Why the Water? [A]

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We’re going to start today in Acts chapter 2 on this very subject, but we won’t, unfortunately, we won’t be limited just to Acts chapter 2 because the subject of baptism is not just taken out of context in Acts chapter 2. There are about five places that when I was making a list this week, about five places that I see are most commonly used to support the idea that baptism is part of salvation. And as I studied, of these five that I came up with in a list, there were three that we’re going to talk about today, not that I’m dodging the others, but one of them, the argument against it is so similar to another one that we’re going to talk about.

And then there’s a passage in 1 Peter that I was talking to Ray about Thursday night, and I thought, I think I have a grasp on it. In 1 Peter chapter 3, he talks about even baptism doth now save us, which is kind of troubling on the face of it, until you get to the point where you go down another verse, and he makes it clear he’s not talking about water baptism because he says not the putting aside of the, or not the cleansing of the filth of the flesh. He’s not talking about physical water baptism.

But I told Ray, I said, even at that, I need to study on that passage a little more and what it actually does mean because we looked at about three or four, I think we looked at three different commentaries and came up with six interpretations among them of what it actually does mean. So I want to make it clear, there are other passages other than what we’re going to talk about today, and I’m not dodging those, But for the sake of time, we’re going to talk about three of the most common. And then we’re going to talk about how we know that that’s not what they’re saying and what is it that the Bible actually teaches on salvation.

And I’m sure for many of you this may not be new news, but it bears repeating. Because anything that the world trusts in other than Christ for salvation is not right. It’s not Christ plus anything.

It’s Christ alone. And so we’re going to start looking at Acts chapter 2. Peter has just preached the sermon at Pentecost. We’re actually going to.

. . Well, okay, let’s start in verse 22.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher or his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.

He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.

For David hath not ascended unto the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes a footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And so Peter has preached the sermon at Pentecost that centers around the very basic premise that we understand to be the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the Christ that they had crucified, died for their sins. That He died to make atonement for their sins.

That’s the message he preached. And in verse 37 it says, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. So when he preached, they were convicted and they said, What is it we need to do? And he tells them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. That verse troubled me for a while because I’d heard that there are people who believe, well, I guess I hadn’t even heard there are people who believe that baptism is part of salvation.

But growing up as a good Baptist, I just heard over and over, you know, you don’t have to be baptized to be saved. And I believe that. And then studying my Bible one day on my own, I came across this verse and went, what in the world?

Because that seems to go against everything I’ve been taught. But he says here, repent and be baptized for the remissions of sins. And I started trying to play with the grammar and, okay, does the comma belong here?

Trying to figure out what it is he means. And come to find out this verse is one of those, excuse me, one of those most often cited for the idea that we have to be baptized in order to be saved. And I know that’s the case because I have, I grew up with several friends, several good friends of the oneness Pentecostal persuasion who would say, yeah, this is part of it.

But folks, on further study, again, this verse troubled me and the things that trouble me in the scriptures I tend to dig into more. I don’t know if Mark Twain really said it or not, but I like the quote that’s attributed to him that it’s not the parts of the Bible I understand, or that I don’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts I do understand. Well, sometimes it’s the parts I don’t feel like I fully comprehend, that I fully understand, that trouble me the most, and they trouble me until I do understand them.

And so I went and did some digging in this. And come to find out that when you get into the Greek behind it, and again, I’m not a Greek scholar. I know I quote the Greek and tell you all the time what the Greek says, but that’s just because I have good Bible study tools that tell me what the Greek says.

I don’t speak Greek. But you get into the Greek of it, and it’s not quite so simple. That word therefore is a Greek ice, E-I-S.

And that Greek word for has about three meanings in any kind of application. When they would use that, what is it, a preposition? When they would use that preposition in the Greek, when they would write something and they would use the word ice, it could mean any one of about three things.

And you know what? There are other places in the Bible where the word ice is used, and it’s used in all three ways. And in speaking of this word, it can mean for in the sense of, well, in the sense of regarding, it can mean to get, or it can mean because of.

