Is Denominational Baptism Scriptural

Many different baptisms are being performed today by religious people, using different methods and modes and for different purposes. However, the only baptism that I as an individual facing eternity ought to be concerned with is the baptism that Jesus spoke of when he said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16 NKJV)

This is the baptism of the Great Commission when Jesus told the apostles, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in (literally “into”—see NAS reference note—DS) the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20 NKJV) This is the “one baptism” Paul spoke of in Eph. 4:5 that places one in Christ (Gal. 3:27) where salvation is found (2 Tim. 2:10). It is therefore spoken of as being “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) and is a baptism into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) of which he is “the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23 NKJV), the body being the church (Eph. 1:22-23).

It is a baptism you are required to teach, for the Great Commission that was given to the apostles was that they teach those they had made disciples of and baptized to go and do the same, teach and baptize others. (Matt. 28:20) This continual handing down of the teaching and practice from one generation to another is to last as long as the Great Commission remains in effect—until the day of Christ’s return. It is the one and only scriptural baptism that was to last for all generations.

While the baptism we have just discussed is the only one a man or woman needs to be personally concerned with, the truth is man has come up with his own inventions, thus we have differences in baptisms today. Solomon said, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Eccl. 7:29 NKJV) Human nature never changed, and so it is today as it was back then.

The first invention of man, relating to baptism, was the idea that he could sprinkle men and call it baptism and put his man-made invention on an equal plane with the baptism of the Great Commission. Man can try it and use that procedure and pay for his error in the end. God never gave man the authority to change the meaning of his inspired word or to add to it. “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches.” (1 Cor. 2:13 NKJV)

The words baptize, baptism, etc., found in your New Testament were words from the Greek carried over into the English without ever being translated. We call them transliterated words. Why were these Greek words never translated? Because the Greek means to submerge, immerse, or dip. Vine’s “Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,” a standard work, says of the word baptism, “consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence.”

By the time the Bible was being translated into English, men had already become wedded to their invention—sprinkling and calling it baptism. To translate the word accurately using the word immerse would end their deception for any capable of reading. Sprinkling for baptism was officially adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in 1311 A.D. at the Council of Ravenna hundreds of years after the apostles were gone.

Paul says, “We were buried with him through baptism.” (Rom. 6:4 NKJV) He was talking to people who had been buried in water, not sprinkled or poured, for baptism was a burial. Sprinkling and pouring are not only frauds but also exceedingly dangerous in that many who know no better believe they have been scripturally baptized. It would only be scriptural if one could change the meaning of God’s word. Wise people will not do that, not if they have read the scriptures concerning those who would do so.

Scriptural baptism is immersion and immersion only, but many denominations do practice immersion and are still in error on the subject of baptism. How so? They are in error on the meaning or purpose of baptism.

Let me ask a question that will help clarify. If I dive off a diving board or someone pushes me into a swimming pool or a lake and I end up immersed, is that a scriptural baptism? If young children were in a backyard pool playing church and one immerses the other would that be a scriptural baptism? We would all say no to both, but why so? It would be because baptism is about more than just being immersed in water. There has to be understanding, purpose, and heart behind it of such a nature that will make it pleasing to God.

God has told us, if we will accept it, exactly what the purpose of baptism is and what it accomplishes. Acts 2:38 tells us what we need to know about the purpose of baptism, but how many believe what they read there today? Not many. Man came along generations later and began denying what Peter, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said in that sermon recorded in Acts 2 and gave to baptism a different purpose and meaning to suit themselves. When one changes an ordinance of God and gives it an entirely different meaning than he gave it, then it is a little presumptuous to just assume he is pleased. What we have done is set ourselves up as God, displaced God as the lawgiver, and said this is now what this ordinance means. We now decide. He does not.

Generally speaking, most denominations believe one is saved by faith with or without baptism and prior to baptism. It is to them either a symbolic act or, in some cases, the means of entrance into their denomination. In the latter case, there is a world of difference between entering a denomination (which they admit is not the body of Christ but only a segment of it) and entering the body of Christ, the church he established. What denomination was Lydia a member of? Lydia had it right, denominationalism has it wrong.

Why is one who believes he is already saved, had his sins remitted, already entered into Christ through his faith alone, and thus already in Christ’s church, baptized to get into a denomination? There were no denominations in New Testament times. Not a single person in the New Testament was ever baptized to enter into a denomination, so why do it now? Certainly, this kind of baptism is not scriptural, for, as I have said, it was impossible to do such a thing in New Testament times, thus baptism was never designed for that purpose.

