Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?
A frequently asked question is, "Is baptism necessary
for salvation?"
Acts 10 gives the conversion story of Cornelius. In this
story when Peter was explaining that the forgiveness of sins would come to
anyone who believed in Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who listened to the
message. Apparently Cornelius and the Gentiles reached out to God for the
forgiveness which Peter was telling them about.
They received as God's response the Holy Ghost. Paul teaches
us in Romans 8:9 that anyone who has the Holy Spirit is a Christian. If one does
not have the Spirit, no matter what else he does or believes, he is not a
Christian.
After Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit and had been
made a Christian, then he was baptized. Please notice the order of events
leading to his salvation.
First, he heard the Word of God,
Second, he believed.
Third, God responded to his faith by giving him the Holy
Spirit, who, according to Acts 15:9, cleansed hearts and made Christians.
The last thing that happened was that he was baptized.
Scripture teaches that Cornelius and the Gentiles, like the Apostles and like
the 120 at Pentecost, received salvation by faith alone in
Jesus before they received water baptism.
In the New Testament, baptism is always presented as a step
following faith in Christ.
Mark 16:16: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned."
Acts 16:3 1: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved."
No mention was made of baptism or confession by mouth as
procuring salvation.
It is true that baptism is an act of obedience on the part of
the baptized. It is a choice by the individual, even as faith is a choice.
One might ask, "Will any believer who has died without
baptism be eternally lost?" Scripture indicates a distinct,
"No."
John 3:18: "He that believeth on Him (Christ) is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Baptism and Salvation
Is baptism necessary for salvation? There are a variety of
viewpoints on this question. At one extreme, some in the Church of Christ
movement teach that a person must be immersed after hearing a ""gospel
preacher,"" repenting, and believing in Christ, and must consider
their baptism essential for salvation, before they can be truly saved. This
amounts very nearly to saying that one must be baptized under the auspices of a
Church of Christ in order to be saved. Less extreme is the position of the Roman
Catholic church, according to which baptism is basically essential for
salvation, though exceptional circumstances are allowed and the baptism
administered by other churches is considered valid as far as the person's
salvation is concerned.
The Protestant churches which practice infant baptism
(notably Anglicans and Lutherans) generally regard baptism as a part of the
salvation process, but not necessarily an indispensable part. Most other
Protestant churches regard baptism as a command which all new Christians are
expected to obey, and without which full membership in the church is denied, but
not as an absolute requirement for salvation. And a very few churches (notably
the Friends, or Quakers) do not even practice the ordinance of baptism, on the
premise that water baptism was for the Jews and that it is baptism in the Spirit
that "counts."
The biblical teaching on this subject would seem to indicate
that the extreme positions of baptism as absolutely essential to salvation (as
taught by some in the Church of Christ) and as an outmoded ritual that need not
be practiced at all (as taught by the Friends) are aberrations that should be
rejected as unbiblical and divisive (though many in both those churches may be
acknowledged as genuine Christians).
To begin with, the Bible is very clear in its teachings that
all Christians are expected to be baptized in water. Jesus told His disciples
that they were to baptize new disciples of all nations, not just Jews (Matt.
28:19), and since it is Christ alone who baptizes men in the Spirit (Mark 1:8),
the baptism administered by the disciples must be in water. This means that to
dispense with water baptism is to disobey Christ.
On the other hand, the New Testament makes it equally clear
that men can become saved as Christians prior to receiving water baptism.
Cornelius's family received the Holy Spirit and was manifesting the gifts of the
Spirit after hearing the gospel but before being baptized (Acts 10:44-48). This
observation must be balanced, however, by the fact that baptism was not an
"optional extra" for Cornelius's family; it was a command (10:48) that
they were expected to obey. However, it was not obedience to this command that
saved them, but their believing in Christ (10:43). Baptism is the expected
initial outward response to the gospel, but it is not a part of the gospel
itself (1 Cor. 1:17).
There are a number of prooftexts which are often cited to
prove that the Bible makes baptism mandatory for salvation. Some of the most
common such prooftexts are Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Mark 16:16, John 3:5, Romans
6:4, and 1 Peter 3:21. A careful examination of each of these texts in context
will show that none of them prove that baptism is necessarily prerequisite for
salvation, though they do prove that baptism was an assumed initiatory response
to the gospel of salvation.
In other words, these texts prove only that baptism is
regularly associated with conversion and salvation, rather than absolutely
required for salvation. A helpful analogy is the marriage ceremony as the
initiatory rite of commitment to marriage. It is an expected precursor to
married life, and is even required by law (in most countries), but the state
often recognizes marriages as valid without the benefit of a ceremony (as in
common-law marriages), and thus the ceremony is not absolutely necessary for the
marriage to be valid.
Thus, when we say that baptism is not essential for
salvation, we do not mean that it may be dispensed with or that God does not
expect new converts to be baptized. He does. We may go even further and say that
if a person claims to be a Christian, understands that the Lord Jesus Christ
commanded every Christian to be baptized, and yet refuses to submit to baptism,
it may very well be (though we cannot say absolutely in every case) that his
profession of faith is a sham and that he is not truly saved. (Returning to our
illustration, under normal circumstances for a person to say they wish to be
married but to refuse to be wed in a legal ceremony indicates insincerity on
that person's part.)
We therefore urge all unbaptized believers to repent of their
disobedience in this matter and to be baptized immediately. Since baptism is the
first act of obedience which Christ expects of every believer, no one who has
not been baptized may be considered a fully-functioning member in good standing
of the church, and we would say should not be invited to participate in
communion or allowed to hold any office or teaching position within the church.
One the other hand, we refuse to condemn all those who for various reasons have
failed to be baptized, and we certainly disagree most strongly with those who
assert that only those who have been baptized according to their doctrinal
understanding of baptism are genuinely saved.
In sum, baptism is
necessary in that Christ commands it, and all genuine Christians who understand
this fact must either be baptized or be considered to be in a state of
disobedience and rebellion against Christ. But baptism is not prerequisite to
being born again or forgiven of one's sins, and it is possible, however
irregular, for persons who have
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