Sort of like, and I’ve read this example in a few places, sort of like when we say, I’m going to take aspirin for my headache. Now, we could say, I’m going to take aspirin for my headache, so I can get a really nice headache going. Or we can say, I can take aspirin for my headache because of my headache, or with regard to my headache.

And I can’t imagine anybody in their right mind who says, I’m going to take aspirin so I can have a really nice headache. And I’m sure there may be some people who have some kind of reaction to aspirin where it gives them a headache. The fact is, this verse, this word, is the same way in Greek as it is in English.

It can mean, repent and be baptized every one of you to get, in the name of Jesus Christ, to get the remission of sins. It can mean that. It also can mean repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ regarding the remission of sins.

It can mean that. And I’m a little more comfortable with that interpretation. It can also mean repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of sins.

And I’m even more comfortable with that. So we’ve got three possible meanings that are used in other Greek texts. All three of them are used in different places in the Greek New Testament.

We’ve got three interpretations that the context, the verses around it, don’t immediately make it clear what it says. The point is there are two possibilities here. And so to take from this verse dogmatically that, yes, it absolutely says you must be baptized in order to have the remission of sins, would be wrong.

Because there’s a principle of interpreting the Bible that says the places that aren’t clear, we interpret through the lens of the things that are clear. So when we don’t know which interpretation, when we don’t know which context is right, we go to the other places in the Bible that it talks about that. And so as far as whether it supports or opposes the idea of what they call baptismal regeneration, you may hear me use that term throughout this message.

Baptismal regeneration means the idea that we are saved or born again through baptism. When it comes to baptismal regeneration, this verse we can’t conclude from the word for whether it means what we think it means or what they think it means. And so we have to go to other verses to illuminate it a little bit.

So we can’t use this verse to support the idea that absolutely you must be baptized to be saved. There’s another verse. We’re going to look at several verses.

Again, I told you I’m sorry we’re going to jump around some today, but unfortunately there’s not just one verse, one passage that’s used to support this idea. Mark chapter 16 is another one that’s used in this way. Mark 16, 16 says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.

On the surface, that sounds like it’s saying, hey, you need to be baptized to be saved. But notice he talks about, Jesus to Mark talks about two different things here. He talks about baptism, and he talks about believing.

And then he talks, as a result of those things, he talks about salvation or condemnation as a result. Notice here, he talks about believers who have been baptized, and he says they will be saved. Notice he talks about people who do not believe, whether they’ve been baptized or not, and says they will be condemned.

The only group of people he does not address in this verse are the believers who have not been baptized. So to say that you can believe and not be baptized, and it means that you’re lost for all eternity, is to make the verse say something it doesn’t say, because it doesn’t talk about that group of people. It doesn’t address that group of people.

In logic, in philosophy, it’s an argument that’s called denying the antecedent, and you don’t have to remember that. It’s not going to be on the test later. But it would be much like saying, if Bob, we don’t have anybody here named Bob, do we?

Okay. If Bob drives a car and votes, then Bob is an adult. We can agree with that statement, right?

To drive a car and vote legally, to drive a car legally and vote legally, you have to be an adult. Actually, it doesn’t even matter about the driving the car, because kids can drive. But let’s say, if Bob votes, Bob is an adult.

That’s true. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. If Bob votes, Bob’s an adult.

Bob didn’t vote. Oh, so Bob must not be an adult. No.

There was nothing in the statement, nothing in the argument about if Bob doesn’t vote. It’s just an affirmative statement that if Bob votes, Bob’s an adult. Because you know what?

Maybe Bob was sick that day. Maybe Bob didn’t like Obama or Romney. Maybe Bob was out of town.

Maybe Bob was dead. Bob might have been a child. But from the argument, from the statement, we don’t have enough evidence to conclude that Bob is definitely a child.

From this verse, we don’t have enough evidence to conclude anything about the people who are believers who are not baptized. It doesn’t address them. Now, I’ll tell you, it was assumed in that day you get saved, you’re getting baptized.

