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Baptismal regeneration
This from
the web page “Is the Church of Christ a Cult?”
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My answer in
red and my scripture in green The blue or black part is his
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Baptismal
regeneration is simply a 50 cent term used to describe the belief that
you are born again and receive your salvation at the moment of water
baptism. There are certain verses that they use, out of context, that
they feel substantiate their belief. But if you examine each of their
verses in context, you will see that the verses clearly do not substantiate
their claims. Not to mention the myriad of verses to which they must
turn a blind eye, in order to continue believing their works oriented
doctrine. I do not consider baptism a work
anymore than you do repentance.
It is in fact less a work than repentance, because this is the
work of God. (Col. 2:11-13)
They use three main verses to try to establish their position:
There are many more
scriptures showing both command and example, which we will see later.
1. Mark 16:16
2. Acts 2:38
3. I Peter 3:21
Mark 16:16 says, "He who believes and has been
baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be
condemned." You notice that this verse does not say, "and he
who has not been baptized shall be condemned," which is exactly
what the Church
of Christ
denomination would like for you to believe. Consider the “and” in this statement.
For an “and” statement to be true both sides of the statement
must be true. If one is not
baptized then the statement has not been fulfilled and is not true. The statement does not say, “He who
believes shall be saved”. In
fact the Bible teaches otherwise. (John
12:42-43) Believing gives you the power
to obey which results in baptism. Jesus
is simply making a natural assumption that all believers will be
baptized. All believers were baptized
and right away. They did not
wait an hour or two nor a week but right then. Why did they do it this way in the
book of Acts? Because they understood that they still had their sins
and were out side the body of Christ until they were baptized.(Acts 2:38-41, Acts 8:12-13 & 35-39, Acts
10:43-47, Acts 16:15 & 30-33, Acts 18:8, Acts 19:1-5, 22:4-16) I would concur with that assumption. There is
absolutely no reason whatsoever that a believer should not get
baptized, unless there is positively no water available, or in the case
of a death bed conversion. In such cases the Church of Christ
denomination shows absolutely no mercy. They will say that it was the
individual's fault for waiting to the last minute. "Sorry, Bud,
your prayers of repentance are falling on deaf ears 'cause you waited
too long, there ain't no pool, river or
baptistery for miles." I never told
anyone that. However, when you
can obey God as he has directed then why not do. Tell
that to the thief on the cross! He didn't have the opportunity to be
water baptized and yet because he cried out to Jesus for mercy, Jesus
promised him that he would be in Paradise
that very day with Him! Now the standard answer that the Church of
Christ denomination member will pop out of his or her preprogrammed
gray matter is that you can't use the thief on the cross as an example
because Jesus made that promise to the thief while they were both still
under the Old Covenant (which as we all know wasn't fulfilled until
Jesus died). But you see, the key issue is not when Jesus made the
promise to the thief. The key issue is, under which covenant did the
thief die? We know for a fact that the thief died under the New
Covenant. How do we know? Because the gospels tell us that when the
soldiers came to break the three crucified victim's legs, they marveled
that Jesus was already dead. They didn't marvel at the two thieves,
because they were still alive. So if the New Covenant was ushered in at
the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, then anyone who died
from that point on, died under the New
Covenant. And that would include the thief on the cross! No it would
not. You see Jesus said your
sins are forgiven that they may know the son of man has power while he
is on earth to forgive sins. (Mat.
9:2-6)
You forget about the probate.
There was a period after the death of Christ and Acts 2 where
the old Law is still applying.
