Giving an Answer

I once was talking to this dude named Blakey who told me that there's no excuse for going a month without blogging. Well, today is day 31, and I don't want the CBC to take away my blog, so I better get crackin'!

Lately the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to have many spiritual conversations that I didn't even actively seek for. The Lord sent them to me, much like he did with Christian. I have done my best to obey 1 Pet 3:15, and I can only pray that it has made an effect in conjunction, of course, with the Lord's grace in allowing me to live a life pleasing to Him.

What I want to do is something I've always wanted to do, which is study the Biblical examples of people who defended the faith, how they did it, and what we can learn from their example.

The first, I think, should be Paul, who was appointed by God to be a missionary to the Gentiles. Hey, that's me! Cool, whats the dude got to say?

I think that possibly one of the most common passages that pops up in Christian apologetics (along with 1 Pet 3:15; 2 Cor 10:5, and Col 2:8-9) is Romans 1:18-20 which says that

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

I'd say that's about as clear cut, inconsiderate, straightforward, offensive, and intolerant as it gets folks. No one is without excuse. I often hear people say, "If God existed, he would make it more obvious." This is a wake up call to those people. It IS obvious. The reason you don't believe is because you love your sin more than the truth. God has graciously given you a chance to turn from your ways and run to Him for forgiveness.

Of course, this is to be expected, since we are by nature sinful, do not understand, and do not seek after God (Rom 3:11). So what is a Christian to do? Give up on those filthy sinners? They can't understand anyways, so why bother? No, I don't think Paul would be happy with that. He shows us what his attitude was toward the unbelieving when he visited Athens and reasons with them...

"his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there." (Acts 17:16-17)

So Paul was a straight up street preacher who talked to anyone who would listen! There are a few distinctive traits concerning Paul's style of preaching.

1) He uses logic

Some people erroneously mistake using logic with "leaning on your own understanding" (cf. Pr. 3:5). Sound logic, however, is the wisdom of God, which we should strive for (Pr. 4:5)! For example: every time you read "therefore" in the Bible, the writer/speaker is appealing to logic. "your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore" (Acts 8:21-22). Peter here is telling Simon the magician that his heart is not right with God, so the appropriate, reasonable response is to repent. It naturally follows logically. X therefore Y. Your heart is not right, therefore repent. In Paul's example he uses this kind of logic to denounce idol worship. "We are the offspring of God," therefore "we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising" (29). There's that X therefore Y setup again. See how easy this is?

2) He engages the culture (but doesn't participate in it)

Paul, as he has a chance to speak publicly to a crowd (an example of open air evangelism), lets us know what he has done in preparation for this moment. He says, "I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship" (Acts 17:23). He got acquainted with the culture. He found out what was meaningful to these people. He also found a sort of discussion starter with the "Unknown God" idol, and proclaimed to them who that God is. They thought they might be missing something. Paul noticed this, and filled in the gap. That there is a God they do not know (23), but he can be known (24-26), wants to be known(27), and is not far(27).

3) He appeals to their authoritative texts

In a later verse, Paul reveals to us that he even knows something about their pagan writings! No, Paul would never spend time reading pagan books to see what they say so he can effectively use that as a witnessing tool to win many to Christ... would he? You bet he would, and you should too, within reason of course. Please understand that Paul quotes only one line of one pagan poet(28), uses one line to appeal to their desire to be religious(22) and uses the rest of the passage to proclaim Him who they "worship without knowing"(23). I'm not calling everyone everywhere to have a 1:1:8 ratio, but there is a principle here:

4) He keeps his focus on the gospel

He feeds them God's spiritual truth first and foremost, appealing both to their current status as "religious" people, an authoritative text, and logic to make his case persuasively.

What is his case for? It is but this: that "all men everywhere repent, because [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained." Did Paul preach a repent or burn message? Well... yes and no. Paul preaches repentance and judgment ("...repent, because... He will judge..."), but he doesn't couch it in the typical hellfire and brimstone terminology with hateful words and a condescending attitude that we typically associate with people who preach those things. Let's not lie to people. If someone never believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that person is not saved. That's the hard truth. This is naturally part of our message. But then again, let's not make the bad news our focus. The gospel is "good news" for a reason.