And so that may be why he’s just laying it out. Once you’ve gone through the process, you’re saved, but it has nothing to do with the baptism. It has everything to do with the believing.

Otherwise, I mean, folks, this is an important point. This is about somebody’s eternal destiny. It’s about their salvation.

It’s about what Christ died to purchase. what he spilled his own blood to purchase. It’s important enough that I believe if there was something lacking and there was somebody that was not going to be saved because they believed but not been baptized, I think he would have included it in that verse.

Now there’s still the possibility from this verse. This verse does still leave open the possibility that you could believe and not be baptized and still be lost. But folks, it doesn’t say that. And we can’t make the passages of Scripture say something that they don’t say.

We need to go to clearer passages and interpret it through the passages where the Bible is abundantly clear about salvation. Third of all this morning, we’ve got a passage in John, John chapter 3. And many of you will be familiar with this passage.

By the way, if you’ve not ever read it, I encourage you to go read all of John chapter 3. We quote John 3. 16 all the time.

And to be honest, as good as that verse is and as impactful as that verse is, it means so much more when you read it in the context of the whole chapter. So I encourage you to go do that sometime. John chapter 3 verse 1 says, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Excuse me, I think I may have.

. . Okay, I was looking.

. . I’ve stopped too soon.

Verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? And Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

And that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. That verse, verse 5, is often taken to mean that you must be baptized in order to be saved, in order to be born again.

There’s a mistake that is often made, and I’ve made it because I was troubled by that passage too for a while. There’s a mistake that’s often made. We look at the Bible, and if we look at the Bible through the lens of our own preconceived ideas, a lot of times we will see things, and we’re not immune to this, we will see things that are not there because we want to see them there.

And there’s a predisposition, there’s a tendency that people have that anytime they look at the Bible and it mentions water, hey, they must be talking about baptism. Not necessarily the case. There’s also a tendency that we have that anytime the Bible mentions baptism, they must be talking about water baptism.

Not necessarily. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in water baptism. I believe the Bible teaches water baptism.

But the Bible also teaches about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Talks about John’s baptism, which was water baptism, But every time it uses the word baptism, you’ve got to look at it in the context and see what it’s really talking about. Because it’s not always talking about the same thing.

But every time we look at baptism, we see, oh, water baptism. Every time we look at water, we see baptism. And if we don’t pay attention to the context of what it’s talking about, we can get into real trouble.

And so there’s this idea that, hey, you’ve got to be born of the water, meaning baptism, and born of the Spirit in order to be saved. Folks, that’s just not the case. He mentions in here nowhere the idea of baptism.

And I’ve heard people say before, well, that’s because they didn’t know about it. You know, it wasn’t common to be baptized. It came in later.

It’s something they did later. Folks, what was John the Baptist doing this whole time? He was baptizing.

Thank you. Baptizing people. It was a common practice, especially when Gentiles would convert to Judaism.

They would be baptized, I’m given to understand. It’s something that surely Nicodemus would have been familiar with. And in speaking about something so important, I think there’s good reason to believe that he would have said, you must be born again and baptized.

Why mince words here? But he doesn’t. He talks about being born of water and of the Spirit.

There’s nothing in the context to make us think that he’s talking about baptism in any way, shape, or form. There are a couple of interpretations that are common. And to be honest with you, I’m not completely sold on one or the other.

I just know that from the context, it doesn’t talk about baptism. Barbara and I were talking at the hospital the other day about this verse and how we had both been taught, and I’ve even taught before, that it’s talking about physical birth. And I still see some evidence in the text that that could be the case.

I’m leaning now more toward, and have been for some time, toward the idea that he’s talking about cleansing, but not the physical act of cleansing, the cleansing that God does. And Ms. Barber gave me this morning a list of verses that Brother Lloyd Watson had given her, and I was reading through it this morning.

Very interesting stuff. But whether he’s talking about spiritual cleansing, water being symbolic of that, or whether he’s talking about physical birth, what is clear is you read through this and you see nothing. You see no mention of baptism whatsoever.

Every time we look in the Bible and see the word water, it does not necessarily mean they’re talking about baptism. I mean, what about the woman at the well? Jesus went to her and asked for a drink of water.

