Andy Woods - Soteriology 10: Baptism

the bus must have gotten here later something that's good to see everybody as always it's always a fun time of the year getting ready for Good Friday or some people think Jesus was crucified on Wednesday so you can celebrate good Wednesday I'm gonna celebrate Good Friday but we all agree he came out of the grave on Sunday right so look forward to that this weekend and the hope it gives us we're picking up again our study of salvation we didn't meet last week because the chafer conference so kind of dialing back a couple of weeks ago you might remember that we were talking about the one condition of salvation remember what that was yeah belief or faith and we've been working through and the reason we're going through the SLO is there's a lot of controversy about this in the body of Christ today the Bible about two hundred times says we're saved by faith by itself so that's the clear teaching of Scripture the bulk of the scripture goes in that direction but there are a handful of verses that seem to teach something different and what we're learning to do in this unit called belief God's one condition of salvation is harmonize the isolated verses with the clear ones so we don't lose the clarity of the gospel so some people camp on the word repent and we went through that and I tried to show you that repent is really if you understand it correctly is a synonym for believe because repent means change in mind and then other people camp on the on the concept of lordship you have to make Jesus Lord of every area of your life that's called lordship salvation and we spend a lot of time there and I tried to show you that lordship really has more to do with your growth in Christ what we call progressive sanctification then how you initially get saved so we spent a couple of about three weeks on that we talked about receive and accept Christ you know are those terms we use with the unsaved and yes sometimes the Bible uses that expression as in John 1:12 but even in that verse you'll see that receive or accept is a synonym for believe and then other verses say believe and work and I tried to show you a couple weeks ago that works come win not before salvation but what after so let's move on to our next problem passages instead of problem passages there's a collection of passages that make it look at first glance as if someone has to be baptized to get to heaven and it's it's shocking how many people think this this way I was just in Spokane Washington and somebody kind of cornered me and tried to you know convince me that you if you're not baptized you're not going to heaven and he used one of the verses that I'll show you tonight but at first glance there's a handful of verses that look like you have to be baptized in order to have a right relationship with God so let's give a little context to these if we could first of all number one there are two hundred clear ones okay crystal-clear that say you're saved totally on the basis of faith for example you might know John 3:16 you probably have that memorized whosoever what believes there's not a shred of evidence in that verse that baptism is somehow a requirement to get to heaven and if you make baptism a requirement to get to heaven then you just taught salvation by what works and that's the biggest problem with that that belief system Ephesians 2 verses 8 & 9 is very clear we are not saved on the basis of works whatsoever and beyond that as you study the pattern in the Bible what you'll discover is that baptism and I'm not minimizing baptism baptism is important I'm just saying the Bible is saying it's not salvific it's not a requirement to get to heaven baptism every time you see baptism practiced in the New Testament what you'll discover is baptism always comes after a person has trusted in Christ for salvation so let's just kind of take a look at a handful of verses you know you know the Great Commission verse Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19 you have a copy of your Bible you might want to just follow me around here a little bit Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 the Great Commission Jesus says go therefore and make disciples of all nations and then the next clause says baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit so you'll notice that baptism follows making a making someone a disciple and this is pretty much the pattern as you go through the scripture first people are saved and then secondly they're baptized take a look at acts 812 the book of Acts records the salvations of a lot of different people and Acts chapter 8 and verse 12 says but when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ they were being baptized men and women alike so again you see the chronology first they believed Philips message and then they were baptized baptism never comes before faith if you go over to acts 10 verses 45 through 47 this is the conversion of Cornelius the first Gentile that was one the Christ in the church age you see the exact same pattern it says all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles and they were hearing them speak with tongues exalting God then Peter answered surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did can he so you see they received the Spirit of God first on the basis of faith and then they were baptized it's always the same order notice acts 16 verses 14 and 15 I think this is the conversion of Lydia in Philip I it says a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira a seller of purple and fabrics a worshipper of God was listening to the Lord and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul and when she and her household had been baptized she urged us saying if we have judged if you have judged me to be faithful of the Lord come into my house and stay but you'll notice that the Lord opened her heart first to receive the message you know presumably by faith and then she was baptized it's the same chronology going to the end of the passage acts 16 verses 30 and 34 this is the conversion of the Philippian jailer says and after he had brought them out he said sirs what must I do to be saved they