Paul takes a bit more friendly approach, yet without compromising the hard truths. He says that they are "in all things...very religious" (22) What's he doing here? He is using something important to them to lead into spiritual conversation. He is taking some part of their lives, their culture, and using it to connect to the gospel and preach the good news that men should repent because Christ has been crucified and risen.

Let's do the same.

Act with Knowledge

I fear there is a myth going around in Christian circles that Christians are not supposed to be intellectual. We aren’t supposed to question what we believe, because then God won’t like us, or something along those lines. We can’t be critical of the Bible, because for some things the answers are difficult. Well, besides the obvious verse 1 Pet 3:15, which says to “always be ready to give an account (a defense) for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect,” there are plenty of practical and biblical reasons for criticizing our own beliefs and relying on evidence and knowledge rather than simply having blind faith.

Before you do this, however, you have to ask yourself one thing: are you willing to go wherever the truth leads you, even if that means your beliefs (in this case, Christianity) is false?! Are you willing to do that? You must be willing. Besides, as Christians we are obligated to know the truth because “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

First off I would like to come straight out and say that if you hate knowledge you are a fool and the Bible agrees with me. “Fools hate knowledge” (Prov 1:22). Anyone who hates knowledge is not on a Biblical path, so don’t let anyone tell you not to do archaeology, or study the claims of the Bible, or explore contradictions in the Bible, or dig in to the original language, or consider perhaps an atheist’s argument against the existence of God. The truth has nothing to hide! It’s a wonder we Christians seem to run away from it so often. “With his mouth the godless man (atheist) would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered” (Prov 11:9).

In fact, I go so far as to say that those who dislike exercising their minds for God’s glory are not fearing Him: “They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Prov 1:29).

Secondly, I must clarify what I mean by the word “faith.” Some people think that it takes more faith to believe something you know little about. This definition of faith goes something like: a belief in spite of the evidence against said belief, or belief in spite of the lack of evidence for said belief. This is the wrong definition of faith. I might go so far as to say that this is the dead faith that James addresses in his epistle – a simple intellectual assent to an idea, no matter where the evidence points.

The faith I’m talking about is the kind of faith that James tries to encourage his readers to exhibit: the kind of faith that is reliance on or trust in something. For example, I have been putting faith in this chair for the last few hours to hold me up. I have no problem doing this, because I have had experience with it holding me up for such extended periods in the past. It’s not as if my faith in the chair diminishes with use. Just the opposite! My faith has been increased or, at the very least, confirmed. The same goes for God. The more we know about the reality of His existence and the more we have experienced His transforming power in our lives, the more we are certain of His actual, real presence in our lives, the more our faith increases! It’s not as if our faith in Him diminishes because we don’t need faith, we know. No, we have less trouble putting more faith in Him. It’s a beautiful thing. “…knowledge will be pleasant to your soul” (Prov 2:10).

Knowledge is actually an extremely valuable thing to the Lord. He commands us to guard it with our lips (Prov 5:2), to take it before choice gold (Prov 8:10), and if we are wise, to store lots of it (Prov 10:14). I wonder then why we have people saying things like “a god who can be proven to exist is not a god worth proving.” This is a common quote I’ve heard before, though I don’t know the original coiner. But think about it. If God can’t be proven to exist, then there is no foundation for the opening chapter of Romans which states that simply because the heavens exist, men are without excuse. Sounds like Paul thinks proving God is fairly easy to do! Yes, that means even the random aborigine tribe in the middle of a remote jungle in Africa is responsible for knowing some truth about Him, because His existence is that obvious… Of course, I by no means am saying that everyone will believe He exists. Men’s hearts are hard towards the things of God (Jer 17:9), and will often refuse to accept the obvious, logical implications of simply being alive in this amazing world that we’re in.

When we make decisions in life, they are calculated. We weigh pro’s and con’s, we examine the evidence and come to a conclusion based on a mess of inputs, yet with eternal things we are supposed to accept blindly what some book says? I think not. That is not a Christian value. That is a Mormon value. Instead, the Bible says “in everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly” (Prov 13:6).

