You amaze me LouisBooth. You keep on claiming that I need to study my bible more yet so far you are the one that made a error in proclaiming that the bible didnt state anywhere that Paul was baptized. I pointed the verse out that says he was in one of my previous post. LB you have what I call the gift of Gab. You like to say a lot of things but they just dont hold water (pardon the pun).
Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me reading your posts that you beleive that baptism is baptism of the Holy Spirit and has nothing to do with being immersed in water. If this is what you are stateing please answer the following questions.
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
If baptism isnt of water then why did Philip baptize him in water?
Acts 10:44 ¶While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
If baptism is of the Holy Ghost and not water why in the world would Peter command these people to be baptized in water when they clearly had the Holy Ghost?
You would have to reword the following verse this way. John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Spirit(instead of water) and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
You want to know why the bible doesnt start talking about baptism in the first few chapters of Romans. Well you see LB would it not be more apropriate to talk about faith first. If you do not have faith the very first step of salvation then your sure not going to get anywhere by telling people that they need to confess,repent, or be baptized without first talking about faith. The whole new covenant is based on faith. Instead of quibbling about the order the verses are in maybe we should just go by the whole council of God. If you look at the begining of the chruch in Act 2 you will see immediately after the people belived they asked what they should do and Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the remisson of sin. You never find where they schedual a baptism because baptism was alway urgent to those that believed. I would like to ask a question to those of you that quote the Old Testemant examples as a desprate attempt to justify your faith only view. Why are you useing OT examples when the people during the time before Jesus death were under a different system than what we are under now?
Of course the people under the old covenant were not baptized into Jesus because it wasnt commanded until the day of Pentacost in Acts 2. This is just 1 reason of many. IThe OT brought us to Christ and it teaches time and time again Faith, obedience, action. Just take a look at Noah for one he had faith in God he was obedient and took action and built the ark then he was saved from the flood due to his obedience. The walls of Jerrico came down because they had faith in God Obedience and action as the marched around the city and shouted on the last day. The walls fell down due to their obedience of faith. The list could go on and on. You see this pattern in the new covenant as well. You have faith in God then you have obedience and action as you repent and confess and are baptized in water as a result of your obedience to faith your sins are removed and you are added to the body of christ by God.
Take a look at the following verses.
Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Romans 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
It greatly saddens me that you dismiss my very strong and clear arguement about the plan of salvation. I hope that you at least give what I have presented some thought instead of responding with preconceived ideas. Thanks for all of your responses.
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