said what believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved you and your household and then it says and they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in the house and he took them that very hour of the night and asked their wounds washed their wounds excuse me and immediately he was baptized he and his whole household so again they the Philippian jailer believes and then baptism follows and one more just for good measure acts 18:8 you'll see Paul actually practicing baptism it says Christmas the leader of the synagogue believed in the Lord with his household and many Corinthians when they heard they were believing and being baptized so you see how baptism is always following believing so that's the natural order of things and really the Achilles heel one of the verses that's really the Achilles heel of people that believe you have to be baptized to get to heaven is the thief on the cross remember Jesus was crucified between the two thieves one thief was cursing Christ you know to the very end of his life and one thief was penitent or repentant and remember what Jesus said to that latter thief today you will be with me in what paradise Luke 23:43 now did the thief on the cross get baptized obviously not it's you don't really have an option to get baptized when you're nailed to a cross right so he didn't have time to go down and get the nails out of his hands and feet and get baptized Jesus didn't say quick throw water on this guy before he dies so he can go to heaven obviously he was saved totally on the basis of God's grace and his trust in God's promises and baptism was something that he never did and yet jesus said to him today you shall be with me in paradise so if a person receives Christ by faith and then they're hit by a car or died of a heart attack or something and they never have an opportunity to get baptized we do not believe that such a person you know went to hell anymore then we believe the thief on the cross went to hell and what you'll discover is Paul makes a lot of very strange statements statements that don't make any sense if somehow baptism contributed to our justification take a look at what he says over in 1st Corinthians 1 and verses 14 through 17 as he's speaking there to the Corinthians Paul says I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius now would Paul say something like that if baptism was part of our salvation the statement doesn't make any sense why would he say I thank God I baptized none of you except for a couple of guys and the reason Paul is talking like this is people are idolizing Paul and he's saying why you idolizing me I've just baptized a few of you he says I thank God I baptized just a couple of you and then he says in verse 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name now I did baptize the household of stephanas and then you'll notice Paul has kind of a senior moment here you ever had a senior moment or you can't remember exactly things clearly he says in verse 15 now I did baptized also the household of stephanas beyond that i don't know whether i baptized any other i don't remember who i baptized and then in verse 17 for christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel not in cleverness of speech so that the cross of Christ would not be made void now those are very very strange statements if baptism contributed something to our justification before God so then what is baptism baptism speaking of water baptism now is simply an outward symbol of an inward reality baptism does not save anybody it is a sign of obedience that we submit to as Christians to testify to the public that we belong to Jesus Christ now by way of faith so I like to analogize baptism to a wedding ring here's my wedding ring here what does this ring symbolize well it symbolizes my union with my wife my marriage this wedding ring does not make me married it's a symbol that I'm married and in fact I've lost my wedding ring before misplaced it does that ever happen anybody when I misplace my wedding ring I don't say oh my gosh I'm not married anymore my wife may want that but we're still married regardless of whether I have my wedding ring or lost my wedding ring or can find my wedding ring so the wedding ring doesn't make me married at all what'swhat's the wedding ring therefore it just symbolizes the fact that I've been that I am married so that's what baptism is baptism is a sign of obedience that we submit to to symbolize to the public that we officially belong to Jesus Christ that's all baptism is but it has absolutely no saving power at all if it did the Bible would be teaching salvation by works and it would be contradicting the 200 crystal clear passages that say belief is the only condition of salvation so that is I think the correct teaching on baptism now having said that when you get into this this discussion with people what you'll discover is that there are a few verses that if you look at them at first glance it looks like you've got to be baptized to get to heaven so take a look at mark 16 for a minute very end of Mark's Gospel mark 16 verses 15 and 16 and here's what it says Jesus is speaking and he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he who has believed or watch this and has been baptized shall be saved Wow but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned so people that believe you have to be baptized to get to heaven love to quote this verse because you read it and it says you've got to do two things to get to be saved you've got to believe and be baptized so how would we harmonize a verse like this with the two hundred clear ones to teach salvation by faith alone well one thing to think about is you'll notice in mark 16 the little if you're reading out of the new American Standard Bible for example there's a little bracket off to the side usually or sometimes it shows up in your study Bible notes and it will say something to this extent it will say these verses do not appear in the most trustworthy manuscripts of the New Testament and people look at this and say oh my gosh what kind of Bible is this that we believe that I mean our is the Bible God's Word or not and