For those who believe they are saved by faith alone apart from baptism, passages like 1 Cor. 12:13 become meaningless, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” (NKJV) It becomes meaningless, for that is the very thing a saved by faith alone advocate must deny. He must deny that “we were all baptized into one body.” His point of view is that he was already in the body (Christ’s body and thus saved) before and without baptism.

Salvation is in the body of Christ (Eph. 5:23, 1:22-23). You are baptized into that body (1 Cor. 12:13), but the saved by faith alone man must claim to have gotten into that body some other way. He claims to be saved without being baptized into the body of Christ. It logically follows then that his baptism, since he feels it does not put him into the body of Christ, must be to put him into a denomination of which the New Testament knows nothing. Or else be merely symbolic since it is not a baptism into Christ.

If one is baptized only as a symbolic gesture, much of what has just been said applies as well. Why is one who believes he is already saved, had his sins remitted, already entered into Christ through his faith alone, and is thus already in Christ’s church baptized as a symbolic gesture? When did God command man to be baptized as a “symbolic gesture?” My Bible does not say anything about “symbolic gestures.” If someone would grab a concordance and look up the word “symbol” or “symbols” or “gestures” it might help, but when I tried it, I only got one hit on the word “symbol” and it related to the head covering in 1 Cor. 11. I also tried the word “sign” and the word “figure” and came up dry as well.

The old King James does use the word “figure” in 1 Peter 3:21 related to baptism, but it does not help those who want baptism to be just a figure, for it says, “the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us,” and that is not the figure those who promote denominational baptism are wanting. The bottom line is that all of this business about baptism being just a symbol is not found in my Bible or yours but only in the minds of men who have wandered from the truth. It is a baptism that has no scriptural meaning and is an invention of men who want some changes in the Bible so it will read more to their liking.

Whether one views baptism as a passageway to enter a denominational church, to gain membership in it, or as just a symbol, both are inventions of men and worthless as far as the Bible is concerned. If you were baptized for either reason you were simply immersed like a man diving from a diving board (that is, if you were immersed at all).

But the objection is made that I did it to obey God. How can you obey God when you do a thing he has not commanded? He never commanded you to be baptized into a denomination (obviously since they did not exist back then) nor did he ever command you to be baptized as a symbol for anything. He did command you to be baptized for a specific set of purposes none of which are found in denominational baptism.

One cannot accidentally obey God. Let me explain. If I were to partake of the Lord’s Supper without knowing the meaning of it, could it be truly said I worshiped God in that act in a way pleasing to him? We would all say of course not. So it is with baptism. To obey God you have to know what you are doing and why and desire to do it for the reasons he said. One is to walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7) and faith comes by hearing God’s word (Rom. 10:17). We cannot walk blindly without knowing what we are doing and think we might just get lucky and do the right thing by accident. There is no such thing as obedience in that type of action.

Sometimes years down the road, after the fact, there are those who learn the truth about baptism and need to be baptized scripturally, but they look back some decades earlier and deceive themselves into thinking that way back when 30-40 years ago when they were baptized it was for the right purpose. How does this happen?

We all learn the truth gradually, not all at once. Minds are changed and/or brought to the truth gradually over time, bit by bit. Because this process is so gradual, by the time we have finally come around a full 180 degrees in our thinking, we look back and cannot remember a time when we did not think as we do now. There is great danger in this.

Because of it, we may never obey the truth, never be scripturally baptized, and thus never enter the church of which Jesus is the Savior, because we cannot remember the truth of our thinking and motives at the time years earlier when we first were immersed. We tell ourselves we thought back then the way we think now, thus we do nothing to change our state. Denominational baptism ends up sinking another ship. There is but one scriptural baptism and denominational baptism is not it.

The purpose of this article has not been to be a wrecking ball, but before one can build in a location already occupied, the old structure must first be torn down. Denominational baptism is an old structure that needs tearing down so that the truth can be built in the location that old structure once occupied.

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Running From God

Why do men run from God? It has been a question with me for years, and one I have had the deepest interest in. I cannot understand it, and things I cannot understand, when it comes to the way people behave, have a way of bothering me. I have always wanted to know why people do what they do. I have wanted to know how men think, why they think the way they do, and thus what motivates them. The reality is only God can know for sure, for only he can see inside a person and read a person’s heart. As for you and me, the Bible says, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?” (1 Cor. 2:11 NKJV)

Our best hope for knowing another lies in their willingness to open up to us. Even then we may end up scratching our heads in bewilderment. They may tell us what they think, but do they themselves understand the processes of the heart and mind that have led them to the point where they are at?

