The Plan of Salvation: Be Baptized I. Introduction A. We have been examining the God's plan of salvation as demonstrated in the Bible 1. Hear, believe, confess, repent, be baptized, and be obedient B. We have already examined the first four: hear, believe, confess, repent 1. We saw that it is necessary to hear the Gospel in order to accept its message and be obedient, and for people to hear, there must be a presentation of the Gospel, and someone to preach it 2. We saw that we are to be the ones to preach the Gospel to others 3. We also saw that "to believe" was to give mental assent to Jesus and to trust Him, but that belief-- faith-- demands obedience and following the standard of the One trusted 4. We saw that confession was proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, both by our mouths and also in our deeds 5. We recognized that repentance was the expression of sorrow for past sins, but also a complete change of mind, the mental determination to no longer walk in the futility of the past but to strive to do what is right C. Let us now continue our examination with the need to be baptized to be saved II. The Necessity of Baptism A. The Scriptures widely attest to the need for baptism B. Matthew 28:18-20 1. As Jesus commissions the disciples to go out and preach the Gospel, He commands them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 2. Such is part of the process of "making disciples" C. Mark 16:16 1. Jesus demonstrates that the one who believes and is baptized is the one who will be saved 2. Those who do not believe will be condemned D. Acts 2:38 1. As Peter responds to the Jews on Pentecost, he commands them to repent and be baptized 2. The purpose of their baptism was for the remission of their sin E. Acts 8:35-39 1. An example of a conversion and baptism 2. Note that Philip "preached Jesus" to the eunuch, and the eunuch's response was the desire to be baptized, demonstrating that baptism was part of "preaching Jesus" to the eunuch F. Romans 6:3-7 1. Paul explains to the Romans the nature of baptism 2. Baptism as uniting us with Christ in His death and resurrection G. 1 Peter 3:21 1. Explicit association between baptism and salvation 2. Demonstration of baptism as not a bath but an appeal to God for cleansing H. It is manifest from the Scriptures, then, that baptism is necessary for salvation 1. It is good to dig into the Scriptures to determine the nature of baptism 2. What exactly is baptism, and why is it commanded? III. The Nature of Baptism A. Let us spend some time examining the nature of baptism according to the Scriptures B. Who is baptized? 1. We see from the example of the Scriptures that those who believed in the message of Christ were the ones who were baptized 2. Mark 16:16: baptism as the natural consequence of belief 3. We see no indication from the Scriptures that infants or anyone who was not capable of belief were baptized or needed baptism 4. After all, if baptism is for the remission of sin, there must be knowledge of sin in order to require baptism to remit it! C. What is baptism? 1. There is much confusion in the religious world about what baptism is 2. "Baptism" is the transliterated Greek word baptizmo, which means "to immerse" 3. The word has been intentionally transliterated and not translated so as to cover for those who would sprinkle water or pour water and consider such to be a "baptism" 4. Baptizo, however, has no indication in it of sprinkling or pouring, but means immersion D. Into what are we baptized? 1. There are many who make much of the "baptism in the Holy Spirit," and profess that such is the baptism of the New Testament 2. An exhaustive study, which perhaps we will do in detail at another time, can help us understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit 3. In short, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is only seen twice in the New Testament, first on Pentecost in Acts 2, and then with the conversion of Cornelius and his men in Acts 10-11 4. In both instances, God worked miraculously in dispensing the Holy Spirit, and both served a prophetic and demonstrative purpose! 5. Yet we see constantly in the New Testament that the "baptism" so often spoken of was done by people, and done in water (cf. Acts 10:47, 1 Peter 3:21) 6. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit was normally done by the laying on of hands, and that after baptism (cf. Acts 8:14-16, Acts 19:1-6) 7. The "one baptism" of the New Testament (cf. Ephesians 4:5), then, is immersion in water! E. Why are we baptized? 1. Baptism has also been "sacramentalized" in Christian terminology, and it distracts from the idea and purpose of the idea a. people seem to elevate any "baptism" as a religiously significant idea b. no one would ever call their daily bath a baptism, or that by washing their clothes that they were baptizing them, or any such thing! 2. In the New Testament, while baptizo was most often used in religious contexts, it need not be: it simply denoted an immersion 3. 1 Peter 3:21: Peter here affirms what baptism is not: it is not a bath a. by demonstrating such, Peter also affirms that for baptism to be valid, it must be an immersion along with the right purpose for the immersion b. any "baptism" for any other purpose is simply someone getting wet! 4. Acts 2:38 and 1 Peter 3:21 demonstrate the purpose of baptism: to receive the remission of sin, to make the appeal to God through the death and resurrection of Christ to have a clean conscience a. it is not the dipping in water, then, that brings salvation! b. it is that one submits to baptism as an appeal to God to have all past sins removed c. it is then on the basis of that obedient faith and the acts that go along with it that God remits the sin of the one being baptized through the blood of Christ! F. What is the import of baptism? 