These passages of Scripture state that salvation is received when one
believes. (
John 1:12;
3:15,
16,
18;
5:24;
6:40,
47;
11:25,
26;
Acts 10:43;
13:39;
16:31;
Romans 1:16;
4:5;
10:4;
1 Corinthians 1:21;
1 John 5:13 etc..). Nothing here about moving towards salvation but not there yet/more is requited.
Not a single one of these mentions belief in the English connotation of "intellectual assent". Every one of these passages uses the Greek word "pistis" which means "faith". This is not a mental only, intellectual only, head/heart knowledge acceptance of the Gospel. Faith requires action or it is dead (James 2:26). Without action faith (belief) does not really exist. If you don't really believe/have faith, then you don't receive salvation.
So, if you don't like what these verses say (
John 1:12;
3:15,
16,
18;
5:24;
6:40,
47;
11:25,
26;
Acts 10:43;
13:39;
16:31;
Romans 1:16;
4:5;
10:4;
1 Corinthians 1:21;
1 John 5:13 etc..) just "add" to them in order to make them say what you wish in order to accommodate your biased church doctrine? You turn these complete statements into incomplete statements and "add" to them. That is flawed hermeneutics.
Dan, look at what the plaque that was placed over Jesus' head on the cross said according to Mark 15:26. It says that the plaques said:
"THE KING OF THE JEWS". Nothing more, just "THE KING OF THE JEWS."
Is that the complete truth? For the purposes of this writer and the audience he was speaking to, yes, that was all that needed to be said. But it is not the complete story as we know from John 19:19 which says that the plaque said:
"JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
Now, is it "adding to Scripture" to include Jesus' name when we speak of what the plaque said if we are only referencing Mark's account? NO! Because we have other Scriptures that fill in gaps that Mark leaves.
The same is true of the list of verses you gave above. Those passages only mention faith, but they do not tell us what form that faith must take. Passages like Acts 2:38, Rom 10:9-10, Acts 3:19, and others tell us what form faith must take in order to bring us the salvation that God offers.
I already explained to you that repentance "precedes" saving belief/faith in Christ (two sides to the same coin) and does not need to be mentioned in those verses above because from other Scriptures we can see that it's already implied or assumed. (Acts 11:17,18; 20:21)
This is exactly what I am saying above, and it applies also to confession of Jesus as Lord, and baptism in water in order to receive forgiveness of sin.
Also, confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together (Romans 10:8-10) so it does not need to be mentioned either.
You keep focusing on this, and I have already agreed that they come chronologically together, but must come before salvation is received.
It's already implied or assumed. Water baptism "follows" salvation through believing in Him. (Acts 10:43-47)
This is where you are wrong. Water baptism does not "follow" salvation, any more than you can be saved while still in your sin. Baptism in water is done "in order that you may receive forgiveness of your sins". It is not done "because you have already received forgiveness of your sins".
The Bible states that we are saved the moment that we believe in Christ for salvation/believe the gospel. (John 3:18; Acts 16:31; Romans 1:16 etc..)
Here is where your misinterpretation of what "pistis" means comes into play. We are not saved the moment we give intellectual assent to the truth of the Gospel. We are saved when we exhibit faith in Jesus through repentance (Acts 3:19), confess Jesus as Lord (Rom 10:9-10), and are baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38, 1 Pet 3:21, Gal 3:26-27). This is when we are saved, adopted as children of God, and made pure and holy (Eph 5:26-27)
but according to your erroneous 4-step plan of salvation, the moment one believes (only step 1) but are still lost and then they repent after that (step 2) but are still lost and they confess after that (step 3) but are still lost then they are water baptized after that (step 4) and are finally saved which is not in harmony with numerous passages of Scripture. (
John 1:12;
3:15,
16,
18;
5:24;
6:40,
47;
11:25,
26;
Acts 10:43;
13:39; 15:7-9;
16:31;
Romans 1:16; 3:24-28;
4:5-6; 5:1;
10:4;
1 Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 2:16; 3:6-14, 26; Ephesians 2:8,9; Philippians 3:9; 2 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 10:39;
1 John 5:13 etc..) which make it clear that man is saved through belief/faith "apart from additions or modifications."
Again, that is a wrong interpretation of those verses. Faith without action is dead. There is no faith without action (James 2:20, 22, 24, 26). Action are the soul that gives life to faith (the body). If there is no soul, the body is dead. If there is no action, faith is dead. The dead cannot bring life.
Yes, you do, and you even switched the order in post #342.