If there is a God (I am not expressing doubt), then by definition of what it means to be God, it is clear one could not successfully run from him. Hear David in the 139th Psalm.

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether… Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” (Psalms 139:1-4, 7-12 NKJV)

The writer of the Book of Hebrews put it this way, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:13 NKJV) To try and run from God, hide, or win a battle against him is folly and only shows how foolish a person can be.

Since man cannot run from God, why try? While we may never know a particular individual’s thinking or motive for attempting to do so, the Bible tells us of some who have tried to run from God and gives us their motivation.

Adam and Eve were the first to try and run from God. When they sinned in the Garden of Eden by eating of the forbidden fruit, breaking God’s commandment, they attempted to hide from God. Adam said to God he was hiding because of his nakedness (Gen. 3:10), but that had never been a problem before. Sin made it a problem and thus sin caused the first man and woman to run from God and try and hide from him.

Every case of running from God or away from God has been caused by sin in a man’s life. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20 NKJV) Those who love God and obey his commandments do not run from God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” (1 John 5:3 NKJV)

God is man’s great benefactor. Why run from one who is the only one who can give you eternal life and save you from hell? There is only one reason, the fact of sin in one’s life, sin that has not been repented of or forgiven. Every reason we can list as motives for man’s attempt to run away from God will in every case come back to the matter of sin in the person’s life. But the question remains why?

What was the reason behind Adam and Eve’s sin? There are some things here that we can learn. Eve was willing to listen to someone other than God for guidance. A big mistake. Eve listened to the serpent. Adam was willing to listen to Eve. The world is full of people whose desire is to get you to listen to them and follow them and their lead even in what is styled Christendom. What folly! The word of God lies in the hands of the man or woman who holds the Bible, there and there only will you find God’s guidance. God’s word is the only sure guide man will ever have.

In the Christian faith, God speaks to us through the pages of the New Testament. There we are told how to become Christians, how to worship acceptably, and how to live the Christian life. We are warned much like Adam and Eve were. We are neither to add to that word nor take from it. There is a simple reason for that—whatever is added is not God’s word but man’s word; whatever is subtracted leaves God’s word incomplete and thus not whole. In the latter case, you end up with partial truth, not the whole truth.

Adam and Eve were God’s children. Eve sinned by listening to another who was enlightening her, so she thought, rather than listen to God. We ought to learn a lesson here. If you cannot quote book, chapter, and verse from the New Testament for your practice or doctrine you have listened to someone other than God and need to leave it alone. Adam and Eve did not have a Bible, but they had God’s word directly spoken from his mouth.

In our dispensation of time, the New Testament is the last will and testament of Christ our Savior and thus God’s word for man to live by until time shall end and Jesus shall return. God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” (Heb. 1:2 NKJV) Peter, in his sermon in Acts 3 speaking of Moses’ prophecy concerning Jesus, said, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’” (Acts 3:22-23 NKJV)

If we are not listening to Jesus’ words (the New Testament) we are listening to men or to ourselves. We must also remember that adding to God’s word in how we worship, or otherwise, is as bad as subtracting from that word. It is only, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” (John 8:31 NKJV) That is what Jesus said about it. God’s word has boundaries. Adding or subtracting, either one, changes those boundaries.

But why did Eve do that? Why did she listen to another? Because she liked what she heard from the serpent more than she liked what she heard from God. So another thing we can learn from Adam and Eve is to not allow our personal desires to guide us. “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (Jer. 10:23 NKJV) Always remember it is not what seems good or right or desirable to you or me that counts with God but whether or not we are obeying him according to his word.

I don’t know that a man can have too big a heart, but I do know our great love for a wife, a husband, a child, a parent, a friend, or whoever can lead us to reject God’s word in order to have them saved, so we think. We then start running from God. The person we love will either not accept or obey the gospel or if they have done so go off into false doctrine or apostasy and we want them saved so badly that we start looking at scripture differently. Suddenly we find the word of God changing and old passages that used to teach us one thing now seem to be teaching us something entirely different. What has changed? Has the Bible changed or has it been our heart?