what do we do with these brackets that say these verses are found in the most trustworthy manuscripts when you study the woman caught in adultery in John 8 you'll see the same thing there it says these this story is not found in the most trustworthy manuscripts so let me kind of open the door to this a little bit and explain to you what is happening here we do not have the original New Testament manuscripts we don't have an original Gospel of Mark we don't have an original Gospel of Matthew or John or any other New Testament book what we have are copies of the originals now don't let that bother you because when you think about it God did us a great service by not allowing us to retain the originals what do people do when they think they find a splinter of the Cross or something they start to they start to worship it they become idolaters and that may be the reason why God in His Providence did not allow us to retain the original manuscripts and beyond that if you only have if you have the original manuscript and that a manuscript is damaged the whole cause of Christ is destroyed see or if it's stolen the whole cause of Christ is destroyed so God in His sovereignty did not allow us to retain the original manuscripts what we have are copies of the original manuscripts and Christianity from its origin has always been a missionary evangelistic faith and so the goal was to share the message with as many people as we can and so what do we have our what we do have our manuscripts of the originals and compared to any other work of antiquity we come out way ahead we come out smelling like a rose because we have more copies of the original than any other work of antiquity and beyond that the distance of time between the first copy that we have and the when the original manuscript was supposedly written is shorter in time compared to any other work of antiquity so for example we have something called John Rylands papyrus which is a little fragment of John 18 and it is closer in time to the original than any other work of antiquity that we have so if you're going to disparage Christianity on the basis of the fact that we don't have the original manuscripts you have to throw out every other work of antiquity whether it be you know Greek Greek poets Greek writers because we have more copies of our original and the distance between the earliest copy we have and the original is shorter in comparison to all other works of antiquity so that's what we do have and we come out smelling like a rose on these things however these manuscripts that we do have they they generally agree with each other about 99% of the time they agree with each other on all significant doctrinal or theological issues however about 1% of the time perhaps even less the manuscripts that we do have contradict each other in a very small percentage so for example some of the manuscripts would include the statement that I just read from mark 16 that I have here on the screen some would not the issue is when you get into these contradictions and you're trying to piece together what the original said which theory do you follow and this gets into a very vast area of New Testament scholarship called next criticism and there are basically two different views some people say when there's a contradiction between manuscripts you go with the earlier manuscripts and that is the theory of the new American Standard Bible and that's why if you're reading out of the new American Standard Bible it says there this is not found in the most trustworthy manuscripts and they're talking about the earliest manuscripts so the new American Standard Bible basically says the earlier manuscripts are the better if you're reading out of the King James Bible or the new King James Bible what you'll notice is those brackets do not appear in those King James or Newt King James Scriptures because they're operating off of a totally different theory of text criticism they're not saying the earlier is the better they go with what's called the majority in other words if the mark 16-story shows up in the majority of manuscripts then that's what we go with because they basically have trust in the early Christian community the early Christian community wouldn't have disseminated something so massively and voluminous Lee if if the story had not been authentic so all of this to say that if you're reading out of the NASB you see these funny brackets there this is not found in the earlier manuscript so if you're reading out of the King James Bible it doesn't have that little bracket there and you can't really understand what's happening unless you know a little tiny bit about what I just described text criticism so all of that to say you should not build a major doctrinal point off something that's disputed or challenged as inauthentic so the new American Standard Bible is saying earlier is better in mark 16 verses 15 and 16 doesn't even show up in some of the earlier manuscripts so why would I go to this passage here that's disputed and build a major doctrinal point off that passage that's that's the only point I'm trying to make here so that's one way of handling mark 16 verses 15 and 16 now having said that take a look at this verse a little bit more carefully let's assume that this is an authentic statement which is a viable point the King James Bible believes this is an authentic statement notice what it says he said to them go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved but look at the last clause there but he who has what disbelieved shall be condemned according to that last clause they're assuming that it's authentic what is the one thing that condemns you not lack of baptism but what unbelief lack of faith and that's something it needs to be pointed out when people use this to teach you've got to be baptized to get to heaven I mean the first argument to use in response to people using this verse is number one this is a disputed passage so don't build your doctrinal system off a disputed passage and the second thing to point out is yes it does say you have to believe and be baptized to be saved but it's also very clear that the only thing that condemns you is