It is like the probate of a will. The command to be baptized for the
remission of sins was only give at Acts 2 and from them on. Those who had been baptized prior to Acts
2 where baptized unto John’s baptism and had to be baptized again. (Acts 19:1-5)
Next we take a look at Acts 2:38 in which the apostle Peter says to the
remorseful crowd, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." Now here is
a verse they feel is stating that your sins are remitted at baptism. As
we all know, if your sins are not forgiven, then you are not saved. But
the question that needs to be asked here is: "Is it the baptism or
the repentance that brings about the forgiveness?" Remember this that he has said that your sins are
remitted at repentance. Now we could get into the structuring of the
sentence and try to argue our point from that perspective (the word
"for" can be translated "because"), but usually a
member of the Church of Christ denomination is not willing to
accept that form of reasoning, so we go with a much more powerful
position. Even allowing the “because”
instead of for, does not gain anything for you. It then would say, “Repent, and let
each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because of the
remission of your sins." It still says that you are being baptized
in order to have remissions of sins. It does not say that your sins
were already remitted. Certainly
the scripture does say that you are to repent for the remission of
sins. Repentance and baptism are
so closely tied together. It is
similar Mark 16:16, one cannot be properly baptized without repentance
just like one cannot be properly baptized without belief or faith. If
the forgiveness was brought through the baptism rather than the
repentance, how do you explain the presentation that Peter gives
in his very next sermon in Acts 3:19? He is speaking to a very similar group and
says almost the same thing, but when he gives the plan of salvation,
the topic of baptism is left out altogether! He said, "Repent
therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away." So we see
from this second sermon, that it wasn't the baptism that brought the
forgiveness, it was the repentance. The
fact that baptism was not mentioned does not mean that they were not
baptized. Peter would have told
those that responded to be baptized.
You must admit this for you, see
repentance nor confession is mentioned in each
instance either. In Acts 8 the Eunuch made a confession but nothing is
said of repentance. In Acts 2:38-41 nothing is
said about confession. Yet all
became Christians and were saved.
Then in Acts 10:43
Peter once again states, "To Him all the Prophets witness that,
through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of
sin." Most people reading these Scriptures see the pattern You do not have a pattern. A lot more verse show they were
baptized than not. that is developing... it is faith
in Jesus
that wipes away our sin! This does not change anything, for faith in Jesus enables us
to obey. Faith must be
obeyed. Faith that is not obey does not wipe away sins. (John 12:42 & Heb. 5:9)
Rom. 16:26
“But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all
nations for the obedience of faith:”
Unfortunately, at this stage of the discussion some Church of Christ
denomination members will take their pet doctrine of baptism from the
extreme to the absurd. They actually will void the efficacy of
someone's baptism, if the person didn't realize that their sins were
remitted, at the moment of their baptism! I once asked a Church of Christ denomination preacher if
he thought Billy Graham was saved, and his reply was, "Absolutely
not!" When pressed for a reason for his conclusion he said,
"Even though Billy Graham has been baptized, he doesn't preach
baptism for the remission of sin, so he is not only not a true
Christian, but he is also a false teacher!" So much for common
sense. Why do you try
to push someone into a corner?
Salvation is of God. I am
not to judge but rather to teach and obey the word of God. (James 4:11-12)
Neither is it wise to take one passage against another. Because one passage says something it
does not take away what another passage says. All scripture is written by the
inspiration of God. We must use
all the scriptures and harmonize them together. Jesus did not contradict himself
neither did what was written by Holy Apostles contradict Jesus. (2 Tim. 3:16-17 & Eph. 3:1-5) The answer you may get from a Church of Christ
person, Christian, depends on the spiritual growth and understanding of
that person. Because one man
answered you this way does not mean that all
will. This is one reason I would
only answer in a Webpage and not email.
Email you can publish what you want in what ever light you want
but a Webpage it is there to be read by all just like your site. Now from what I heard from Billy
Graham agrees with you and that is in error. It is wrong from what God’s word
says. But as far as judgment
goes that is God’s business. 2Ti 4:1 ¶ I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing
and his kingdom; As
David told Saul, “the Lord shall Judge between us and what we teach. (2
Samuel 24:15)
We get e-mails
daily from Church
of Christ
denomination members saying that unless you were "baptized for the
remission of sins then your baptism won't save you." I did not email you.
You did not email me.
Also if I did email you, you would then revise your discussion
and take parts of the email and turn them so as to show I am wrong. So I created,
a webpage. This way it can be
read as well as yours just the way I presented it. I asked a young Church of Christ
denomination pastor (oops, I mean "preacher") once,
"What if you didn't realize that the baptism remitted your
sin...should you get rebaptized?" He
said, "Yes!" I then asked him, "What if you did believe
that the baptism remitted your sins, but you were thinking about
something else while you were being baptized, like how cold the water
was...etc. Should you get rebaptized?"