Our great passion for and love for our fellow man can easily result in our rejection of God’s word for the word we want it to be rather than the word it is. Adam’s love for Eve seems to have overwhelmed him. The Bible says Adam was not deceived, Eve was. (1 Tim. 2:14) Did Adam love Eve more than he loved God? Love is a wonderful thing, but we must love God foremost. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,” said Jesus. (Matt. 10:37 NKJV) Love for a person or persons can cause people to run from God.

Do we think God is unjust in condemning those who will not believe the truth and obey it? Do we think we love more than God who gave his only begotten son on the cross to die to give man a means of salvation? Do we think we love more than Jesus who died for us all? Do we think God is just too strict? Many do. However big your heart is, I can assure you it is not as big as God’s, but do we really expect God to save unrepentant sinners and people who do not love him? If he did, how would heaven be any better than life on earth?

So, what lessons have we learned from Adam and Eve? (1) Sin led them to run from God. (2) This sin was caused by or the result of listening to the words of another who was not God. (3) Eve listened to another other than God, for she desired the doctrine he brought more than the doctrine God gave. (4) Love for one’s mate, or for others, even for all of humanity, cannot supersede one’s love for God, and if it does so it will only result in disaster. Are you and I immune today from falling into one or more of the same traps? No, not at all.

Jonah is another example, and with little doubt the best-known example in the Bible, of a man who attempted to run from God. God sent him to Nineveh to preach against that city’s wickedness. Jonah did not want to go and do that for fear that Nineveh would repent and God would not destroy its inhabitants but rather forgive them and spare them (see Jonah 3:10-4:2), which is exactly what ended up happening. The story is well known. Jonah wanted to see the city destroyed, and fearing that preaching God’s message to the people there would end up saving the city, he tried to flee from God, got caught up in a storm on the sea, a storm God sent purposely, and was tossed overboard by the sailors to save their own lives. He was thereafter swallowed by a great fish, one that spit him out after he repented of disobedience to God’s command.

Once again, then, we have another example of a man running from God because of disobedience to God, but what was the motivating factor in his disobedience? In Jonah’s case, the motivating factor was a lack of love for his fellow man. One could call it hate. He wanted to see the people of Nineveh die, 120,000 of them. Jonah had a heart problem.

When a person has a heart problem, they will want no part of God and will naturally flee from him. Not every sin is heart-related. One might sin out of ignorance, for example, but when sin is in the heart, man wants no part of God and will seek to run from him. The heart must be changed to change the man.

Then we come to the rich young ruler we find in the New Testament who thought he wanted eternal life and came to Jesus seeking an answer as to how to obtain it. We find this account in Matt. 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, and Luke 18:18-23. Jesus invited the young man to sell his goods and come follow him. The young man could not bring himself to do that and ended up walking away from God. Why? Because he loved his wealth, his money, more than God and eternal life. He had a heart problem, the love of money.

There is another account found in John of those who ran away from God. The text says, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42-43 NKJV) Again, the problem lies within the heart of the man. It is men wanting the wrong things out of life leading them into sin and away from God.

In the example just given, the rulers were going away from God but headed out to the synagogue for worship. They wanted to be religious but just not Jesus’ way. In today’s world men will search and search and search to find the denomination that will teach it the way they want to hear it so that Paul’s prophecy finds its fulfillment. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3-4 NKJV)

You tell me what it is you want to hear today, and I think I can find you a place to go if you will let me research it just a little. You can find the doctrine that comforts you in whatever state of sin you are living in, and in whatever beliefs you are holding, if you will only search awhile. You may well end up in a place you do not want to be in the next life, but for the here and now you can find a place of comfort, a place where they will tell you the lie you are living is nothing other than God’s truth.

The Bible only teaches one church and one faith and it does not teach a thousand different competing doctrines. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph. 4:4-6 NKJV) Churches today have people in them who are in reality running from God but are not willing to admit it to themselves. They left the old place and came to the new so they could persist in their sin rather than be cleansed from it.

Yes, we can run from God; we just cannot hide from him. We must give an account. The day of accounting will be a terrifying day for many, for in that day the heart of man will be revealed and we will all have to come clean. Why did we believe what we believed? Why did we practice what we practiced? Was it because of God’s word or was it because we had a heart problem we would not admit to or face up to? Is your faith and trust in your own heart, in your own mind, in what seems best and right to you, or is it in the words spoken by the Holy Spirit? God’s word is just an extension of himself. Jesus is called the Word (John 1:1-2, 1 John 1:1). He is revealed in his word. Are you running away from God? I hope not, for I can promise you he will find you in the Day of Judgment when you do not wish to be found.