disbelief so what I think this passage is saying is God wants both for us to be saved not just justified but what progressively sanctified God wants both that's the normal ordering of things however the only thing that will send you into hell is not a lack of baptism but a lack of what lack of faith so that's just a little background on this and you kind of have to think about it ahead of time or people will throw it at you and it will kind of catch you off guard hopefully that made some sense let me take you to another one let's go to John 3 and verse 5 this is another passage that people use to say you've got to be baptized to get to heaven it's the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus John 3:5 jesus answered he's speaking to Nicodemus I call this chapter Nick at night because he's speaking to Nicodemus at night jesus answered truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God's people say well there it is right there you've got to be born of water water baptized and you also have to have the Holy Spirit inside of you or you're not going to heaven now let me try to explain why I don't think that's the right interpretation of this passage and there are many other interpretations of this that are more preferable to interpreting water as water baptism one additional or another more possible interpretation is that the born of water is in reference to physical birth because we're told that a I think it's called the amniotic sac surrounds the unborn child when a woman is skinning we've got several ladies in here that have more practice at this and I do but when a child is about to come forth that sac breaks and water comes forth so Jesus could be using this expression water to refer to physical birth and then of course born of the Spirit is spiritual birth so Jesus I think is not saying you got to be water baptized and you've got to be a believer to get to heaven he's saying the only way to get to heaven is you got to be physically born into the world and spiritually born into the world so water there is a reference to physical birth it's the old expression if you're born you'll die twice if you're born twice you'll die once in other words if you're born once physically by water but you never reach a point in your life where you trust Christ as Savior then you will die twice not only will you physically die but your soul will go into what John calls in the book of Revelation the second death you'll find a reference to second death in Revelation 20 verses 11 through 15 it's the lake of fire conversely if a person is born twice I'm born physically into the world and then I reach a point where I actually trust Christ as my savior and I'm born spiritually then the very worst thing that can happen to me is I'll die just one time and I mind I have to die once if we're the rapture generation but the very worst thing that can happen to me is I'll physically die but my soul has no place in the lake of fire and that's a far more preferable interpretation than interpreting water as the waters of baptism another possible interpretation of this passage is that the water is a symbol of the what the Holy Spirit if you hold your place here in John 3 and go back to the Book of Ezekiel for just a minute this I believe is what Jesus is referring to when he makes a reference there to water Ezekiel 36 this is Israel's conversion in the end times it says in Ezekiel 36 verse 25 God says and I will spring quater on you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new what spirit within you I remove remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances that's Israel's conversion by spiritual birth in the end times and notice that it's analogized to God sprinkling them with water the water here is metaphorical because it talks about sprinkling them from their uncleanliness of their idols so when Jesus makes a reference to water and the spirit I believe he's probably dialing back to Ezekiel 36 and that's why he says to Nicodemus are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these simple things in other words nickk nickk using a short version of his name you should know exactly what the new birth is because you're a Pharisee in fact you're the lead Pharisee over the nation of Israel you should be familiar with Ezekiel 36 verses 25 through 27 so water there is simply a metaphor for the spiritual birth that's again far more preferable than leaping to the conclusion that water is talking about the waters of baptism another possibility is that the water here could be a reference to the Word of God the Word of God frequently is analogized to water in the Bible you might take a look at Isaiah 55 for just a minute Isaiah 55 and notice if you will verses 10 and 11 it says for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without what watering the earth see the water and making it bare and sprout and furnishing the seed to the sower and bread to the eater so I will put my so will be my word which goes forth from my mouth it will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and with without succeeding in the manner for which I sent it so you'll notice that God is sending out his word and it always accomplishes the purposes for which God sent it and you'll notice that the sending out of that word is analogized to watering the earth notice Ephesians 5 for just a moment now we're in the New Testament Ephesians 5 and notice if you will verse 26 Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 26 it's talking about the husband's role in marriage so that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the what the word so the words impact on us is analogized many times in the scripture too being washed with water metaphorically so when Jesus says you've got to be born of water in the spirit another possibility here might be you must hear the word of God because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the what the Word of God Romans 10:17 you must hear the word of God respond to it by faith and experience the new birth there are many many verses that say we are born again through the living and enduring Word you might jot down James 1:18 first Peter 