He again said yes. He stated, "You must realize that at the moment
of baptism, your sins are being remitted, or the baptism will be of no
effect." It is a shame that this man cannot
answer for him self here. We
have people who go to church with us that we did not baptize and we do
not require them to do so. If
one has confidence and understanding in his baptism, we do not require
him to be rebaptized. However after learning what baptism
is for and what it is about, if he chooses to be rebaptized
we will baptize him. If one is not baptized for the correct reason he
needs to do so again, as it happened in the scripture. (Acts 19:1-5) This
is not wrong, otherwise Paul was wrong. So in other words, if your mind was not wrapped
around the "remission of sin" issue like a steal trap the
moment you went down into the water... you are lost and going to Hell.
Now, THAT, my friend is LEGALISM!
You use the word
legalism like it was some terrible sin that grace will not cover. Jesus Christ himself was a
legalist. Mt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a
gnat, and swallow a camel. Jesus required all or both. They
taught the Law partially. They
taught that which benefited them, and left off the other things like
mercy and love off. They taught
the doctrine of men instead of all the commandments of God. (Mat. 15:9) Like some people
seem to do today.
Now we
turn to I Peter
3:20&21, which
states, "...in the days of Noah, during the construction of the
ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely
through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you,
not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good
conscience- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." First of
all, we have to examine the comparison that Peter makes of the flood in
Noah's day, to water baptism. Did the water save Noah? Yes the Bible said so. (1Pe
3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 ¶ The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ:) No, it almost drowned him. So
what did the water do for Noah? It separated him from the world, just
like water baptism (separates
us from the world)
is our declaration that we are separating ourselves from the world. We
are dying to ourselves to live in Christ. This verse goes on to say
that the water baptism doesn't actually wash our filthy sins from our
flesh, (it said dirt
from the flesh! Like when you take a bath in soap and water.) but it renders a good
conscience toward God because we were obedient to follow His command to
be baptized. Jesus was baptized, and I guarantee you it wasn't for the
remission of sin... for He was the perfect, sinless Lamb of God! Yes, Jesus was not baptized for the
remission of sins. No one was prior to Acts 2:41. Jesus was baptized to fulfill all
righteousness. ( Mat. 3:15) All
others at this time were baptized of repentance. Jesus and John both taught the same
message and their baptisms were of the same nature. All those who were baptized this way
were rebaptized. (Acts 19:1-5) Here again we must reiterate that no true believer
should continue in an unbaptized state. Many do because they believe your
type of preaching and doctrine. Whereas we can see that God
expects us to obey Him in this sacrament, nowhere do we see Him judge
those without mercy, who have accepted His Son as their Savior. Bottom line? Bottom line is that every one who accepted Jesus
Christ as their savior was baptized right then or their acceptance was
not complete. If you have accepted Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior...get baptized. It's the right thing to
do! The Church
of Christ
denomination somehow seems to think that they are the only ones who
baptize their members. I have never attended a Church that didn't
baptize their members. This
is a strange point for me to hear form you. I am always coming in contact with
people who believed your message and have never been baptized. They say that they are saved and that
they do not have to be baptized.
One man told me he was saved in Hardy’s,
a quick food restaurant. Another
said as he was praying one night and so on it goes. Just 2 weeks ago we baptized a young
man who said after services he had never been baptized and did not know
until today that he needed to be baptized. It is a command that we simply should not, can not, and will not ignore. Then why do you preach against
it. But we also cannot point to it
(baptism) and say, "That is what saved me." If you are going
to point... point to the Cross. Baptism points directly to the
Cross. It shows the death, buriel, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is where God performs an
operation, giving a new birth. The death of Jesus on the cross is
where his blood is shed for our sins.
(1 Cor.15:1-5,
Romans 6:3-4, Col. 2:12-14) Baptism is where the work on the cross is applied to us.
In Colossians 2:11, the Apostle Paul correlates
baptism in the New Testament with circumcision in the Old Testament. He
says, "... in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ having been buried with Him in baptism in which
you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God
who raised Him from the dead." Let's take a close look at this
verse, to see what it says and what the ramifications are.
First of all, we see that Paul says that the "circumcision of
Christ" is a removal of the flesh that is symbolized in baptism.
