Baptism: Salvation or Symbolism

A friend of mine asked me a question about baptism a week or so ago. He has sat under the teaching that baptism is required for salvation as well as the teaching that baptism is ceremonial in nature. His question is one that has been around for a long time, and in some respects the questions is nearly as old as the church is. Is salvation really that simple: repent and believe? Or are there things I must do as well? Is baptism a work or a sacrament, a rite of observance that must be performed to seal the repentance and belief? It also reminded me of something I had recently taught in my little weekly Bible study, but we'll get to that in a few minutes.

There are in fact three views on baptism: The first is that baptism is a means of salvation. This is normally called the Roman Catholic view, but I'm more familiar with it as a view held by the churches of Christ, usually the Boston and Indiana versions. The second view is that baptism is a sign and a seal of the new Covenant God made with the Gentiles. This is the Reformed and Presbyterian view. And the third view is that baptism is an outward sign of an inward work. Now, which of these views is the correct one? The answer is: number 3. Now I will not attempt to explain all three views because my already too long blog will be three or four times as long as my all to often normally long blogs I usually write. But I will justify why I believe that # 3 is the correct answer to the question. (please understand that I am being quite general and incomplete in describing these three views. For instance, I am not attempting to equate the Catholic and the Boston CoC views, they are in fact significantly different from one another, although they both believe that baptism saves you. I view BCoC as a cult, but I do not consider Catholicism a cult.)

The first two views almost always involve infant baptism and I just do not accept that belief. But that is not the subject of this blog, so I will let that “sleeping dog lie.” And I already know that some will write that “... that is the key – you can't omit that!” Please feel free to correct me, but I have never found the reasons and justifications for infant baptism to be compelling, especially when one considers the relative confusion as to when baptism should occur in the early church, as well as Scriptures absolute silence on the matter. Constantine was baptized on his death bed because it was customary during his time to believe that if some one sinned after baptism that they had in essence crucified Christ all over again, and in essence had committed the unforgivable sin. The church settled on infant baptism, but not, as I understand it, because it was 'historical', although it did become church tradition. I also have a problem with calling things 'sacraments'. I know that word meant something else when it was first coined, but it became something that “only the church should do” and the “proper” church official at that, otherwise the act – whatever it was – was not official or worse, the act was heretical. 1 Pet 2:9 makes it quite clear that we are all priest unto God (i.e., the priesthood of all believers) and is why God ripped the four inch thick veil that separated the holy place and the holy of holies from top to bottom between, thus eliminating the physical and spiritual barrier that separated God and man (but then that was always His plan, Ex 19:6) . But these are all subjects for another blog....

To me, the question is easily answered when one looks at the cross. Jesus told one of the two thieves that he would be with Him in paradise that very day. The thief was never baptized. Now the 'you have to be baptized to be saved' crowd will tell you that 'well, that is because it was Jesus, and it was before His resurrection', but that's a technicality, and not very convincing.

If you want a good parallel of what baptism should be for us, let's take a little stroll down 'memory lane' and take a look at circumcision and its references in the OT and NT. Circumcision, you say? Yes, I do. It was not what you think it was. Believe it or not, I just taught on this very subject a month back in the home Bible Study I host. This probably won't come as much of a surprise, but I've been teaching every Wednesday night for the last 1 1/2 years on Colossians - we're on Col 2:14. Now, in my defense, we have a lot of 'sidebar' discussions which don't always relate to the subject of Colossians, but we are also going through it slowly because my purpose is to disciple this little group of believers. And there is no better book in the NT to do that (other than the Gospel of John), IMHO.

So, my view is somewhat of a consolidation of part of what is taught in view number two with view number three, but not all of two, since I have stated I do not believe in infant baptism. I would like to present part of my Colossians Bible study notes for chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. As you read this please understand that I 'stand on the shoulders' of the great men in church history. Men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Gill, Albert Barnes, John MacAurthur, Matthew Poole, and many, many others. They are the ones that did the hard work of exegesis; I merely compiled their great works into something readable for today. My notes below, although containing some original material, are mostly a collection, condensation and organization of the material found in the ten commentaries that I use to create my Colossians Bible study, most of which are readily available in the Online Bible program. I use, and John MacAurthur's commentary on Colossians. Also my notes are in an outline format, so I hope you will be able to follow along.

