Baptism associates us with the death of Christ, hence it is only through
baptism that we can have access to forgiveness. We are “buried with (Christ)
in baptism and raised with him through ... the power of God, who raised him
from the dead. When you were dead in your sins ... (God) made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins” (Col. 2:12,13NIV). We are “washed...in
the name of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 6:11) - i.e. baptism into the name of
Jesus is the means by which our sins are washed away. This was typified back
in Num. 19:13, where those without the water of purification had to die. We
demonstrated in Study 10.2 how baptism is a washing away of sins (cf. Acts
22:16). The descriptions of the believers as being washed from their sins in
the blood of Christ therefore refers to their doing this by means of baptism
(Rev. 1:5; 7:14; Tit. 3:5 [NIV] speak of this as “the washing of rebirth”,
referring to our being “born of water” at baptism [Jn. 3:5]).
In the
light of all this, it is understandable that Peter’s response to the
question, “What shall we do?” was, “Repent and be baptised, every one of
you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgivrness of your sins” (Acts
2:37,38NIV). Baptism into Christ’s name is for the forgiveness of sins; it’s
that important. There is no salvation except in the name of Jesus (Acts
4:12), and we can only share that name by being baptised into it. This fact
means that non-Christian religions can in no way lead to salvation. No true
Bible believer can accept that they do; the fact that the wider ecumenical
movement do so, is a sad reflection upon their attitude to Holy Scripture.
Christ’s resurrection to eternal life was a sign of his personal triumph
over sin. By baptism we associate ourselves with this, and therefore we are
spoken of as having been raised along with Christ, sin no longer having
power over us, as it no longer did over him. Through baptism we are
therefore “set free from sin ... sin shall not have dominion over you” after
baptism (Rom. 6:18,14). However, after baptism we still sin (1 Jn. 1:8,9);
sin is still in a position to enslave us again if we turn away from Christ.
We are therefore presently sharing in Christ’s death and sufferings,
although baptism demonstrates how we are also associated with Christ’s
resurrection, which we have hope of sharing at his return.
Only in
prospect are we free from sin. “He who believes and is baptised will be
saved” (Mk. 16:16) at Christ’s second coming. Ultimate salvation does not
occur straight after baptism, but at the judgment seat (1 Cor. 3:13).
Indeed, there is no need for the doctrine of the judgment if we receive
salvation at baptism, nor should we have to die. “He who endures to the end
will be saved” (Mt. 10:22).
Even after his baptism, Paul (and all
Christians) had to strive towards salvation (Phil. 3:10-13; 1 Cor. 9:27); he
spoke of the hope of eternal life (Tit. 1:2; 3:7; 1 Thes. 5:8; Rom. 8:24)
and of those who “will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). At the judgment seat,
the righteous will go into eternal life (Mt. 25:46). Paul’s marvellous,
inspired logic shines through in Rom. 13:11 - he reasons that after baptism
we can know that each day we live and endure is one day closer to Christ’s
second coming, so that we can rejoice that “now our salvation is nearer than
when we first believed”. Our salvation is therefore not now possessed.
Salvation is conditional; we will be saved if we hold fast a true faith
(Heb. 3:12-14), if we remember in faith the basic doctrines which comprise
the Gospel (1 Tim. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:1,2), and if we continue in those things
which are in keeping with such a great hope (2 Pet. 1:10).
The Greek verb
translated “saved” is therefore sometimes used in the continuous tense,
showing that salvation is an on-going process which is occurring within us
by reason of our continued obedience to the Gospel. Thus the believers are
spoken of as “being saved” by their response to the Gospel (1 Cor. 1:18;
other examples of this continuous theme are in Acts 2:47 and 2 Cor. 2:15).
This Greek word for “saved” is only used in the past tense concerning the
great salvation which Christ made possible on the cross, and which we can
associate ourselves with by baptism (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5).
