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Is Baptism Essential for Salvation?
 Baptism is an essential step in the salvation of a person's soul but baptism alone does not save one from their sins. Nor is there any thing in the water that saves us. God chose baptism as a way to symbolize our turning our backs on the sinfulness of the world. We show that we are "dead to the world" and have become a new individual. In doing this we are symbolically following the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. We are literally "buried" and rise again. Baptism is an action of our conscience due to our faith and in so doing brings us into contact with the blood of Christ which He shed for the sins of the world. Peter explained this in I Peter 3:20-21 when recalled that God rescued the human race by saving Noah and kept him safe in the ark in the midst of the great flood. Peter tells us that in this same figure..."baptism now saves us (not by putting away the filth of the flesh, but in the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. " Paul wrote that "as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). Paul also wrote in Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life". Baptism is part of God's plan for entering into the church and we, as men, have no right nor power to choose otherwise. Consider the account of Paul's conversion as he told it in a Roman court. Paul tells how Ananias, a Christian, was sent by God to Paul and told him what he had to do. In Acts 22:16 we read that Ananias said to Paul; "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN SAID THAT ALL A PERSON NEEDS TO DO TO BE SAVED IS TO CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD? Yet, here we see what the scriptures say a person must do to "call on the name of the Lord". Calling on the name of the Lord must include baptism! |
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 To understand more fully that baptism is a God
decreed part of the plan of salvation, consider Isaiah 59:1-5 where we are told
that God can save and hear our pleas but our iniquities have separated us from
God. God will not tolerate sin. It is important to understand that
this is a universal declaration. Because of His
love for us, God devised a plan whereby we might be cleansed of our sins, thus
restoring us to His fellowship and allowing us to be saved and our prayers
heard. Jesus was and is the instrument through which this plan
was to come to fruition. Jesus said in Luke 16:16 to "Go
ye unto all the world and preach the gospel...those who believe and are baptized
are saved but those that believe not are damned". This preaching
began on the Day of Pentecost immediately following Christ's resurrection.
The apostles were given the power to preach this Gospel
without error.
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After preaching the
first Gospel sermon,
Peter and the other
apostles were asked "men and brethren,
would shall we do?"
Immediately following this question, Peter
answers the people in Acts 2:38 by telling them "Repent
and be baptized every one of you for the remission of your sins..."
notice two things about this passage
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| If we had no actual teaching about baptism in the New Testament, a person of good conscience would have to conclude that baptism is an essential step in what God would have us do by simply observing the numerous examples of conversion in the scriptures. Consider the following accounts of "conversion": | |
|
Occasion/Example
of Conversion |
Scripture |
| On the day of Pentecost, many
cried out to Peter asking "What to
do to be saved?". Peter tells them
to repent and be
baptized. 3000
souls are added to the church. |
Acts 2: 37-41 |
| Those in Samaria that believed the things taught concerning Jesus were
baptized. |
Acts 8: 12-13 |
| After having Jesus preached to him, the Ethiopian asked "Here is water,
what is keeping me from being
baptized?". After confession, Philip
baptizes him. |
Acts 8:26-39 |
| Saul (later the apostle Paul) is told by Jesus to go into the city of Damascus and there he would be told what he had to do. In the city, the Lord sends Ananias to him and Saul is baptized. | Acts 9: 17-18 |
| Cornelius, the first "gentile
convert", is told in a vision to send for Peter. After
arriving, Peter preaches to Cornelius
and his household and
baptizes them. |
Acts 11:47-48 |
| After hearing Paul preach, Lydia and
her household were
baptized. |
Acts 16:14-15 |
| After asking what he had to do to be
saved, Paul tells the Philippian jailer
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ".
Paul then preaches the Word of God
and
baptizes the jailer and his whole
house. |
Acts 16: 30-33 |
| Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, along with all his house and many of the Corinthians believed on the Lord after hearing Paul and were baptized. | Acts 18: 7-8 |
| Paul, as part of his defense while on trial, recounts his conversion to Christianity. He explains that Ananias told him "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Thus explaining how we call on the name of the Lord. | Acts 22:16 |
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