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Is Holy Spirit Baptism the Baptism That Saves

In an article I wrote some time ago, I had a gentleman of the Pentecostal persuasion respond seemingly upset with me over the issue of baptism, as I was emphasizing the importance of water baptism, which he was discounting as being nothing more than a picture of salvation (whatever that means). Of course, his emphasis was on Holy Spirit baptism. In any case, since I said I would respond, I will do so here, thinking I might as well make an article out of my response.

When one reads the gospels, the very first mention of the subject of baptism comes with the introduction of John the Baptist. Mark says, “Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1:5 NKJV) We know Jesus, when baptized by John, “came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” (Matt. 3:16 NKJV) So our very first introduction to the subject of baptism relates it to water, not the Holy Spirit.

However, John did prophesy of two other baptisms to come. He says, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matt. 3:11 NKJV)

It is very important to note who will be doing the baptizing in the Holy Spirit and fire. Will it be the apostles, will it be man? No, for the text says “He,” a reference to Jesus, which means what? If you are going to receive Holy Spirit baptism it will not be at the hands of men. It will have to come directly from heaven itself. Jesus will be the administrator.

But it means even more. It means it cannot be a command, for it is something Christ does for you. In other words, it is a baptism you cannot obey. It is something you receive, not something you do. Pentecostals ought to keep this in mind because it is going to cause problems down the road. Indeed, it is going to cause problems before one even finishes the book of Matthew.

In the Great Commission of Matt. 28:18-20, Jesus, speaking to the apostles, said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (NKJV) The reader already knows enough from what has been said previously that this is a command for water baptism, for it is the only baptism men can administer. Men could baptize others with water, but not with the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus could do that.

Furthermore, the command of the Great Commission was to teach those they baptized to go out and do the same with others—make disciples and baptize them—thus making the Great Commission a perpetual command for the ages. This means in Eph. 4:5, when Paul said there was “one baptism,” we know which one it was.

Before the time of Paul’s writing of the book of Ephesians, there had been two baptisms—water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism (the baptism of fire being yet future at the Day of Judgment). However, by the time Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, scholars say sometime between 61 and 64 AD, only one baptism remained. This was approximately 30 years after Jesus had ascended back into heaven, and Paul now says, as he writes, there is but one baptism.

This puts Pentecostals in a tight spot. If they say we still have Holy Spirit baptism, then they must deny we have water baptism. If they say we still have both, they make Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit, out to be a liar, for that makes two baptisms rather than one.

Did Jesus speak about baptizing some in the Holy Spirit? Yes, he did, but to whom? It was to those with whom he met in Luke 24:33-49. It was with those who were to “tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NKJV) It was to those who would first preach “repentance and remission of sins … in His name … beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47 NKJV) Now who did that? Was Peter the first one? Did he preach baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) “beginning at Jerusalem”? Yes, he did.

In the book of John, starting with chapter 13 and going through chapter 17, Jesus is with the apostles he had chosen. Here he again speaks about this select group being baptized with the Holy Spirit or words to that effect (John 14:16-18, 26; 16:13).

Luke, in the book of Acts, speaks of “the apostles whom He had chosen” (Acts 1:2) and then says, “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” (Acts 1:3-5 NKJV)

Thus the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only to a select few, not to all Christians. All Christians received the Holy Spirit, but not all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and there is a difference. Many received spiritual gifts and thus had a measure of the Holy Spirit in that special sense as well, but the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only to those few Jesus chose. I remind the reader that while Holy Spirit baptism had to come directly from heaven, spiritual gifts could be received by the laying on of the hands of the apostles. “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given …” (Acts 8:18 NKJV)

Even spiritual gifts were not to last endlessly until the Day of Judgment. Paul says, in Eph. 4:11-14 (NAS), “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”

Apostles and prophets were obviously men with spiritual gifts. Are there apostles and prophets still with us today? The reader ought to highlight the word “until” in the above passage. Words do have meaning. “Until” places a time limit. Then note the last verse that begins with “As a result.” The result is we will not be carried away “by every wind of doctrine,” thus the earth will still be here when the apostles and prophets are gone.  However, so will every wind of doctrine.  But we will not be carried away with them.

A passage that is even a little clearer is 1 Cor. 13:8-10, “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge [miraculous spiritual—DS], it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” Some say this refers to Jesus’ second coming. Does it? It is hard to see how you or I need to be told that there will not be prophecy in heaven. Is that not self-evident? Let me tell you what is “perfect” in addition to Jesus—his completed revelation to man in his word, the New Testament itself. Do you doubt the word of God is perfect? See Psalm 19:7.