I hope I have made a strong case for the importance of knowledge in the Christian life. I have some new dorm mates here at Stanford who are churchgoers who say that it’s impossible to know whether God exists or not. Forgive me, but what is the point of worshiping something you aren’t even sure exists? We don’t worship a false, dead, deaf God, but a living one. He actually exists. This isn’t just tradition. It isn’t a formality. It isn’t a matter of preference. The Christian life is about living in right relationship with God who is really here, not just an abstract concept in our heads.

Well, time to sign off. Perhaps next time I’ll post a few of the most commonly offered proofs/evidences for the existence of God. Until then, enjoy life with the Lord.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3).

An Encouraging Witnessing Experience

Today I was reading more of Mark Cahill’s book One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven. The great thing about this book is that it is almost hard to read even though there are so many awesome stories, because it compels you to get out there and witness to lost people right away! There is even a line in the book that says: “Go means ‘do not stay.’ It means put this book down, get up, and go bring the good news of Jesus to every person you can find in our lost and dying world” (170). Well that was convicting to say the least! So that’s what I ended up doing! Except in my typical fallen fashion I was pretty reluctant to talk to anyone.

I went to the Starbucks on Homestead and Hollenbeck, knowing that that is popular hang out spot for kids who go to Homestead High – perhaps I’d be able to talk to one of them! Well, as the Lord would have it, everyone there was Asian and speaking a different language. Not that I have anything against Asians, I just get really uncomfortable around people who are jabbering in a language I can’t understand. So I ordered a Strawberries and Crème, grabbed a newspaper, and started doing a crossword puzzle. After about 15 minutes I realized I was doing horribly and that probably even the answers I had down were mostly wrong, so I ditched that for some Sudoku. All the while I’m planning on ‘getting stuck’ somewhere and asking someone for ‘help’ in order to start a conversation with them. Everyone was so busy talking to other people or coming in and out so quickly that an opportunity never seemed to open up, though. I prayed that God would make me bold and allow me to have a conversation with someone in there; I was already feeling guilty for not starting one with anybody.

Lo and behold, a quarter of the way into my game a Mexican boy came into the shop and walked right toward me on the soft chair. He stood next to me, looked at me, and smiled. I noticed this and looked up at him.

“Hi,” I said.
“Hi!” he replied, sitting on the other soft chair adjacent to mine.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Good, good,” he said – a typical answer, even from people I know well. He then returned the question.
“I’m fine. What’s your name?” I asked, wanting to start a more personal conversation.
“Christian,” he said.

I couldn’t believe it! Some random kid came up to me and said hello evidently because I looked like one of his friends and he wanted to borrow some money. And his name was Christian! Talk about a conversation starter! I was too afraid to start a conversation with someone, so God sent someone to start a conversation with me! It was amazing. After a few minutes of small talk, I tried to transition to eternal things by mentioning the extremely recent and sudden death of Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. I wasn’t able to control the conversation well, however, and we got off topic. He ended up asking me, though, if he could ask a ‘personal question.’

I thought, “Are you kidding me?” I half suspected this kid would start witnessing to ME! Sadly, though, his question proved my suspicion wrong, and instead bolstered my other suspicion: he needed Christ in his life.

After the conversation came to a dead point, I said, “Now that you have asked me a personal question, may I ask you one.” He was most definitely open to talking to me at this point. I had already found out more about his life and his friend John’s life than anyone should know about another person within the first 10 minutes of meeting them. I asked him if he were to die today where he would go. The sparked the rest of our 40 minute conversation during which they accidentally missed two busses! I felt a little bad for holding them up, but I knew they needed to hear what I had to say.

During that time we talked about everything from the Ten Commandments, to how to get into heaven, to suicide, to holy water, to the reliability of Scripture, to dragons. It was a fairly good conversation, and I was glad I got to explain to them that they couldn’t be good enough for God, that they needed something else (Being a pretty good person is the most common reason people give for their justification of entering heaven). I had to explain that even committing one sin was enough to keep you out of heaven; in fact it’s like breaking all of the Law (James 2:10)! Christian was actually quite knowledgeable about the Bible, nodding whenever I quoted verses as if he recognized them and mentioning things he’d heard were said in it – even some pretty obscure things. I really enjoyed talking to him and was hopeful that he would understand and believe – he seemed close to the kingdom. He noticed my enthusiasm and asked me at one point during the conversation if I was an angel!

