Baptism

[lonnienord]

Should all christians recieve water baptism?

this morning i went to the Cathedral of Praise for a bible study. It was well attended and the pastor was funny at times and serious at times. He was an excellent speaker and he knows the Bible and its author very well!!

Anyway he and i agree that water baptism is necessary and he had a text to prove it: 1 Peter 3:20,21 here it is from the KJV: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:

 

[burn97]

Titus 3:5
He saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 10:9,10
If you confess with your mouth, " Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Ephesians 2:8,9
For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.

I think that baptism is good. I myself, haven't been baptised, I probably will be one day, but for now, I'm not being lead to.
If only those that get baptised are saved then it is by work that we are saved, and God has specifically told us that it is by His grace.
Baptism is an outward show of affection and dedication, but the scriptures do not say that it is needed to be saved. Only God can save us, not water.

 

[Adammi]

Yes, baptism is a wonderful and ideal thing for Christians to do as an expression of their faith in Christ. I would go a step further than many Protestants would and say that I believe that God gives much grace to us in water baptism that is inaccessible through other means.
That being said, I think that St. Peter's words must not be interpreted literally referring to baptism in water.
Why?
The only saving act in all of history is the act done by Christ alone on the cross. There is nothing we can do to add or subtract from his saving action. Baptism saves the soul as much as a bath creates a person. It is unhealthy to go without it, but it in no way supersedes the once and for all saving act of our Lord.

 

[burn97]

I am reminded of the conflict over circumcision
(Acts 15)
Peter said, ' Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bare? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they."

It is grace dear brother that we are saved.
Just as the Jews believed that if the Gentiles were not circumcised
they were not saved, we cannot believe that those that
are not baptised are not saved.
That is making light of Jesus's sacrifice and saying that we can do it by mere water.
It is by amazing Grace that we are saved.
God put that in my heart, so I had to post it.



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[JPPT1974]

We are baptized into our sins
Only to be rinsed again in
God's name through Jesus Christ
And through the Holy Spirit!