Sunday, March 6, 2016

Salvation, Grace, Faith and Baptism

Here is a dialogue as narrated by a pastor between him and a pastor of another denomination:

Pastor 1: “Baptism must be received by adults who should be able to believe in Christ and confess their faith”.
Pastor 2: “Pastor, do you believe in Grace of God?”.
Pastor 1 : “Yes, I certainly believe in the Grace of God”.
Pastor 2: If only adult baptism right, where is the grace of God? We then are giving importance not to the Grace but to the person. When we baptize children, we commit them into the Grace of God.

I don’t know what really these pastors shared each other. But Bible- on faith and doctrines or sacraments and observations, does not confuse us; though pastors with their denominational bias and agendas do.

Ephesians 2:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 Ephesians 2:8-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 International Standard Version (ISV)

For by such grace you have been saved through faith. This does not come from you; it is the gift of God and not the result of actions, to put a stop to all boasting.[a]

There is not a topic like this that denominational leaders debate about. Those who practice immersion and adult baptism will not accept the practice of infants’ sprinkling in the name of baptism. Those who practice infant’s ‘baptism’ goes even to the point of arguing that every baptism mentioned in the Bible are not talking about water baptism, (Its true) but when it comes to the Great Commission, they will say, the Baptism mentioned here is certainly identification with Christ, not really water Baptism.

Is Baptism a command or a sacrament? If it is a command, is it the foremost one?
Is Baptism essential to become a believer of Christ and to enter heaven?
What was the baptism of Jesus? Did Jesus baptize people or only His disciples? Before the death and crucifixion of Christ, what was the meaning of Baptism that Jesus/Disciples administered?

The Word of God is written for ordinary people, and its teaching and history can be understood, literally, culturally, historically and spiritually by any ordinary persons who are interested to study or meditate on it. Read all the accounts or instances of Baptism and all the sayings or writing about it in the Bible with an open mind and the Spirit of God will lead you to all truth when you depend on Him.  
Here are a few of my observations from the Bible. You may read it for yourself and understand it and if you follow the principles of Biblical interpretation you would be able to help others by interpreting it rightly, as God’s Word does not contradict itself as we do.

Entering into God’s Kingdom:
Jesus Christ taught much about who enters to His Kingdom.

1.       Being born again- spiritually born

Jesus replied to him, “Truly, I tell you[a] emphatically; unless a person is born from above[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 International Standard Version (ISV)

As God’s family is Spiritual family, one is born into God’s family through a spiritual birth, made by faith by one’s own acceptance of God’s Salvation through Christ. Natural birth can by the choice of parents and with God’s blessings, but not so with spiritual birth.
2.       Obeying the teaching of Christ as found in Matthew 5-7  After teaching – on the mount (sermon on the mount, Matthew chapters 5-7), Jesus said:
21 “Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from[a] heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name, didn’t we?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who practice evil!’”[b]  Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus further illustrates this with the case of a wise builder and the foolish builder. The teachings of Christ are compared to the rock which is the foundation; and the house, to our deeds/life. The house that stands again the rain and flood is compared to eternal life.

 

3.    Without holiness, no one will see God, says the writer to the Hebrews.
“Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness,without which no one will see the Lord”. Hebrews 12:14
There are numerous teachings on how one receives eternal life. Nowhere Baptism is mentioned.
A Rich Man Comes to Jesus ] Then an official asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
so that everyone who believes in him would have eternal life.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his uniquely existing Son so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Where do we place Baptism as to salvation; and Grace of God in the act of sprinkling on a Child in the name as an act of Baptism? Salvation is the gift of God, and it can be achieved only by faith not by acts. But faith without works is dead!
Words have meaning in people. A word has its meaning in the context and the context of other words used along. We should not try to build a theology out of a word taken out of context. What is ‘faith’ then and what is ‘grace’? In the Bible, faith is referring to faith in the son of God, His atoning sacrifice, remission of sins that He offers freely; and accepting Him through repentance and by confession of sins.
If a child is old enough to understand this, he/she can have faith in God and be born again. A ‘water baptism’ administered either to an adult or to an infant cannot give them any faith or grace. But one who has the faith here can witness his/her faith through water baptism. In the light of the Bible we need to think if we consider Baptism as a means to faith/salvation or as expression of one’s faith. We also need to think if an infant can witness its faith in Christ or an infant ‘baptism’ leads to the shower Grace for salvation! We should not miss out the Salvation of God while majoring on minor and minoring on major!

  

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