That would be the third time my proverbial jaw dropped during this conversation (but only in my mind). He also mentioned that there was something about me that just reflected some sort of angelic presence. “When I look at you,” he said, “I see ‘pure.’ But when I look at you,” turning to face his friend, “I see ‘death.’” Jaw-drop-session number four! You know when Jesus talked about being a light to the world, He wasn’t joking around (Matt 5:13-16). This became incredibly obvious the moment Christian said that. The kid could sense a huge difference between us simply because the stark contrast between his friend and me. His friend was into drinking and getting high; I was trying to show him I cared about the things of the Lord and his eternal soul. He noticed, and I am confident that he saw exactly what Jesus promised the world would see in us – light.

It felt like the conversation was over far too quickly, and I was tempted to beat myself up for not saying more, but I realized that God had set up their time to come into my life, and that meant he was also setting up a time for them to leave it. I thanked the Lord for the opportunity to talk to these Homestead High kids. It seemed as if the Lord had been working on Christian’s heart a little – I was able to give him the address and directions to FBLA, which he expressed an interest in attending almost as soon as we started talking! I pray that I will have the chance to see Christian again, if not both of them. If that doesn’t happen, though, I can rest in the fact that I planted a seed, and God will be faithful to provide the increase if He so desires.

I hope this story encourages you to get out there and be bold to share your faith with others, especially when God practically plops them right in your lap like He did for me today! It doesn’t take much, and the only time you’ll regret it is when you don’t do it! So get out there and evangelize the lost! They’re all waiting to hear from us.

One thing I would have done differently had I been able was to have tracts ready to hand out. Since they were asking for money, I could easily have had those money tracts and simply said something like this: “You need 25 cents? How about a million dollars and 25 cents!” and then hand them a ‘million dollar tract’ with the real quarter that they’re looking for. That is always fun. We had a few in Colorado and we’d slip them in as tips when the workers weren’t looking. Tracts are a great way to get the truth out to people when you don’t have a ton of time to start a 40-minute conversation with them like I did.
Some good tracts can be found at www.livingwaters.com. My personal favorites are the million dollar ones and the “IQ Test” ones – 100 tracts for 5 dollars. That literally means you’re giving out five-cent pieces of paper with the priceless gospel message on each of them. Everyone wants money and to prove that they’re smart, so it’s a good way to tie in biblical, eternal, salvation truth to the things that people seem to want most.

Another Encounter with the Mormons

Two days ago I went on a crazy adventure. Jose and I piled into my car at about 9:30 am and trekked two and a half hours to Sacramento where a brand new Mormon Temple was being opened. For those who know nothing about mormon temples, they are completely off limits to the public, only after they're dedicated. So for two weeks they have an open house where they show off a bunch of the rooms inside. They advertise the whole temple to be open, but Jose and I both noticed at least one room that was completely blocked off that we never saw the inside of. I also heard stories about people asking about off limits rooms. The tour guides responded that they "didnt know" what the rooms were. Fat chance.

The temple is extremely beautiful, clean, and honored. It is considered sacred by the Mormons, as it is the literal dwelling place of God (That's interesting, I thought our bodies were God's temples?) Before actually taking a tour, we saw a video presentation about what is inside the temple, and some of the doctrines the Mormon church has concerning the temple practices. The movie was quite moving indeed - emotionally satisfying to most I'm sure.

That is, after all, the primary basis of the Mormon church's validity: the emotional satisfaction and assurance you get from praying about the truth of the Book of Mormon and receiving a testimony of the Holy Spirit. I'll be honest. This is all incredibly annoying.

I truly feel sorry for anyone getting duped by the Mormon church and everything it has to say. I don't mean to be condescending; I am simply disturbed by all the false teachings it puts forward, the false gods, the false Jesus, the false testimony. It is all completely convincing too! In fact, if I weren't a Christian with a knowledge of the truth, I honestly may have fallen into the trap myself. The whole production was well put together, the people were nice and excited, and the movie blended almost seamlessly the things everyone wants to hear with a little bit of religious practice involved to give the illusion of being spiritual. It is extremely family oriented too. They are all for that ideal fantasy of happily ever after - extending it even to eternity in heaven!

