BAPTISTS AND BAPTISM

In the last edition of “Hugh's News & Views” we set forth the Lord's way of salvation as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. We said much about baptism because the Bible says much about baptism and the part it plays in salvation from sin. In spite of the clarity with which the Lord and His apostles spoke with regard to baptism it is still often claimed that baptism has nothing to do with one's salvation from sin.

In 1890, Edward T. Hiscox, a Baptist theologian, produced a Standard Manual for Baptist Churches. In it he said: "It is most likely that in the apostolic age when there was but 'one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,' and no different denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act, constituted him a member of the church, and at once endowed him with all the rights and privileges of full membership. In that sense, 'baptism was the door into the church.' Now it is different (emphasis mine, hf); and while the churches are desirous of receiving members, they are wary and cautious that they do not receive unworthy persons" (Page 22).

I bought that book and read that statement over seventy years ago when I was a junior in high school. I wondered then and I still wonder why, by the author's own admission, things were one way in the age of the apostles, including the purpose of baptism, but now they are different! Why are they different? Who made them different? Who had the authority to make them different?

I am aware that there are many kinds of Baptists and that they all do not believe and teach the same thing. However, most Baptists of my acquaintance do not view baptism as being essential to salvation from one's alien sins (sins committed before becoming a child of God). They see it as a testimony and witness of their commitment to follow Christ (sometimes expressed as an outward sign of an inward grace, or some variation thereof), but they believe that one is saved by faith alone, before and without baptism. If this is a misrepresentation of their teaching and belief, I will be pleased to be corrected. (Note: Nothing said here is intended as a personal attack on Baptists. We are simply looking at a contrast between Baptist doctrine and practice and what the New Testament teaches concerning salvation from sin).

It is sometimes said, “We are saved by grace through faith, not of works. Baptism is a work, therefore it has nothing to do with our salvation.” It is certainly true that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is also true that we are not saved by human works of meritorious righteousness (Ephesians 2:10). But faith without works is dead (James 2:20, 24, 26). Someone says, “But James was talking about works that a saved person, one who is already a Christian, does.” So, let me ask, “Will faith only save an alien sinner but it will not save a Christian?”

The truth of scripture is that the alien sinner must render obedience to the gospel to be saved and such obedience involves certain works of righteousness (works which God Himself ordained). At the household of Cornelius, Peter affirmed: “But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35). Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21) (Emphasis mine in both quotations, hf). According to Christ, salvation involves doing something. What is that “something”? Christ is the “author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).

Salvation is “by grace through faith,” but significantly faith itself is said to be a work. Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29). Repentance is also a work that accountable men and women must do in order to be saved (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30). Salvation by grace through faith does not remove the obligation to repent of one's sins, neither does it remove the need to believe, nor the necessity of a person being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the remission of sins! (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:38). The Lord told Saul of Tarsus that in the city of Damascus he would be told what he must do (emphasis mine, hf). What was Saul told to do? Read it for yourself: “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Salvation by grace through faith does not remove the necessity of baptism from God's way of salvation, any more than it removes the necessity of faith and repentance!

Baptism is a divine act in which God performs spiritual surgery (circumcision) on the heart “by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh” (Colossians 2:11). This “surgery” takes place when one is “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working (operation, KJV) of God, who has raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). I remember quite vividly as a boy hearing Willard Willis, an outstanding gospel preacher, say, “When we are baptized, God performs an 'operation' on us in which the sins of the flesh are cut away and removed.” The Great Physician tells us that we must have this “surgery” (Mark 16:16). The “operation” is absolutely necessary, otherwise the “cancer” of sin will not be removed from our lives! Have you submitted to this surgery by the Great Physician?

Having set forth the above, it is refreshing to know that some in the denominational world are coming to have a more biblical view and understanding of the place of baptism in the Lord's way of salvation. Several years ago, I wrote a “News & Views” in which I referenced Titus 3:5: “...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” I received a note from my good friend and fellow preacher Sellers Crain in which he said:

“On the Titus 3:5 passage, when I was going to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Dr. Douglas Moo was one of my professors. He is considered to be one of the premier NT scholars in the country. He wrote a Commentary on Romans that is about 1200 pages and a NIV Application Commentary on Romans about 500 pages. He was my teacher on the Pastoral Epistles, and he said on Titus 3:5, 'Fellows, I think that applies to baptism, and I think there is more to baptism than we are willing to admit.' I said, 'I am willing to admit it,' and he allowed me all the time I wanted to explain what I believe the Bible teaches, after which he said, 'Fellows, that is biblical.' When I read his NIV commentary in the excursus on Romans 6, he said he was baptized for the remission of sins. He said, 'Baptism is the point at which we come into Christ and the point at which our sins are forgiven.'”

Let us continue to preach and practice the truth on baptism! Let us continue to press the offensive on going back to the New Testament and just being the church we read of there—in doctrine, practice, and life! No one has the right to make things any different from what they were in the apostolic age (Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 22:18-19).

Hugh Fulford