The one who takes issue with me says, “In John 3:5 water does not refer to Christian baptism in the name of the Lord. Prove that it does.” If you recall, John 3:5 reads as follows, “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’” (NAS) Well, what are the other options? Is it “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’”? That is how this sincere man would have it read, but I think it is readily seen this will not work taken in the context of how the sentence is phrased.

He also argues that Rom. 6:3, Gal. 3:27, and Col. 2:12 all refer to Holy Spirit baptism, not water baptism. I have already shown that since there is only one baptism today, according to Paul, then it is an either/or option—either it is Holy Spirit baptism or water baptism. If it is Holy Spirit baptism, then the baptism Jesus commanded in the Great Commission is of no effect today and you cannot carry out the Great Commission.

In Romans 6:3 Paul says, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” By using the word “us,” Paul includes himself. Let us hear Ananias at the time of Paul’s baptism, Acts 22:16, “‘And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’” It sounds to me like the responsibility is on Paul to “arise and be baptized.” It sounds like it is something Paul can attend to. He can’t if it is Holy Spirit baptism as my critic claims. He will have to wait on Jesus to do that. Thus my critic is in error.

Gal. 3:27 reads as follows, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (NAS) Am I baptized “into Christ” or am I baptized by Christ? Holy Spirit baptism is by Christ, not into Christ. If Christ both baptizes one and puts one into himself (salvation is in Christ—2 Tim. 2:10), then if you are lost it looks like it is his fault since there is something he did not do for you. I can obey the command for water baptism, but I cannot obey Holy Spirit baptism, for Jesus has the responsibility for that. I have not clothed myself with Christ, and cannot do so, if it is out of my hands, which would be the case if this passage refers to Holy Spirit baptism.

Finally, Col. 2:12, which he says is a reference to Holy Spirit baptism, reads as follows, with me including verses 11 and 13 in order to read the text in context. “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 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. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” (NAS)

Beginning with Abraham, if a male child was not circumcised the eighth day, he fell out of covenant relationship with God. This remained true on up through the entirety of the Mosaical Era. You can read about it in Gen. 17:12-14. If one is in covenant relationship with God, he is a child of God. He may or may not remain faithful and thus can be lost later, but at the time he becomes a child of God, he is saved.

I have a question. In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, when the first gospel sermon ever preached was preached after Christ’s ascension, after the giving of the Great Commission, when were those gathered there, the three thousand, placed into a covenant relationship with God? Was it before water baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38)? Water baptism was necessary both for the forgiveness of sins and for the reception of the Holy Spirit, and baptism was prior to both. Without the forgiveness of sins first, there was no covenant relationship with God, not under the new covenant.

It would be good, perhaps, to quote Acts 2:38 here: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (NKJV)

Circumcision placed one into covenant relationship with God under the Law of Moses. When were people placed in that relationship in Acts 2—was it before or after the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit? One can readily see it was before the receiving of the Holy Spirit but after water baptism. If you have received “remission of sins,” you are saved and in a covenant relationship with God. Circumcision in the covenant of Christ, in Christianity, is baptism from a heart of faith, for the remission of sins in water, not in Holy Spirit baptism. In that act, when based on faith, sins are cut away (removed). Colossians 2:11-13 is a reference to water baptism.

But sometimes it is good to argue against ourselves, so, putting myself in my critic’s shoes, I would come back and say, have you not read Rom. 2:29, “but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God”? (NKJV)

The same Paul who wrote Colossians wrote Romans. We shall tie them together. I remind the reader my critic believes the talk about baptism in Rom. 6, the first several verses, is a reference to baptism in the Holy Spirit. But Paul says in Rom. 6:17-18, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” There are two points to be made. (1) You cannot obey Holy Spirit baptism; thus his argument fails when he says the baptism of Romans 6 is Holy Spirit baptism. (2) When were they set free from sin according to Paul? Answer—when they obeyed.

This excursion on Romans 6 throws light on Rom. 2:29. As this passage—Rom. 2:29—relates back to Col. 2:12, it shows, when combined with the study of Romans 6, that one cannot divorce faith from obedience. Obedience is from the heart. What is in the heart to produce this obedience? Faith! When understood that obedience is a part of saving faith, that there is no such thing as saving faith apart from obedience, I readily concede that salvation is by faith, that kind of faith. This faith always includes, as an integral part of itself, obedience.