One speaker in the video even said, "heaven wouldn't be heaven without my wife and kids. And you may think thats wishful thinking, but for me..." etc., etc.

Wow. Just, wow. I wasn't sure what to do with myself after that. I was so stunned in fact that I missed the discreet reference to Heavenly Fathers (yes, plural) that Jose was able to catch. Man... what happened to loving Jesus first and foremost? Even hating your closest relatives and self in comparison (Luke 14:26)! What happened to considered EVERYTHING loss when compared with knowing Christ, suffering loss of all in order to gain Christ (Phil 3:7-8). Indeed, an especially sharp LDS member may read this and say, "Hey! you're taking that out of context! Paul is counting his works as rubbish, losing his leadership among the Jews to gain Christ." Yes, that is true, but the principle of Christ-high-above-all-else still stands, as does Luke 14:26. Not to mention the fact that Pauls exclamation completely destroyes the Mormons' idea of works-salvation. Why do you have to keep all the commandments in order to be saved if Paul considered following the law rubbish compared with knowing Christ? I have no idea!

The most common way a Mormon defends the truthfulness of his position is the "testimony" he has, which basically comes down to a "burning in one's bosom" or "feeling of assurance." These are all, of course, inadequate in discerning truth. The Bereans were commended for searching the SCRIPTURES to test PAUL, not their own hearts. Besides, "the heart of man is desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). I quoted this to one of the Mormons who insisted that I wasnt that evil and she immediately ended the conversation. Amazing, Mormons don't like to hear God's word preached truthfully. Sadly, neither do some Christians, and they should be totally and utterly ashamed. I cannot express how shameful and ridiculous it is for a Christian to not want to hear God's word. Does that even make sense? It almost makes me want to puke. But before you tell me that's "just a feeling," let me say that my feelings coincide with what God's word says, and THAT is why they're right, not the other way around as the Mormon church will tell you. Read Psalm 119 and it will become dreadfully obvious the importance of the role of God's Word in the Christians life, and the love with which the Christian cherishes said word.

Ok hopefully my tirade is ended. We'll see; I might slip into another; I can get pretty excited about these things. The fact is this, we(Christians) believe in that which is true, sound, and logical. It is historically verifiable to a reasonable extent. That is of course when referring to historically verifiable things. Events such as the virgin birth, Jesus walking on water, etc etc are not verifiable outside of eyewitness accounts, all of which we have in the Bible. Other things however such as coins referenced, livestock, plants, technology, wars, cities, and so forth, are all verifiable. The Mormon position is not so. Concerning coins, none have been found. Concerning technology, there are no traces of such an advanced civilization. Considering civilization in general, there is absolutely no trace - No, none, whatsoever, nothing - of large civilations such as the Nephites or Lamanites running around America having a jolly old time for a thousand years. There is a pivotal hill mentioned in the Book of Mormon, the location of which is actually known. Guess who owns it? Mormons! Guess who could dig it up and prove their stories of millions of people dying in one battle? Mormons! Guess who refuses to commence archaeological study on said hill! Mormons! Granted, not all mormons should be held responsible, but when leadership in your church refuses to take an excellent opportunity to add credibility to the faith, you must wonder why. I'll tell you why. They won't find anything. Out of the little they've done, they havent found anything, and they arent going to start again because it would be a terrible embarassment to the church. I sympathize. I wouldnt want to dig up a hill if I was fairly certain it would refute everything I put my faith in. No one wants to be disappointed like that.

The Bible however has the reputation of being historically verifiable. In fact, the Bible is even sometimes used as a guide in archaeology because of its demonstrated trustworthiness! Sounds like it has a much better track record than "the most correct book on the face of the earth." It is representative of real peoples and places, a book of plain, historic fact, communicated through contemporaries of the day. To them it wasnt history. There was no mystery. That's why they didnt get anything wrong. (That and they were inspired, which helps a little bit too ;-) ). Contrast that with Joseph Smith's book which popped out of nowhere getting almost everything wrong that he possibly could. I daresay it is a disgrace to man's God-given intellect. There's a fine line between things we don't understand, or take by faith, and those things that are clearly made up by a young man with an overactive imagination and a knack for wooing people.