That has nothing to do with baptism. And I’ve told you also that I’m not dodging the passage in 1 Peter. but it does say in there, not talking about the removing of the dirt from the flesh.

He’s not talking about physical water baptism. See, all of these passages that are used to support the idea that we’ve got to be baptized to be saved, when you examine them a little more closely, they either don’t say anything about baptism at all, or they’re not talking about water baptism, or they don’t address the issue, they don’t ever come out and clearly say, you have to be baptized in order to be saved. And if it was such an important part of salvation, and this entire book is written with the theme of redemption and God redeeming man and how to reconcile man to himself, how man can have a relationship with God, forgiveness of sins and eternal life, I would think that God would have taken the time to make it a little more plain and clear if it was that important, if it was that necessary to our eternal destiny.

So these passages really don’t tell us one way or the other. They don’t make the case one way or the other if baptism is necessary for salvation. So what do we do?

we go and examine them through the lens of the things that are clear in Scripture. We’re going to look at a few more passages this morning. And the problem is why the Bible as a whole, neither these verses nor the Bible as a whole, support the idea of baptismal regeneration, that we’re born again or saved through the act of water baptism.

Let’s look very quickly at Titus chapter 3. Try to stay with me if you can. We’re going to turn through several passages.

I like normally to camp out on one, but can’t always get what you want, as the song says. Titus chapter 3, verses 3 through 8. And again, here he mentions water and washing and not really talking about baptism.

But I’ve never heard this one quoted in support of baptismal regeneration either. Paul says to Titus in verse 3, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The passage starts out talking about our natural born state, where we are sinners, that we’re born sinners. And quite honestly, we’re a pack of worthless sinners. We’re just bad.

Even the good among us down in our core, we are bad. I don’t say that to hurt your feelings because I’m pointing the finger right back at me too. But he talks about how awful we were and he says, but after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.

Everything in this passage leads us to believe. Everything in this passage tells us that salvation is something that God bestowed on us, not because we deserved it, not because we could do anything to work or deserve it, but in spite, in spite of the fact that we didn’t deserve it. He says, he goes through this list of the horrible characteristics that we have in common and says, but after this, the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.

It’s not by works of righteousness that we’ve done, but according to His mercy. God not giving us what we do deserve. And it talks later about His grace, God giving us what we don’t deserve.

And you may think, why are you spending so much time talking about baptism? A lot of people treat baptism as it’s just a political issue within the church. It’s just a silly doctrinal issue that we divide over.

Folks, the idea of whether baptism does or does not save you is not just a silly doctrinal issue. It is the very essence of the gospel and how we are saved and the message we preach. And as such, this issue is of vital importance and it matters immensely whether this is true or not.

Baptismal regeneration goes against the idea of salvation by grace. I won’t say that it undermines the idea of salvation by grace. I won’t say that people who teach baptismal regeneration don’t talk about salvation by grace.

They’ll tell you it’s by grace. But then on top of what Christ did, there’s this extra work that has to be done on our part. But my Bible doesn’t tell me that Christ saved us because of anything we did or because of anything we could do for Him.

It tells me that He saved us, He shed His grace on us because He is good and because He’s merciful and because He’s loving and loving and merciful enough that He was willing to do it in spite of the fact deserve it. Not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to His mercy He saved us. And the best illustration I can think of in all of this is the thief on the cross.

If you want to turn there with me real briefly in Luke, if I’ve written down the right passage. I did not, but I still think I can find it. Luke chapter 23 verse 39.

For some reason I wrote down Luke chapter 29 and I got to thinking, there aren’t 29 chapters in Luke. Luke chapter 23, verse 39, And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. One of the thieves that was crucified on either side of Christ began to insult him and say, If you’re really the Son of God, save both of us.

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. He says, are you crazy?

Do you not have any fear of God in you? Because we’re in the same boat that He is, and we actually deserve it. We’re receiving the just penalty of our crimes, but He’s done nothing wrong.