The trouble is the advocates of salvation by faith are generally such as do not define faith this way. Their faith does not necessarily include any ideas of obedience, thus water baptism is just kind of an option if I get to it, if I do it, when I do it, sort of thing. When God says jump, you cannot say, I will if I want to, when I want to, if I decide to. That is neither faith nor obedience; it is rebellion. How can one claim a circumcision of heart and talk of having the Spirit all the while saying it does not matter whether you obey what the Spirit has said, you can be saved whether you obey or do not obey? Jesus, a man full of the Spirit, did not disobey a single commandment, but we do and say it is okay and that we have the Spirit.

If the baptism of the Holy Spirit still exists today, then along with it we must have, as a necessity, those things that accompany it, which include the spiritual gifts of the first century. All Holy Spirit-baptized individuals (the apostles) had miraculous spiritual gifts (2 Cor. 12:11-12). Who ever heard of having the baptism of the Holy Spirit and not having spiritual gifts? Do we have prophets today, do we have miracle workers today, do we still have revelation being given today? Let each reader judge for themselves.

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The Spirit of Christ and Liberalism

As a result of an article I wrote in the past, I was accused of lacking the spirit of Christ in that I opposed adulterous marriages and gay marriage, and the accuser surmised correctly that I also opposed freedom of choice for women as pertains to abortion. It was implied that I was intolerant, unloving, and lacked the spirit of Christ. I determined then to write an article dealing with the spirit of Christ.

There are many people in America today who have built their own Christ. He bears only a vague resemblance to the Christ of the Bible, although those who built him refuse to see it that way. Building one’s own God does have its advantage in that you can design him as you desire and make his character and nature out as best suits your fancy and your own concept of sin and righteousness. The only problem is the obvious one—it is all a facade. A man-made Christ can no more save than could Jeroboam’s two golden calves (see 1 Kings 12:25-33).

It is said Christ loved all people, even those from the worst class of sinners, and that he associated with all. Well, who has ever denied that? Not me. But the idea is, from those who have built a Christ after their own fancy, that with Christ it is okay to continue on in sin as long as you believe in him, love him, and love your fellowman. Christ would and will forgive you anyway, and did not, then or now, demand repentance and reformation of life. He, it is supposed, just accepted people as they were in their sinful state. Really!

Matthew says Jesus began his preaching career preaching repentance. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matt. 4:17 NKJV) In Matt. 11:20 we read, “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” (Matt. 11:20 NKJV) Furthermore, in the next few verses, he warns those cities of what lies ahead on the Day of Judgment for them. To give one example, he says it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for Capernaum, which he says “will be brought down to Hades.” (Matt. 11:23 NKJV)

When Jesus sent the 12 out to preach, what were they sent to preach? Mark says, “So they went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mark 6:12 NKJV) Jesus himself said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (NKJV) He says this twice, in Luke 13:3 and then in Luke 13:5. Don’t let anyone tell you that the spirit of Christ was such that he would save people while they continued on in an impenitent state, unwilling to repent, unwilling to render obedience to God the Father.

In the very first gospel sermon ever preached after Christ’s ascension, as soon as the crowd was convicted in their hearts, they asked, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 NKJV) The first word out of Peter’s mouth in reply was “repent.” (Acts 2:38 NKJV) At Athens, Luke records Paul’s preaching there, saying “God…now commands all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30 NKJV)

But one must beware of this crowd of people who have made a Jesus who does not require repentance but allows one to live on in sin and yet be saved. Some of them want to make Paul out to be a renegade, a rebel against Christ who preached a different theology, a different gospel than Christ taught. The idea they have is that you can live a life based on what Jesus said and did in the gospel accounts and pay no heed to Paul, who was out there just doing his own thing—so they say and believe.

For them to be right about Paul, several things have to be proven true. (1) It must be proven Paul was a liar—a liar about his conversion experience (see Acts 9, 22, 26), a liar about how he received the gospel (Gal. 1:11-12), a liar about having the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13, compare Eph. 3:5 with 1 Cor. 15:9 and 2 Cor. 11:5) and not just that he lied about having the Holy Spirit but that Ananias also lied about Paul receiving it (Acts 9:17).

(2) If Paul was uninspired and a rebel against God and Christ, just a man who had his own theology, then it destroys the book of Acts written by Luke for the reason that Luke would then become an unreliable historian, a man no one could believe, because he writes about Paul’s conversion three times as historical fact and mentions that one of the purposes of Ananias’ visit to Paul was that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17) which would be untrue. Paul’s miracles, recorded by Luke, then come into question. If the book of Acts is unreliable history, then what about the book of Luke itself? Why should it be considered reliable? The same man wrote both books.

