eph3Nine said:
The ONLY baptism needed today is the baptism of Eph 4:5
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith,
one baptism,
And Paul said that "Christ sent him NOT to baptize..."
1 Corinthians 1:17 For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
so...again...you are operating in a program God set aside over two thousand years ago and
by preaching another gospel and another jesus you bring yourself into the realm of the "accursed" promise of Galatians 1:8,9 seen below.
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.Galatians 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received,
let him be accursed.
Pretty clear to me!
Well said, eph3nine. I did not know this person was perverting the gospel of Christ, until this post. Without commenting on all of this, since he says "What that says is that
if anyone refuses baptism, which enters the person into the covenant of God, then
that person will be cut off because they will have broken God's covenant.
People today want to say that baptism isn't needed yet neither Peter nor Paul taught that. In fact they taught just the opposite", I will add add a few comments: he is preaching water baptism, which was a righteous requirement of the law, and thus he preaches another gospel.
He just "does not get" that Paul is speaking of a spiritual baptism=identification into His death(not water)=when He died, we died; when He was buried, we were buried; and when he was raised, we were raised; and a spiritual circumcision("made without hands"=God), and that "the circumcision of Christ" was the spiritual circumcision of Christ at the cross, i.e., his soul was "cut off", severed/separated(physical circumcision was the "cutting off"/"severing" of the flesh of the male foreskin from the body) from his body, and his soul went to hell. Similarly, we are separated both positionally from who we were "in Adam", and now we are "in Christ", and separated from our former walk in "the body of the sins of the flesh", as we are "putting off" these, and "putting on" Christ. This is the positional and practical result of Christ's
spiritual circumcision. And the focus of Colossians chapter 2 is the distortion of Christianity by legalism("complete in Christ" vs. "rudiments of the world"......)!
Ironic,isn't it? He spiritualizes the "land promises" to Israel(as just one example), and literalizes the one spiritual Eph. 4:5 baptism into water.
"In other words baptism is the NT equivalent of the OT circumcision"
I wonder if he will explain just how females were circumcized in the OT. Does baptism in water for females in the NT replace their circumcision in the OT? Watch the spin.
"The assumption that baptism isn't needed is a lie from the enemy and a dangerous thing to do knowing that God has said he that refuses the sign will be cut off."
Gen 17:10 This [is] my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
He is perverting the gospel, trying to place members of the body of Christ under the Law of Moses. Of course, this is typical of those who cannot even see who is being addressed. He thinks he is a Jew-can't even read to whom this is written. The Eph. 4:5 one baptism is a spiritual baptism in which we are identified into the Lord Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and identified with each member of his body, with Him as Head. And this spiritual baptism is a result of our placing our faith in the work of the Saviour-1 Cor. 15:1-4.
In Christ,
John M. Whalen