This is all
exemplified by God’s dealings with natural Israel, which form the basis for
His relationship with spiritual Israel, i.e. the believers. Israel left
Egypt, representing the world of the flesh and false religion which we are
associated with before baptism. They passed through the Red Sea and then
travelled through the wilderness of Sinai into the promised land, where they
were fully established as God’s Kingdom. Their crossing of the Red Sea is
typical of our baptism (1 Cor. 10:1,2); the wilderness journey of our
present life, and Canaan of the Kingdom of God. Jude v. 5 describes how many
of them were destroyed during the wilderness journey: “The Lord, having
saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did
not believe.” Israel were therefore “saved” from Egypt, as all those who are
baptised are “saved” from sin. If one of those Israelites had been asked,
“Are you saved?” their response could have been, “Yes”, but this would not
mean that they would ultimately be saved.
In the same way as Israel
turned back to Egypt in their hearts (Acts 7:39) and reverted to a life of
flesh-pleasing and false beliefs, so those who have been “saved” from sin by
baptism can likewise fall away from the blessed position in which they
stand. The possibility of our doing the same as natural Israel in the
wilderness is highlighted in 1 Cor. 10:1-12, Heb. 4:1,2 and Rom. 11:17-21.
There are numerous examples in Scripture of those who were once “saved” from
sin by baptism, later falling into a position which meant they will be
condemned at Christ’s return (e.g. Heb. 3:12-14; 6:4-6; 10:20-29). The ‘once
saved always saved’ idea of zealous ‘evangelical’ preachers is exposed for
what it is by such passages - complete flesh-pleasing sophistry.
As with
all things, a correct sense of balance is needed in trying to understand to
what extent we are “saved” by baptism. By becoming “in Christ” by baptism,
we are saved in prospect; we really do have a sure hope of being in God’s
Kingdom if we continue to abide in Christ as we are when we rise from the
waters of baptism. At any point in time after our baptism we should be able
to have humble confidence that we will certainly be accepted into the
Kingdom at Christ’s return. We cannot be ultimately certain, because we may
fall away the next day; we do not know our personal spiritual future in this
life.
We must do all we can to maintain the good conscience which we have
with God at baptism; to "keep our first love" (Rev. 2:4). Baptism is the
“pledge (response mg.) of a good conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21,NIV); the baptism
candidate pledges (promises) to keep that clear conscience with God.
Even
though baptism is of vital importance to our salvation in Christ, we must be
careful not to give the impression that by the one act or ‘work’ of baptism
alone we will be saved. We have earlier shown how that a life of continued
fellowshipping of Christ’s crucifixion is necessary: “Unless one is born of
water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). A
comparison of this with 1 Pet. 1:23 shows that the birth which occurs at a
true baptism must be followed by our gradual regeneration by the
spirit-word. Salvation is not just due to baptism: it is a result of grace
(Eph. 2:8), faith (Rom. 1:5) and hope (Rom. 8:24), among other things. The
argument is sometimes made that salvation is by faith alone, and therefore a
‘work’ like baptism is irrelevant. However, James 2:17-24 makes it clear
that such reasoning makes a false distinction between faith and works; a
true faith, e.g. in the Gospel, is demonstrated to be genuine faith by the
works which it results in, e.g. baptism. “... a man is justified by works
and not by faith only” (James 2:24). In several cases of baptism, the
believer asked what he must “do” to be saved; the reply always involved
baptism (Acts 2:37; 9:6; 10:6; 16:30). ‘Doing’ the ‘work’ of baptism is
therefore a necessary indication of our belief of the Gospel of salvation.
The work of saving us has ultimately been done by God and Christ, but we
need to do “works befitting repentance” and believe in this (Acts 26:20 cf.
Mk. 16:15,16).
We have earlier shown that the language of washing away of
sins refers to God’s forgiveness of us on account of our baptism into
Christ. In some passages we are spoken of as washing away our sins by our
faith and repentance (Acts 22:16; Rev. 7:14; Jer. 4:14; Is. 1:16); in others
God is seen as the one who washes away our sins (Ez. 16:9; Ps. 51:2,7; 1
Cor. 6:11). This nicely shows how that if we do our part in being baptised,
God will then wash away our sins. Thus the ‘work’, or act, of baptism is a
vital step in taking hold of God’s Gospel of grace (‘unmerited favour’),
which has been offered to us in His Word.