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Complete Salvation

11 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; 12 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. (Col 2:11-12)

There are two opposite tendencies ever at work in human nature to corrupt religion. One is of the intellect; the other of the senses. The one is the temptation of the cultured few; the other, that of the vulgar many. The one turns religion into theological speculation; the other, into a theatrical spectacle. But, opposite as these tendencies usually are, they were united in that strange chaos of erroneous opinion and practice which Paul had to front at Colossae. From right and from left he was assailed, and his batteries had to face both ways. Here he is mainly engaged with the error which insisted on imposing circumcision on these Gentile converts. (Expositor's Bible Commentary, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005)

This seems to be a fitting way to put into context some of the verses we are about to cover.

• ‘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;’ (2:11) –
• ‘and in Him you were also circumcised’ –
  • Define: ‘circumcise’ – The Greek word, peritemno { per-ee-tem’-no } literally means to cut around. Circumcision was a religious covenant rite performed on every male child on their eighth day of life where the priest would remove the foreskin from the male's penis.
  • Circumcision was an ordinance that symbolized that all sin was being cut off or renounced, and that he who was circumcised was to be devoted to God and to a life of holiness.
  • Throughout Israel's history there had been two views on circumcision. One view stated that circumcision was enough to put a man right with God. It didn't matter whether he was good or bad; all that mattered was that he was an Israelite and that he had been circumcised. The other view was supported by the great spiritual leaders and prophets of Israel. As Barclay put it, “They insisted that circumcision was only the outward mark of a man who was inwardly dedicated to God. They used the very word in an adventurous [symbolic] sense. They talked of uncircumcised lips (Ex 6:30), of a heart which was circumcised or uncircumcised (Lev 26:41; Deut 6:10; Eze 44:7, 9; Deut 30:6; Jer 9:26; Act 7:51); of the uncircumcised ear (Jer 6:10). To them being circumcised did not mean having a certain operation carried out on a man’s flesh but having a change effected in his life. Circumcision was, indeed, the badge of a person dedicated to God; but the dedication lay not in the cutting of the flesh but in the excision from his life of everything which was against the will of God.” (William Barclay’s Daily Bible Study on Colossians, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.) John MacArthur put it this way:
    • ... The cutting away of the male foreskin on the reproductive organ was a graphic way to demonstrate that man needed cleansing at the deepest level of his being. No other part of the human anatomy so demonstrates that depth of sin, inasmuch as that is the part of man that produces life – and all that he produces is sinful. That is the biblical view. From the beginning, circumcision was used symbolically to illustrate the desperate need man had for cleansing of the heart. In Duet 10:16 Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying “Circumcise then your heart, and stiffen your neck no more.” Duet 30:6 adds, “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.” The Lord commanded the Israelites of Jeremiah's time to circumcise themselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of their hearts (Jer 4:4; cf. 9:26). God was always concerned with the heart, not with the physical rite. (John MacAurthur, The MacAurthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon, (Moody Bible Institute: ©1992) p. 107.) (emphasis added)
  • Because of this as well as what was said throughout the NT, it is the second view which Christians understand as what was intended by God from the beginning. Circumcision was a physical act to symbolize the covenant God had made with Abraham and his descendants, but it was never intended to be merely a ceremonial act of obedience. In Duet 10:16, God tells Israel that they need to circumcise their hearts, in which His intention was for them to start manifesting the spiritual qualities of commitment and obedience to His will in their lives. And this was repeated in Jer 4:4 because of Israel's evil deeds. However, it would seem that the vast majority of Jews saw the first view as what God intended.
  • It should also be noted as is stated in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary that,
    • When Greek paganism threatened to swamp Judaism some two centuries before Christ was born, circumcision became a distinctive indication of Jewish fidelity to the covenant. Thus John the Baptist was circumcised (Luke 1:59), as were both Jesus (Luke 2:21) and Saul of Tarsus (Php 3:5), on the eighth day of life, making them accredited members of the covenant people. But Jesus was already casting doubt on the preeminence of the rite when he stated that his healings made people completely whole (John 7:22-23). Stephen reinforced this by accusing contemporary Judaism of the very tendencies that Jeremiah had condemned (Acts 7:51). Although in the period of the primitive church the believers maintained Jewish religious traditions, problems began to arise when the gospel was preached among Gentiles. Christians who had come from a Jewish background felt that Gentiles should become Jews through circumcision before being able to experience Christ’s saving work.