In the Old Testament, the Jews would circumcise their boys as a part of
fulfilling their covenant with God. They did not have the covenant relationship until they were
circumcised.( Ge
17:11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall
be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he
that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which
is not of thy seed. 13 He that
is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be
in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised man child
whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut
off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. Neither do we have a covenant relationship with God and
Jesus Christ until we are baptized. It was a literal
cutting away of the flesh. Baptism was a symbol of dying to the flesh,
and rising to new life in Christ. You notice that Paul says "by
the circumcision of Christ having been buried with Him in
baptism." Paul is saying that baptism is the circumcision of
Christ, "through faith." Certainly it all must be done through faith. Without faith it is impossible to
please God. (Heb. 11;6) Now why would
this distinction be important to understand? Because in Romans 4:10 Paul states emphatically that
Abraham was considered righteous by faith, BEFORE he was circumcised!
He then goes on to say in verse 11, "...and he (Abraham) received
the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had before he was circumcised ..." In other words,
Abraham was counted as righteous before he was circumcised, and the
circumcision was simply a "seal", or an outward sign, of the
righteousness that he already had!
Which is exactly the case with the
"circumcision of Christ" (water baptism). It is an
outward sign, or seal, of the righteousness you already possess through
faith in Christ Jesus.
Let us consider, the children of Abraham. They were not in a covenant
relationship with God before they were circumcised. It was sin not to have them
circumcised. (Ex. 4:25-26)
Abraham did not enter into this covenant relationship until he
was circumcised. We enter into that covenant relationship when we are
baptized into Christ.
The point that the Church of Christ denomination seems to miss is that baptism is
SYMBOLIC. They readily chastise the Catholic Church for believing in
transubstantiation, yet when it comes to baptism, the Church of Christ denomination makes the same mistake as the
Catholic church: taking something literally that was supposed to be
symbolic. The Catholic church says that the bread and wine (during
Communion) literally becomes the body and blood of Jesus. The Church of Christ denomination says that baptism actually remits
your sins. They say that according to the book of Romans that you are
literally buried with Christ through baptism. Again you misrepresent the
truth. Certainly being buried in
water only gets one wet that is in the physical sense. But in the spiritual sense Romans 6:3-5,
1 Cor 12:13, Gal. 3:27, Col 2:11-13, and 1
Peter 3:21 all describe what is happening. This is what God has chosen, just
like he choose the fruit of the vine to represent his blood, just like
he choose unleavened bread to represent his body, just like he choose
the rainbow and other things that are symbolic of the spiritual. Baptism shows the death of Jesus on
the cross, his burial, and his resurrection. Noooo… baptism SYMBOLIZES Christ’s
death. It SYMBOLIZES your death, burial and resurrection. You don’t
come out of the water with dirt in your mouth from being buried, do
you? Now, we realize that it can sometimes be hard to discern when
something is to be taken literally as opposed to being a type or
symbol. When it comes to baptism, though, there are simply too many
Scriptures that give the plan of salvation...and leave the subject of
baptism out altogether. One passage of scripture cannot take away another. Read Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest
thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. This
was written by the inspiration of God and cannot be wrong. Notice that
being baptized is calling on the name of the Lord and Romans 10:13 says that whosever call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
If baptism was the
actual point at which God washes away our sin and imputes to
us the righteousness of Christ, why do so many members of the Church of Christ denomination fall away from the Lord? There is
an atheist organization in Illinois called Skeptics Inc. whose entire
board of directors are almost all EX-Church of Christ denomination preachers! Why? Legalism
kills! As with all issues of faith, the letter of the Law brings death,
but the Spirit brings life! (II Corinthians 3:6) Notice what Jesus said in John
6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the
flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Certainly we are not under the Law of
Moses. Many can fall away and the
Bible says that this is what will happen. In Luke 8:11-15 he explains that 1
out of 4 will NOT bring forth fruit.
There are many verses showing that we can fall, and giving
warnings lest we do fall. (Gal. 5:1-4, 1 Cor.
10:12, Heb. 2:1-3, 2 Peter 2:21-22, Heb. 6:4-8)
The Church of Christ
denomination claims that they "have no creed but the Bible,"
but in reality many in the Church
of Christ
denomination have a book that they use as a "guideline" for
church doctrine. It is called, "Why I am a Member of the Church of Christ," by Leroy Brownlow. I have not
read this book and it is not a guideline for the Church of Christ
I know. Chapter 14
is entitled, "Because It Gives Scriptural Answers To the Question-
What Must I Do To Be Saved." This chapter would be hilarious if it
wasn't so sad to see to what extent the Church of Christ
denomination will go to promote their position on baptism. In this
chapter Brother Brownlow dissects the
question, "What must I do to be saved?" He examines the
question word by word. When he gets to the word "do", he
says, "It is not what I must get, think, feel or believe. The word
"do" suggests activity on the part of the man being saved.