We have certainty in what we trust in, not based on a feeling or what some nice person told us, but on the historicity of the pivotal event. The most important event in history is Christ's physical resurrection which actually happened in real time-space history. It actually happened, and the trustworthiness of the people telling the story can be verified, to a certain extent (Of course, anyone who doesnt want to be convinced by the evidence, wont be convinced by the evidence). Nevertheless, our faith is based on evidence. It is not blind, as some say it should be.

I love my Lord. Good thing He actually exists.

Baptism

Well… in my usual inconsiderate form I have written a book on baptism. This post is 3.5 pages long, single-spaced, 12 Point Times in Word with 1 inch margins (not including the list of verses at the end). That’s not for bragging purposes, but just to warn you: if you are the kind of person that can’t stop once they’ve started, make sure you have a little bit of time set aside! Otherwise, I think I’ll just use this post as a reference to give people when they ask me of my views on baptism!

I do not have time to address each verse (of which there are approximately 50 addressing baptism), but I will address the main issues people seem to have concerning baptism. There are, I think, four main questions raised. First, how should one be baptized? Second, who should be baptized? Third, in who’s name is it to be administered? Fourth, does it play any part in a person’s salvation?

First, how should one be baptized?

To answer the first question, it is extremely important to note that the Greek word for baptism is “baptisma” which literally means “immersion.” Having studied baptism (albeit, not extensively) I find no evidence whatsoever to support any other method or example of baptism by anything but submersion. There are, however, examples of submersion where the author wrote his account in enough detail to mention it. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism, he says “Jesus came up immediately out of the water,” implying of course that He had been in the water during the baptism. In the account in Acts 8 when Philip baptizes the Ethiopian, it says, “When they came out of the water” perhaps implying that Philip also went all the way into the water! Simply stated, I don’t know of any argument from scripture for any other method of baptism.

Second, who should be baptized?

People who have professed faith in Jesus Christ, that is, people who have demonstrated and articulated an understanding of true saving faith should be baptized. The Ethiopian asked to be baptized after having the Scriptures explained to him. Twelve men whose names are unknown were baptized a second time (they were first baptized under John) after hearing the gospel from Paul. There isn’t any required waiting time (or even suggested!) between the time someone professes faith in Jesus Christ and when they should be baptized. Every example of baptism I know of is almost immediately after hearing and professing faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the easiest way Christians can begin obeying their Lord. I would be wary of someone who professes faith in Christ and refuses to be baptized. I was that person once, and the reason I did not want to be baptized was because I didn’t want to obey Jesus’ commands, hiding behind the fact that we don’t have to work to be saved. Does a person opposed to following the commands of his Lord sound like a Christian to you? I didn’t think so.

In addressing this question, I hope that the issue of infant baptism has been covered. If the infant has expressed an understanding of Biblical salvation and professes to accept it, then sure, baptize him! Otherwise, wait until he can appreciate its significance and chooses it for himself. Don’t give him any reason in the future for a false sense of security, and don’t be so naïve as a parent to think that since a pastor got him wet in a church in front of people that his fate is somehow sealed. Doesn’t work like that.

Third question, in whose name are we to be baptized?

This is a particularly annoying question to debate those who believe it is strictly “in Jesus name.” After all, every example of baptism in the Bible is in the name of the Lord Jesus. Personally, I think this is a needless hairsplitting distinction, and I’ll explain why. When we do something “in the name of Jesus,” what do we mean? We are saying that we do it in His authority. Now, how did Jesus say we are supposed to baptize? In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, when I say that we should be baptized as Jesus commanded us to be baptized, I am challenged to find one example of this happening. However, I hope we can see the error in this. If no one ever followed God’s command, does that mean that we are therefore not supposed to follow his command? I’m not sure how anyone in his right mind could come to that conclusion, but people do. Anyways, it’s a foolish distinction as I said, because the authority of the Son is not different than that of the other persons of the Trinity. This is because each member of the trinity is equally God with the other two. It can also be concluded from the verse in Matthew 28, since the word “name” is actually singular in the Greek. It does not read, in the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in the name. They are one God, and one authority.

