Acts 2 and Salvation

[Ernest T. Bass]

Hi webb,

It just doesnt make sense, If it was a requirement for an individual to be saved Paul would have Baptized EVERYONE because Paul obviously could baptize. And if it was a requirement for the Saving of a soul Paul would have set up a Doctrinal principle Of Water baptism to an elder or another teacher If Paul did not have the time. But knowing Paul,if it was a salvation issue he would have baptized everyone.

The Lord instructed His disciples to go out into the world and spread the good news of salvation, and then teach the doctrines related to salvation to these new believers by using water as an analogy or illustration. This is shown in ACT 8:26-39, But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert [road].) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He does not open His mouth. In humiliation, His judgment was taken away; who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth." The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please [tell me], of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized [taught by illustration and identification] him [with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ]. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
Water baptism was an illustration, a teaching aide, a picture of the real baptism of the Holy Spirit, which had taken place at the precise moment the Ethiopian eunuch believed in the substitutionary salvation work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It was not, and is not, a requirement for salvation. Water was used, prior to the canon of Scripture being complete, to illustrate the doctrine of being identified with Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. The Ethiopian eunuch being baptized was already a believer. He had already accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, and he was already saved. Philip was teaching a doctrinal principle to a believer, not to an unbeliever. An unbeliever cannot understand spiritual things, 1CO 2:14, But a natural man [unbeliever] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Hi,

From post #15 the question I asked was:

Were the ones who are said to have "believed" in verse 44 the same ones who were baptized in verse 41?

I do not think you ever answered this question (I'll look thru this thread again to see if you did)

The implicaton is that the ones who were said to have "believed" in Acts 2:44 were the same ones that were baptized in Acts 2:41. That means "believed" in verse 44 includes being baptized. Verse 44 does not say "all the believed ONLY were together" for obviously they did not have belief only but they believed and were baptized per the great commission, Mk 16:16, Matt 28:19,20, Lk 24:47

Secondly, verse 41 says "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:" Those that refused to accept Peter's words were not baptized which implies one has not accepted or received the gospel until he has been baptized.

Lasly you posted "The Lord instructed His disciples to go out into the world and spread the good news of salvation, and then teach the doctrines related to salvation to these new believers by using water as an analogy or illustration.....Water baptism was an illustration, a teaching aide, a picture of the real baptism of the Holy Spirit, which had taken place at the precise moment the Ethiopian eunuch believed in the substitutionary salvation work of Jesus Christ on the cross."


But none of what you say here is found in the texts. The eunuch was WATER baptized but you try to add to that text he was baptized with the Holy Spirit and the text does not remotely say he was. In Acts 2:38 Peter gave the purpose of water baptism and that purpose is for remssion of sins (salvation) and it's not just some teaching device or illustration. The bible nowhere says water baptism is just "a picture of the real baptism of the Holy Spirit". This is something you have added to get around the necessity of water baptism for the remission of sins.

 

[Ernest T. Bass]

Yep, two big waters. Was Noah saved by the water or by the ARK?

1 Pet 3:20 "saved by water"

 

[Ernest T. Bass]

Acts 19:5-10

Amplified Bible (AMP)

5 On hearing this they were baptized [again, this time] in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And as Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke in [foreign, unknown] tongues (languages) and prophesied.

7 There were about twelve of them in all.


Almost all the 1 Corinthians 14 is Paul's instruction to the church in the use of tongues and other gifts. He says he is glad that he speaks in tongues more than all of them.

18 I thank God that I speak in [strange] tongues (languages) more than any of you or all of you put together;

39 So [to conclude], my brethren, earnestly desire and set your hearts on prophesying (on being inspired to preach and teach and to interpret God’s will and purpose), and do not forbid or hinder speaking in [unknown] tongues

This was just one church. It seems there must have been many, baptised in the Holy Spirit with evidence by speaking in tongues.

To baptizo is to immerse, overwhelm. This can be in water but also in the Living Water, the Holy Spirit.
Water can clean the outside but it takes the Living Water to cleanse the inside.

Acts 2 and Acts 10 are the only two places in the NT baptism with the HS takes place.

The apostles had the power to lay their hands upon another person and pass a miraculous gift to that person, 2 Tim 1:6 but that was not baptism with the Holy Ghost for man cannot baptize with the Holy Spirit. Only God could baptize with the Holy Spirit as He did in Acts 2 and Acts 10 and God chose to do so without any hands of man being involved.