Ahh, I see what you are getting at. There are many forms of repentance. There is repentance from sin, but there is also repentance from disbelief, repentance from a decision, repentance from following a wrong path, repentance from following a right path, etc. Even God repented of making decisions (Gen 6:6-7, Exo 32:14, etc.). The repentance that comes before belief in the Gospel is disbelief of the Gospel (which the Holy Spirit helps us do). But this is not salvation, it is merely a step in the right direction. Repentance from sin comes after belief in the Gospel.
No worries. The word of faith is in our mouth and in our heart TOGETHER. (Romans 10:8) Confession is an expression of faith and not a work for salvation.
Yes, confession is an expression of our faith
THAT LEADS TO RECEIVING SALVATION. This means that the word of faith in our mouth and heart
DOES NOT mean that you are saved, but it leads toward being saved.
1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
This is evidence of the Spirit of God working in us even before we are saved. But it does not indicate salvation already having been received.
In Peter 3:21, Peter tells us that baptism now saves you, yet when he uses this phrase, he continues in the same sentence to explain exactly what he means by it. He said that baptism now saves you-not the removal of dirt from the flesh (that is, not as an outward, physical act which washes dirt from the body--that is not what saves you), "but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction that is symbolized by the outward ceremony of water baptism).
Again? We have already been through this!
Yes, being baptized in water is not to clean dirt from our physical bodies. It is to remove sin from our soul (give us a clean conscience), and is done by the Holy Spirit through the power of the resurrection of Jesus. But if we do not receive water baptism, then we do not receive the clean conscience, or have our sins removed by the Holy Spirit.
In regard to
Romans 6:3-4, as Greek scholar AT Robertson explains - Baptism is the
public proclamation of one's inward spiritual relation to Christ attained before the baptism.
And this explanation of this person shows his personal bias that colors his interpretation. The text clearly places the reception of forgiveness of sin "in baptism", not before baptism.
Before mentioning baptism in chapter 6, Paul had repeatedly emphasized that
faith (not baptism) is the instrumental cause of salvation/justification. (
Romans 1:16,
3:22-30;
4:4-6,
13;
5:1) That is when the old man was put to death and united in the likeness of His death, which water baptism
symbolizes and pictures. Righteousness is "imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised up because of our justification." (
Romans 4:24,
25)
Baptism is an action of faith. These other verses do not reverse the statement of Jesus that says that we receive salvation in baptism (Mark 16:16), and that we cannot be saved without both the Spirit and water (baptism)(John 3:5).
Since believers receive the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection (justification) and that through faith, believers must be spiritually united to Him (delivered and raised up with Him). If baptism is taken as the instrumental cause, then Paul contradicts what he had established before, namely that justification is by faith, not baptism. *Hermeneutics.
As I just stated, and Scripture does also, repeatedly, baptism is an act of faith. Baptism fulfills all these passages that state "justification by faith". As James 2:24 states,
"You see that a person is justified by works and NOT by faith alone."
Paul clearly teaches that what is
signified in baptism (buried and raised with Christ) actually occurs "through faith." Christians are "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (
Colossians 2:12). Justification on account of union in Christ's death, burial and resurrection is brought about "through faith" - and is properly
symbolized by dipping the new believer in and out of the water.
Justification occurs DURING being dipped in and out of water (baptism). This is when we put on Christ (Gal 3:26-27). This is when we are made pure and spotless (Eph 5:2-26-27). This is when we have our sins washed away (Acts 22-26). This is when we receive salvation.
Galatians 3:26 - For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Period.) Not through faith and water baptism.
What does the next verse say?
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." You are all children of God through faith because you who were baptized INTO Him, have been clothed with Him. If you haven't been baptized into Him, then you haven't been clothed with Him, and your sins haven't been washed away.
Also read John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. *Received Him, given the right to become children of God, through believing in His name, not through water baptism.
Those who believe in Him "have the right to become". It does not say that they ALREADY ARE, but that they CAN BECOME.
Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on/clothed yourself with Christ. The Greek word for "put on" is "enduo" and means to enclose oneself in, as when one "puts on" clothes or armor or some other item. Involved in this is the idea of "imitation" and "identification." Just as 1 Corinthians 10:2 says that all (the Israelites) were "baptized into Moses" in the cloud and in the sea, but this does not mean that the Israelites were literally water baptized into the body of Moses.
And if you have not been clothed with Christ, then you are not in Christ. You are not His and you have not been born again. The Israelites were not baptized in water into Moses. They were baptized in the pillar of cloud and fire, and in the Red Sea. Different baptism, but same concept.
So how does one "put on" Christ in baptism? Is it because one becomes a "child of God" through water baptism? NO. Is Paul saying that we become children of God by water baptism as much as children of God by faith in Christ? NO.
Yes, that is exactly what he is saying.
