My first series post will focus on several issues of faith. These are things that I have been thinking about for some time now, and I just can’t seem to except any of the answers that have been given to me. The topics that I want to discuss are as follows: Baptism, veneration and a proper respect of the Virgin and Christ’ Saints, Speaking in Tongues: what it is and what it isn’t, the Papacy and Apostolic succession, Who can get saved: Calvinism vs. Free will, and finally I would like to look at history of the Protestant Church: where did the Baptist come from?
My thoughts on these topics are wide ranging, some of them are very Catholic or Orthodox (note, I will always try distinguish between the two) and others are straight up from the SBC Handbook. As always, please feel free to disagree with me, I am asking you to help me hammer out these issues all responses and opinions are welcome but realize that they are all up for debate, in other words, don’t take it personal if I don’t convert to your view. I am trying to keep my thoughts on these issues as Biblically sound as possible, but I am also taking into consideration Sacred Tradition of the Church and logical thought.
Onto my first topic…Baptism. Baptism has always been a tricky issue for me, on the one hand, I am inclined to believe what I have always been taught, that Baptism is a sign of the believer. That while it is not necessary for salvation, it is commanded by Christ and is a sign of the believer’s faith. I am not talking about a “baptism of the Spirit” but I am talking about the physical dunking/sprinkling/triple emersion/ pouring dirt on somebody act of Baptism as seen in the Church today and throughout history.
I started out looking at the topic of Baptism by doing a search at the following web site (http://www.biblebb.com/files/tniv/BAPTISM1.TXT ) it brought up all the verses that mention Baptism in the Bible. I went through them, and categorized them into “Required for Salvation” “Not required for salvation” and “not relevant to the issue”. My results are as follows:
-There are 27* verses that would appear to make Baptism a requirement for salvation.
(John 3:5, Acts 2:38, 1Cor 12:13, Mat 3:6, Mat 3:11, Mat 28:19, Mat 21:25, Mar 1:4-5, MAR 16:16, Luke 7:29-30, John 3:22, ACTS 2:41, ACTS 8:12, Acts 6:15, Acts 18:8, Acts 19:3-5, Acts 22:16, ROM 6:3-4, 1Cor 15:29, GAL 3:27, EPH 4:5, COL 2:12)
-There are 10* verses that make it sound as though it is not required for salvation.
(Acts 10:47, Mark 16:16, JOH 1:25-26 + 31, Acts 8:36, Acts 9:18, Acts 16:15+33, 1 Cor 1:17)
*Note that there are 2 or 3 references that can be interpreted each way, and were counted in both of them.
As for the verses that were listed in the “not relevant” category, I did not keep track of them they were mostly either talking about Spirit Baptism or “So and so dunked what’s his face” type verses.
Nearly 3 to 1 verses that is a pretty big difference. However, please note that these verses that say “yes” are saying either that it is necessary or that it should not be separated from the “moment” of salvation. One cannot argue that the scriptures show that Baptism is for the remission of sins, that it “wipes away” your sins, but is it necessary for salvation? We see in Acts that there were believers who had received the Holy Spirit (a sing of salvation) but had not been Baptized. Is the remission of sins salvation?
Now, onto the next part of Baptism, some people say that Baptism is “just a good idea” that you do not have to do it. These people are wrong, Baptism in ALL these verses is commanded. Nowhere in scripture is Baptism an option, there were no non-baptized believers in the Scriptures. The ones who were not Baptized when they received the Holy Spirit were Baptized as soon as they had the option to.
Which brings me to my final thought on this topic, Baptism as a commanded sign of ones salvation. Many of the verses that we see that would correlate Baptism and salvation could be used to justify this view. There was no separation between “salvation” and Baptism. We are commanded to “make disciples and baptize them”.
So, I cannot seem to come to a conclusion on this… on the one hand there is good evidence that it is necessary for salvation, but on the other hand there is evidence that it is commanded and therefore not optional…So I ask you, what do you think….
~Trevor
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2 comments:
dude... this was really good and pretty intense... now i can't say much, because I haven't been baptized yet. I really want to be baptized, but I'm hoping my brother would make his decision cause my parents want us both going at the same time... but I must say this has really opened my eyes to be baptized, cause at first I thought it was necessary because Jesus was baptized. Then I've heard people say its a good ida, but you don't have to do it.. So I think we all should.. Salvation however; is when you receive the Lord as our personal Lord and Savior. What most people call, "The Sinners Prayer" Once you do that, then it is important to be baptized.... so I think it is important and its not an option.. but I really liked this man... it really caught my attention
But the "sinner's prayer" is nowhere found in the scriptures! The scriptures merely tell us to "repent" (and you can tack on "Be baptized" because the two usually follow each other). Johnny Hunt will even tell you that the prayer does nothing, it's a heart change, Salvation comes when you repent. I'm glad this got you thinking, Im just wondering where the "buisness end" of salvation is..it would seem as though the two are connected it's never just "repent" or just "be baptized" the two are always together....
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