1:23 a person does not get saved simply by listening to a motivational talk a humanistic talk they get saved by hearing the Word of God and responding to it the Word of God in the scripture is analogized to water faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Jesus could simply by using this imagery of water could be simply saying Nicodemus you must hear the word respond to it by faith and be born spiritually again that's a much more preferable option than leaping to the conclusion that water there is somehow reference to water baptism let me just give you one more possibility if you go back to the very beginning of the Bible Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2 and John frequently does this he analogizes backwards to original creation he analogizes spiritual creation to physical creation you remember what was present at original creation when God brought the heavens and the earth into existence look at Genesis 1:2 the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the what waters what do you have at original creation you have number one spirit number two water now John Christ as recorded in early early on in John's Gospel uses physical creation as a metaphor for spiritual creation all of the time so Jesus could be saying just as at original creation there was water and spirit in the same way that when you're born of the Spirit born again born spiritually there is involved in it metaphorically water also and the spirit so he could be making a reference to regeneration and analogizing it to original creation so what I've just done there is I've given you I think four other possibilities for interpreting John three verse five other than leaping to the conclusion that water somehow is a reference to water baptism so it could be referring to physical birth with the breaking of the amniotic sac it could be a reference to the spirits work the water the water could be a reference to the Word of God or the water and the spirit could both be a reference to original creation sort of as an analogy analogizing original creation to spiritual creation so we've got a lot of options on the table here all of those four options that I just gave are far preferable then saying that water here is water baptism but that is another problem passage you'll run into let me take you to another one let's go over to the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 38 this is a biggie here people use this quite frequently to argue that you've got to be water baptized to get to heaven this is Peters opening sermon on the day of Pentecost and notice what acts 2 verse 38 says Peter said to them repent now these are the unbelieving Jews he's preaching to and repent means to what change your mind which is a synonym for faith as we've studied Peter said to them repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for now for is the Greek preposition ice I've got it in parentheses there for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the the gift of the Holy Spirit so people look at this and they say well there it is you've got to you've got to change your mind about Christ and you've also got to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and if you have not they interpret baptism there correctly as water baptism because many people at the end of Acts 2 got water baptized and they say there it is you've got to do two things you have to change your mind about Christ and you've got to be water baptized and if you don't do both then you're not going to heaven the debate here is what is meant by for that Greek preposition ice let me give you another possible interpretation of this for could very well easily be interpreted because of four could very well easily be interpreted because of for example we say in English the police arrested him for his shoplifting for there is we arrested him because of his shoplifting see that if four means because of that changes the whole meaning to this verse doesn't it Peter said to them repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ what is what what's the proper interpretation because of the forgiveness of your sins in other words you get baptized because your sins have already been forgiven by faith alone in Christ alone for legitimately can be interpreted because of now just so you don't think I'm making this up Matthew 12:41 interprets ice that Greek preposition translated English for in exactly the same way Matthew 12:41 says this the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at brackets in the face of because of those are translations of ice same Greek preposition because of the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here so Matthew 12:41 interprets ice as because of so what I'm trying to say is translating ice as because of is a very legitimate rendering of ice and if all of that is true the problem of acts 2:38 totally disappears acts 2:38 is not saying you're saved by repentance and baptism what it's saying is you get baptized because your sins have already been forgiven you see the difference there let me throw something else into the mix go over to acts 15 11 and I noticed that people that use acts 2:38 to teach you how to be baptized to get to heaven never bring up Acts 1511 Peter in acts 15 11 is speaking at what we call the Jerusalem Council and he is explaining why these Gentiles are saved and have been saved because they were saved the same way we Jews were saved at the beginning and notice how Peter talks about the original salvation of the Jews no doubt going back to acts 2 he says but we believe that we that's us Jews are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the same way as they are also so the whole debate in acts 15 is do these Gentiles need to go under the law of Moses to join the church and Peter says no you don't have to go under the law of Moses to join the church because these Gentiles and remember on Paul's first missionary journey acts 13 and 14 Gentiles started getting saved like crazy the first Gentile saved in the church was Cornelius Acts 10 then after that the church particularly the first missionary journey starts to become overwhelmingly Gentile Peter