1. Baptism is of great significance, for it represents the point at which one can properly be called a Christian a. it is at the point of baptism that one has finally removed all obstacles from association with God b. at belief and confession, one still has not changed one's mind about sin or had past sins removed c. at repentance, while there is the intent to change future behavior, past sins still remain d. baptism provides the remission of that sin, and therefore is the point at which the believer is initially justified and sanctified! 2. Romans 6:3-7: Paul speaks of this in terms of Christ's death and resurrection a. baptism is how we share in Christ's death and resurrection b. it allows us to put to death the man of sin and rise to walk in newness of life c. such proves what was just said: baptism is the point at which all previous burdens are lifted, and one is able to be a new man without hindrance! 3. It should be mentioned, of course, that baptism is the beginning of that walk, and is not the summation of salvation a. baptism is not an end, but a beginning! b. continued obedience is still required 4. Baptism is the point at which one enters the Church of Christ, and ought to associate with a local congregation of God's people a. Acts 2:41, 47 (KJV): God added to the church those who were being saved b. We see in every instance that those who are redeemed associate together with other such persons in their community as the local church, and we have no examples to the contrary! G. We can see, then, that baptism is significant and necessary, being the immersion in water for the remission of sin H. Without baptism, how can it be said that we have remission of sin? And if there is no remission of sin, how can one have any form of association with God (cf. Isaiah 59:1)? I. Despite the clarity of the Scriptures in these matters, there are many who advance arguments attempting to deny the necessity of baptism J. Let us examine the most popular of these arguments now IV. Arguments Regarding Baptism A. Argument #1: The Thief on the Cross 1. In Luke 23:40-43, Jesus establishes that the repentant thief will be with Him in Paradise that day, yet he was not baptized! 2. Yet the new covenant was not inaugurated while Jesus was on the cross, nor even when He was dead-- it was necessary for Him to be raised and sit at the right hand of God, and the message first proclaimed at Pentecost (Matthew 28, Acts 1-2; cf. Hosea 6:2, Joel 2:28-32) 3. Furthermore, the thief received a special dispensation from Jesus Himself-- if Jesus comes to you Himself and says that you will be saved even if you are not baptized, then such will be true of you 4. On the other hand, we see the testimony of the Scriptures from the beginning of the proclamation of the Gospel that all who were saved were believing and were baptized, and the command that baptism was necessary B. Argument #2: Legitimacy and Interpretation of Mark 16:16 1. It is argued by many that Mark 16:16 is not original to the New Testament, and/or that it doesn't say that the one who believes but is not baptized is condemned 2. While it is true that a few ancient manuscripts of the NT do not contain Mark 16:16, it does have a wide attestation, and is even found and explicated in Irenaeus, a "church father" of the late second century CE 3. Many of the arguments against Mark 16:16 are more doctrinally fueled 4. Regardless, even if it were a later addition, there are plenty of other verses in the NT that demonstrate the need for baptism for salvation 5. As to its interpretation, the text is silent regarding the one who believes yet is not baptized-- but that silence does not denote approval! 6. It is obvious that the one who does not believe will not be baptized, since he has no confidence in the one who commands baptism 7. Belief, as we have seen, denotes and demands doing the will of the one believed in, and therefore we can say that the one who truly believes will be baptized 8. Hence, the one who believes AND is baptized shall be saved! 9. We can have no confidence from Mark 16:16 that anyone who believes but is not baptized will be saved! C. Argument #3: eis in Acts 2:38 1. It is argued by many that the preposition eis in Acts 2:38 ought to be read as "because of" remission of sin, not "for" the remission of sin 2. While it is true that Greek prepositions have a wide range of meaning, and eis is no exception to this, and that Greek prepositions tend to derive their meaning from context, it ought to be noted that few if any translations actually follow this line of thinking 3. The defense of looking at eis as result and not purpose invariably ends up being doctrinal in nature! 4. Yet we can see the example of Matthew 26:28, where eis is used in the exact same way that it is in Acts 2:38-- "for the remission of sin"-- and yet since it is Christ speaking of His shed blood, no one argues that such is done as a result of remission of sin! 5. Therefore, we can be confident of the standard translation of eis in Acts 2:38, and that Peter exhorts the people to be baptized "for" the remission of sin D. Argument #4: Cornelius 1. It is argued that Cornelius was saved before he was baptized, for the Holy Spirit came upon him (Acts 10:44) 2. The inherent premise of this argument is that the Holy Spirit can only come upon those who are saved 3. Yet we can see from the Scriptures that this is not necessarily so! 4. 2 Peter 1:21 and John 11:49-53: Caiaphas a. Peter establishes clearly that no prophecy comes from the will of man, but that the Holy Spirit inspires them to speak b. John attests that Caiaphas, as High Priest, prophesied that Jesus must die for the people c. It is manifest, then, that Caiaphas was inspired by the Holy Spirit! 5. Will anyone say that Caiaphas was saved? 