    • This attitude rested partly upon the contemporary notion that circumcision was a necessary part of salvation, as well as being its effective guarantee. Others repudiated this view of salvation by works, particularly when uncircumcised Gentiles received God’s outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48). They saw that the prophecies of Ezekiel, in which the Lord promised a clean heart and an indwelling of his Holy Spirit (36:25-27), and the dramatic proclamation of Joel that God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh (2:28; cf. Acts 2:17), were now being fulfilled. The spiritual significance of circumcision had been achieved by divine grace without the performance of the physical rite, thus making the latter obsolete. (Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.)
  • So concerning this portion of the verse, it would seem that there was a Jewish bent to the false teachers, a teaching that seemed to demand that Gentile Christians be circumcised to be considered God's people (Gen 17:10). Paul reminds the Colossians that circumcision was not about what was done to the physical body but about what was done to the believer's heart. It was not about cutting off a piece of flesh, but about the putting off the body of sin.
  • For the Christian, circumcision was not intended to be a mere outward ceremony, but to symbolize the believer's renunciation of the flesh with its corrupt tendencies. It was a putting off of every part of mankind's human nature that was in opposition to God. Believers were to be spiritually separated from an unclean world by being completely dedicated to God. Anyone can perform a ritual like circumcision, but a ritual does not change you. Only God can cut away those things that keep us from being obedient children of Him. (De 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4; Rom 2:29; Php 3:3)
• ‘with a circumcision made without hands’ –
  • And here, Paul drives home one of the central themes of Scripture, that circumcision is not about a ceremonial rite, but about a spiritual truth. It was not a transaction in the flesh, but one in the spirit because human involvement is not required for it to take place. It was not the removal of some ceremonial impurity of the body, but the spiritual cleansing of the human heart from sin. A ceremony does not bring salvation. Circumcision was to be done in the heart by the cutting off or renouncing of all sin. It was something that Christ did by His actions, not something that mankind can do by their actions. The circumcision that God intended from the beginning was supposed to be a spiritual act, done by the Holy Spirit to affect a change in the human heart. (Duet 30:6)
  • A man may be physically circumcised and be spiritually uncircumcised because there is no understanding or renunciation of the sin in his life. Spiritual “heart” circumcision cannot occur until he comes to a true understanding of his own sin and how much that sin hurts God. This does not mean that everyone else sees his sins, but that the sinner sees his sin for what it is. As John Gill put it, “when the callousness and hardness of his heart is taken off and removed, and the iniquity of it is laid open, the plague and corruption in it discerned, and all made naked and bare to the sinner’s view; and when he is in pain on account of it, is broken and groans under a sense of it, and is filled with shame for it, and loathing and abhorrence of it:” it is then that he can be “circumcised with a circumcision made without hands”, a true circumcision of the heart. (Mark 14:58; Acts 7:48; 17:24; 2 Co 5:1; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11,24)
• ‘in the removal of the body of the flesh’ –
  • Define: ‘removal’ (‘putting off’ - KJV) – The Greek word, apekdusis { ap-ek’-doo-sis } literally means a putting off, laying aside, a stripping off. It is a stripping off from one's self as with clothes or armor (getting out of your clothes).
  • The 'body of the flesh' is a symbolic reference to man's corrupt human nature. Although this really isn't one of Paul's topics in Colossians, it is important for us to remember that we are all born into sin, that our human nature is corrupt at its very core. In the book of Romans, Paul demonstrates that sin is not simply something which we do, but is a condition of our heart. (Rom 3:10-12) And in Ephesians Paul states that we are “by nature children of wrath.” (Eph 2:3; cf. Rom 3:9; Gen 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; 15:14-16; Ps 51:5; Mr 7:21,22; Ro 5:12-19; 7:18) Of this there is no doubt. And that is what Paul is referring to when he uses the phase 'body of the flesh.' And it is also why Paul relates the physical act of circumcision to the removal of sin in ones life. The removal of the 'body of the flesh' is the renouncing of the deeds of the flesh, that is, renouncing sin in one's life. Sin is to be repudiated, cut out, cast off, eradicated from one's life. Jesus spoke of this too when we said, if your eye causes you to sin, cut it out, get rid of it! (Mt 5:29) And again in Mt 6:23, Jesus said “if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” According to Jesus, if you have the slightest bit of sin in you, then you are drenched in it, sin will permeate your entire being. There is no such thing as a 'little sinful.'