says and and and that's what they're that's why they're having this meeting in acts 15 what are we gonna do with all these non-jews that are coming into the church do we make them go under the law of Moses like like as happened in the prior dispensation you know in the Old Testament if you wanted to really walk with God you were called and you were a Gentile believer you became what's called a proselyte and you volitionally submitted you self to the law of Moses to grow in a knowledge of Yahweh one of the most famous proselytes in the Bible is Ruth from the Book of Ruth Ruth the Moabitess remember what she said to her mother-in-law Naomi your God will be my god your people will be my people so she's an example of a Gentile that to grow in a knowledge of God she became a proselyte to the law of Moses and so what you have going on in acts 13 and 14 as all these Gentiles are getting saved like crazy the leadership of the church which it's at this time was still Jewish is trying to figure out well gosh do we make them submit to the law of Moses like happened in the prior age or not their answer was no and Peter as he's explaining his point here in acts 15 says these Gentiles were saved just like we Jews were saved from the beginning now in the process he explained how he as a Jew and all of these Jews that were saved on the day of Pentecost how were they saved in the beginning notice what it says saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ you see baptism in here at all no so he's making a statement that we were saved not by baptism we were saved by faith alone these Gentiles are saved the exact same way so therefore we're not going to make them submit to the law of Moses to grow in a knowledge of Christ the way Gentiles submitted to the law of Moses in Old Testament times so all of when you put Acts 1511 together with understanding that for their means because of this suddenly the argument that suddenly you have to be baptized to get to heaven on the basis of acts 2:38 disappears and if it if if you're going to if you're going to interpret this in a different way you're interpreting the Bible in a way that contradicts all of the other 200 clear passages the Philippian jailer what must I do to be saved acts 16 verses 30 and 31 what was the answer believe he never said believe and be baptized but if you want my acts 2:38 to say you've got to believe repent and be baptized and suddenly acts 2:38 contradicts acts 16 verses 30 and 31 see I choose to interpret a problem passage like this in a way that's in harmony or consistently with the 200 clear passages and if you go another route on this suddenly you've got a contradiction in the Bible and we know that God cannot contradict himself his word will not contradict it so let me take you to another passage let's go to Colossians 2 verses 11 and 12 this is yet another passage that people use to argue that you've got to be baptized to get to heaven Colossians 2 verses 11 and 12 says this and in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ having be having been buried with him in Baptism in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead jot down Romans 6 verses 3 and 4 which is a parallel passage it says the exact same thing by parallel passage what I mean is two passages from different parts of the Bible that are basically saying the same thing and people look at Romans 6 3 and 4 and they look at Colossians 2 verses 11 and 12 and they the word faith in there and they see the word baptism in there and they try to develop this theology that it's a two-part operation to get to God not only do I believe in him but I've got to be baptized now listen to me very carefully every time you see baptism in the Bible it is not always speaking of water baptism we when we use the word baptism typically think of water baptism that's what comes up into our minds but that is not the way the New Testament is written there are different kinds of baptism the short answer to the misuse of Colossians 2 verses 11 and 12 and Romans 6 3 and 4 is that these verses are not talking about water baptism but what spirit baptism now you say but what is spirit baptism take your Bible and go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 1st Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13 first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 is probably the best verse in the entire New Testament that talks about something that has already happened to you called spirit baptism first Corinthians 12 verse 13 says this for by one spirit we were what all not some of us all of us we were all baptized past tense see that it already happened to us we were all baptized into one body that would be the body of Christ the church whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free we were all made to drink one spirit the word baptism baptized MO in the New Testament the word simply means identification the moment you trusted Christ is the moment the Holy Spirit took you and connected you to the body of Christ it is not something you have to go out and get I have many many students that believe that they need to go out and get a second work of grace and get baptized in the spirit the Pentecostal theology is very big on this idea that you get some kind of extra blessing to those who ask for it and they call it a baptism of the Holy Spirit that is not what baptism of the Holy Spirit is baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that is a one-time event that already happened to you at the point of personal faith in Christ you have already been baptized or baptized no means identification you have already been identified with the body of Christ now you get saved you trust Christ you don't even know what church you're gonna go to yet as far as you're concerned you're a metha catha bab Tyrian or a bab to coastal funda matic or whatever you are you don't even know where you're going to church yet but the Holy Spirit at the point of faith has already taken you and connected you or identified you to the body of Christ he has already determined what role you're gonna play in the body of Christ because Paul in this chapter talks about the