In verse 42, and He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto Him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Folks, that’s one of the most beautiful and touching stories in the entire Bible.

We get the idea, even if we believe that salvation is by grace, that God saved us in spite of the fact that we had nothing to offer, we get into the idea that God saved us because of what we could do for Him later. Folks, this man had nothing to offer God past, present, or future. He had lived a horrible, sinful, wicked life.

He had lived the life of a criminal. That’s why he was there on that cross. He had no good works to offer God. He had nothing to offer Jesus Christ at that moment.

And you know what? When Jesus saved him and said, today you’ll be with me in paradise, at that point there was no chance that after he was saved and born again that he was going to go on and live a long, fulfilling life of ministry and service to God. He was about to die.

And not only were there not at that point any good works that he could offer on his behalf, there were none that were going to come. This man had absolutely nothing of value to offer God. All he did was cry out to Jesus and throw himself upon Christ’s mercy.

And Jesus responded by saying, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. He didn’t get saved and then go get baptized. He didn’t get saved and minister and by good works make sure his salvation was sure.

He threw himself entirely upon the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. If that man could be saved by grace, then grace is what it takes for all of us. Not anything we earn or contribute, but grace. Ephesians chapter 2 says, for it is by grace that you are saved through faith.

And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. We have nothing to boast of, nothing to be proud of, nothing to offer on our behalf. It’s simply the fact that God is good, Christ is gracious, and He offers us what we don’t deserve out of His goodness and mercy. And the idea that we have to bow the knee, that we have to be born again, and then come and offer God rituals.

Folks, that’s everything that Paul argued against in the book of Galatians, that we somehow are deserving because of rituals. Whether it’s circumcision, whether it’s baptism, folks, God is not impressed with our religious rituals. What impressed God was the blood of Christ, which we’ll get back to in a moment.

But though they would not deny that the grace of God is necessary in salvation, people who teach baptismal regeneration undermine that idea by teaching that somehow we have to come back and perform rituals. Second of all, baptismal regeneration undermines justification by faith. We’re saved by grace.

It’s the free gift of God. He offers it freely to us. And how do we take hold of it?

How do we have access to that grace? It’s by faith. How is the slate wiped clean?

It’s by faith. That His righteousness, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account. Where we’re in the red, infinitely in the red, overdrawn in our accounts with God.

Christ comes and credits His righteousness to us. And we take hold of that. We have access to that by faith.

It tells us in Romans, in a couple of passages in the book of Romans. If you’ll turn with me to Romans chapter 4 and then Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 4 in verse 4 and verse 5 says now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.

Again that goes back to the idea of salvation by grace our deserving any part of it. And he said to him that worketh or earns it the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt. It’s not God’s grace it’s something we earn, we worked for.

He said but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. He said, salvation is to those who don’t earn it, but believe on him who justifies the ungodly. That believing, that faith is what justifies us.

Everything in the Bible is clear that we’re justified by faith. Even going back to the book of Genesis, when Abraham had all these outwardly righteous works on his behalf, he’d followed God, he’d done what he was supposed to do, and yet the Bible says that it was by faith that he was justified, that his slate was wiped clean, and that he was held righteous before God. The chapter ahead in Romans chapter 5 says, Therefore, in verse 1, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The Bible teaches in so many places that the way we have access, the way we take hold of this free gift that God offers is by faith. By simply believing that Jesus is who He said He was, that He did what He said He could do, that He died on the cross for your sins and for mine, and that He is the only solution for a lost and sinful world, including myself and yourself. That He is the only thing that could give us peace with God and eternity in heaven.

Believing in Him. Believing on Him that justifies the ungodly. In Acts chapter 13, one more verse and we’ll move on to, or one more passage and we’ll move on to the next point.

Acts chapter 13. And I love this passage because the last time, a few years ago that I ever got to thinking and doubting about my salvation and thinking, well, how do I know I believed enough? I overthink things sometimes.

How do I know I had enough faith or the right kind of. . .

I ran across this passage. Acts chapter 13, starting in verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.

That’s speaking of Jesus. That through Jesus is preached unt

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