The troubling thing about discussing this issue with those who distinguish these two baptisms is that, in my experience, they do not believe anyone baptized any other way is saved! I’ve been told that I'm unregenerate because I was baptized the way Jesus commanded to baptize. They join the apostolic examples of baptism with their erroneous view of salvation and Eph 2:5, which says we have one baptism, thereby assuming that since I was not baptized into the same baptism, I am not within the circle of believers. Now if that dumbfounds you, join the club.

Fourth, and most importantly, does baptism play a part in salvation?

It absolutely does not play any part in justification of the believer.

It is of course important to offer a positive reason for my own position that baptism plays no part in salvation in order to justify my interpretation of certain verses. The best way to do this is provide an example of someone being baptized after being saved, proving conclusively that baptism is not necessary for salvation (although all people saved should do what they can to be baptized). Acts 10:47 is that verse: “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So the Gentiles of whom Peter speaks received the Holy Spirit before being baptized. This absolutely demolishes the idea that baptism can be a part of our salvation. Couple that with the multiplicity of other verses in the Bible which are clear we cannot work for salvation, but are justified by faith and saved by grace only, and you have no excuse to hold to the heretical idea that we are saved by anything we do, or have done to us for that matter (Eph 2:8-9, Rom 5:1, Gal 3:2, 2 Tim 1:9, etc.). The list goes on for quite some time I assure you.

Most people that try to argue for cleansing of sin via baptism use Acts 2:38, John 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 22:16, and Mark 16:16. Before I start, however, I must mention another thing to note when studying this topic: “baptisma” does not always refer to water baptism. In fact, especially in the context of John the Baptist, a baptism of the Holy Spirit is mentioned (Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, Jn 1:33, Acts 1:5, Acts 11:16). There is also a baptism into Christ (Rom 6:3), a baptism by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13), a baptism by fire (Lk 3:16, related somehow to the baptism of the Spirit), baptism into death (Rom 6:4), etc. It is clear that the word “baptisma” could be used liberally with reference to “immersion” in anything, not strictly physical water (though that does seem to be the most common usage).

Now, let’s address these verses. The easiest to explain is 1 Peter 3:21, which is used because it says, “baptism now saves us.” The thing here is context. In fact, this is the weakest verse to use in favor of baptism playing a part in salvation because Peter bends over backwards to prove that water baptism isn’t what he’s talking about! Let’s post the whole verse from the NKJV: “There is also an antitype which now saves us – baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” It should be painfully clear here that Peter isn’t talking about physical baptism.

The next verse to be explained is Mk 16:16. Now, besides the textual problem with the end of Mark (Mark probably did not write any of the verses after 8), I am not convinced that this proves baptism is necessary for salvation. The text reads that all “who believe and are baptized will be saved.” So let me ask you, if someone believes and reads the Bible daily, will he be saved? Or if someone believes and goes to church, will he be saved? The answer is yes. But does reading the Bible or going to church play any part in justifying you before God? No, of course not. Our works are as filthy rags (Is 64:6). It is the believing that saves, the baptism is a commandment of God to be followed, not relied on for salvation. And if we look at the end of Mark 16:16, what characterizes those who are condemned? Unbelief. So the believing is the concentration here, not baptism. Couple this with the textual dilemma and Mark 16:16 is a weak source indeed from which to attempt to support baptism for salvation.

John 3:5 is also fairly easy to explain. Again, context is key. It reads “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Wait, that doesn’t say anything about baptism!” Yea… that’s what I think every time anyone points me to this verse! They erroneously interpret “water” as a reference to baptism based on their erroneous presupposition! Water carries no such strict defintion in the Bible. The following is my interpretation of the passage. Since the context is Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus on being born again, and Nicodemus mentions grown men entering their mother’s wombs, it’s obvious to me that Jesus is clearing up what it means to be born the second time. He’s saying, “Nicodemus, you don’t get it. You have to born physically [water] and spiritually [Spirit], not physically a second time!” The water here is talking about the water of the womb. There are other interpretations to what is meant by water, namely that of John MacArthur, who I greatly respect, who interprets it as a need for spiritual cleansing; however, in light of the rest of scripture, baptism cannot and should not be forced into this verse.

