Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? 1/4

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Is baptism necessary for salvation? One of the most nagging questions in Christianity is whether or not baptism is necessary for salvation.

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The answer is a simple no. Water baptism is not necessary for salvation.

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But you might ask, if the answer is no, then why are there verses that say such things like, baptism now saves you in 1

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Peter 3 .21 and repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,

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Acts 2 .38. These are good questions and they deserve a good answer, so we will look at these verses later.

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But for now, the reason baptism is not necessary for salvation is because we are justified by faith,

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Romans 5 .1 and Ephesians 2 .8, not by faith and a ceremony, Romans 4 .1

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-11. You see, a religious ceremony is a set of activities or forms that you do to someone else.

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In the Bible, circumcision was a ceremony where one person performed a religious rite on another person.

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Likewise, baptism is also a ceremony where a person performs a religious rite on another person.

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But we are not saved by faith in anything we do, including ceremonies. If we are saved by faith, then we are saved by faith when we believe, not when we get baptized.

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Otherwise, we are not saved by faith. Furthermore, if baptism is necessary for salvation, then anyone who receives

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Christ on his deathbed, in a hospital, and who believes Jesus is God in flesh, has died physically, risen from the dead, and died for his sins, believes all of this, and receives

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Christ, he would go to hell if he doesn't get baptized before he dies.

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This is a real scenario. It really does happen in hospitals. This would mean, if this were true, that baptism is necessary even on your deathbed.

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It would mean, then, that a person is not saved by faith. It would mean that a person must get baptized and that it is absolutely necessary without exceptions.

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It would also mean that all babies who die go to hell, since they weren't baptized either.

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Remember, when someone says that baptism is necessary, there can be no exceptions. Otherwise, it isn't necessary.

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Now, in order to more thoroughly look at this issue, I need to lay a foundation of proper theology, and then

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I'll address some of those verses that are commonly used to support the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation.

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Now, first of all, we need to understand something that's very important, and it's not taught all that much in churches today, but it's true.

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It's that God works covenantally. First, you need to understand that God works through covenants.

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Now, a covenant is a pact or an agreement between two or more parties. The New Testament and Old Testament are new and old covenants.

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The word testament comes from the Latin testamentum, which means covenant. So, the

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Bible is a covenant document. If you do not understand covenant, you cannot understand in totality the issue of baptism, because baptism is a covenant sign.

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If you do not think that God works covenantally, then let's look at Hebrews 13 .20, which says,

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May the God of peace, who, through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead our

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Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. The eternal covenant is the covenant between the

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Father and the Son before the creation of the world, whereby the Father would give to the

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Son those whom the Father had chosen. That is why Jesus says things like, All that the

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Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away,

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John 6 .37. And also, he says this in John 6 .39, And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

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And he also says in John 17 .9, he says this, And I pray for them. I am not praying for the whole world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

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If you fail to understand that God works covenantally, and that he uses signs as manifestations of his covenants, like rainbow, circumcision, communion, etc.,

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then you'll not be able to understand where baptism fits in God's covenant system. Second, you need to know what baptism is.

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It is a ceremony that represents an outward representation of an inward reality.

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For example, baptism represents the reality of the inward washing of Christ's blood upon the soul.

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That is why it is used in different ways. It is said to represent the death of the person in Romans 6, verses 3 -5, the union of that person with Christ in Galatians 3 .27,

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the cleansing of that person's sins in Acts 22 .16, the identification with the one baptized into, as when the

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Israelites were baptized into Moses in 1 Corinthians 10 .2, and also in being united in one church, 1

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Corinthians 12 .13. Also, baptism is one of the signs and the seals of the covenant of grace that was instituted by Jesus.

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The covenant of grace is the covenant between God and mankind where God promises to mankind eternal life.

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It is based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the condition is faith in Jesus Christ.

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As the communion supper replaced Passover, baptism, in like manner, replaces circumcision.

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They represent the same spiritual blessings that were symbolized by circumcision and Passover in the

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Old Dispensation. That is Lewis Burkhoff, Systematic Theology, 1988, page 620.

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Circumcision was the initiatory rite into the Abrahamic covenant. It did not save anyone.