  • Its as if we are clothed with a garment of sin – and a very filthy, dirty one at that. The intent of the 'circumcision of the heart' is to strip off that garment of sin from us.
  • The 'body' is the perfect metaphor to describe sin's impact on us. The human body is not made up of independent pieces unrelated to each other. Every part is connected to together to form a working unit. So, as we saw above, sin is not isolated to a specific part of us, it encompasses every part of who we are.
  • 'Circumcision of the heart' is not something that we elect to have, even though we could live just fine or mostly fine without it. It is not a nice little out patient elective surgery, something akin to the removal of a hang-nail. It is a radical invasive surgery, something much more like quadruple open heart surgery. It is an immediate need, something that cannot wait. Think of yourself being on life support, kept alive by a machine, and both your body and the machine are failing. Without the 'removal of the body of sin', we have no real existence. We are the living dead. (Col 3:8-9; Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22)
• ‘by the circumcision of Christ’ –
  • This seems to indicate that Jesus' circumcision is one that removes the whole corrupt human nature from those that have received Him. We are then enabled to renounce sin and devote ourselves to God. We should never again be enticed to return to ceremonial rites as if they somehow enable us to attain any deliverance from our sins. (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 2:20; 4:4-5; Eph 2:10-18; Php 3:3; Rom 2:29)
  • It would also seem that Paul had as his intention to utterly destroy the concept that Christians were required to be circumcised to receive Christ. Obviously there was some Jewish element teaching that circumcision was require for salvation, but Paul reminds the Colossians that God had always intended circumcision to be of the heart. The outward rite was only to be a visual reminder of the work God desired to do in their hearts.
• ‘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.’ (2:12) –
• ‘having been buried with Him in baptism’ –
  • Define: ‘buried’ – The Greek word, sunthapto { soon-thap’-to } means to bury together with.
  • Being buried with Christ means that we are partakers in His death. For Calvin, this meant much more than being crucified with Christ. He saw it as a continual process of mortification of the flesh, or essentially a constant never ending battle to do away with our old nature that continually tries to assert control over us and lead us in the opposite direction that Jesus is leading us.
  • Define: ‘baptism’ – The Greek word, baptisma { bap’-tis-mah } means immersion, submersion. It is an immersion into the calamities and afflictions where some one is completely overwhelmed.
  • Baptism in OT times, which would have been what John’s baptism was, was a purification rite in which men, upon confessing of their sins, were then bound to spiritual reformation in their lives. This confession of sin obtained a forgiveness for their past sins, which qualified them for the benefits of the Messiah’s kingdom which was soon to be established. As part of this purification, the person would be immersed in water. Consequently, this was also a valid baptism for Christians, since it is not recorded anywhere that anyone was ever re-baptized after the church was established. For the Christian baptism involves confession of sin, profession of faith in Christ lone as one's Savior, along with the immersion in water. (Some churches sprinkle or pour water on the person. Generally, both are viewed as valid forms of baptism, although immersion does seem to be the Scriptural mode intended.) Baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The old sinful nature of the person dies with Christ, and the person that resurrects with Christ in a new person, no longer the old person that went under the water. (Online Bible Greek Lexicon, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.) (Rom 6:3-4; 1 Cor 12:13; Tit 3:5-6; 1 Pet 3:21)
  • Some commentators who would seem to be of the sprinkling or pouring denominations, seem to minimize the focus of one aspect of the phrase Paul uses here. They maintain that Paul's intent is not to describe the universal mode of baptism required, but his intent was to emphasize the profession of faith being made at baptism, and that we had become dead to sin, being buried with Him and raised to new life, as He had been. (Albert Barnes’ New Testament Notes on Colossians, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.) This does in fact seem to be the emphasis of Paul in this passage, but one cannot ignore the implications inherent in the definitions of the words used, nor the example which Christ left us. One is not 'buried' by sprinkling or pouring, one is buried by immersion. Jesus was buried when the stone was rolled in front of the tomb, isolating and separating Him from everyone and everything. In the same way, believers are isolated and separated from everything when they are submerged under water. Historically, it is easy to see how and why sprinkling and pouring began during the underground persecution times of the early church. For that reason, one should not be dogmatic about a mode of baptism, but neither should some be quite so cavalier. We should strive to be biblical in all that we do, allowing for grace during times that that may not be possible.