6. It is apparent, then, that the Holy Spirit could come upon one who was not saved for some purpose 7. Returning to Cornelius, we can clearly see the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming upon them: to indicate to Peter and the others that God had decreed for the Gentiles to hear the Gospel and be saved (Acts 11:15-18) 8. Furthermore, Peter's immediate response is to have them be baptized (Acts 10:47-48)! 9. We can say, then, in complete confidence, that Cornelius proves the rule and is not an exception to it: Cornelius received the Holy Spirit to demonstrate to Peter that God had opened the way to his salvation, and Peter immediately baptized him! 10. Cornelius, then, was saved as everyone else in the NT was saved! E. Argument #5: Paul and Baptism 1. It is argued on the basis of 1 Corinthians 1:17 that Paul did not come to baptize and therefore baptism cannot be part of the Gospel 2. Such an argument, however, misses the context and the point 3. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17: Paul is concerned about factions in Corinth 4. People were drawing lines on the basis of men's preaching 5. Furthermore, the reason for Paul's concern about baptism is made clear in verse 15: so that no one would say that they were baptized in my name 6. Paul's concern, and understandably so (cf. Acts 14:9-18), is that people will confuse the messenger with the message, and place their faith in the messenger 7. The issue of v. 17, then, is Paul, not baptism! 8. Furthermore, if the issue were baptism, why would Paul have baptized Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:14, 16)? 9. It is manifest, then, that the issue was making sure that no one believed that they were baptized in Paul's name, not that people should not be baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sin! F. Argument #6: Baptism as Symbol 1. There are many who advocate that baptism is a symbol, an "outward demonstration of an inward grace," and that 1 Peter 3:21 indicates this 2. First of all, it should be noted that nowhere in the Scriptures is the purpose of baptism given as a public profession, and many examples of baptism occurred without the presence of many people (cf. Acts 8:38-39, Acts 9:18) 3. The matter of 1 Peter 3:21 is obscured by translation a. many translations do not know exactly what to do with the Greek word antitupos b. many translate it as "like figure", or "corresponding likeness," or some such thing c. in English, this gives people the impression that baptism is a symbol d. yet it is best to just look at antitupos as its transliteration, antitype: it is the contrary type e. 1 Peter 3:20: Noah and the 8 saved in the ark f. As Noah and the others were saved by being in the ark on top of the water, and those who were in the water drowned and perished, Christians are saved by the contrary type: those who are immersed in the water are saved, while those who remain dry perish! 4. We can see, then, that the Scriptures do not call baptism a "symbol"; baptism is, however, a physical act with spiritual consequences, as we have seen 5. Does anyone argue that the Lord's Supper is only a symbol, and that do not need to have actual bread and fruit of the vine? Of course not! 6. Baptism is the same way! G. Argument #7: What If Scenarios 1. Often times the discussion will turn to bizarre "what if" scenarios, all of them leading to extenuating circumstances where baptism is not possible 2. First of all, it should be noted that in the end, only God is the judge, and we cannot cast aspersions on anyone's salvation or condemnation (James 4:12) 3. Secondly, it can be argued that such a person probably had many opportunities to obey the Gospel, and so therefore ends up being without excuse, and it would be just for God to condemn if it be His will 4. We leave open, of course, the possibility that God will choose to make an exception for such a person, but that is only a possibility, and is in no way demanded or necessary 5. Even if God makes such an exception, it does not change the rule, and since all examples in the Scriptures attest to the need for baptism, and no example shows that it is unnecessary, we must continue to preach the rule 6. In the end, this form of argument is ridiculous, an argumentum ad absurdum, and really does not deserve the dignity of a response 7. After all, the same argument can be modified and thrown back at them: what if the person died before repentance? What if he was hearing the Gospel, was about to believe, and had a heart attack? At some point, it will have to be manifest that "what ifing" will not lead to anything productive, and that in truth, we must go on the rule, and let God sort out whatever exceptions there might be! H. These are only a few of the numerous arguments made against baptism, yet we can see that the Scriptures time and again clearly show its need! V. Conclusion A. We have examined the nature of baptism today B. We have seen that the Scriptures attest to the necessity of baptism C. The Scriptures show that baptism is the immersion of believers in water for the remission of sin, and represents the point at which one can be considered a Christian, in association with God, a part of His Church, and should associate with a local congregation of God's people D. The power of baptism is not in water but in being the appeal for cleansing through the blood of Christ E. While many arguments are presented against baptism as necessary for the remission of sin, the Scriptures overthrow them and continue to attest to its necessity F. Invitation/songbook G. Have you been immersed in water for the remission of your sin? H. If not, we would urge you to believe in Christ, confess Him, repent of your sin, be immersed in water for the remission of that sin, and begin your walk in Christ I. If you have, and you require encouragement for any reason, we can help you today J. Whatever you may need, let us help you now; come to the front as we stand and sing