Next comes Acts 22:16, where Paul is recounting the story of his journey to Damascus. He recalls that Ananias says “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” To me it seems like the grammatical order of the words connects “wash away your sins” with “calling on the name of the Lord” rather than with “be baptized.” However, since English translations often add commas and order words based on interpretation, such an argument is admittedly weak. So I grab my handy dandy Greek-English Bible and read straight from the original language! Upon reading it, I find that the rendering in the NKJV is accurate, and washing away one’s sins is connected with “invoking the name of God.”

The final and, frankly, most troubling verse on baptism is Acts 2:38: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Without a solid understanding of salvation as taught throughout the rest of scripture (i.e. by grace through faith, not of works – Eph 2:8-9), it would be easy to assume that we need to get baptized in order to be saved. But with proper guidance from those who know the nuances of Greek (ex. John MacArthur via the MacArthur Study Bible or Matt Slick via www.carm.org!), we can see that better translations might render “because of the forgiveness of sins” (MacArthur) or “for the purpose of identifying yourself with the forgiveness of sins” (Slick). Understanding the verse in this light would then remove any implication that baptism has anything more to do with forgiveness than as an outward picture of an inward reality.

We need to stop trying to play a part in salvation. This comes only from our selfish desire to contribute to the grace of God, to somehow feel needed or important, neither of which describe us lowly human beings. Quite frankly, we need to get over ourselves. As Christ said, we need to die to ourselves. We need to stop putting our actions up on a pedestal and start seeing ourselves for what we are, cesspools of wickedness and sacs of sin that God through His Son Jesus Christ has decided to graciously redeem and transform into the likeness and image of Jesus. All glory belongs to Him and Him alone.

A list here is provided of all the verses I could find that mention baptism of some kind.

Mt 3:6 – John is baptizing
Mt 3:11 – baptize unto repentance
Mt 3:13 – Jesus desires to be baptized by John
Mt 3:16 – Jesus completes his baptism
Mt 21:25 – Jesus talks with Pharisees about the baptism that John performed
Mt 28:19 – baptize in the name of the father son holy spirit
Mk 1:4 – a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
Mk 1:8 – John baptizes with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit
Mk 10:39 – With Jesus’ baptism, James and John will be baptized
Mk 16:16 – Those who believe and are baptized will be saved
Lk 3:3 – baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
Lk 3:16 – John baptizes with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire
Lk 7:29 – tax collectors proclaim John’s baptism righteous
Jn 1:26 – John baptizes with water
Jn 1:31 – John baptizes with water
Jn 1:33 – John baptizes with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit
Jn 3:22 – Jesus baptized people
Jn 3:23 – John was baptizing
Jn 3:26 – John testified that Jesus was baptizing and people were coming to Him
Jn 4:1 – the Pharisees hear that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
Jn 4:2 – Jesus did not physically do the baptizing, but his disciples did
Acts 1:5 – John baptized with water, the apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:38 – repent and be baptized for the remission of sins
Acts 8:12 – both men and women are baptized
Acts 8:13 – Simon the sorcerer is baptized
Acts 8:16 – People who had been baptized in Jesus’ name had not received the Holy Spirit
Acts 9:18 – Saul is baptized
Acts 10:47 – Peter says that these who have received the Holy Spirit should be baptized
Acts 10:48 – Peter commands that Christians be baptized in the name of the Lord
Acts 11:16 – John baptized with water, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit
Acts 16:15 – Lydia is baptized
Acts 18:25 – Apollos only knows the baptism of John
Acts 19:3 – About 12 men say that they were baptized in John’s baptism
Acts 19:4 – John baptized them with a baptism of repentance
Acts 19:5 – They get baptized in the name of the Lord
Acts 22:16 – Ananias commands Saul to arise and be baptized, and wash away his sins
Rom 6:3 – People baptized into Christ Jesus baptized into his death
Rom 6:4 – buried with Christ through baptism into death
1 Cor 1:13 – “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
1 Cor 1:17 – Christ sent Paul not to baptize, but to preach the gospel
1 Cor 12:13 – Christians baptized by one Spirit into one body
1 Cor 15:29 – Paul mentions people being baptized for the dead
Gal 3:27 – As many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ
Eph 4:5 – one Lord, one faith, one baptism
Col 2:12 – buried with Christ in baptism
1 Pet 3:21 – baptism now saves us