We’ve been saying it, and we will continue to say that we actually have a lot of different resources on baptism. First, I’d like to point to the article, why did Jesus choose water as an essential element of baptism? Maybe I’ll drop the link and we as we say in that article, it says water baptism serves as an illustration to the spiritual cleansing of the believer’s experience when they are saved. I think that’s a good way of putting it. Then we have an article. What happens at baptism in water? And this is actually based on a video that we’ve done.
Speaker 2
And from the transcript, it says and it’s such speaking of baptism, it’s such a beautiful symbol. And that’s largely what it is. It is a symbol that tells us about the entire gospel and what God wants to do in your life. So this kind of gives us an orientation. What is baptism? Then we come to now this article that I believe Dorothy was referring to, and it’s titled is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? And I just want to give a little qualify at the beginning where the question is whether salvation is necessary. And then the person answering or the article sort of approaches it from is it enough? As opposed to being necessary. Baptism is necessary, but it’s not sufficient in of itself. It’s not enough. An article does a good job of explaining how it’s required. It’s necessary, but it’s not enough. And I’ll read a little bit from it. It says to the question, is baptism necessary for salvation? The quick answer is no, baptism is not enough for salvation. There has to be an inward change of heart. Jesus defined the terms for entrance into his kingdom. And then now quoting the Bible, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2
That’s John three five article continues. There are two absolute requirements for entrance into heaven. Every one of us must pass through these two experiences in order to be saved. Jesus also said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. To be born of the Spirit clearly refers to conversion. Conversion is the powerful inward change, and baptism is the outward physical sign that that change has taken place. And I think that’s a great way of putting it back to the article. Christ repeated the two conditions for salvation on another occasion. And quoting another Bible verse, it says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Jesus said, Both He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. And Jesus goes on to say, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And this is quoting Mark 1616. So must a Christian be baptized? Absolutely. With one exception we’ll talk about. And is baptism the thing that saves? Absolutely not. So we are saved by grace from Jesus that is received through faith. You see this Ephesians two eight. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
Speaker 2
And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So is it what baptism represents that saves the Christian? Yes, that’s what saves. So first, Peter 321 explains it. Just before this, Peter was talking about how Noah was on the ark and surrounded by water, and this was a type of baptism. And then he goes on to explain, there was also an anti type which now saves us baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. So Peter’s saying it’s not going through the water itself, the physical cleansing that saves. He’s saying it’s the answer of a good conscience towards God. That is, what is the aspect of baptism that brings salvation. And in fact, that should have come before even baptism, and baptism is sort of representing that. Now, I mentioned it’s not absolute, right? There might be one exception to the baptism rule. That is the thief on the cross who repented. And Jesus said very surely I say to you today you will be with me in paradise. That’s luke 23 43. That thief on the cross had no opportunity to get baptized, right?
Speaker 2
He died 30 minutes an hour later, no chance to go through the act. So of course, God understands our circumstances. And if somebody’s incapable of being baptized and dies before they can carry out their desire to be, god won’t hold it against them. But those of us who can be baptized must be baptized. So again, baptism in of itself isn’t what saves a person. It’s symbolic, and this shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. There are so many examples of symbols in the Bible that have great relevance to salvation, but in and of themselves they do not save. Let’s look at one example, is the sacrificing of animals. We were told in Hebrews ten four, that is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Sorry, we got a little rocket here.
Speaker 1
I know, it’s like if I move, it shift my weight a tiny bit.
Speaker 2
We’ll try void the squeaky. All right, then circumcision. I mean, this is a big one, right? To the Jews. If you weren’t circumcised, you’re not a Jew. We’re told in Romans 229 by Paul that circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the written code. Galatians five six. He says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. So circumcision was really of the heart. God was wanting the outward act to represent what he wanted to have taking place inside. Eating communion bread. Again, some people think, oh, it’s really the blood and the bread of Jesus that you’re transmuting and then eating that. But Jesus said in John 651, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. He whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. Jesus is the bread. He Himself like his words, his actions, what we can learn from thinking of his character, the bread in of itself isn’t magical. It’s what it represents that is so powerful. So why is refusing water baptism a bad thing?
Speaker 2
Why can that have salvational consequences? So it might be good to look at overall baptism as a type of initiation. That’s a test. It serves to show someone’s qualified or not. It’s not like it’s a difficult test at all, but we’ll see how it’s a test. Going through baptism again is an outward sign we are saved. Of course, people can be baptized who are not truly converted. So not saying everybody baptized for sure, they’re saved, but those who are saved will have gone through that act. And again, if just being baptized saved you, yeah, we will have salvation by works. We’re not going to have salvation by grace. It throws the whole system out. So we totally agree with Dorothy’s concern that it doesn’t make sense to have baptism being what saves. But here’s what’s critical. Now, refusal of baptism could be, in a sense, seen as like rebellion, or it could be an act of sin in and of itself. First, Samuel 523 sorry, one Samuel 1523 says, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness. Stubbornness is as inequity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king.
Speaker 2
So these were the words spoken by Samuel to King Saul, because King Saul was wanting to do things his way, getting impatient, doing stuff. And Samuel’s like, dude, this is serious stuff, not obeying God. James 417 says, therefore to him who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin. So if you know you should get baptized and you say, I’m not going to get baptized, that could potentially be sin, right, according to this definition? And then finally Jesus says, John 1415, if you love me, keep my commandments. He’s commanded us to get baptized. Why don’t we want to do that? I want to pose this question. If we are not keeping Christ’s commandments, including to get baptized, do we really love Him? Or are we rather in a state of rebellion, just like the Israelites of old who had seen God, heard God, but then turned their backs on him? Let’s just see what’s written of them in Hebrews, hebrews three, starting at verse 16. It’s written, for who, having heard, rebelled. Indeed, is it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now, with whom was he angry 40 years?