Salvation is not a matter of passiveness, but of activity. God saves;
still man saves himself by obeying the gospel, God's power to save
(Rom. 1:16, Acts 2:40). Take the word "do" out of Christianity
and you destroy it. You never read of an inspired man telling a sinner
that there is nothing for him to do to be saved." Now I don't know
about you, but I would consider the Apostle Paul to be an
"inspired man", and oddly enough he is the only man recorded
in scripture to have ever been asked this question verbatim, "What
must I do to be saved?" It was asked of him by the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30. Keep in mind that Brother Brownlow's
answer was "It is not what I believe" that saves me. Paul's
answer, on the other hand, is just the opposite. When asked by the
jailer, "What must I do to be saved?,"
the Apostle Paul answers, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved!" Mr. Brownlow's answer is a
classic example of not being able to see the forest because of the
trees! While I do think that Mr Brownlow’s discussion needs improvement, you are
still wrong. Let us take the
whole matter of what happened there. Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? 31
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake
unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of
the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his,
straightway. 34 And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house.
We want to point out that Paul “sapke
unto them the word of the Lord”, and after this he was baptized
“straightway” or immediately.
Why did he not wait? They
went the same hour of the night because they realized the urgency of
the matter. Consider Acts
8:35-39. Here Phillip preached
Jesus, which must have included baptism. The Eunuch said, “see here is water
what doth hinder me from being baptized”. Here again it was an urgent matter,
he was not told to wait but he was baptized right then.
Paul says in Ephesians
2:8&9 that
"We are saved by GRACE through FAITH and not of ourselves, it is a
GIFT of God, NOT as a result of WORKS, that no one
should boast." If you ever stand before Christ Jesus and He asks
you why should He let you into Heaven... you
had better say, "Because of what You did for me on the
cross," not, "Because I was baptized"! Again we need to go one verse further to see that there is a
prevision of scripture in what you say.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. Notice the works that God ordained. There are certain works that God has
ordained from the foundation of the world, we must do. If I obey God and do the works that
he said, I am establishing God’s righteousness. On the other hand, if I do works of
my own mind, then I am establishing my own righteousness and I am then
self-righteous.
Truth is always true. If you believe a certain doctrine, but through
the study of God's Word, you find that your belief is not upheld
scripturally (even if only once), then you need to seriously re-examine
that belief. Yes, and you need to re-examine your
teachings and belief.
Regarding baptismal regeneration, a good case in point can be found in Acts 10:1-48. Here we find an example of a
man named Cornelius, receiving the Holy Spirit, evidenced by " speaking in tongues and exalting God."
And being amazed by the whole ordeal, the Apostle Peter (who had been
preaching the gospel to the Cornelius household when the Holy Spirit
fell upon all of them) stated in verse 47, "Surely no one can refuse
the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit
just as we did..." Clearly we have in this example, a case where a
person was obviously saved before he was water baptized. The Apostle
Peter declares their salvation by saying that they had "received
the Holy Spirit, just like we did!" The only way around
this scenario is to deny that a person that is filled with the Holy
Spirit (evidenced by speaking in tongues and glorifying God) is
actually saved. And believe it or not, that is exactly what the Church of Christ denomination says! Did the speaking in tongues give
salvation to the Apostles in Acts 2:1-12? The answer is no.
Neither did it here. What ever it
was for, it was for the same purpose.
The tongue speaking was to prove to the Jews that this was from
God. The Jewish Christians
contended with Peter about what he had done and he rehearsed the matter
showing that the Gentiles were to be accepted. (Acts 11:1-18) Tongues were given
as a sign to the unbelieving jews, to open
their eyes of understanding. 1Co 14:21-22 ¶ In the law it is
written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto
this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe,
but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth
not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.) In the law it is written about this and it is to the
Jews. Tongues were given for the
unbelieving Jews to convince them.
In Acts 2, 3000 were convinced.