  • The death and burial of Christ Jesus is the cause of the death of our 'old man', signed, sealed and delivered in the symbolism inherent in baptism. Our old carnal life, with it lusts and cravings, is put away, buried under the water, washed away. Baptism doesn't save us anymore than circumcision saved the Jews. It is the visual representation of our heart felt conviction and repudiation of our sin and our acceptance of Christ's death in our place, the rightful punishment for sin, and our commitment to follow Christ the rest of our lives. As with circumcision, baptism is a spiritual representation of our sins being buried with Christ in His death and raised in spiritual life with Christ’s resurrection. Baptism is a visual picture of this reality. (1 Cor 12:13; Rom 6:3-4)
  • It is also important to remember why Paul is linking circumcision and baptism. It is because they are both intended to be viewed as outward expressions of inward changes in the heart of man. If baptism saves you, then what is the difference between the two, since Jews believed their circumcision saved them? As Christians, would we not be exchanging one ritual for another?
  • The Expositor's Bible Commentary for the end of this verse says the following:
    • We partake of His death, inasmuch as, by the power of His cross, we are drawn to sever ourselves from the selfish life, and to slay our own old nature; dying for His dear sake to the habits, tastes, desires, and purposes in which we lived. Self-crucifixion for the love of Christ is the law for us all. His cross is the pattern for our conduct, as well as the pledge and means of our acceptance. We must die to sin that we may live to righteousness. We must die to self, that we may live to God and our brethren. We have no right to trust in Christ for us, except as we have Christ in us. His cross is not saving us from our guilt unless it is [molding] our lives to some faint likeness of Him who died that we may live, and might live a real life by dying daily to the world, sin, and self. (Expositor's Bible Commentary, p/o the Online Bible, Computer Program, © 1987-2005.)
• ‘in which you were also raised up with Him’ –
  • Believers are raised up to be both 'in Christ' and 'with Christ'. It was to be 'in Christ' because believers are to walk in newness of life as new creations (2 Cor 5:17) and have a inward union with Christ. It was also to be 'with Christ' because it was God's intent that we enter into a lifelong fellowship with Christ.. (Rom 6:4, 8-11; Gal 3:27-28; Eph 2:5-6; 4:23-24; Col 3:10-11) Baptism symbolizes the burial and the resurrection, a dying of the old person we used to be, by uniting with Christ and becoming the new person God always intended us to be.
• ‘through faith in the working of God’ –
  • Define: ‘working’ – The Greek word, energeia { en-erg’-i-ah } means working, efficiency, and is only used of supernatural power of either God or the devil. In this context it refers to God's active power. The English word energy comes from this word.
  • It is through faith that believers see themselves as buried and risen in Christ. Jesus' resurrection is the foundation of all of our hopes, for without it, there is no hope available for mankind to grasp onto. Without faith, there is no working of God in our lives. How can He work in us if we do not believe that He has the power to do anything in our lives? Baptism then becomes meaningless as a symbol of anything beneficial to mankind.
  • John Gill also points out that even faith is not natural for mankind. Faith is a gift given to believers by God (Eph 2:8), and he can't even exercise it without Christ enabling him to do so. Faith is what works in man, but only by God's gracious power can it be exercised by him. (Rom 3:22; Php 3:9, 21; Eph 1:19; 3:17; 2 Th 2:13; Heb 11:6)
• ‘who raised Him from the dead’ –
  • Paul is showing here that the grace that we have obtained in Christ, through His death and resurrection, is far superior to anything that could be ascribed to circumcision. It is by faith, founded upon the power of God, that allows us to receive the salvation symbolized in baptism. (Act 2:24; Rom 4:24; Heb 13:20,21)
  • If God has the power to raise Christ from the dead, then He has the power to give believers new life, for we were all dead in our sins at one time, and now we have been made alive in Christ. (Rom 6:6, 11, 14) If Jesus has not risen from the dead, then we have no reason to put our faith in Him, nor any expectation that we will rise with Him. If Jesus has not risen from the dead, then we have no hope of deliverance from sin, nor should we have a desire to be delivered from anything. What would be the purpose of living moral and righteous lives?

