Baptism Now Saves You

It was 507 years ago that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg. Now we have about 41,000 denominations world wide and so many different views of what the Bible teaches. It was the day before the anniversary of the reformation and I went to a bible study that night. We were reading from 1 Corinthians and we read how the Corinthians were arguing about who they followed whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. Paul said he was glad that he hadn’t baptized any of them lest they say they were baptized in Paul’s name. Paul said that while he was among them he choose to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified.

It was then that the guy leading the bible study said that baptism was “just getting wet, doesn’t do anything” . I said I believe its more than that. An associate pastor there said “we believe that ‘its an outward expression of an inward change'”. I wanted to say “so your saying its symbolic but doesn’t really do anything, so its ‘just getting wet'” .

I am persuaded by scripture that baptism must be something more. In Jesus last words to His disciples, He says “go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. In Acts 2 Peter says “Repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Jesus didn’t command His disciples to just get people wet. He commanded them to baptize in the name of each member of the trinity.

Exodus 23 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.”

Wherever Gods names is the authority and presence of God is found. We are baptized not only in God’s name but in each of the names of the members of the Trinity. This is a covenant relationship, a Holy contract and a very great promise of God. It is way much more than getting wet and it is way more than a symbolic gesture. It is backed by miraculous power and promises.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey , when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is, eight persons were brought safely through water Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal (pledge) to God for a (in) good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ – 1 Peter 3:18-21

The word translated appeal is better understood as “pledge” in 1 Peter and how it would have been understood in the first century is that baptism is a “pledge to God in good conscience”. Further baptism is presented as at the very least having a role in our salvation. Before Jesus ascended back into heaven the command to be baptized and to baptize were some of His last commands. Baptism is a first act of obedience to these commands of Christ recognizing Jesus authority and therefore a public profession of Jesus as Lord meeting the requirements set forth in Romans 10:9-10.

Romans 10: ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

To be clear, because of what scripture says I am persuaded that you could be saved without baptism but I believe many are not truly saved until they are baptized. I believe you need baptism to be saved from the stand point that Romans 10 says you are forgiven through faith but saved through professing Christ as Lord. One definitive point where this occurs is at baptism which is a public act of obedience to our Lord’s command to be baptized. Further it is associated with the deluge or flood of Noah which cleansed the earth and therefore must be understood to perform a spiritual cleansing, renewal and protection from unclean spiritual forces which were affecting the world prior to the flood.

Many bring up the thief on the cross next to Jesus as someone that gained eternal life without being baptized. The thief on the cross according to Luke initially mocked Jesus then in Matthew we see that the thief realizes who Jesus is and rebukes the other thief. He then confesses his sin’s saying “we deserve this for what we have done he does not” and then in front of everyone said “Lord remember me when you enter your kingdom” publicly professing and recognizing Christ as Lord. His was a baptism quite literally in blood. All he could think to ask in humility was that the Lord might remember Him. He couldn’t imagine asking anything more. But this was enough because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid his debt and upon his faith and profession he was granted entry into paradise.

I think we have too superficial a view of baptism and sacraments in the protestant churches. I am persuaded there is a work of sanctification that starts with this obedience and a cleansing from sin that the Holy Spirit brings during baptism. It is like a marriage ceremony and to treat it so flippantly is more than sad, I can’t even think of the words to express how disturbing it was to hear “baptism is just getting wet”.

Here is my first thesis: Baptism is necessary for the purposes of salvation and is a pledge in good faith and conscience to trust in Christ’s death and resurrection and a commitment to follow Him as Lord. Since it is a pledge it requires an awareness and consent on the part of the baptized to this reality and therefore should follow repentance and faith. This does not necessarily preclude patriarchal agency or proxy but does point to a personal requirement of accession. (Meaning; I don’t necessarily deny any legitimacy to child baptism based on other scriptures affirming parental agency and proxy intercession, but I do deny that in and of itself such a baptism cannot fully achieve its objectives without some future accession.)