Just as a window is not cleaned simply by buying a bottle of window cleaner, even so we must read the instructions and follow them in order to have our hearts cleansed. As we have seen in this study, the Bible teaches that God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, has ordained that the remission of sins, which is the blood of Christ, be applied to a person's heart when that individual is baptized in water. One must humble himself before God and obey the command (Acts 10:48) to call on His name through baptism (Acts 22:16) in order to receive his portion of the cleansing blood of Christ.
Peter always preached the same gospel message whenever and where ever he preached it. The same gospel was preached by Ananias, then by Paul, and by all who earnestly contended for "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). This is the gospel that Jesus delivered to Peter and to the rest of the apostles and commanded them to preach to the world, and it is the same gospel that must be preached today. You may want to look up all of the salvation accounts in the book of Acts and then parallel them with all of the above mentioned passages. Then read John 3:5 and see if you can make a new birth of "water and the Spirit" anything other than a new birth of "water and the Spirit." There you have it.
"He who can receive it let him understand, and, likewise, He who can understand let him also receive it," says the Lord.
If we take all of the Scriptures together as a whole we will find that there are no contradictions. They simply teach the same truths, over and over again, using different words. However, the same basic theme is always present, and the meaning of scripture always remains the same. Receive it all as one simple message, and you will understand the truth of the word of God.
You cannot separate baptism, the blood of Christ, and circumcision of the heart because the scriptures teach that they're all received together. Neither can you separate the water and the Spirit from salvation. For,
"There are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one." (I John 5:8)
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Biblical Baptism for the Remission of Sins
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