body of Christ as an analogy to body parts summer hands summer feet summer mouths and so forth the Holy Spirit has already made that determination the moment you trusted in Christ it the baptism of the Spirit is not something you have to go out and get you'll notice it's all in the past tense here it is something that already happened to you so water baptism which is a sign of obedience not salvation symbolizes that it's the wedding ring analogy it's an outward symbol all of an inward reality first Corinthians 12:13 is not talking about water baptism at all Colossians 2 verses 11 and 12 is not talking about water baptism at all Romans 6 verses 3 and 4 it's not talking about water baptism at all many times in the New Testament baptism does mean water baptism but not always the word baptism is not a technical word a technical word means a word that means the same thing everywhere it's used that is not the way baptism is used in the New Testament it has different meanings depending on what context that you're dealing with the three rules of real estate are location location location the three rules of Bible study or what context context context if I'm over in acts 2 it's talking about water baptism if I'm in Colossians 2 Romans 6 it's not talking about water baptism at all it's talking about spirit baptism so the short answer is this passage has zero to do with water baptism it's talking about something that has already happened to you let me take you to a final and of course this happens to me a lot I give I give a lot of talking and then the verse that I was supposed to have up there as I was talking shows up later in my slides because I forgot to push the forward button but there's first Corinthians 12:13 for by one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks slaves are free and we're all made to drink of one spirit not talking about water baptism at all spirit baptism so you interpret Colossians 2 and Romans 6 through the lens of first Corinthians 12:13 and you'll you'll get the proper meaning and you won't be confused by people who misuse verses like this to say you've got to be baptized to get to heaven water baptized to get to heaven to get to heaven you must be spirit baptized you do not have to be water baptized to get to heaven if you have never had a chance to be water baptized as long as your spirit baptized which happens by faith one time at the point of salvation and initial faith in Christ then you're going to heaven and one more that people use to argue that you've got to be baptized to get to heaven now when I was in Spokane this is the verse the fella used on me he didn't know that I teach soteriology in college so I was ready for him but this is this is very common for people to use this go over to first Peter 3 verses 20 and 21 now you look at this at first glance and it's like wow that does look like you got to be water baptized to get to heaven so notice what it says who were once disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah now Peter talks more about the flood than any other apostle does anybody know why that's true because Peter was a fisherman he likes water and God used these people that wrote the New Testament and the Old Testament he used their personalities he didn't override who they were because after all God is the author of their personalities and their life circumstances also so that's why we holds a dual authorship of Scripture where the Spirit of God came upon these individuals and propelled them along using their unique literary perspectives and gifts and life circumstances Luke talks more about the prenatal activities of Jesus and John the Baptist than any other gospel writer why is that so because Luke was a physician matter of fact Luke tells you things it's like why is he telling me this in acts 1 Luke says Judas suicide and his body fell off a cliff and as his body was plummeting down this cliff the rocks tore open his corpse and his intestines gushed out and I read that and I say that's more information that I really want but to Luke that kind of thing is very interesting because Luke is a physician Matthew talks more about monetary issues finances talents for example which are not abilities but monetary denominations than any other gospel writer in fact Matthew is the only gospel writer that gives you the story about Jesus and Peter going fishing and then they pull a fish out of the water and there's a coin in the fish's mouth and Jesus says use that to pay the temple tax I say Lord I wish I could pay my taxes that way that's pretty cool but only Matthew records that story because Matthew is a tax collector see so Peter is is being used by God to talk about the flood as a fisherman and and so that's why he talks about the water and Noah and things like that who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the Ark in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water corresponding to that baptism now saves you and the removal of dirt from the flesh and an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ now the troubling expression here is baptism that now saves you and people isolate that one verse and they say there it is in the Bible you've got to be baptized to get to heaven let me make a couple of brief comments first of all the word that when you interpret the word that you have to go to the nearest antecedent and the nearest antecedent is water the flood water and that and water agree with each other in the original Greek in terms of gender and then so that refers to water notice this word corresponding the Greek is anti to pond which means a correspondence or an analogy that Peter is going to draw with the water the water being the flood water so he's drawing an analogy between the flood waters that that the ark was protected through and water baptism and then notice towards the end of the verse this this word appeal which means a pledge so with that in mind let me give you another option to this verse besides simply interpreting this that you've got to be baptized to be saved so here's a better interpretation I think Noah's passage he mentions Noah and the eight saved in the Ark Noah's passage