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Baptism - What It
Will Do
Foy W. Vinson
Elgin, Illinois
There are many things that
baptism will not do. It doesn't change one's heart, remove temptation,
guarantee a sinless life or guarantee eternal life. And yet at the same
time there are some things which baptism will do. Modern
denominationalism has been almost entirely negative in its treatment of
baptism to the point that to most people it is nothing more than an
"outward sign of an inward grace," which really means nothing at all.
Regardless of such thinking, the New Testament makes some very positive
statements relative to the design and effects of scriptural baptism. It
teaches that baptism will do the following.
First, baptism will remit one's sins. Men usually deny this
but God's word emphatically affirms it. In Acts 2:38 the apostle
Peter told inquiring believers to "repent and be baptized -- for the
remission of sins." Language could be no clearer! Penitent believers
are to be baptized in order that they may obtain remission or
forgiveness of sins. This fact explains the words of Ananias as he told
Saul of Tarsus to "arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins--."
(Acts. 22: 16.) Some seek to evade the obvious conclusion of Peter's
statement in Acts 2:38 by interpreting the word "for" to
mean "because of." This, however, cannot be since repentance and baptism
have the identical design as per this passage, i. e., the "remission of
sins." No one contends that remission precedes repentance and therefore
one cannot consistently contend that remission precedes baptism. So
baptism does remit one's sins.
Second, baptism will put one into Christ. In Galatians
3:27 we read: "For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ." We are informed of this same fact in
Romans 6:3. Nothing else is said to put us into Christ. The word
"into" is, defined as "from being outside of, as in place, state, forte,
etc., to within." In other words the term "into" describes the process
of entering. Before one is put into Christ he is outside of Him and thus
without Christ. Paul describes those who are "without Christ" as "having
no hope, and without God in the world. " (Eph. 2: 12.) In
contradiction to this we are told that "in Christ" the following things
reside: (1) all spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3); (2) redemption or the
forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1: 7); (3) salvation (2 Tim. 2:10); (4)
consolation for the dead (Rev. 14:13); (5) a new creation of life (2 Cor.
5: 17). Other blessings in Christ could be mentioned, but these
should suffice to cause us to be grateful that baptism does put one into
Christ.
Third, baptism will put one into the death of Christ. Paul
declares this in Romans 6:3, "Know ye not, that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"
Again we have the word "into," and it means the same in this passage as
it does in Galatians 3:27. So until one is baptized he is
out of or without the death of Christ. This means that such a person is
in the spiritual condition that obtained before Christ died on the cross
and which would have continued to obtain had he not died. This is so
because there has been no personal application of the death or shedding
of the Savior's blood to the soul and correspondingly no derivation of
the benefits accruing there from. The benefits of his death are
expressed in such terms as redemption, forgiveness, remission, etc.
(Eph. 1:7; Col. 1: 14; Matt. 26:28; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19). A realization
that baptism does put us into His death should assuredly increase our
respect and appreciation for this ordinance.
Finally, baptism will save us. This of course has been the
gist of all the observations made thus far concerning what baptism will
do. Whether we mention that baptism puts one into Christ, or remits ones
sins, or puts one into the death of Christ, all of these points can be
equated or summed up in this last one, i. e., that baptism saves us.
However, Peter makes this precise statement in 1 Peter 3:21 when
he says, "The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save
us--." This settles the matter once and for all. Any doctrine on
baptism, which robs it of this accomplishment, is a false one. The only
reason that need be given for why it let us realize the limitations of
baptism, but saves is that God has so stated in His word. At the same
time let us not be unconscious and has made it a condition of salvation
or inappreciative of its accomplishments.
--Truth Magazine VI: 9&10, pp. 8-9
June & July 1962
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