Peter and the other Jews would never had
accepted these gentiles had it not been for the tongue speaking which
took place. Notices in Acts
10:47 peter said, “Can
any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received
the Holy Ghost as well as we? “. This was a special
conversion, the first Gentiles, just like Acts 2 was special, the first
Jews. It never
ceases to amaze me what some people are willing to swallow in order to
protect what they feel is biblical, even if it denies the very Bible
they seek to uphold. Me too! Wonder why you do that!
It is really the Apostle Paul that puts the icing on the cake on the
issue of baptism, by stating in I
Cor. 1:17,
"Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel!"
Preaching the gospel evolves preaching
baptism. (Acts 8:35-37)
Baptism is not just the point of
salvation as you put it but is the situation in which God removes your
sins. Now if baptism is the point of salvation, this
statement would be utterly blasphemous. But in reality, it simply
confirms what the rest of the Bible already teaches... that we are
saved by grace, not works of any kind! Now
you are disallowing repentance.
Earlier you stated that we were saved when we repented. Now you say that it is all grace and
no works of ours. As human
beings, it is in our nature to want to earn our salvation. There is
nothing wrong with wanting to please God! Yes, there is nothing wrong with this. There is something wrong with trying
to take away from God’s word. The problem comes in when the way we want to
please God conflicts with the way He wants it. You had better believe that is right, see Mat. 7:21-19. If
we look at Romans 10:9-10, we see God giving us the plan of salvation in
a very simple and straightforward way. The Apostle Paul says that we
are saved by confessing that Jesus is (our) Lord! Now that can't be
true, can it? We don't get saved by simply believing and confessing
that Jesus is Lord, do we? That is just too easy. There must be more to
it than that, isn't there? Don't we have to do something to earn it?
According to human wisdom, we have to deserve such a great gift. But in
issues of life and salvation, sometimes we have to set aside our
earthly "wisdom" and simply accept God at His Word. Yes you need to accept all that God has said, and not
pick and choose those things that you like. Let’s take a look at Romans 10:9-10 Ro
10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Notice the word “unto”. This word means toward something. Therefore
confession is made toward salvation.
Why did you leave off verse 10 in the above discussion? First
your salvation was when one repented, now you say it is when you
confess. It's like the bumper sticker that says,
"God said it; I believe it; and that settles it." That is exactly how I believe. Whether we understand God's
Mercy and Grace or not, doesn't change His terms. That is right. He has made it simple so that
anyone can be saved. God said we must believe (John
8:24), God said we must repent (Luke 13:3), God said we must confess (Mat.
10:32), and God said we must be baptized (Mark 16:16). God said it and I believe. But man comes along and tries
to make it "better." But you cannot improve on perfection!
God's ways are higher than our ways, and He says that salvation is a
gift, that no one can earn. Yes it is a gift, for it is by grace that we are saved. This grace demands obedience, and it
teaches us what to do to enter his grace. (Titus 2:11-12) So my advice is to take God at
his word and receive the greatest gift ever offered; Salvation by Grace
through Faith in Jesus Christ! Faith gives access to this Grace. (Romans 5:2) Faith enables us to obey and it must
be obeyed. (Ro 16:26
& Heb. 11:8) By obedience of the faith we enter
into the grace of God. You may
need to heed your own advice!
Many members of the Church of Christ denomination will then ask the question,
"If you get saved by believing, then are the demons saved, because
James 2:19 says, 'You believe that there is one God; you do well: the
devils also believe, and tremble."
Answer? The demons are
a different species than humans. We don't know if there is a plan of
salvation for demons (fallen Angels) any more than we do for dogs or
cats. It's a typical Church of Christ denomination straw man argument. The question
to ask them back is: "I don't know if the demons can get saved by
grace through faith or not, but do you think baptism will save a
demon?" They usually look at you like you just insulted their
mother. Why? Because they realize what a foolish argument they just proposed.
That's what happens though, when you are constantly grasping at
straws...eventually one will break your camel's back. You need to stick to the scripture lest you be found foolish
in God’s eyes. Joh 12:42 ¶
Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but
because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be
put out of the synagogue: 43 For they loved the praise of men more than
the praise of God. Now you have another scripture you
need to try to explain away with your human wisdom. The people in the above passage
believed and were not saved because they would not confess him. Even you admit that one has to
confess. This is one of the
works of God that you will allow.
I wonder why you will not allow baptism. Is it because you fear man more than
God. The key verse below is a
good verse but also take a look at 2 Thes. 2:10-12.
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