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My main point in all of the above discussion of baptism and circumcision is that both were always intended to be outward symbols of an inward change of the heart. Most people, myself included, would not seen from reading the OT that circumcision was always intended to symbolize the heart change that God had always wanted the Jews to see from the act of circumcision, and even spoke about throughout the OT. But is it really any surprise that God would do the same thing with baptism? Especially with man's propensity to make some act or ritual an idol in the lives of people. And when that camel's nose is under the tent, then so is the rest of the camel.

So, let's look at a few Scriptures that would seem to promote baptism for salvation so we can see what was really meant.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Mat 28:19)

Mat 28:19 is used quite often to support that view, but does it really? If you will look closely at verse 19, you will see that the emphasis is on the making of disciples, not the baptism. The baptism part of the verse is the 'how', if you will - in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity - i.e., in the name of God (See, this was about the Trinity after all!). Also, consider this: in Mat 28:19, baptism presupposes a faith that already exists. The baptism is being performed post-humorously; after the fact.

Now let's look at Act 2:37-41.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:37-41)

Peter first calls for repentance, and once they had repented, he then called for them to be baptized. And that is the same pattern of Act 8:12, 18:8, and 19:1-7. Its not that baptism isn't supposed to occur, but it does beg the question, why be baptized?

Let's also consider these verses:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Eph 2:8)

nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. (Gal 2:16) (part of the works of the law was circumcision .. at least from the 1st century Jewish perspective)

So if it is by faith that you are saved, and not by works, then how would the act or work of a ceremony save you, because when it is all said and done, that is all baptism really is. Yes, we do it in obedience because we are told to be baptized, but is God really about ceremonies, or does He desire us to have a living and active relationship with Him? What you need to see is that God wants our hearts, not our acts. Why? Because when He has the heart, He has the acts, the obedience as well. We don't have to work it up. It is so easy to fake an experience, it is so easy to make people believe you are feeling something when in fact you may not be. But God sees the heart, does He not? So, realistically, why would He care about the act of baptism – I can fake that by simply going through the motions of being dunked or sprinkled. If my heart is far from God, then what have I accomplished? Am I really saved if I have not truly given my heart, my life to Christ? And what would the act of baptism save you from? Or into? There are just too many cans of worms being opened with this type of belief.

But we are not done looking at Scripture. Let's take a look at Mark 16:16:

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

At first glance, this would appear to support that baptism is essential to salvation. But look closely at the last part, "but whoever does not believe will be condemned." If baptism saves you, then how can unbelief condemn you? It would seem that the emphasis is really on the belief instead of the baptism.

Now let's look at John 3:5:

"Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Again, this verse would seem to promote baptism being essential to salvation. But what was baptism to Nicodemus? Remember from above? It was purification from sin. An outward sign (baptism) of an inward change of being (cleansing of the heart). Remember what John the Baptist said to the Pharisees?

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.' " (Mat 3:8-9)

What is his emphasis? Repentance or baptism?

Now lets jump to 1 Pet 3:21:

"and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"

If you will look closely at the passage, you will see that it rather bluntly states that the baptismal ceremony does not have any saving effect on you at all. It is your public pledge to serve God with every fiber of your being. And that is what God has always been after, since the beginning with Adam and Eve, and later with Abraham and Moses, and then with why He sent the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and all of the minor prophets – God has always been after the heart!

Salvation is about what God did for you, not what you do for yourself or for God. I say this over and over to my little Bible Study group, "You did not reach out to God, He reached out to you! You did not reach up to Him, He reached down to you." And what I mean by that is that it is God that provided a way for you to come to Him; and not just the way, but He called you to Himself as well. While you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. He made the way. And when we "chose" Him, it was not initiated by us, but by God Himself, via the Holy Spirit. He called us out of darkness, before the foundations of the world were laid. Why? Because He chose to. God knew that you would respond to His calling, because He is all knowing - He's omniscient! There is nothing past, present or future that He does not know. He knew that mankind could not make themselves clean enough to stand in the presence of a holy and just God, so He sent His Son to die for us of a Cross, because only a perfect sacrifice could take away the sins of the entire world, past, present and future. And since He is the initiator of this process, what does a ceremony have to do with a salvation that He offers freely to everyone in the entire world? He simply asks us to acknowledge the facts about who we really are, that we are sinners, and realize that we cannot save ourselves (i.e., clean ourselves up to make us presentable to God). He simply asks us to believe that He died for our sins, and that that death on the Cross cleanses us from all of our sins. Baptism is then, simply that public outward confession to our fellow believers that we have already put our faith and trust in Christ Jesus. Its a symbol of our faith and faithfulness to God.

If baptism saves you, then isn't that technically a "work"? Its something that I do. And what if there is no water? What if I'm on my death bed? What then? To me, baptism for salvation is back to the Jewish OT's bondage to the law, only in an updated NT style. God has ALWAYS been after our hearts. He doesn't want us to serve Him because we have to, but because we want to. I don't desire to obey God to curry favor with Him, or get some kind of reward. I don't agree to be baptized as part of some man-made saving work, I do it because He's asked me to make a public profession of my faith, and I want to, I desire to please Him, because I love Him.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. (Eph 2:8)