through the flood waters allowed him to break with the past world the flood waters broke Noah from the wicked generation that was destroyed in the flood and as he and the seven others in the ark passed through the flood waters in the ark they were officially broken from the old world which was destroyed by God in the great deluge and they were brought into the new world so Noah's passage through the flood waters allowed him to break with the past world in the same way by a correspondence anti to pond by way of analogy the believers baptism is his public or her public stand for Jesus Christ which saves him you know I remember anything about the word save the word doesn't always mean justification but it could also mean what middle tenth salvation progressive sanctification remember we went through that at the very beginning of the class not today but 10 weeks ago I have been saved I am being saved I will be saved justification I'm saved from sins penalty at the point of faith sanctification I am being saved from sins power as I grow in Christ and glorification I will be saved from sins very presence when Peter is using the word save here he is not talking about justification but he's talking about what sanctification how do I know that because Peter is writing here to Christians in fact go back just for a moment to first Peter chapter 1 and verse 2 by sanctify the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood my Grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure he's talking about people who have already been sprinkled with the blood of Christ he is already he's talking to people who have already received the Grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ take a look at first Peter 3:15 first Peter 3 and verse 15 says but sanctify Christ as Lord here's where lordship relates not justification but sanctification sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts always being ready to make a defense an apologia a defense to everyone who asks you for the hope that lies within you see sanctification here is not something that happens saved is not something that happens here as an unbeliever transitions to believer that's foreign to the context this book is written to help believers grow so when Peter uses the word save baptism that now saves you he is not making a statement that you have to be baptized to get to heaven what he's saying is baptism is a sign of obedience it's an outward symbol of an inward reality and as you obey God's command to be water baptized you're not going to heaven but what's happening to your Christian faith it's maturing it's growing and you have to have some sophistication with this word save and most people when they see the word save they think it simply means you trust Christ and go to heaven but that's foreign to the context and if some of this is new to you I would encourage you to go back and listen to lesson one because we carefully went through the three tenses of salvation peter is not using save here in the first tense but he's using it in the middle tense so what then is the analogy here we go Noah's passage through the flood waters allowed him to break with the past world in the same way the believers water baptism is his or her public stand for Jesus Christ which contributes not to his justification but to his what sanctification what happens when your water baptized it does not get you to heaven but let me tell you what it does do typically when your water baptized it takes place in public right and you invite family and friends to attend that event we're not a Baptist Church so we don't have a baptismal here but we do do a public baptism at a Jacuzzi / pool at one of our church members and it's a public event a lot of people come unsaved people come and they watch the candidate being baptized now what kind of message do you think that sends to your unsaved friends and family they say wow so on so got water baptized they're pretty serious about this Jesus thing and they start treating you differently have you noticed that if people know that you're a Christian and they're in the office telling a dirty joke if you walk in the room they'll say something like oh I'm sorry we we didn't mean to tell that joke in front of you does that happen anybody they start treating you a little differently because you have made a public stand for Jesus Christ and typically you make your public stand for Jesus Christ at your water baptism that's why water baptism although it doesn't get you to heaven it's an important step in a person's development and growth and that act plays a role of breaking you with the unsaved world your former drinking buddies and carousing buddies they're no longer asking you to go out and go bar-hopping and things like that because they say wow you're really serious about this Jesus thing you've got water baptized you even invited me to your baptism so your babbler the baptism has contributed not to your justification but to your progressive sanctification see that so just as the floodwaters broke Noah with the pre-flood world that was destroyed the believers water baptism plays a role in breaking them with their former unsaved lifestyle which plays a role in contributing to their progressive sanctification that is the only point that Peters making he is not saying that baptism is somehow necessary for one's justification so and we're not even gonna get into confession tonight we'll have to save that for next time since I went a little over so hopefully that helps a little bit with what baptism is and some of the problem passages I went over a little bit so we will dismiss folks that need to pick up their children and if anybody has any questions we can open up the floor for questions you

Channel: Andy Woods' Unofficial Channel

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Keywords: andy woods, baptism, soteriology, works, faith, thru, grace, gospel, osas, once saved always saved, eternal security, chafer, baptist, baptists, southern, conditions, salvation, condition

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Length: 69min 37sec (4177 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2019