Speaker 2
Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. And so it’s interesting, if you look at this, there’s these words that always being matched up, four words rebellion, being matched to sin, being matched to disobedience, be matched to unbelief. So notice how we’re told that the Israelites had unbelief, they were sinning, and they had unbelief. Seems like a funny thing, right? To somehow associate unbelief with a group of people who saw God doing all the plagues against Egypt, parted the Red Sea, spoke on Mount Sinai. They even got to see him. They got to see the angels. And we’re saying these people had unbelief. How could that be? But remember, James tells us that even the angels know that God exists, or Satan. And the wicked angels, they know God exists. That’s not belief. James tells us in chapter two, verse 26, and I’m reading from the New Living translation. He writes, just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
Speaker 2
You don’t really have a living, real, genuine faith if it’s not resulting in works. Again, it’s not the works that save, but true faith that leads to salvation. Results in works will bear fruits of works. Ephesians two eight. We read this earlier, right? For grace, you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. So we always want to emphasize that we’re saved by grace through faith. But that faith that results, that truly leads unto salvation is the faith that will bear fruit. It’s not the fruit bearing that saves. And Jesus also says, Matthew 716, that you will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So if someone is refusing to be baptized, no way, I’m not going to get baptized. I know God wants me to do it, but I’m not going to do it. Can we really say that that person has been converted in their heart, that they really love Christ, that they really genuinely have that faith that saves? And so having seen these verses now that we just looked at, does it make more sense now when Peter says in one Peter 321, that the baptism saves not as the removal of filth from the flesh, but it is the answer of a good conscience towards God.
Speaker 2
That’s the heart. That’s the essence of baptism. So someone who is really convicted of sin and their need for Christ as a savior will be and probably look a lot like that Ethiopian eunuch who in Acts 835 to 38 said basically he gets a Bible study from Philip. And they’re going along the road and he sees some river going by, and he says, Philip, man, you’ll see, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Why can’t I get it baptized now? Can you baptize me now? And Philip says, if you believe with did you catch that? Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So verse 38 says, so he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he was baptized. That’s true faith. That’s true baptism in the water. And that’s what it looks like when salvation comes to a repentant sinner. So thank you again, Dorothy, for that great question. I hope that gives you more clarity. And Tina, do you have anything you would like to add to that or wendy?
Speaker 3
Sorry, go ahead. Okay. I couldn’t help but think, what’s something that would make sense to us today? That’s kind of the same thing. It’s a symbol. It doesn’t save us, but it isn’t the thing. But it is a thing, if that makes sense. So when I got married, my husband gave me a ring, and my ring doesn’t make me married. It is a symbol that I got into that marriage, that I committed to that marriage. And so people can wear a ring for whatever, and that doesn’t make them married. You know what I mean? It is that heartfelt commitment to that person that makes somebody married. And so I think baptism is very similar in that way, in that if we love this person, if we love God, we’re going to do an outward symbol showing the world that, yes, my heart has accepted this gift and has accepted this relationship with him, and I’m going to do an outward sign of it. Now, baptism, the act of it, like you’re saying it doesn’t save a person. Just like me wearing a wedding ring doesn’t make me married. It’s my heart commitment to the other person that makes me married.
Speaker 3
And if I refuse to wear the ring that my husband gave me, that’s also another outward sign of an inward problem. If my husband says, I’m married to you and I want you to be married to me, here’s this ring. And I say, yeah, I want to be married to you, but I don’t want to wear the ring, I don’t want anybody to know. I just feel uncomfortable. I don’t think it’s cute. Whatever dumb reason, there’s a problem, you know what I mean? So if that helps make a little bit more sense in your mind of something as far as just something we can relate this kind of to today, that’s kind of what came to my mind is just like I’m saying, like the wearing of a wedding ring. It’s an outward symbol, and it’s important, but it doesn’t make the commitment. It doesn’t make the relationship. So just like all the beautiful answer that you just shared with us. So yeah. Wendy, anything else?
Speaker 2
Great example.
Speaker 1
I was just going to share that my own journey reflected this a lot. When I came into the church, I didn’t want to be baptized initially because I didn’t want anything to do with any kind of membership or initiation or anything of any type of organization. I was just kind of opposed to it across the board with everything still.
Speaker 2
Kind of this way, though.
Speaker 1
So I was like I kind of just had this bit of a wall up against these kinds of things. But actually, God convicted me that it was his will, his desire for me to be baptized as a public acknowledgment, that I am his. And that superseded all of my own kind of barriers and walls, because I wanted that relationship with God more than anything else, and I wanted to strengthen that relationship more than anything else. And so the decision for baptism was about strengthening that relationship with God by following his ways and doing what he asked me to do and trusting Him, that this was his path and his way. And I have no regrets about it. I’m grateful to have taken that step. And I think baptism is a beautiful thing, that it is a sign of our commitment. It’s a public sign of our commitment to God.
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I think it’s like Jay was kind of act. We’re not saved by works. Baptism is an act. It’s a work. And just like keeping the commandments, that’s not going to save you, but keeping the commandments is a sign you have been saved. And so I think it’s very similar in that respect as well. So, yeah, I hope that helps make sense of things.
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In His Service
BibleAsk Team