(3) If Paul was not a Holy Spirit-inspired man but only a rebel against Christ with his own theology, what does this say about Peter, who wrote of Paul saying, “Consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15-16 NKJV) Peter says Paul’s writings are Scripture—“as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

If Paul’s writings are not from the Holy Spirit, then please tell us how one could twist his writings to their own destruction. If he was uninspired, you could twist his words a thousand different ways and it would have no bearing whatsoever on your salvation. Paul had the spirit of Christ, his detractors to the contrary notwithstanding.

Those who want to pit Paul against Christ and claim that Paul’s teaching was not of Christ will need to delete Luke’s writings from their Bibles, as well as Peter’s and all of Paul’s, and I hope to soon show that they need to get rid of John’s writings also. How?

Have you ever read Gal. 2:9, Paul speaking? “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” (NKJV) If John gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul, a man who taught falsely about the commands of God, what does that say about John and his writings? If Paul deceived John, how can we believe the things John wrote, for he might have been deceived about those things as well.

Furthermore, if this James, who is mentioned in Gal. 2:9, is, as scholars think, the James who wrote the book of James, then he too was deluded in giving Paul the right hand of fellowship and his writings, as well as John’s, then come into question. I guess, of course, one could say Paul was lying about this since he wrote the book of Galatians, but the book of Acts teaches that Paul was in good standing with the apostles and the church in Jerusalem.

You do see, do you not, where all of this business leads about Paul having his own doctrine separate and apart from the Lord’s? You end up having to delete every book of the New Testament Paul wrote, that Luke wrote, that John wrote, that Peter wrote, and that James wrote. That leaves but little of the New Testament. Only a liberal could believe it.

This liberal crowd that wants to make Christ out as a God made after their own image errs in another way as well. They define love for God the way they so desire rather than the way God has defined it. Here is God’s definition, the definition that they will not accept. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:2-3 NKJV)

Their desire is to override any concern about keeping the commandments of God, thus keeping the door open for continuing on in adulterous marriages, homosexuality, open the door for gay marriage, and keep it open for abortion. This was not the spirit of John the Baptist, “For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. Because John had said to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’” (Mark 6:17-18 NKJV) There had been a divorce and remarriage, but God did not recognize it, for he said through John that Herodias was still Philip’s wife. John was going to break up an adulterous marriage. No need to worry about that among those who have made their own Christ, for their Christ does not demand repentance and reformation of life for salvation.

Their claim is that God is satisfied with adulterous marriages, homosexuality, gay marriage, abortion, etc., because it would be intolerant not to be, and it is an act of love to accept those things in people, accept them without repentance. Passages like 1 Cor. 6:9-10 mean nothing to them (Paul wrote it, after all). “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJV) They do not believe what their eyes read. They claim Christ is on their side, and Paul was a renegade and a rebel. Who do you think had the spirit of Christ? Was it Paul or the modern-day liberal?

Now, how about the spirit of Christ in his own being? Did Christ have the spirit of obedience to the Father or the spirit of disobedience? First, let it be known that Christ was assuredly under commandment from God just as much as you and I are. Jesus said, “This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:18 NKJV) “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” (John 12:49 NKJV) “As the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.” (John 14:31 NKJV) “I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:10 NKJV)

Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38 NKJV) “I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29 NKJV) “I do know Him and keep His word.” (John 8:55 NKJV) Finally, in Rom. 5:19, Paul, speaking of Jesus, said, “So also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” (NKJV) One cannot obey unless one has something to obey, a commandment.

Now, I ask again, after quoting these passages, was the spirit of Christ one of obedience to God’s commandments or one of disobedience? Let my liberal friends answer. Let them answer this question also—who gave them the right to decide what commands of God love can override? Are not all of God’s commandments based on love? When a man says this command can be overlooked or ignored (disobeyed), is he not saying that the commandment lacks love? Is he not saying God gave a commandment here that has no love in it, that is, in fact, unloving? Does he really want to stick his neck out on the chopping block like that?

Why does not Mark 7:9 apply to those who so approach the Bible as do these liberals? “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” (NKJV) As long as I think I know more about sin and righteousness than God does, as long as I believe my love and my way of showing love is purer than God’s way, just that long do I prove myself, not Paul the apostle but myself, the true rebel against God.

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